Toca Series Scion tC Unveiling at 2012 TUNER GALLERIA Chicago!

As the 2012 TUNER GALLERIA Chicago rapidly approaches, vehicle registrations are pouring in steadily. Among the cars already registered, one in particular really caught our attention belonging to John Toca from Toca Series. John purchased his 2006 Scion tC as a daily driver and like most enthusiasts starting out, he began down the endless road of modding with simple bolt ons. Items like a sport intake system, strut bar, painted brake calipers, wheels, etc., were some of the first mods that individualized his tC. For a brand losing relevance with the youth market in recent times, Scion truly was the first vehicle manufacturer that promoted customization with its first gen xB. Luckily for the scene, the soon to be released FR-S and its Subaru counterpart, the BRZ, certainly have revitalized interest back into the sport compact segment. John Toca is definitely doing his part in keeping the Scion brand relevant in a time of ever increasing short attention spans.

John's story is a familiar one...as the car passion slowly took over his waking moments, he found himself attending as many import shows and parking lot car meets as possible. Through his travels to various car show events, he realized that he needed to up his game to be competitive with the big boys of the import scene. For those who have followed the import scene since the early days, names like Shawn Baker, Paul Tolson, Matt Lenart and Peter Collelo sound familiar. These industry personalities helped pioneer the truly complete project vehicle builds, ones that no longer saw any street use and competed at the highest levels. These same guys, among others inspired John to take his Scion tC to the next level. He admits to learning several tricks of the trade from each builder and he has combined all that research and knowledge into the construction of his amazing tC.

Building any project vehicle to this level takes careful planning and commitment, never mind a healthy budget. Since 2007, as the economy in the United States took a turn for the worse, our aftermarket industry took a huge hit. Discretionary income was at an all time low and enthusiasts found it difficult to justify purchasing car parts when more pressing matters were at hand. Despite these tough conditions, John never succumbed to modding his tC "eBay style". John describes the style as simply throwing together parts that did not have an overall cohesive theme just for the sake of modding. He shares with us that the build in its current state took quite a bit of time, mainly for two reasons. First, he believes in quality and attention to detail and any builder out there knows that this takes time if you want to get it done right the first time around. The second reason was simple economics, he built the car as his budget allowed. In the end it all worked out. We can all remember getting bored of a project car really quickly when we mod too much within a short time span. That is not the case here as John continues to evolve the look.

Through the build process of his tC, John has met many fellow enthusiasts along the way. Some of them have become really good friends and partners in crime. He mentions one individual in particular, Mr. Gabriel Escobedo. John modestly informs us that Gabriel was instrumental to this thorough tC build. There is nothing that strengthens a friendship more than wrenching through the night to make an event the next day. We've all been there. Among the assortment of custom mods on this project, we asked John which are the top three favorite on his Toca Series Scion tC. Without hesitation he tells us, its the chopped roof, RS*R modified widebody aero kit, and his custom 6-Piston Rotora big brakes. Noticeably absent is a photo of the rear view as John teases us with some tidbits of information. We are all going to have to wait until TUNER GALLERIA Chicago to check it out!

John leaves us with some final thoughts..."Last but not least I do have to thank my sponsors who have played a big role in the build, so they absolutely deserve a shout out. I want to thank Pirelli, NOS, Holley, Stance USA, BASF, Yonaka, Vibrant Performance, Energy Suspension, Optima Batteries, Meguiars, and Dynamat. This build is beyond past due as I predicted it would have been done last year. I want to assure everyone I will be out in full force this year and if anyone has any questions or just want to chat and hang out, I am an easy guy to come up to, just stop by the Toca Series booth!"

Come to the 2012 TUNER GALLERIA Chicago on March 3rd to see the unveiling of the 2012 Edition Toca Series Scion tC!

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Toca Series Scion tC Unveiling at 2012 TUNER GALLERIA Chicago!

Kai Tsukiyama

Chris Young

rolexreplica John

joe calderon