It seemed like yesterday when Jonathan, I and Matt sat in our office trying to figure out how to deal with our Chevy Sonic. In case you haven’t acquired the past couple issues, last spring we had been given the challenge of building a Sonic for that SEMA show. Don’t get us wrong, we love to build cars, nevertheless the Sonic isn’t exactly what you’d call the ultimate tuner car. There’s little-to-no aftermarket support, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t see any potential. Turning it into a showstopper that will grab the eye of a large number of SEMA attendees wasn’t gonna be as easy as bolting on a widebody and throwing a turbo kit in, however. We didn’t wish to follow the same paths our brothers at Modified and Import Tuner were taking. They are also building Sonics and already selected the two obvious themes-VIP and track. This forced us to believe outside the box and come up with something innovative.
The first thing we asked ourselves is, exactly what do we do throughout the day? If you’re like me, I check my phone every twenty seconds to stalk people on Facebook, double tap photos on Instagram and waste time watching YouTube, . I also can’t stand silence so I have music playing whether I’m at work, in a car, at home and obviously up in da club. With that said, we each checked out each other and said, why not put all these things we use every day in our Chevy Sonic? Brilliant!
A game plan for awesomeness was formulated through the help of Mike Vu of MVDesignz. Mike has been around in charge of several crazy show cars including our superhero-themed Kias built last here. He was the perfect guy to bounce ideas forth and back with and inevitably would be our go-to for the entire build that will focus on connectivity, technology and music.
Bumps for the Trunk
If we’re going to concentrate on technology and music, we’re going to need some bumpin’ audio. And why not include a DJ setup, too? ! Pioneer hooked us track of their entire catalog which includes two 12 subs in a custom trunk enclosure, followed by five 600-watt amplifiers. Front and center is the DJ equipment-two CDJ900s and a DJM-900 Nexus mixer. All the speakers in the car will also be upgraded to Pioneer and also the two rear headrests are being modified to house some 6.5 two-way speakers, as Jonathan models for us. The goal with all the audio and DJ setup isn’t in order to throw some kick-ass parties but in order toWhat the hell is the fact funny lookin’ wood thing Mike Vu’s building? Well it’s a custom rear console that’s going to house two LG projectors. We’ll be able to surf the net and run apps via these projectors that will project onto the rear windows. A special film will likely be applied so it will be easy to view. Mike’s also added another projector within the rear hatch. The new rear console may also feature a telescoping camera that’ll rise straight out of the roof and get a 360-degree overview outside the Sonic. No, we’re not joking! The idea with all the car is to have video cameras all-around that will allow us to stream to the web via MiFi modules and a wireless router. So, basically, it’ll be a rolling voyeur cam. We’ll have cameras that show the passenger and driver, the DJ setup and, of course, the telescoping exterior cam. A set of iPads will be mounted inside the rear cockpit to make web surfing and posting online easier as well.