Join John Fortuno aka Fatchance and Lou Gasevski, Exterior Designer for the 2011 Chrysler 300, as they take you through the process of building the ideal vehicle.
Registration Open for 2012
Join John Fortuno aka Fatchance and Lou Gasevski, Exterior Designer for the 2011 Chrysler 300, as they take you through the process of building the ideal vehicle.
Do you know fatchance? Get to know the man behind the most popular modified Chrysler 300c on the planet, John Fortuno, as he tells all about his love for both vehicle customization and his ride. See the wonders he has done with the Chrysler 300c.
Since its completion in August 2009, Jay Lightner’s 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 has garnered over a dozen awards. It’s been recognized for everything from the sick sound system (Winner, DUB Best Dodge & Best Audio, 2009) to its flawlessly executed custom paint job (semi-finalist, SEMA Mother’s Shine Award 2009), but nothing means quite as much to Jay as this newest accolade. Explained Jay, “The car has now won 12 Best of Shows…When the maker of the car gives you recognition that is something you have to appreciate.”
Although his humility in the face of his numerous awards is admirable, don’t let it fool you – this car is every bit as deserving as you might suspect. Everything from stem to stern was painstakingly custom crafted, right down to the hand-stitched leather. Many, many different hands were involved in building Jay’s vehicle, but you couldn’t tell from the seamless, impeccable craftsmanship. The body itself was modified by LA-area specialist Topo Villafana and is actually the first full metal wide-body “suicide” Charger to be created, replete with 4.5” wide custom front fenders. The slick paint job was mixed, poured, and applied by Lucky 7 Customs in Antioch, California and the perfectly-matched 3-piece rims were specially forged by US Wheels. Inside, the black-on-burnt-orange theme is continued with a unique pattern designed by Jay’s wife, Alicia, and brought to life by Oakley, California-based shop, Tony’s Upholstery.
Beneath the custom hood liner, the snarling 6.1-liter HEMI® received a blindingly bright make-over, including polished Inertia heads, Super Spartan cam, polished Airhammer intake, one-off power steering tank, one-off Coolant tank, and a color-matched engine brace. A Diablo Predator tune and Megan coil-overs round-out the performance upgrades while Billet Technology badges tie the fearsome theme together.
Hit the jump to check out more pics of the masterpiece and be sure to leave some love for Jay!
Want more? Hit up the Dodge Autos’ official Spring Fest 5 photo stream on Flickr.
Chrysler 300 doing what they do best at the Spring Festival of LXs
On Saturday March 20th, the 2010 Spring Festival of LX successfully celebrated its largest turn-out to date since its official inception 5 years ago, tallying about 600 people and 594 cars. When compared to other national car shows, the numbers may not seem outrageous, but when you consider the fact that the platform the event is centered around has only been in existence for 5 years, the head [gasket] count becomes staggering. A long way from its humble beginnings in the vacant lot behind a SoCal strip mall, Spring Fest has become a massive movement within the LX community that even Spring Fest founder John Fortuno aka FatChance (@1fatchance), himself is amazed by. “That’s one thing you can say about this community,” FatChance remarked, “It doesn’t matter what they do [or] what they drive, they are hardcore.”
FatChance went on to credit this year’s sizable crowd to the entirely grassroots movement behind Spring Fest’s promotion. By relying entirely on word-of-mouth, Spring Fest is able to generate an enthusiasm that is sometimes lost by the bigger, more traditional car shows. As a matter of fact, FatChance is certain that if Spring Fest were anything other than a homegrown operation, it’d lose steam quickly. With the more formal events, it becomes more about showmanship and less about camaraderie – which is exactly what FatChance and the LX community as a whole hope to avoid. “If I tell the owners ‘Oh we’re having a car show’ I guarantee you this thing would crumble down to zero because these folks – they don’t care about that. They just want to go out and see what’s going on…and mingle with [a] community of proud owners.”
Amongst those proud owners were Anthony Carter, Pedro Murillo, and Travis Copenhaver, who we (and hopefully you) were following all throughout the event. Hailing from various parts of the beautiful U.S., the trio of LX fans mirrored FatChance’s enthusiasm for Spring Fest. Tweeted Murillo, “So many cars, so many mods, so many people & a ton of Chrysler/Dodge reps. SF2010 knocked it out of the park. If your not here… ” In case you missed their exclusive coverage of SF5, you can still check out their entertaining tweets by following @1sikmag (Copenhaver), @ezcorpion (Murillo), and @LXandBeyondNats (Carter).
On the whole, this year’s Spring Fest was more than successful in achieving FatChance’s objective of bringing a far-flung “family” together, as evidenced by the striking photos we were able to snap. Hit the jump to check out what you missed, and if you’re the proud owner of a Chrysler 300C, Dodge Magnum, Dodge Charger, or Dodge Challenger, be sure to mark Spring Fest 6 on your calendar next year so you can witness all of the deafening engine mods and dazzling custom paint jobs firsthand.
For more photos, check out Dodge Autos’ official Spring Fest 5 Flickr feed.
Fans, enthusiasts and owners of LX-based vehicles gathered in irvine, CA on 3/20/10 for the 2010 Festival of LX’s. The LX platform is the basic architecture for the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, Dodge Challenger and Dodge Magnum (now out of production).
Good way to find out who else in your area or state is thinking about attending the event is to get those caravan threads started. Its never too early to start planning even if you don’t have the specific route and time yet. Really good idea too for sponsors that have shops in the cities that caravans pass thru.
Ontario, Canada to Salem, OHIO – Lead Contact: CDNChargerRT
Ontario, Canada to Salem, OHIO – Lead Contact: CDNChargerRT
California to Salem, OHIO – Lead Contact: stitchmonkey
LxReJx to Salem, OHIO – Lead Contact: AndrewWK
Columbus, OHIO to Salem, OHIO – Lead Contact: ytown87
Northeast/Mid-Atlantic to Salem, OHIO – Lead Contact: pjs1965
Northeast/Mid-Atlantic to Salem, OHIO – Lead Contact: pjs1965
LXoM to Salem, OHIO – Lead Contact: BadazBee-423
Southeast to Salem, OHIO – Lead Contact: BaadRT
Maybe a caravan is coming through your town/city or you find out you are not the only one in your area interested in going. Start planning today!!!
Here are some other ideas:
I-71N Caravan: Louisville > Cincinnati > Columbus > Salem
I-70E Caravan: Illinois > Indiana > Dayton > Columbus > Salem
I-90E Caravan: Indiana > Toledo > Cleveland > Salem
I-90W Caravan: New York > Cleveland > Salem
I-80W Caravan: New Jersey > Pensylvania > Salem
I-75N Caravan: Florida > Georgia > Tennessee > Kentucky > Cincinnati > Columbus > Salem
Be Safe, Obey The Speed Limits and See Everyone Soon!!!
