Abstract: THE BUGEYE ARMY
BUY A BUGEYE AND SEE THE WORLD
Perfectly timed photo of a pair of matching Humvee and bugeye belonging to Stallassjason on Nasioc. His wide, fender-flared bugeye features a rare Do Luck front bumper, work wheels and military-green exterior. More to come on this bugeye, as it has been on a building rampage lately and looks increasingly epic with each update.
Throwback Thursday FRIDAY: JDM Bugeye Meeting
(edit: in full disclosure I saw Andrew’s post and thought it was thursday… that kind of week)
Following Andrew’s “Thursday is for posting meaningful stuff” motif –– One of the things that I miss most about the car scene pre-the 2008 financial recession is that you could roll up to a car meet and see some crazy builds that expressed the builder’s individuality and didn’t all look alike – rolling artwork. My sincere belief is that due to the recession things you used to see like custom body and paint work, JDM ∞, and major engine mods, have fallen off beginning in 2008 with trendy things that still express individuality (to a degree) like small and sometimes unpainted front lips, sticker bombing/cursive decals/fatlace style roll-calls, wrapping (and then dipping when that was cheaper) instead of paint, and cheaper suspension setups with all the money into the wheels (not disparaging that). Things appear to be coming back by all indication… which I couldn’t be happier about – while people still do the low/wide builds, you increasingly see engine mods, and airbag setups instead of maxed out coilovers (better way to go low imho).
For throwback thus, I submit some pics that I took in mid 2007 before things went haywire for the economy and the car world.
On one off-night I rolled up randomly to one of the leading the DC-area meet locations – the Rockville MD Barnes & Noble/Sports Authority. In the day that meet could draw up to 500++ cars and overflow two giant parking lots in the middle of the night. Sadly, they put up a condominium next door and owners complained about the automotive carnival every Friday and Saturday (we were there first!) which led to aggressive ticketing and people moving on.
There I found a midnight black pearl Bugeye JDM STI version 7 replica (complete with rear windshield wiper and roof vent) bugeye – owned by my friend Freddy aka Turbokonejo, and a repainted satin white pearl (07 STI color) bugeye owned by Nasioc member Fantabulous with (if I recall correctly) JDM STI EJ207 swap and Australian OEM “EGR” lip kit ––– Both of them performance-oriented JDM bugeye builds.
We did an impromptu photo shoot.
(don’t mind the background – I’m no pro photographer outside of photoshop magic and no real nice photo spots in Rockville MD 😉
Of course the bugeyegarage car in full-scale throwback mode with Jun bumper and Advan Neova AD07’s on Work EmotionCR Kai’s
Another bugeye with JDM headlights even came rolling through (R.I.P. to it’s owner Edwin aka PacmanGSX on Nasioc – really nice and friendly guy who would I’d often see at meets).
This random meeting was not organized whatsoever. This was the Subaru scene before things got kind of bland in my opinion. Couldn’t be happier to see it coming back.
Parts bin: Wagon Options–Prodrive
Wagons just have a tough time. When the bugeye was first released there weren’t a ton of options out there for styling/differentiating from the crowd. The biggest problem was that the wagon’s narrower track combined with completely different bumper shape meant that most of the aero options for the bugeye sedan wouldn’t work: front lips wouldn’t fit the different bumper, bumpers wouldn’t line up with the narrower fenders. Even with a wagon STI model in Japan for the bugeye, aftermarket tuning companies largely initially panned the bugeye (considered an ugly sibling of the more popular GC8 at the time) model and certainly weren’t showing love for a wagon model that required separate R&D expense to develop products for.
(there were a few options though they’re largely gone now: wagon-specific V1 STI replica lip; Freeway-Dolphin kit, Liberal kit, and a few others)
Over the years people got creative. Some would retrofit the sedan front end (principally fenders and bumpers) to increase the aero options to that of the sedan – but leaving an awkwardly narrower rear (although some actually did the metal work necessary for the rear too). Others would take a creative approach to mounting sedan-specific pieces to the wagon bumper.
This is a really great example of the popular prodrive lip altered to fit a wagon bumper – I’d think it actually looks even a little bit sharper on the wagon too.
