Dana Chapman is one of those people who have incredible talent and believe in showing to the world that you can take everyday things to greatness. I had the pleasure of meeting Dana at the local annual "Occupy Modern Car Show" in September. It was a hot afternoon but Dana and his family were enthusiastically meeting with people admiring his ride. There were over a hundred cars in the show but his car was a center of attraction.
Here's what I mean by his car being the star of the show
This is a 2010 Maxima that Dana acquired towards the end of 2015. The car was stock when he purchased it and over the past years, he has made hundreds of improvements to bring it to this stage. On the exterior, you see this awesome matte finish that has been achieved by putting Plasstidip on it. The panels, grill etc. have been painted black to give it a matching look. It is dressed in Carolina Panthers colors.
The car is a people puller and with so many customizations, you me be led to think that this is a show car. Well, the truth is, the car is still very close to stock and this is Dana's daily driver; may be more than that. Since he got the car, he and his girlfriend have put 52,000 miles on it already (that's over 25K miles a year). The car is now close to 140K miles.
As interesting the exterior is, once you see the interior, you will be forced to think if this stuff is even legal. Dana assures me it is and the stuff you see in the pics are just for show :).
You may now understand what I was hinting at :). Those bottles are empty and just for show BTW.
So I asked Dana, this is such an amazing car, how do people react to it? More importantly, has he been pulled over and had any interesting conversations with the cops?
He says that people love his car. They line up to see it and talk to him wherever he goes (I too had to wait a few minutes before I could get that opportunity). The getting pulled over part is very interesting. He acknowledges he has been pulled over several times but not for the reasons you and I would think. Cops are as interested in his car as other people. They have pulled him over to ask about the car, the paint job and if they can bring him their personal cars for a makeover.
Pneumatic setup to raise/lower the car. Kids were fascinated watching the car go up and down while making a hissing sound.
To him, this car represents what he can do to make automobiles stand out. He has poured his passion into this car and it shows, really well. The car was featured in ToyMakerz and Street Outlaws.
His next project is to convert this to a 6 speed manual. In his knowledge, there is only one other car out there with that configuration.
Hats off to you, Dana. What am amazing work you have done on this car. Very few people have the kind of passion you do. Hope to see you again soon and talk more about your passion.
