{"id":18240,"date":"2023-12-13T12:11:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T04:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/?p=18240"},"modified":"2026-08-25T12:36:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T04:36:58","slug":"rj-de-vera-wants-the-very-best-for-enthusiasts-and-the-car-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/2023\/12\/13\/rj-de-vera-wants-the-very-best-for-enthusiasts-and-the-car-community\/","title":{"rendered":"RJ de Vera Wants the Very Best for Enthusiasts and the Car Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It\u2019s not every day we get a true car industry leader for our ongoing DRIVERS series, but when we do, we love learning about their career and how they got there. It\u2019s a dream come true for a lot, so the knowledge and advice they pass down is truly inspiring. And RJ de Vera is the perfect role model for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RJ de Vera is a veritable household name for car enthusiasts. His humble beginnings as an editor at Super Street magazine would eventually lead to consultation and work for numerous brands like XBox\u2019s Forza Motorsport 2 and Valvoline, a small stint on MTV\u2019s car-centric series Trick It Out, senior positions at Meguiar\u2019s and 3M and much more. Oh and yes of course, he starred and consulted in the first Fast and the Furious film long before it jumped the shark with submarines, zombie cars and a Pontiac Fiero in space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Fast and the Furious at that time really exploded youth car culture,\u201d explains de Vera. \u201cIt really showed everyone that there was this deep passion for tuning and modding cars that was more of a global phenomenon \u2013 it really united people and took things to the Nth degree. Fast forward 20 years later and there\u2019s still people inspired to get into modding and tuning cars because of the franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His role in The Fast and the Furious was, let\u2019s say, straightforward \u2013 Danny Yamato, the young, hungry tuner regular at car meets and races who had something to prove against the \u201cbig guys.\u201d And while some would say his image was stereotypical at the time, others could argue that he opened the door to anyone who was ever curious about the tuning world but never really had someone who personified it like he did. And whether its Danny Yamato or the Vice President of Marketing at SEMA \u2013 his current position \u2013 who is \u201cthat person\u201d to guide you, at the end of the day the car community recognizes de Vera\u2019s work that created that inclusive environment for us all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what does this \u201cchampion\u201d of the car community drive? Something highly bespoke, incredibly personal, and downright gorgeous: a pristine, cleaned up and very, very capable 2008 Honda S2000. Co-owned with personal friend Will Chau and built entirely by the experts at Evasive Motorsports, this AP2 example is so much more than \u201cOEM+,\u201d however it would take a trained eye to spot what really makes it special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the obvious GReddy forced-induction engine upgrade under the hood, SoCal\u2019s Signature Auto Body gave the S2000 a serious update in the looks department, starting with a slightly wider set of front fenders to accentuate the special 20th Anniversary bumper. MUGEN parts really speak to the core of S2000 fanatics, and this build has it all, from the JDM brand\u2019s carbon-fiber roof, the the very rare bronze wheels, rear wing and even the steering wheel. Huge 6-piston Brembo brakes help with the now-300-wheel horsepower output, while Yokohama Advan AD09 tires in a square 255\/40-18 setup and fresh KW coilovers help keep everything planted and sitting just right. Our favorite detail however are the Spoon mirrors \u2013 ultra sleek and beautifully thin while still serving their purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we\u2019d all love turbocharged hardtop S2000s, de Vera drops knowledge about how the aftermarket will dictate the future of automotive. \u201cIt really depends on the people involved. What\u2019s really important is that we make sure to invite new people, new faces, new enthusiasts. It\u2019s about making sure we continue to inspire people into modding and customizing their cars\u2026 we have to protect and prolong this love for customizing and modding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s not every day we get a true car industry leader for our ongoing DRIVERS series, but when we do, we love learning about their career and how they got there. It\u2019s a dream come true for a lot, so the knowledge and advice they pass down is truly inspiring. And RJ de Vera is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223],"tags":[21],"class_list":["post-18240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car","tag-honda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18240"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18259,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18240\/revisions\/18259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}