April 2026 - Marvin // "W"

Hi All, Marvin here. Meet “W” my 2003 WRX. Bought new in Dec 2002, single owner, 325K mile daily driver.

I bought W as a replacement to my 95 Integra GS-R. It was supposed to be my grown-up car, a 4dr commuter. That was out the door before he left the dealer. On went a custom leather interior and a full STI suspension system and aluminum control arm set up. Early on I found the suspension too tall and too stiff for the mean streets of LA. I ended up working with Hotchkis Suspension to prototype a progressive spring set up that worked out well, soon came new sway bars from them as well. A JDM STI front calipers and a H4 brake set up, and end links found their way onto my “daily driver”, well that DD found itself on the Auto-X course soon enough, but what I really wanted was the open road and that is when I found ITN – Into the Night Rally club. They organized road rallies that went well into the night and my wife and I fell in love. All these nighttime activities are what lead me to Rally Innovations and a fateful meeting with a certain engineer who said they could build anything…. Challenge set.

Through the years W has travelled to every corner of this state, found every back road and secret spot. It’s driven through 4 states in one night during a rally from Santa Barbara to Las Vegas over the course of 16 hrs. I’ve done the 5 hr daily commute, road trips, vacations, car shows and meets and even raised a family in this little car. I have loved every mile! Today W is still going strong, new Pedder’s suspension, wheels, and tires,  and new 10” screen multimedia stereo system, and still more to come.

Many thanks to the team at Rally Innovations for fostering my crazy desire for more lighting, thank you developing the product line to what we see today.