PHOTOS BY MERRICK HARDING
Suspension Mods
Crafted Suspension Company air struts
Accuair Elevel+ Management
Accuair CVT
Accuair Elevel+ Management
Accuair CVT
Wheel Name and Specs
Rotiform VDA
F: 20x9
R: 20x12
Toyo T1R Tires
F: 245/30
R: 315/25
F: 20x9
R: 20x12
Toyo T1R Tires
F: 245/30
R: 315/25
Exterior Mods
Liberty Walk F430 kit
Scuderia styled front and rear bumpers
Custom Chassis Mount Wing
Evassive Motorsports GTLM mirrors
Scuderia styled front and rear bumpers
Custom Chassis Mount Wing
Evassive Motorsports GTLM mirrors
Interior Mods
Bride Vorga seats w/ Bride seat brackets
Gated Six Speed, six speed manual conversion
Gated Six Speed, six speed manual conversion
Performance Mods
Fabspeed headers
Fabspeed carbon intake boxes
Fabspeed air filters
Sadistic Iron Werks custom titanium test pipes
Sadistic Iron Werks custom titanium rear section
Tune
Fabspeed carbon intake boxes
Fabspeed air filters
Sadistic Iron Werks custom titanium test pipes
Sadistic Iron Werks custom titanium rear section
Tune
Do you have a unique story behind the car or build?
JONATHAN: "I come from a car loving family, my mom loves cars and got me into cars at a young age. She supported my love of cars and would take me out to the race tracks at a young age and then would even go with me to the illegal street races with me long before Fast and the Furious graced movie screens. My wife is also an auto enthusiast but neither one of us is a purist, that's for sure. My wife and I actually met in the car scene. We’ve had a long, fun and sometimes stressful time with or over cars throughout our lives growing up and throughout the past fifteen years we've been together. We’ve owned and modified upwards of 30 different vehicles from Integra Type-R’s, MR2’s, FR-S, Mitsubishi’s, tons of Nissan’s from 240sx’s, an RB26 powered Datsun 240z to a R35 GT-R, an Aston Martin Vantage, Mercedes E63 AMG rounded out with trucks and daily drivers as well as my wife’s favorite of them all, her s197 Mustang.
I had seen and fell in love with the initial renderings and then press photos of the LibertyWalk kits Kato did on his 360 Modena and F430. Those images were embedded into my head and even though my wife and I most certainly weren’t in a position to afford to purchase any model of Ferrari at the time, much less modify one, the images and ideas stuck. Those cars Kato built served as motivation.
In late 2016 during the annual SEMA crunch time I came across an Instagram post of an F430 getting fitted with a LibertyWalk kit here in the USA and began following the journey of that car knowing one day we’d have one. We had decided in 2017 to start saving to get to a point to buy a 360 Modena and put some holes into it by installing a LibertyWalk kit. Flash forward to August of 2018 - a simple business trip with some fun stops mixed into it turned into a couple of hours at Wekfest in downtown LA. Cool cars, cool merch and one row of LibertyWalk grandiose nestled near the RWB collection. There was only one photo taken of that LBWK row, a picture my wife took of that very car I once saw an Instagram post of which would eventually be known as "The Red Car". Skip forward to December of that same year, suddenly The Red Car had gone up for sale and so began a discussion about taking the plunge and if it was what we wanted to do as we already had another plan and also had never bought a car modified prior to purchase. We had always done our own modifications or had it done under our ownership but this was a special situation. It was The Red Car! Buying a super car is a process, especially one so highly modified but we eventually got a deal worked out and it happened sight unseen other than that day at WekFest LA and Instagram photos. The day came early January 2019 that the car was unloaded off of transport and wow, it was so surreal to have that car in our driveway. We thought we’d get the car and just be able to enjoy the car without the process or money of going through building it from scratch. We were wrong.
After receiving the car we quickly realized it was built to do one thing: look good sitting still. We knew that was its main focus from the beginning, however the disregard of everything unseen when sitting still especially considering the reputation of the shop that built the car was appalling. Interior buttons didn’t function, some were broken and held in with zip ties, interior and exterior panels were mostly loose and installed with mismatched hardware if any hardware at all, the exhaust was held in place with chain link fencing brackets, other exhaust flanges weren’t tight, suspension and body components weren’t tight and would cause horrible noises while driving, custom mounted Sparco seats hit the headliner, tail light mounts glued together, body panels not aligned evenly, the fender cuts under the LibertyWalk kit were jagged, squared off and looked like they were attempted by a 5 year old with safety scissors from elementary school resulting in deep tire cuts. Buyer's remorse hit strong, but there was only one thing to do.
