Enter the Dragon: VIP Majesta
Riding low

The stance movement is a curious one. We all know the Japanese are masters of making cars sit just right, expressing this style in a variety of ways, some more extreme than others, some challenging the borderline between functional and not so functional. And with the first ever Stance Nation show in Japan just having passed, I thought now would be the perfect time to keep that style in mind. And what better way than to ruffle a few feathers than to introduce another cool project from Bee Dragon…

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… a VIP shop out in the Gifu countryside that we know very well here at Speedhunters. Call it one of the extreme interpretations of ‘stance'; bippu does come in a lot of flavors but what Imamura-san has created with his interpretation of it all, has really helped push the boundaries of what is accepted over the last couple of years.

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One of his last creations has been built for a rather demanding customer that requested his S150 Crown Majesta be given the complete treatment, including a custom color which they mixed up especially for this project and aptly named Yankee Brown. But while for a lot of us making a car sit just right simply takes a subtle lowering of the suspension and an accompanying selection of wheels with the right sort of offset, for Imamura-san at Bee Dragon, it represents a slightly bigger challenge. First of all he needs to know just how extreme the customer wants his car to sit, which decides the relationship between the rim, the tire and the fender throughout the whole range of damper compression. Tayazuri is what this particular customer demanded…

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… and that pretty much means to go the whole way. Bee Dragon’s interpretation of tayazuri, or when the sidewall of the tire sits flush with the fender, is what has set them apart from other VIP shops, fusing the sporty look of blistered fenders with a healthy dose of negative camber.

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Fender-pumping is done the old fashioned way here. There are no FRP add-ons, there is no corner-cutting; the front and rear fenders are cut and bashed into shape and onto them a metal extension welded on. From there more work follows with a good old hammer, shaping the flares into a constant radius curvature that ends up meeting with the custom flaring on the bumpers and side skirts.

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Dare I say the finished job makes it look like it’s an easy task to undertake but there is lot to be taken into consideration before even starting. Wheel size and offset need to be fixed as does tire size and side-wall-stretch. Ride height and negative camber also need to be considered, all to guarantee that everything sits just right…

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… not only when the car is stationary, but also when it’s being driven. Tolerances are pretty tight – they have to be – much like a RWB Porsche, the car needs to be driven around and there must be very little to no rubbing.

Bee Dragon-certified
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With the fenders finished up, it’s on to the aero and for this metallic brown Majesta it was decided to stick to the tried and tested K-Break complete package, which includes the front and rear bumpers as well as the vented side skirts.

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To get the squat looking precisely right, the Majesta rides on K-Break adjustable suspension which has been mated to Bee Dragon adjustable arms all around allowing for the must-have onikyan. 

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Tayazuri at its best right there! The rear 275/35ZR18 Toyo Proxes are stretched over custom-painted 13×18″ Veilside Andrew Dish rims sporting a +4 offset and fitted onto a 40mm hub extension. The suspension is obviously set close to rock-hard but the little compression that occurs over bumps allows the wheel/tire combo to swing into the fender well with no rubbing whatsoever. The 10-inch wide front wheels obviously have a bit more work to do, so not to create an uncomfortable steering feel negative camber is set a little flatter and only a 15 mm spacer used, allowing the 225/40ZR18 Toyo plenty of space to move around in.

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Pumping guards requires a corresponding widening across the whole fender and of course the rear doors too. See what I mean? This takes some time to get right!

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While the 1UZ that powers the car has been left in its stock configuration – after all VIP has never been about the power – its acoustics have been spiced up with an Aimgain exhaust system and a few straight sections that turn the smooth creamy V8…

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… into quite the menacing screamer! So with looks and an intimidating VIP-like sound, it was the interior that needed some much needed yankee-ness injected into it.

Shocking pink
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Nothing the custom pink and purple upholstering couldn’t take care of!

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With the whole idea about creating an extreme bippu car centered around shocking and making people look, the owner wanted to extend these qualities to the Crown’s comfortable cabin. Every plastic surface, the dash, the center console…

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… the door cards – they have all been clad in a pink suede, highlighted with purple inserts here and there to serve as an equally retina-challenging contrast.

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Spicing things up further is the substantial amount of audio and visual equipment that has been fitted, starting off with a main large LCD panel for the navigation and DVD monitor and moving onto a series of tiny little LCD screens on the passenger side of the dashboard, the sun visors…

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… and no fewer than 22 screens on the parcel shelf. If getting some attention was the goal here, it’s safe to say it’s been thoroughly achieved! An array of Alpine speakers and subs followed to complete the install.

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No matter what scene you may be into, a Speedhunters sticker is always a must!

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Seeing the Majesta rolling around on the streets of Gifu is an experience all its own. Pedestrians and those inside passing cars look and stare at the loud luxury sedan a couple of centimeters off the ground, zigzagging left and right to avoid road imperfection that wouldn’t even be noticeable if driven over with any other type of car. VIP might not be everyone’s cup of tea but for some Japanese, it’s a way of life. ‘Form over function’ is a debate they really couldn’t care about – they just do what they like and don’t care what anyone thinks – and I’m sure most of the people that were at the Stance Nation event at Fuji Speedway feel exactly the same way!

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42 comments

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1

Love it...except the interior ;) VIP style is awesome !

2

I usually love theses style of cars, but i think I'm gonna be sick..........

