Featured Rides

Grape Face – Terri’s RS5

This month’s featured ride was photographed by Natani Atkins Photography and features a truly one of a kind 2013 Audi RS5 with custom House of Colors “Pavo Purple” paint job, ADV.1 wheels, Accuair suspension, and e-codes. Modifying a car always has its ups and downs, but this car in particular had some really tough times before being brought to its current glory pictured here (more on that later) but ended up as one of the most clean and eye-catching RS5s in America.

It all started when Terri bought the car new in 2013 in Ibis White. She wasted no time taking it to 3ZERO3 Motorsports in Colorado to get air ride installed and wheels ordered. She chose ADV5.2 MV2 SL wheels in 20×10 finished in Brushed Aluminum with hidden hardware. This alone is where most builds start and finish, but Terri wanted to add her own personal touch with some custom paint to give the RS5 a little pop.

Custom paint can be a scary thing; unlike Plasti-Dip or a wrap you can’t reverse it, so you have to trust your painter to do a good job. Unfortunately for Terri, the first painter wasn’t someone to be trusted. The paint started bubbling within weeks and only got worse as time wore on. Before long, the paint was pretty much peeling off entirely. She had no choice but to have the car taken completely down to metal and redone, a process that would take nearly 3 months. Luckily for her, she found Emmel’s Enamels in Denver, CO that was up to the task. You can check out the pictures on Emmel’s site to see the before, during (down to metal) and after – it’s pretty incredible: http://www.emmelsenamels.com/2013-audi-rs5. While the car was getting redone, she also had e-codes installed to finish the look.

The end result was worth it, as you can see in these pictures. The purple is incredibly deep & dynamic, shifting colors depending on the angle and lighting in each picture. She then had Steven Olech of Colorado Detail in Denver do the final finishing work and keep the car looking clean all year long. The wheels, e-codes, and body work allow the color to really pop, without the car ever looking overdone.

Terri recently won “Cleanest Car” at the CU Sport Car Club (CUSSC) car show, so it’s safe to say that Grape Face is how she was meant to be all along. Just a few weeks later, the car won Best in Show at Euros on the Peak. Personally my favorite part is the small details such as the black Audi rings and front splitter, as well as the light tint on the rear, as well as the debadged trunk lid.

A special thanks to Terri for the story, Natani for the pictures, 3ZERO3 Motorsports, Emmel’s Enamels, and ColoradoDetail for their contributions to the build, as well as the AlphaEuros car club.

Nick Roshon

Nick has been an Audi owner and fanatic for the last 10 years, and started Nick's Car Blog in 2009 to share DIYs and pictures of his A4. Currently he drives a 2012 Audi TT-RS, and has previously owned a B7 S4, B7 A4, and an 82 Audi Coupe (GT) LeMons race car. In his day job, Nick is a digital marketer and lives in San Diego, CA, USA.

One Comment

  1. At the top of the list is the engine. While the rest of the world continues to lean on forced induction to compensate for shrinking displacement and dwindling cylinder counts, the RS5’s 450-hp 4.2-liter V-8 stands as a textbook example of naturally aspirated performance.

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