09/28/2010—This weekend, a repainted Lexus LFA made its debut in Glendale, California.
Here’s the back story: With the SEMA aftermarket auto show coming up in November, the time had come to give the North American LFA prototype a new look, inside and out, for the 100,000 expected SEMA attendees. (You’ve probably seen this LFA already: it’s the exact same car that shattered a wine glass in the now-famous TV commercial earlier this year.)
The work itself was carried out by B.A.D. Company (aka the Big American Dream Company) this September. B.A.D. Company is a Los Angeles-based shop that specializes in custom work for Hollywood, and these are the guys who build some of the crazy custom vehicles you see at car shows, as well as prep Lexus vehicles for TV shows like Entourage and The Apprentice.
Lexus basically gave B.A.D. Company 10 days to transform the LFA’s exterior from white (actually Starfire Pearl) to a darker color, and while they were at it, recover the seats in fresh, semi-aniline leather. This may not seem like a lot of work, but when you’re talking about a high-tech supercar, removing the seats for upholstery work and repainting carbon fiber surfaces are a big deal.
Nevertheless, these guys got the job done. As our photographer notes: “When I got here the first day at 7 a.m., this was a white car. By 8:30 a.m., it was stripped down, masked off, and they were prepping for paint. If I’d been late, I’d have missed it.”
Fortunately, he didn’t miss it, and neither will you, even if you don’t get to SEMA. In a few weeks, we’ll show how B.A.D. Company transformed the LFA—trust us, it’s a good story.
