Luis had contemplated a carbon hood because he wanted vents, but opted to create his own based on carbon rain covers from a Vorsteiner part since he'd already invested so much work.
Miami is a city of beautiful beaches, year-round heat, gorgeous women and wild nightlife. In fact, it's one of the only cities in the States where nightclubs are open until sunrise. It's also home to some of the best dance music in the world. Electronica often tops the local charts and that's where Luis Duran uncovered his passion and his career.
With the Rieger side skirts, the center slits were removed to clean up the overall lines. Luis then added material to blend the skirts into the rear fenders.
Born in Puerto Rico, Luis moved to Miami at an early age and acquired an infatuation with electronica music. He started playing a synthesizer at 12 and wrote his first song by 14. Throughout his career, he's worked in many recording studios and released over 40 tracks in the mid-'90s. Today, his music has evolved to cater towards TV, radio and advertising agencies, but his creativity remains. "I switched from dance music to more professional music," Luis explained. "I needed an outlet for my creativity so decided to mod this sucker myself."
The sucker in question is this '03 BMW 325ci, his first and only project car. To the untrained eye, Luis' E46 looks like any other modified 3-Series, with an OE M-Tech body kit, five-spoke wheels and lowered suspension. But in reality, there's a plethora of subtle changes to the body to enhance its poise. "I used a lot of Photoshop to help me visualize every move," Luis told us. "It took three years to complete the bodywork."
Without any history of working on cars, Luis dived in headfirst with the support of a local bodyshop. "I saw what they were doing and I thought I could do it as well. They taught me the ropes, helped with things like the plasma cutting, but I did the rest, including the welding."
The exterior was completed in two stages since it didn't come out quite right at the first attempt, but an ill-advised encounter with the police hastened the rebuild. "The cops hated my car, especially the window tint," he reminisced. "One day, I was hauling ass, trying to get away from them and drove over a railroad track. The impact destroyed the whole widebody."
Returning the injured 3-Series to his garage, Luis rebuilt the body using a combination of parts from BMW M-Tech and Rieger, plus raw materials like fiberglass, wood, clay and metal.
Widened fenders with custom vents in the rear bumper and Rieger side skirts
The front fenders came first. These were switched for the more pronounced M3 fenders. Luis then reshaped them to fit his coupe and personalized the side gills to include his own OSS logo - his stage name.
The rear fenders started as two rear fiberglass flares bought from DTM Autohaus in California. Unfortunately, one side was slightly off. "It was a different angle, so I had to slice and dice the fenders," he recounted. "From there I lifted the pieces to change the radius to match the other side."
The craftsmanship of rookie Luis continued to the bumpers and side skirts, which required customization to flow with the new fenders. The foundation is M-Tech parts with a Rieger front lip and side skirts.
Luis then added his own twist. Starting with the foglights, the housings were enlarged to match the mouth in the front bumper. The bumper was then extended down with the new lip. "I made two cuts in the lip that flow with the lines of the headlights," A splitter was added under the front lip and the side markers were shaved to finish the bumper.
Luis proceeded to the E46 M3 hood and widened the kidney grilles. Metal was also added over and under the headlights to create a subtle bser expression.