If money weren't an issue, I'd bet my rare collection of sealed vanilla-flavored dipped Yan Yan snacks from 1998, that we'd all have at least one Toyota Supra parked inside our garages, along with a Nissan Skyline, an Acura NSX, a Mitsubishi Evo and a "Uni-Market 5" Donny Baknot-custom made Jeepney that holds 16 passengers. And nestled in between these rides would be a couple of sick Honda Ruckus scooters and Babylonian stack of A Bathing Ape shoe boxes filled with beautifully colored BAPE-stas that would be donated to the Goodwill because they're "sooo Fall 2008."
But since money is an issue, as evidenced by my recent binge of the rare Yan Yan snack collection, because I was too poor to even buy myself a five-dollar foot long, having a garage like that is just a mere fantasy dream, while we lumber through our meaningless jobs, making our measly minimum wage and patiently wait for Barry Obama to give us a much-needed handout.
The lack of funds in the wallets seems to be a part of the current state of many tuners in America, and it seems to be the main reason why the Sport of Hatin' is on an astronomical rise, reaching levels unseen since Tom Jones began wearing tight pants that revealed the enormity of his man package in the mid `70s. It's also the main reason why we're probably gonna start hatin' on Craig Mechelke. Not because he's punctual, has all his teeth, and can read and write above the 10th grade level, but because he owns one of the most complete -- from top to bottom, from inside and out -- Toyota Supras in the nation. And to put the proverbial cherry on top, Craig's daily grind involves the handling of and fingering of many vaginas, and I don't mean that in any offensive way whatsoever. See, Craig is a doctor of wizard sleeves, also known as gynecology, where seeing the female form is on the daily occurrence. So take off your "Freelance Gynecologist" ironic T-shirt, pull out a pen and paper and take notes. You may still have a chance to be like Craig, but if not, you can at least list out all the other reasons why you would hate on this guy.
"I wanted to build the baddest street Supra in the world," Craig says, "A car that can not only compete in the performance scene, but can also bring home trophies in the show circuit. I also did not want an off-the-shelf bolt-on looking car, either." So his first task was to differentiate the look of his Supra from the countless Supras that not only graced these pages, but also the many that have toured the world, been featured in movies and raced around many famous tracks. So he began a search for an exterior look that needed to be original as well as functional. He took his car to several body shops around the Gilbert, Arizona area only to be disappointed. He finally ended up inside Highline Finishes, the body shop division of IntensePower and received a concept design that was custom and practical.
Highline Finishes ended up creating a one-off kit for Craig's Supra, which featured a wide body stance and a variety of carbon-fiber details that would make an F1 chassis jealous. The designer of the kit is Han Wong and he based the design on the ever-famous, oft-copied Top Secret GT300 kit. This exterior set up alone would make haters around the globe shake their heads, but the Lamborghini Monterey Blue paint would make the same haters shoot themselves.