AUTO `BLING' DESIGNER TURNS ORDINARY INTO EXTRAORDINARY.Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer CANYON COUNTRY - It's ``Pimp In feudal England, a type of tenure by which a tenant was permitted to use real property that belonged to a lord in exchange for the performance of some service, such as providing young women for the use and pleasure of the lord. My Ride'' meets the ``Heartbeat of America.'' James Lupold and his crew are laboring to apply ``bling'' to such plain-vanilla American autos as the Chevrolet Cobalt The Chevrolet Cobalt is a compact car introduced by Chevrolet in 2004 for the 2005 model year. The Cobalt replaced the Cavalier as Chevrolet's compact car. The Cobalt is intended to compete with compact cars like the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Mazda 3. and Saturn Ion The Saturn ION was a compact car sold by the Saturn marque of American automaker General Motors. It used the GM Delta platform. The ION replaced the Saturn S-Series in 2003. As of 2006, the ION was the longest compact car sold in North America. . ``This in the Midwest is what the Honda Civic The Honda Civic is a compact car manufactured by Honda. It was introduced in July 1972 as a two-door coupe, followed by a three-door hatchback version that September. With the transverse engine placement of its 1169 cc engine and front-wheel drive, like the British Mini, the is here,'' Lupold said of a Chevrolet Cobalt compact disassembled at his Canyon Country shop. Lupold is the owner of Gravana Tuning, an aftermarket auto accessories design house working exclusively on General Motors Corp. vehicles. Besides the Ion and the Cobalt, the year-old company was recently tapped by the automaker to develop performance gear for the 2006 Pontiac Solstice The Pontiac Solstice is a roadster from the Pontiac division of General Motors. Introduced at the 2004 North American International Auto Show, the Solstice began production in Wilmington, Delaware, starting in mid-2005 for the 2006 model year. roadster. By the time they're done, drivers will think they're rolling in a Porsche, Lupold said. ``Anybody can put a bunch of parts in a car and put it in a show,'' he said. ``For us, it's identifying the niche - for us it's GM - and understanding what the buyer wants.'' Customizing cars - especially Japanese imports - has gone mainstream in recent years. Between 2002 and 2004, the U.S. market for specialty auto equipment and services grew from $237.4 billion to $254 billion, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association, a Maryland-based trade group. But the market for custom domestic car accessories remains under- served. That's where Lupold said he saw opportunity to build a company. He called it a ``Jerry Maguire'' moment. ``It's not rocket science rocket science n. 1. Rocketry. 2. Informal An endeavor requiring great intelligence or technical ability. ,'' he said. ``It's having the passion to do it, and to do it right. ``I like the idea of touching lives. A lot of people are defined by the vehicles they drive, whether it's the wheels or just the floor mats.'' Lupold, 36, has been working with cars since age 13, when his father put him to work at the family gas station's garage. After a detour into personal watercraft personal watercraft n. 1. A motorized recreational water vehicle normally ridden by straddling a seat. 2. (used with a pl. verb) Such water vehicles considered as a group. racing, he went to work in the growing aftermarket parts business before striking out on his own. The market is divided between aesthetics - people who want their cars to look fast - and performance, Lupold said, and success means striking the right mix of both. ``We'll start drawing on it here and there - how low that side skirt could be,'' he said, pointing at pencil marks for air vents and other design touches on the black-and-white draft. ``This looks ugly and rough, but when we talk about it, we know what it's going to look like.'' Lupold remains bullish despite the world's largest automaker's precarious financial position - the company came off a dismal first quarter in which it lost $839 million, or $1.48 per share. Sales have spiked in recent months as GM offered the company's employee discount - between 3 percent and 4 percent under dealer invoice - to the general public. ``I don't really stay up at night worrying about if GM can pay off their health care,'' Lupold said. ``What I lose sleep over is not taking opportunities that come along.'' Eugene Tong, (661) 257-5253 eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) James Lupold, president of Gravana Tuning in tuning in, v process in which a therapeutic touch practitioner centers himself or herself so as to be aligned with or “in tune” with a healing energy “frequency,” so that the patient may choose to join the practitioner (tune Santa Clarita, holds one of his replacement front ends for a new Pontaic. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion