Toyota Tercel Turbo - A Bit More Original

Along with the sheetmetal, the mirrors, door handles, all the trim pieces and even the calipers were painted in matching jazz blue. The finishing touches are out back, where a Corvis GT aluminum wing from Mackin Industries was affixed to the trunk and a polished heat shield was molded to the exhaust system section of the rear bumper. It's not there for show-but we'll get to that later.

Interior Dynamics
According to Christmas, she and Ali got the interior together in a weekend, but the real fun started a couple months later. That's when they went to work on sculpting the Tercel's insides-themselves. A Max Speed shift knob, aluminum pedals and e-brake handle found homes on the levers and the interior was tinted white with jazz blue trim. Jamex seats now reside up front-and this is the one area that Christmas left to the pros. The front buckets and the rear seat were bolstered and recovered in blue and white vinyl by Melvin's Upholstery in Fairfax. Autothority in Fairfax also went the extra mile by fabricating custom seat sliders and seat brackets for the Jamex buckets so they would bolt to the factory locations.

The trunk is as clean as the interior, and for good reason. In addition to the electronic goodies and fat, custom-enclosed JL sub, a big purple Plymouth-eater is bolted to the trunk floor. Even before the turbo, the Zex bottle had a home there feeding the Tercel at stoplight showdowns.

To please the auditory senses, a JVC CD/head unit commands front and rear JL Audio 5.25 XR525 CS speakers and the JL Audio 10W3 sub through a JL 500/1 four-way amp. Simple but effective, Christmas' audio system combines top-dog components with flawless presentation.