Photos by RJ Deslate, Words by Alvin Thai

I’d first like to start by apologizing to Team Arkan, our readers, and my fellow CXH members for lagging on these features. I’m caught up in a lot of stuff right now, falling behind in school, and other things that I won’t get into. But before I went to bed tonight I had to clear my mind a bit with some nice writing and car blogging. It’s kind of funny how most people I know (including myself) dread writing material like it’s an impossible 25 page essay. The truth is though, once I start these pages it brings me a sort of peace of mind and fullfilment that I am doing what I love and pursuing one of my many passions. That’s what life all about isn’t it? PASSION, without this what would life be?

Passion, is what drives us into doing great things. Whether it’s becoming the ultimate athlete, singing your heart out, or building a magnificent car, passion is what we live for. It is with this passion that what lay before you today is possible. This team definately has a lot of passion for cars. Just look at this Evo X below, it doesn’t look like it was built overnight with last minute decisions and mickey mouse craftsmenship. It screams an essence of unity and quality.

My first glimpse of Albert’s car started with his engine bay. When he first opened his hood I was immediately drawn to it like beacon of light to a common house fly. The pictures simply do not do justice for this engine bay. I only wish you may one day experience it for yourself. There is a lot going on in here, not just brand name Tomei parts and matching valve cover. But also the finer details, like a carbon-fiber wrapped fuse box cover.

While I did not get a chance to really meet Albert the day of the shoot, he seemed like a pretty cool guy. He stated to have been into cars ever since he immigrated to the states from the Philipines and his passion has led him to where most of us can only dream. That dream is a full feature in Import-Tuner magazine! It’s a real honor to have had the chance to shoot this car before the bigger guys did. But unfortunately, Import-Tuner released its feature before I got a chance to.

Either way, I’m happy for Albert and his Import-Tuner feature. Take a look around at these pictures and you can see how it got there. No detail was missed in this Evo X. When your eye meets the bronze colored Volk Te-37s they sink inward following the concave design into the Brembo big brake kit. Your eye then rests on a neutral silver brake disc until it pops onto the red calipers exploding over the red paint down the canards and lip. But wait, those aren’t simply canards and lips, they’re made of carbon fiber blending into the hood of the car all the while matching the grills and the interior as well as the engine bay. It’s a well composed composition that make this a magazine worthy car.

While Albert and I share a common passion for cars, one of my other passions include writing. When I first started writing for CarsXHype I thought nothing of it. Just an outlet of opportunity to get more involved in the car scene. But now, I see it as much more than that. CarsXHype has led me to meeting many good friends and people like Team är-kªn’. In fact our photographer RJ Deslate and I are their newest probationary members! This was never planned, but I guess it’s true what they say “Follow your passion and good things will come.”

I’m sure many of you readers out there are just like me. We go on the web all day and look at car porn. Researching different makes and models, different turbo sizes, different tires, wheels, lips, paint colors, stance set ups, and potential projects. While the rest of the world may not understand our expensive hobby we see it as something more as a culture and lifestyle. It’s our passion and it’s what we live for. While our friends are out drinking and partying we go to car meets, race tracks, and drift shows to have a party in our own style. Every meet has it’s popular kids, regular attendees, drama starters, and the ones that ruin it for everyone (ricers) just like a regular party does. Only ours is filled with cars as our avatars of the road. Ever thought about that? When we how up to a meet our car becomes our identity and expression that the world sees. I thought it was funny how after the movie Avatar came out everyone wished they had their own cool blue machine to hop inside and control when really they’ve been inside one everyday.

So I hope you take your passions with you as well and build your cars with blood, sweat, and tears to accomplish your goals. Who knows? One day it may be your very own car I write about on CarsXHype.com. But for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this and the starring at the pictures of Albert’s magazine worthy Evo X. Please enjoy the rest of the interior, engine, and rolling shots below.

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Team är-kªn’:

1. Prologue
2. Childhood Dreams
3. Preston Olsen