Trae's IS300
Baton Rouge, LA - You meet all kinds of cool people in the places where you least expect it. When I first moved to Louisiana, I was unnecessarily excited to have a Trader Joe’s only five minutes away from my new place. In my defense, moving across the country is expensive. Knowing I could survive on some delicious budget frozen Indian food and tamales (Secret Aardvark hot sauce is highly recommended) for a bit while my bank account recovered was some small relief.
“So, I take it you’re into cars?” in the freezer section had me contemplating how half of my wardrobe is probably made up of free automotive swag t-shirts, and that maybe i should start buying clothes like an adult already. But yes, i happen to be very much into cars, and as it turns out, Trae also gravitates to classic 90s 2000s JDM style.
Given that I chose to lift my S2000’s Fortune Auto coilovers to handle Louisiana’s rougher roads, I’m still not entirely sure how Trae gets around town. His 18x9.5 MB Battles are fitted really nicely to the stock fenders and bottomed out coilovers. I especially like the bronze on silver scheme that’s low key and feels very JDM. Plus the period correct details are really what make this project shine. Trae has collected some great and rare parts during this build including authenttic Altezza badging and trim, LED tail lights, and ground effects from Chargespeed and Vertex. It sounds like there’s a 5-speed manual swap in this IS’s future, and I can’t wait to see what else Trae has in store for this 2JZ equipped sedan.