According to the owner, there was some careful measuring and trimming involved, but otherwise it was relatively straight forward (no cutting in half/adding or removing large pieces/re-shaping). I love how it matches the lower lines of the Wagon bumper and the vent to the side of the foglight beautifully.
Abstract: Do Epic Sh*t
If you’re going to have a fully built bugeye track star, you may as well use it!
visual breakdown
+ matte black paint
+ Racing Hart CP035 rear wheel
+ Volk Racing CE28N front wheel
+ Endless big brake kit
+ Varis carbon hood
+ STI spec C roof vent
+ Ganador Super mirrors
+ WRC front bumper (Burnup or L’aunsport)
+ Chargespeed v2 sideskirts
+ Varis rear diffuser
+ big wang
A Sad Day
I don’t think there’s many out there who would disagree that the loss of Paul Walker has been a huge hit to the automotive community. We all loved to rag on the corny and technologically misguided quotes of the original F&F movie, but still I don’t think there’s a movie that has had as much impact on the auto community as the original F&F. The flick kind of captured the community spirit and oft-ridiculousness of the car scene in general in a way that relateable to most. Even more importantly, Paul Walker was a true enthusiast, owning an R34 GT-R among a collection of other cars that only an enthusiast could love, and participating in track day events with some regularity. We lost one of our own on Sunday. RIP
Bugeye Meetup Japan
An update! Only a snapshot, but why not?
Haven’t been on Minkara lately, but did come across these pictures of a recent (summer 2013) meet of only bugeyes in Japan. Really some interesting cars here, but couldn’t find more than just these 4 pics. Just goes to show that in Japan (and elsewhere) – much like the U.S. – bugeyes are growing in popularity and achieving cult-following status and even with owners’ groups. Great cars those bugs.
^ I believe I’ve seen this blue car before when it had gold SSR type-C’s. Really reminds me of the previously-featured Chris/BurtonCR’s car with full Zerosports kit and can’t tell if Prodrive WRC-Safari or Ganador mirrors.
So enjoy the pics! Will post additional if I find any
Version 3
So keeping up with the theme of my last post, I was going to go on and comment about one of the few pitfalls of Bugeyes getting up in the years being the increasing lack of aftermarket support for a car that was once a Tokyo Auto Salon darling (to a degree – I noticed some once-Subaru tuners like Bomex dropped the Impreza once the New Age design was revealed, but before everyone started appreciating the Bugeye). For I’m sure a variety of reasons ranging from replica part proliferation to waning demand, a lot of companies have stopped producing their bugeye-specific part lines — including Subaru itself for certain parts. The remaining (oft-replica) parts available tend to steer all bugeyes towards looking like one another: whatever’s available, good enough looking, and cheap tends to sell well. So it really gets hard to set your car apart from all the other bugeyes out there. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still get creative:
Enter the Version 3.
I’ve posted Adam (Barnburner from Nasioc)’s car before. The guy’s actually a professional designer so it makes sense that he has one of the most put together cars I’ve ever seen with one-off creations.
The Version 3 lip’s name is the logical derivation of the main difference between the STI version 1 lip (now discontinued) and the version 2 lip (still available): vents or no vents. Adam took the Version 2 lip and molded together the vents to create one large vent per side — giving it a highly aggressive look. The name Version 3 describes the front lip, but really there are a ton of creative things going on here.
The bumper was also customized: shaved of (1) the tow-hook cover, (2) the front license plate mount, and (3) the three vents on either side were shaved down to one elongated vent like the WRX wagon.
The rear combines the smoother looking 2004 rear lips (side portions – 2004 didn’t come with a diffuser) with the center diffuser portion of the 2002-2003 rear lip. Additionally, a custom housing was made for a rear fog light.
Unfortunately, not a week after getting this amazing setup together disaster struck:
At least Adam took it in stride: “I’m 26, 6’4″, and weight approximately 215 pounds. Tonight, I wanted to sit in the rain and cry like a 8-year-old girl. F**k New Jersey.” All kidding aside, Adam’s the man with custom bodywork so don’t be too worried. Worse has happened to Itakichi’s crazy JDM bug, and shows how far the drive to fix something awesome can take a person:
So what do you do if you break an increasingly rare example of this lip?
