Gene Tjin is no stranger to building cars. In fact, he’s known to set many trends with every car that he’s ever touched. He likes to keep things simple and clean, working mostly on the premise that quality is greater than quantity. Some of you may know him for equipping his Scion xB with Work Wheels, being one of the first. Now it’s almost commonplace for xB’s to be sporting Work wheels. He’s also been known to roam around in a black G35 slammed with Junction Produce wheels, one of the first ones ever on the stateside. But those days are over, and this Volvo S40 has become the new buzz.
When Gene first got delivery of his 2006 Volvo S40 T5, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it. In fact, in its stock black form it was a fairly mediocre car. Somewhat quick, but we could all agree it lacked in the aesthetics department. He decided to fix that quick however, sending the car off to the paint shop to get the entire body resprayed a custom flat gray. He also accented the stock body lines with none other than Heico’s high quality products: front lip spoiler, front grille and rear spoiler.
After the car was repainted, Gene concentrated on the suspension and getting the ride height he desired. Starting with a simple set of Eibach Sport springs, the stance just wasn’t aggressive enough for his tastes. Unique Fabrication took over by custom raising the shock towers to not only bring the car to the ground, but preserve the ride quality that normal coil springs give. He then decided to have a custom set of none other than HRE wheels made and fitted to his Volvo S40. Seen on all four corners are HRE C20 wheels in a 19×8.5 and 19×9.5 form, wrapped with high quality Falken FK452 rubber. 215/35/19 and 235/35/19 can be seen protecting these high quality wheels. To further set the car apart however, Gene opted to have the lips powdercoated a dark gray shade to contrast the exterior of the vehicle. The center of the wheels have be splashed with a black glossy paint.
Inside the car, Gene has kept it relatively simple. Installing a pair of Swiss Audio amplifiers and 12-inch subwoofers is the extent of the audio modifications. The front and rear doors also received new speakers from Swiss Audio in the form of their component set.
Lastly, the stock light was swapped out with Ignited’s HID kits. The headlights now sport a brilliant 6000K splash while the fog lights are a contrasting 3000K yellow.
Sadly for Gene however, a new project is going to be on the way and his beloved Volvo S40 is now for sale. If you are interested, please email him at gene@genetjin.com.
Gallery