Not having the time or means to really tackle all of this in our garage, I contacted the shop that had originally built the car. No real answers and the feeling that we weren’t going to get anywhere unless we agreed to send the car and a blank check which based off of what was sitting in our garage, didn’t seem like a smart decision. There weren’t really any local shops which we felt confident could handle the enormous job of practically redoing the entire car so I began to look out of state and found Bobby at Sadistic Iron Werks in Hesperia California. After about two months of ownership we loaded The Red Car on transport and off it went. The plan was to completely redo the air suspension, build a full custom titanium exhaust, redo the LibertyWalk kit install and address all of the other problems. While Bobby had the car even more problems would be found behind the curtain of pretty paint and a big name shop build which just added more time before we could actually, hopefully enjoy the car.
Months go by with the car getting worked on at Sadistic Iron Werks. New Crafted Suspension air struts and Accuair management had been installed, many issues were fixed and the car is now driveable! What now? You get the car wrapped green, wasabi green. Swap out the ill-fitted Sparco's with Bride seats because what’s better to pair with a JDM'd Ferrari? Custom Rotiform wheels with Toyo tires and then it's time for SEMA with Accuair. Finally driving the car, for what was really the first extended period of time around the Vegas strip under all of the lights was definitely making this journey more worth it! Post-SEMA saw the car back at Sadistic Iron Werks for a custom made chassis mount wing as well as finishing up the remainder of the probably long overdue maintenance.
So you've owned the car for two years and it's been gone about one year and nine months between all the new parts, fixing things and SEMA. Any reasonable person would ship the car home to enjoy it. We're not those people. Off to San Antonio for a gated 6 speed manual conversion by European Auto Group. It'll be more fun with the 3rd pedal and how can you not need a gated shifter in your F430!? This car may be beautiful, but it's still a drivers car and that's exactly what we're going to do - drive it. Hobbyists can’t stop hobbying so we already have plans to reupholster the entire interior in black alcantara and Rotiform is already working on a couple new sets of wheels for the car .
Now if you asked me if we could go back in time and change anything, I’d tell you it would’ve been 100% cheaper, easier and less stressful to buy a stock F430 and build it up to this from scratch. However I wouldn’t change it as we’ve been able to meet so many great people and have such amazing experiences throughout this rocky road of a journey and truthfully make this car work the way it should’ve and is now so uniquely ours."
I had seen and fell in love with the initial renderings and then press photos of the LibertyWalk kits Kato did on his 360 Modena and F430. Those images were embedded into my head and even though my wife and I most certainly weren’t in a position to afford to purchase any model of Ferrari at the time, much less modify one, the images and ideas stuck. Those cars Kato built served as motivation.
In late 2016 during the annual SEMA crunch time I came across an Instagram post of an F430 getting fitted with a LibertyWalk kit here in the USA and began following the journey of that car knowing one day we’d have one. We had decided in 2017 to start saving to get to a point to buy a 360 Modena and put some holes into it by installing a LibertyWalk kit. Flash forward to August of 2018 - a simple business trip with some fun stops mixed into it turned into a couple of hours at Wekfest in downtown LA. Cool cars, cool merch and one row of LibertyWalk grandiose nestled near the RWB collection. There was only one photo taken of that LBWK row, a picture my wife took of that very car I once saw an Instagram post of which would eventually be known as "The Red Car". Skip forward to December of that same year, suddenly The Red Car had gone up for sale and so began a discussion about taking the plunge and if it was what we wanted to do as we already had another plan and also had never bought a car modified prior to purchase. We had always done our own modifications or had it done under our ownership but this was a special situation. It was The Red Car! Buying a super car is a process, especially one so highly modified but we eventually got a deal worked out and it happened sight unseen other than that day at WekFest LA and Instagram photos. The day came early January 2019 that the car was unloaded off of transport and wow, it was so surreal to have that car in our driveway. We thought we’d get the car and just be able to enjoy the car without the process or money of going through building it from scratch. We were wrong.