3

Terrific car, but what exactly does one use 22 tiny LCD screens on the parcel shelf for?

4

sexy keith  you've never been to Japan have you? IT never has to make sense :P

5

Viva la VIP!

6

Bee Dragon just knows how to do it. The door jams look beautiful!! Might not be my favorite interior colors but it does grab your attention and shows how much work needs to be done to stand out. At Bee Dragon, they are very good at standing out.
If possible some suspension shots would be much appreciated, I want to see those camber arms!

7

Not at all my style, but I can appreciate the work that goes into doing this "right" and creating something extreme, whatever that may be. Much respect to anyone that will cope with driving this around on the streets. I know roads are smoother in Japan, but driveways and speedbumps must make driving this quite the chore.  Not exactly my color preference, but the interior is amazing, I was wondering what those little black squares were!
What does one do with a 2 inch screen anyhow, seems like an odd way of getting the multimedia quota satisfied. Now if you were to build in large screens that lay flat on the rear deck, so that they are invisible unless you look through the rear window, that would be useless in another new and interesting way ;) lol

8

Never a fan of stance, but tayazuri is hotness.

9

IMHO, Bee Dragon's red Majesta is still hotter than this one though :)

10

definitely a cool car ... but something about all the BEE DRAGON cars featured just makes them seem unfinished. this one is better than that celsior with a stock interior but it still looks like its missing something.
and unfinished door jambs ... thats amateur hour stuff ...

11

loved it right until the pink interior. that was kinda gross. like that bentley from the geneva auto show a few years ago...

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/mansory-bentley-vitesse-rose/#photo-332626/

13

Mixed opinions in these comments = tayazuri is a success.
I think the incorporation of a finish other than the present chrome (like the Studebaker at SEMA) would add a tiny bit more of detail. Even then, I'm still feeling this car.

14

Not a big fan of demon camber, but I like what they did to the body. The modification is so clean. And oh, that pink is great too. :D

15

its so pink inside!!! i like the rootbeer color of the car. i love the body work. hey dino u need to get some night pics of these cars with their tuned LED's!

16

walshatron sexy keith probably for watching jpop idols / music videos. what i wonder is if he's got them all tuned to 1 video output or can he have different channels on every screen.

17

That interior is amazing! I didn't realise that those little squares were screens!

18

if he complains of a migraine...we'll know what caused it.
sexy stance though!

19

Each to their own. Wouldn't catch me dead in this, but has a great level of finish non-the-less.

20

Like the suede interior..maybe not in Barbie Pink for me.

21

Why is this garbage on Speedhunters?

22

where does one buy Yankee brown? such a great colour

23

d_rav walshatron sexy keith  maybe he has then set up as an array each displaying a small section of one video feed?

24

Sh0velMan are u new?  ill take real jap vip over a cali VW any day.  This the style that started all the hellaflush style.  Sorry for any English.

25

sexy keith "Hater vision" can play gay porn or strobing neon colours or other disruptive footage for tailgaters

26
speedhunters_dino

Jake d It's a custom Bee Dragon mix :)

27
speedhunters_dino

koko san LOL

28
speedhunters_dino

Taryn Croucher Nuts right?

29
speedhunters_dino

d_rav Noted :)

30
speedhunters_dino

shiftyXTI To show off? That's half of what VIP is all about after all :)

31
speedhunters_dino

TomKimmell It's a bit of a secret thing...

32
speedhunters_dino

walshatron sexy keith  Yep...since when does stuff have to make sense lol

33
speedhunters_dino

@sifrits Unfinished?

34

JakWhite This is exactly what I can say. The finish and craftmanship going into this is amazing, kudos to the shop that put it all together. But I wouldn't do that to my car in a million years...

35

@turbo BEAMS ae86 Sh0velMan This. I may not like any form of stance, but I can appreciate stance that has REAL WORK put into it, not this 18x9 rollerz on 195/30/18 tires, Racelands, slam, camber, show bullshit.

36

Although I'm not crazy about having the craziest audio/interior equipment, I still love this car. The brown exterior gives the car a pretty sedate/menacing look, but the pink/purple interior just pops out at you and really surprises you. Well done.

37

speedhunters_dino TomKimmell Fair enough! But dog on it, I am so interested!!

38

ewwww no, just no

39

excuse my plainness but thats rather fugly overdone poo

40

This may be my fave VIP car so far. Love the colour - INCLUDING the interior, for some reason. I'll have to ask my shrink about that.
I can't help but wonder tho… If the front wheels were adjusted to have like 1 or .5 degree less camber… and the rears were adjusted to match… maybe, just maybe this car could be drifted - on a brand new, and not very hilly, track, naturally :) …and wouldn't THAT be cool!?

41

Anyone notice the bridge background was also used as inspiration in one of the stages in Street Fighter 4?

42

It looks like they murdered the cast of "Barney and Friends" to upholster this car!  That said, even when a car isn't "my style", I can appreciate the dedication and craftsmanship that goes into a well done custom car of any sort. I think the paint is gorgeous and I really admire the amount of work he put into doing fender flares properly, in metal. That's not an easy task by any stretch! Someday I'd like to build a VIP style car, except living with the potholes and speedbumps in Washington D.C. means the suspension would have to be a lot less extreme! Also, as much as I love cars with ridiculous camber, I don't like the idea of replacing expensive tires every few weeks!

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