Make Florida Great Again

Supercharged in the sunshine state.

- Joey Lee

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, FLORIDA APPEARED TO BE A GATEWAY FOR ALL THINGS “JDM.” Enthusiasts seemed to be able to acquire rare parts and even cars from Japan, in part due to the state’s heavy military influence and international shipping ports. This helped their tuner community thrive and many builders were putting together cars with the stuff most of us had never even seen before. However, for whatever reason, as time went on Florida just sort of stopped being Florida. The scene slowly died down and progression halted. Theft ran rampant in major cities and many people stopped building cars in fear of their hard work being taken from them. The guys who stuck around tucked their cars away into hiding. Many known builders faded away into obscurity, focusing on other important aspects of life, hoping that one day the community would thrive as it once did. This resulted in a generational gap over the years. Older car guys stayed away and communication was seemingly cut off from the new crop of tuners. The Internet and social media dictated how they built their cars and the results were of the more entry level variety, where a set of wheels and air-ride suspension were the norm. The days of quality and detail appeared to be lost; however, lurking in a state once known for its great JDM car builds was an elite group of veterans like Matt Hamilton, owner of this Audi Nardo Grey-painted Honda S2000.