When we think of Brian Fox and his team over at Fox Marketing, we can’t help but think of the now defunct TV show, Wild and Crazy Kids. For those that aren’t aware of this show, it was aired in the early 90’s on Nickelodeon. The show comprised of kids placed in teams competing in head-to-head physical challenges. The challenges could involve playground games, sports, pies and even slime. Most of them had unusual rules thrown in to make it exciting for network television. The show didn’t last too long, but for those that did watch it, it left a lasting memory in their brains. In a way, every time Brian Fox and Fox Marketing gets a project car, they bend the rules and go for an unusual build to make it exciting for our industry. For the purpose of this SEMA 2008 Focus Coupe project, the gurus at Fox Marketing teamed up with the experts over at CarDomain.com to showcase the final product to the entire world.
Having received the car on September 22nd, 2008, the Fox Marketing team had less than six weeks to get everything done. They started off by working with Doug Young of Young Customs to fit the stereo setup into the car. Fiberglass work was the first variable to their equation towards success, as Rockford Fosgate power 6.5-inch speakers were fitted into the door panels. The rest of the stereo installation was also completed by Doug Young, with a 10-inch subwoofer in a custom fiberglass enclosure.
The car then headed over to Legacy Innovations in Red Lion, PA where custom metal work took flight. The Focus first received a back half cage but Fox wanted more: “I wanted to add some metal work around the center of the car and into the dash to highlight some designs from the factory interior.” So custom pieces were fabricated by Troy at Legacy Innovations and Fox sketched out a plan on having them painted to match the exterior.
During the second week of the build, Kenny from TurboChargers.com flew in to help Fox Marketing develop a turbo kit for the project. The engine bay started getting dismantled and Dave Love from Fox Marketing removed the interior dash, door panels and center section of the car. The turbo kit started taking on a design with the intercooler mounted, exhaust manifold and turbo mounted and intercooler piping sketched out. Once again, Troy from Legacy Innovations brought in his welding skills to help perfect everything on the turbo setup.
While this was all going on, Fox himself headed over to Penn-Air & Hydraulics to pick up some custom fittings and hoses for oil return lines, water lines, etc. Additionally AMSOIL 10w-30 Synthetic Oil was picked up to lubricate the new forced induced engine setup. Within a couple more days, a custom set of iForged Classic 2 wheels were shipped and received by Fox. From his experience in building cars, Fox opted for a staggered set of wheels in a polished finish. 19x8.5-inch in the front and 19x10-inch in the rear would find its way onto the Focus’ body with Toyo Tires wrapped around each brilliant wheel by iForged. The stock brakes then got a little attention, in terms of being removed and tossed into the bin of uselessness. SSBC rotors and calipers were to be installed, converting the front to a 13-inch rotor, 4 piston caliper setup. The rear of the car was originally drum, so Fox had it swapped out to a 12-inch rotor and 2 piston caliper.
Heading towards the end of the second week of the build, TurboChargers.com wrapped up the new turbo kit on the Focus. Running at 5psi with a Garrett GT28RS at its core, Fox wanted to ensure its reliability since the vehicle would be making a 2,300 mile trek to Las Vegas for the SEMA Show. This thing wouldn’t be a trailer queen, it would be driven all the way there and back. The rest of the turbo kit components comprised of a Turbonetics wastegate, blow off valve and a GReddy e-Manage to tune it.
The next major piece of the puzzle was deciding on how to bring this focus out with a spectacular but unique paint job. Continuing the rising trend of flat paint, Fox pulled all the secrets out of the hat with a custom BASF R-M Carizzma mix: “The color I selected to paint the Focus is BASF R-M Carizzma Flat Black and BASF R-M Carizzma Sunrise Gold Pearl over a white base. This was going to set the car off and I would then integrate some BASF R-M Black to accent some factory lines.” So off the Focus went, to R&B Custom Auto Body to make some custom fender flares, RK Sport Body kit and repaint the Focus the special blend of BASF R-M paint.
A couple weeks later, the vehicle was picked up and Fox was happy. The rear tail lights received a paint treatment along with the roll cage and metal work in the interior. While this madness was all going on, Richard from Morgan’s Upholstery was working hard on rewrapping the interior pieces. As the car started reaching its finishing touches and Fox was a week out of SEMA, Impressive Signs stepped in to do the decal design for the car to keep all the sponsors content. One of the neat things Impressive Signs does that Fox wanted to mention was the fact that they air brush vinyl, giving it a custom paint matching creation.
So the custom vinyl was laid and Fox was getting anxious to get the Focus project complete in time to make the trek over to Las Vegas from the east coast. The vehicle headed over to Mugsy’s Repair to get the suspension, brakes, wheels and tires put on. Cory Coffman, a huge Focus nut, lent a helping hand in installing the suspension and big brakes. As with any project, headaches arose but Coffman took quick care of it. He was able to swap out the 2008 Focus suspension for 2004 parts and got it all to work. B+G Suspension brought the car to a new aggressive stance and as mentioned before, the SSBC brakes found their way on. The car was then complete to Fox’s liking and off to the highway it went, tackling the 2,300 mile drive to Las Vegas.
On the way out across the country, Fox had this story to share: “Dave Love and Brian stopped by and ate at Subway while they refueled. I couldn’t help but tell them ‘You got to Eat Fresh’, those burgers will clog your arteries dawg! Hey, they are down for the tuner scene so I’m all about supporting them. You care about your car looking good, you’ve got to take care of your body also. You are what you eat!”
So the car made it to Vegas, raised a lot of eyebrows and got a ton of attention. How did Tunerzine get so lucky to get the first full shoot on it? Well, Fox can tell this story! “My boy Dan Jenkins works at Impressive Signs and never did a photo shoot on a car before. I saw his work and looked like he had the talent. Tunerzine.com and Fox Marketing are the first to put him on the map with this feature, and we are just proud to help him make a dream come true. This is what it is all about, making dreams a reality right?”
