Super Star Leon Hardiritt Bugel // DSG Performance

[Jason@DSG]

Super Star Leon Hardiritt Bugel // DSG Performance

We caught up with our awesome customer Allen Castillo @saiyajinimports who recently put some beautiful shoes on his Rocket Bunny twin and did a quick interview with him. We had been approached by Weds Wheels earlier this year (the main importer for LH) to find someone in the FRS/BRZ world to run these wheels.

We've been doing this a while and every so often, we come across a customer that wants to have something unique, something that you'll double take when passing by it because it's that rare. Very few people embody that trait more than Allen Castillo. Allen came to us to get on-board with this project to compliment his amazing Itasha wrapped car. What follows is our interview with the man of the hour!





DSG: Your car is very unique, Itasha is something you don't see often in NA. How did you first get into it?

Allen Castillo: Oh definitely not, Itasha is very much a Japanese thing and is very seldom seen here in the US. I would say there are only 20+ active guys here in the states that are doing Itasha cars and are doing it big. I'm the only guy here in Chicago doing it, there are a few guys in Florida, a few guys down in Texas, and a few guys in California that I know that are doing it as well. I'm a big time anime fan boy and have been for 25+ years. Ever since i got into cars back in the early 90's i've always had this idea of putting anime graphics on my cars i just thought it would be cool to have Dragonball Z, Gundam, etc. on my cars. But back in the 90's the lack of cash and the lack of places to actually get that kinda thing done kept that dream in check. Honestly I didn't even know that Itasha was a thing until around 2005 when i stumbled upon an Itasha magazine at my local Japanese market. i was shocked to see all the Itasha cars and all the various designs guys out in Japan were doing.

So after seeing that I decided it was time to finally start my own Itasha car and that was my 1995 Toyota Supra. My first Itasha wrap was of my current favorite anime series High School of the Dead, then after that was a series called Freezing, then finally a series called Ikki Tousen. The FRS was originally bought as a daily driver, but soon i decided to hell with that i had to modify it and finally do a wrap on this one. So i decided on doing a Rocket Bunny Wide Body Kit Version 1 with a Version Select lip kit and Rocket Bunny Version 2 Spoiler. Suspension is AirLift V2. The wrap for this car is Super Sonico.

Itasha for me is definitely something that is not a fad or something i do for attention even though it definitely gets me and the car lots of it. I'm a legit otaku (anime fanboy) I've been involved in the anime convention scene for over 17 years working and going to conventions all over the country and bringing my itasha cars to these events for all to see. Itasha allows me to bring my love anime to my love of cars. I get the best of both worlds.



DSG: Now that we've got the amazing Leon Hardiritt Bugels and Rocket Bunny fenders on your ride (one of the first sets of Bugels on a Twin in the world I might add), what are the next plans for the car?

A.C: Well the next things I wanna get for the car will be Bride Brix II seats which I should be getting in the next month then it will definitely be some power adders either a Greddy Turbo Kit or a supercharger kit of some kind. I'm not 100% sure exactly what I wanna do, but power is definitely next. Then of course thinking of the next set of graphics for the car. Its always nice to be able to change the look of the car every year with a whole set of graphics. I have a lot of anime/manga that i really like and definitely wanna push the envelope of what people see in terms of Itasha cars here in the states.

Rocket Bunny Fenders Shown In Pics, Wheel Specs:

Front -- Superstar Leon Hardiritt Bugel 19x9.5 -- Polished Silver with Classic Rivets/Classic Center Caps

Rear -- Superstar Leon Hardiritt Bugel 19x10.5 -- Polished Silver with Classic Rivets/Classic Center Caps

[Clipdat]

I didn't even know cars w/ anime wraps were called "Itasha" cars. Learned something new today!

[saiyajinimports]

Thanks for the write up.

[Jason@DSG]

Originally Posted by saiyajinimports

Thanks for the write up.

My pleasure! Can't wait to see the next phase in the build

[hamlet]

I wonder when we're going to start hearing complaints about anime and objectification of cartoon girls

[thatWESguy]

Love the Bugels, had a set on my Lexus back in the day.

[Jason@DSG]

Originally Posted by hamlet

I wonder when we're going to start hearing complaints about anime and objectification of cartoon girls

I'm sure it already has begun haha