…you save the pieces
Project: Old School
My 12 year old car passed inspection and had to take the obligatory snapshot. On the way home I passed through my old neighborhood and saw that the only other person in my neighborhood with a WRX in 2002 — a stock midnight black pearl WRX wagon just up the street from me — still had their WRX after nearly 12 years. Really made me want to leave a note… Gotta love that even with the newer car designs to hit the road over the past decade the WRX has really carved itself out as a classic and will always have a place for itself on the street – not unlike some of the older BMW e30, e36 m3, e39 m5 (which didn’t need sky-net shifting for you to put 400 hp to the road and now out-prices a full model year newer e60).
Abstract: Snow Drift
Been hella busy lately and also shooting to retool the site soon, sorry for the lack of updates – hopefully that will be short lived.
For now enjoy this really really old school video which first appeared on the internet around 2002-2003 (I.e. these are practically brand new WRX wagons tearing up a frozen lake back in the day)
Happy winter (or summer to the Aussie bugeyers) : )
Abstract: Zeekay’s Malaysian version 7 STI bugeye
One of my favorite things about trolling the interwebs and finding pics to post on bugeyegarage is finding cars from different areas of the world. I think so far this blog has dotted the globe with monster HP bugeyes in Puerto Rico (U.S. but pretty exotic and amazing stuff), Jspec bugeyes innumerable as they are unbelievable in Japan, several insane Aussie bugeyes, Irish bugeyes, various UK bugeyes, various Canadian bugeyes, Swiss bugs, Taiwanese bugeyes, Hawaiian bugeyes (again U.S. but pretty exotic and amazing JDM builds), Brazilian bugeyes, Antiguan bugeyes, countless USDM bugeyes, and other bugeyes spread across the globe – and certainly more to come.
This bugeye belongs to Zeekay and resides in Malaysia.
As I think these pics exemplify, the Malaysian tuning scene generally tends to be on the wild side (note the crazy yellow Forester and STI). Depending on where you are, this bugeye could look a bit bold for some, but I think the parts actually compliment each other pretty well and certainly one of the most creative builds I’ve seen. Additionally, this car is in Malaysia so you can get away with more and it fits right in. 🙂
Seen here are:
– Varis hood
– 04-05 JDM STI lip with the side parts cut off and installed on an 02-03 bumper + custom front splitter and canards (perhaps Eurou?)
– 04-05 Chargespeed side and rear bottom line kit installed on 02-03 sideskirts and rear bumper AND side/rear JDM STI aero mudguards
– VolkRacing TE37 wheels (presumably)
– STI wing, STI grill, 04-05 taillights on the OEM 02-03 bumper, Jdm rainvisors, factory rear windshield wiper / etc.
Abstract: WRC-Lite
Saw this car come up for sale not too long ago (unsure if it sold) and was thinking about it this past week. Oftentimes you see WRC replicas with the full graphics scheme, but this car takes a different approach: just a few hints of an S7 (bugeye) WRC car here and there but things that aren’t necessarily intuitive when you look at a WRC car, and enough to really catch your eye: WRC style headlights with the high-beam-area ducts, rally fogs, drop in hood vent, Spec C roof vent, WRC extended wing, trunk-pins (because the extended wing and accompanying downforce can’t keep it shut on it’s own :p ). Meanwhile, no widebody or graphics to be found. Some more unusual items like Formula mirrors and Zerosport ducts that somehow don’t look all that out of place. The Rota G-Forces, while Rotas, evoke the wide Prodrive race wheels on the S7.
Just a nice looking street car… but kind of makes me want to swap a twin scroll setup with anti lag, gravel tires, and extreme-travel suspension and hit some trails. : ]
Things that Money Can Buy
Money can buy a lot of things, and presently it can get you this nicely modified S202 currently for sale on GooNet. If you’re lucky, maybe it can even buy you the lawyer you’ll need to work through the legal tangles of actually importing one (unless you live in the UK or other jurisdictions that seem to be much cooler about foreign cars). But it doesn’t take any money to appreciate how ridiculous this car is. Take Subaru’s rare 1 of 400 ever made, 320ps-from-the-factory bugeye, and go to town on it.
Chargespeed full front bumper
Sparco bucket, “because rare black v7 seats aren’t supportive enough for what I’m using it for” and Ganador super mirrors = check.
Ridiculously tall GT wing that probably gets put to *actual* use = check.
That’s a SYMS ’06+ STI bumper (which also fits bugeyes) with integrated diffuser = check.
