After featuring Luis Martinez’s Flat Red S14, we decided to catch up with him to check out his shop, Powell Customs & Leading Edge Motorsports. We took a quick tour around the facility, snapped some photos and sat down with Luis to get some more information on his shop.
Tunerzine: What does your shop specialize in?
Luis Martinez: Powell Customs is the custom fiberglass & paintwork division specializing in: Custom paint, Custom body work, Car Audio & Video, Interior & Exterior Styling. Leading Edge Motorsports is the performance division specializing in: Performance parts, Turbo & Supercharger kits, Suspension, Safety Equipment, and Chassis work.
Tunerzine: What makes you different than all the other shops in the area?
Luis Martinez: From having two divisions under one roof, everything that is done to a customer’s vehicle is all done in house. No car gets sent out to get work done anywhere else.
Tunerzine: Where do you see the import scene heading in your area?
Luis Martinez: I think people in the my area are always trying to make the cars faster. I see a lot of big turbos and superchargers being installed on some crazy brand new vehicles in the future.
Tunerzine: What has really impressed you over the years being involved in the scene?
Luis Martinez: I’m really impressed by how people are realizing that less is more. It doesn’t matter how many mods you have done to your car, what matters is how you do it and you keep it simple and clean. Attention to detail is everything.
Tunerzine: What brands do you specialize in and what brands do you think are some of the best on the market and why?
Luis Martinez: Rays Wheels, Enkei Wheels, HRE wheels, Dunlop Tires, Recaro seats, PPG paint, DUB, Vibrant Performance, AEM, AMSOIL.
I think Rays Wheels are some of the best looking wheels out there on the market whether it’s for a high end, JDM, or domestic vehicle and the research, development, and manufacturing of their wheels is pretty impressive.
AEM's products I think are some of the best products out there period. Almost 90% of time we install a turbo or supercharger kit on a vehicle an AEM EMS is also installed. Their EMS is easy to use and one of the best tuning ECUs on the market. Everything on the car can be controlled from your very own laptop.
Dunlop tires are one of the best known tires out there in the industry. Whether your vehicle is used for Formula D, Show, Street, Drag Racing, Formula 1, or Time Attack. Dunlop makes the best dry & wet traction tires in the scene.