After receiving the car we quickly realized it was built to do one thing: look good sitting still. We knew that was its main focus from the beginning, however the disregard of everything unseen when sitting still especially considering the reputation of the shop that built the car was appalling. Interior buttons didn’t function, some were broken and held in with zip ties, interior and exterior panels were mostly loose and installed with mismatched hardware if any hardware at all, the exhaust was held in place with chain link fencing brackets, other exhaust flanges weren’t tight, suspension and body components weren’t tight and would cause horrible noises while driving, custom mounted Sparco seats hit the headliner, tail light mounts glued together, body panels not aligned evenly, the fender cuts under the LibertyWalk kit were jagged, squared off and looked like they were attempted by a 5 year old with safety scissors from elementary school resulting in deep tire cuts. Buyer's remorse hit strong, but there was only one thing to do.
Not having the time or means to really tackle all of this in our garage, I contacted the shop that had originally built the car. No real answers and the feeling that we weren’t going to get anywhere unless we agreed to send the car and a blank check which based off of what was sitting in our garage, didn’t seem like a smart decision. There weren’t really any local shops which we felt confident could handle the enormous job of practically redoing the entire car so I began to look out of state and found Bobby at Sadistic Iron Werks in Hesperia California. After about two months of ownership we loaded The Red Car on transport and off it went. The plan was to completely redo the air suspension, build a full custom titanium exhaust, redo the LibertyWalk kit install and address all of the other problems. While Bobby had the car even more problems would be found behind the curtain of pretty paint and a big name shop build which just added more time before we could actually, hopefully enjoy the car.
Months go by with the car getting worked on at Sadistic Iron Werks. New Crafted Suspension air struts and Accuair management had been installed, many issues were fixed and the car is now driveable! What now? You get the car wrapped green, wasabi green. Swap out the ill-fitted Sparco's with Bride seats because what’s better to pair with a JDM'd Ferrari? Custom Rotiform wheels with Toyo tires and then it's time for SEMA with Accuair. Finally driving the car, for what was really the first extended period of time around the Vegas strip under all of the lights was definitely making this journey more worth it! Post-SEMA saw the car back at Sadistic Iron Werks for a custom made chassis mount wing as well as finishing up the remainder of the probably long overdue maintenance.
So you've owned the car for two years and it's been gone about one year and nine months between all the new parts, fixing things and SEMA. Any reasonable person would ship the car home to enjoy it. We're not those people. Off to San Antonio for a gated 6 speed manual conversion by European Auto Group. It'll be more fun with the 3rd pedal and how can you not need a gated shifter in your F430!? This car may be beautiful, but it's still a drivers car and that's exactly what we're going to do - drive it. Hobbyists can’t stop hobbying so we already have plans to reupholster the entire interior in black alcantara and Rotiform is already working on a couple new sets of wheels for the car .
Now if you asked me if we could go back in time and change anything, I’d tell you it would’ve been 100% cheaper, easier and less stressful to buy a stock F430 and build it up to this from scratch. However I wouldn’t change it as we’ve been able to meet so many great people and have such amazing experiences throughout this rocky road of a journey and truthfully make this car work the way it should’ve and is now so uniquely ours."
Shoutouts
My wife Lisa
My mom
Bobby & David at Sadistic Iron Werks
Jason and Brian at Rotiform
Stan at Toyo Tires
Ryan at Accuair
Art, Dave, Matt, Merrick & Phillip at European Auto Group/GatedSix
Toshi and Kato at Liberty Walk
Diego at Low Class Militia
Tito Perez
Maverick Sherrill
Alfredo De Luna
Joette Etchegoincelhay
My mom
Bobby & David at Sadistic Iron Werks
Jason and Brian at Rotiform
Stan at Toyo Tires
Ryan at Accuair
Art, Dave, Matt, Merrick & Phillip at European Auto Group/GatedSix
Toshi and Kato at Liberty Walk
Diego at Low Class Militia
Tito Perez
Maverick Sherrill
Alfredo De Luna
Joette Etchegoincelhay
FOLLOW JONATHAN AND HIS F430 ON IG
@LBWK430
PHOTOS BY MERRICK HARDING
@MERRICK_MEDIA