Factory Brembos are so ’02! The RA-R’s are up to 6-pots, and no reason that this track beast shouldn’t have some ENDLESS 6-pot stoppers under the 17″ s202 wheels made by RAYS wheels = check.
Cockpit designed for a purpose. Lap timer mounted above the steering column = check.
Engine is on the tamer side compared to the Tsukuba-ready exterior, but I’ve noticed that Japanese track builds tend to focus more on things like suspension, brakes, and tires, all tuned meticulously – even obsessive-compulsively – to eek out every last ounce of performance of the car for a given track. It’s really in the U.S. that you see random road cars with GT4088R turbos putting down monstrous HP as more of a common goal. I think I read somewhere once that in Japan the goal is a well tuned engine that is well suited to the circuit or medium in which the car is used, rather than meeting some arbitrary power benchmark on the dyno.
“They say money can’t buy happiness? Well look at the smile on my face… Ear to ear baby!”
Dynasty
I don’t know if you’ve noticed the lengths that I go to (in a mostly non-serious way) to keep non-bugeyes off this blog. Even when discussing a part which fits all the GD WRX models regardless of year. It’s not really that I have anything against the other model years, in fact I kind of dig them at times. It’s just that you can see those cars anywhere, and I think what makes Bugeyegarage special is its focus only on one nichey (albeit awesome) variety of the new age Impreza.
But then again, life is short, and how many times are you going to see all the special S20x model imprezas all lined up together, in order, in one place?
Throughout the years, STI has offered extremely exclusive variants of their top-of-the-line STI models, carrying the name S201 (classic impreza), S202 (bugeye), S203 (blobeye), S204 (hawkeye), and in the newer generation, R205 (GRB hatch), S206 (GVB sedan). These cars are macked out with limited edition parts – ranging from titanium exhausts, matte black dash trim, Recaro seats, bordering-on-exotic treatment suede leather key fobs and manuals, carbon wings, 6-pot brakes, purpose-designed BBS wheels, among a host of other luxury and performance upgrades.
The S201 was the first car to start it all. Granted by todays standard the look was quite boy-racerish, but then again lest we forget that was the style at the time. 🙂 Car was based on the much more boldly-styled STI Elektra One concept.
Next along of course was the S202, a few of which have been featured on bugeyegarage. Characterized by its sonic yellow paint option, front mount oil cooler, CE28N-themed and RAYS-built one-off STI wheels, and carbon wing. Interestingly the first car to break Japan’s post World War II accord to limit cars to 276 PS. The S202 weighed in at 320 PS.
The blob eye years brought the S203. Unlike the earlier S201 and S202, STI this time took a more refined approach, switching out the bronze Rays wheels for silver, almost European-style one-off BBS wheels in ‘diamond black’ and similar in appearance to BBS RE’s. The interior brought suede trim options and Recaros that would look equally in place in a 996 (at the time) Porsche Carrera. Touring style wing.
Not too many changes for the S204 model but bringing the S20x line to the hawkeyes. STI parted ways with the (possibly considered less sophisticated?) metal wing-mounts in favor of a solid one-piece wing design.
You can begin to see the transgression of the S20x line from boy-racerish to sport-luxury through the spoilers.
Matching vanity license plates makes me wonder if they aren’t all under single ownership (whether factory or private individual), making this an outstanding collection of the s20x line in their iconic colors (s202 was the first to offer sonic yellow, s203 – san remo red).
The newer generation has sine brought a resurgence of race-inspired looks to the S20x line.
R205 (right) and S206 (left)… The R205 still maintained some of the civility of the later generation S203 and S204, but the S206 brought it back to racing with a carbon roof, tall touring wing, and louvered fenders. Interestingly since STI left the WRC in 2008 (I would have to gather that WRC-dominance by three-doors was the principle reason for making the STI a hatch in 2007), the focus of the S206 line has shifted to its Nürburgring-focused Subaru factory touring car entry.
Note: R205 license plate… it doesn’t stop! Amazing collection of cars.
For more fun – s202, s203, and s204 meet and drive in Japan
and now back to bugeyes…
Abstract: So there’s that
Have you seen Adrian’s 828 horsepower bugeye tuned by Jr. ?
