All About The LA Porsche Lifestyle & Custom-Tuned Cars
September 9, 2010 by John Tarpon
Filed under Vehicle
For someone interested in knowing all about the LA Porsche Lifestyle, there are quite a few ways to begin. But only Maverick Marsellis stands a cut above the rest. It’s a good bet that almost every single Porsche enthusiast on the West Coast has seen a Maverick design up close.
The reason why Porsche is so successful with selling its Design Driver’s Selection is because the people who buy a Porsche do it as a lifestyle choice. This means that everything that has the Porsche label is fair game. The customer eventually ends up with Porsche travel gear, clothing, key rings and lots of other stuff.
One more way to show enthusiasm for all things Porsche is with a custom-made or tuned Maverick vehicle. This is a guy who has spent his entire adult life with automobiles, starting at the tender age of 14 in his uncle’s auto company in Houston. After time well spent in a Porsche dealership, he moved to California and went on to become one of the most well-known automotive designers on the West Coast.
As exhibit A, consider his awards. Let’s start with the Dodge Challenger – a 440 R/T SE 1970 muscle car called Yellow Fever, which won Maverick an award at a Chrysler car show in 2006. Next up was The Mohave, a 944 Turbo which won recognition from the Porsche Club of America in Santa Barbara.
Major designs that have won praise and awards also include a couple of 928s – Vader and Big Red. Big Red was his first 928 design. As is obvious, Maverick is a tuning specialist for Porsche 928 and Turbo 944 designs. They’re all created under the name of ASAP Designs.
That’s short for Advanced Systems and Performance. Project ASAP designs are a professional affair, with a full team of designers and modelers, not to mention engineers and sheet metal specialists. This motley crew spends countless hours brainstorming over the perfect design.
ASAP is not a mass-production outfit. Rather, they specialize in custom tuning and limited edition designer models. Only 25 Vaders have ever made their way into the market. Each model has an individual identity, and ASAP will even throw in custom instrument gauges.
As for the aesthetics, Maverick takes the basic European style and adds a layer of American muscle and flavor to the cars. Maverick also has experience with film production and has done a course at the American Film Institute. This helps add a theatrical flourish to the design. This might be one of the reasons that ASAP have a long list of celebrities as clients, including Halle Berry, Pamela Anderson and Brad Pitt.
After Big Red and Yellow Fever, Maverick started helping out clients with custom interiors, specially designed accessories and full body kits. The next step as a Porsche vehicle specialist was logically followed by Project ASAP. In addition to LA, the firm now has two other branches in Houston and Miami.
Bottomline is that it’s hard to say that someone knows all about the LA Porsche Lifestyle unless it is accompanied by a Maverick design. Given the fast-paced production of limited edition designs, it’s also hard to get hold of one of his older creations. So there’s a good chance they’ll all end up eventually as valued collectors items.
For additional information and questions about Advanced Systems And Performance please forward correspondence to the Advanced Systems And Performance team.