I try and not repost current stuff from the bugeye thread on Nasioc because it’s duplicative, and try and vary content sources, but then there’s that crazy, definitive post which just needs immediate republication all over the interwebs.
Everyone outside of Puerto Rico knows that Junior builds the baddest bugs : )
Parts bin: Mystery revealed
Awhile ago I posted up this mystery hood:
Came across this pic the other night on Minkara described as “unknown hood” by the owner of the car… Never seen it ever before anywhere but I love/want it (painted though)
The front vent reminds me of the Kaminari reverse cowl hood for Bugeyes though it clearly isn’t (this hood has an integrated scoop for one)… or a Firstmolding hood for blobeyes.
…also reminds me of something you’d find on a Skyline GT-R from Top Secret
Has anyone seen this bugeye hood before / know the manufacturer?
I’ve come across a few more examples of it since…
edit: Updated for pics (never mind the lambo doors >.< )
It turns out that it’s a ‘Shift Sport’ hood which can be had right here. Unfortunately, like all JDM carbon goodies it retails at over $1,000 (plus shipping and wait times) 😐
Still pretty neat with the integrated scoop and vent. Definitely reminiscent of the TS2001 GT-R hood. I definitely have never seen a car with it outside of Japan.
Abstract: Not a billet grill
Just a FMIC the size of a small refrigerator on this STI-swapped Bugeye 2.5RS. Also love the dedication to the C-West brand: CWest v2 front bumper, Cwest sideskirts, CWest rear lip, CWest hood, and CWest v1 grill. Set off nicely with some rally touches UK300 headlights, WRC mirrors, and RA roof vent . The intake manifold is an older high-grade Magnus piece set up for short FMIC piping, not the cheap ebay manifolds. Epic performance build by dangerousatom on Nasioc.
> for more <
M-Sport by Dee.
LOVE this bugeye from Dee hailing from Japan with a full blown M-Sport wide body kit. M-Sport is the kit that made its debut on the Team Orange hawk eye and blobeye drift cars. It looks seriously cool on blobeyes. But unfortunately M-Sport kits aren’t even made for the bugeye, joining the ranks of Impreza parts manufacturers who neglected the poor bugeye. But as the only material differences between the bug-blob-hawk eyes over the years has largely been the front facia and rear facias – this guy made it work. (specifically by using a WRC replica front bumper to compliment the front – thing looks meaner than the M-Sport front actually!)
Work 11R** wheels and money-brand Endless calipers.
Gorgeous, gorgeous WRX…
Abstract: Neon Lights
Stunning long-exposure photography and stunning V7 JDM STI engine swapped bugeye, complimented by Seattle’s nightlife and a Do Luck trunk (with ‘Aloha’ badge nod to the 808 state)
photo and car via 808_Subie (and sv&co media group | sveeonline.com)
Parts Bin: Prodrive STi Grill
I’ve always been more into the regular JDM STI grill, because of the more rounded 3d appearance, but this rare Prodrive UK piece is one of the few grills that makes me rethink that. It’s part of a 3-piece grill set that can use the stock side-pieces (or any other side piece that permits a factory-sized center grill piece). Pretty hard to top, rarer than the STI grill, comes factory from Subaru on the STI-Prodrive model, and as shown here flows magnificently with the Aqua reverse Hoodscoop and STI version 2 lip. Add some SSR Professor SP1 and you’re ready to roll – in true ‘Panda style.’
via v2lab
Learn Chinese
Came across a cache of pics from this older bugeye build from New York. The owner, Mr. Jin, took an interesting approach that balances JDM style, incorporating a diverse assortment of incredibly rare parts, with WRC Rally style (itself a JDM style in a way, as there are scores of Imprezas in Japan done up as WRC replicas). Some of the best looking bugeye builds are those that don’t follow the strict “rally replica” look, but instead improvise along the way.
The rally graphics and gold was one of the later iterations of the car, and I was more of a fan of the subdued bronze/stickerless look (last pic), but admittedly this car is absolutely wild in any form.
Abstract: Fear No Evo
Been a busy few months but did make it to a ‘Dinosaur theme’ party a few weeks back at a friends party with a bunch of ‘car people.’ This was my entry for a one-off t-shirt. : P (And yes, Gojirra counted as a Dinosaur for one night)
front
back
BUGEYE GARAGE 
