The Rider
Magna Gonzalez grew up around cars, but unlike some other enthusiasts she never really took interest in them until her senior year in high school. So after a few years of appreciating the scene, she purchased her 2009 Pontiac G8 at the age of 19 and officially got into the sport of customizing. Since then, she has made a name for herself being active in the Bakersfield, CA area. As well as becoming a member of 210 Motorsports, which is just a small club of like-minded friends who support each other and help out on builds. But isn’t that how it is supposed to be? Magna attended local shows in the area including Bakersfield Cars and Coffee, Muscle Kings car events, as well as a G8/SS/GTO meet that Maverick Man Carbon hosted in Anaheim with plans for LS Fest in the future.
Magna’s tenure in the custom scene has been short so far, but this being her first build; she has really gone all out, as you will read below. She enjoys the fact that her G8 is built enough to be fast, and likes to just rip around on the streets, but has plans to become a regular at the track to put down some drag pulls in the near future.
She loves the fact that her Pontiac is a bit unique in her area and has noticed other drivers trying to guess what was that red blur that just blew past them on the highway.
Plus she had the G8 debadged so those that don’t know have to wait for her to stop, and then get a shock when Magna rolls down the window. “As a female in the scene, lots of people who don’t know me ask if it is my boyfriends car,” She explains, “And people are quite shocked when they find out it belongs to me and I built it this way!”
The Ride
Magna has a specific plan for her ’09 and within the next year she will be ready to test her build on the track. She has gone through three cams already, with her current cam being a Stage 2 custom grind. The manifold is ported, Carven 3-inch exhaust with dual tips, there is an upgraded Powerbond pulley, Vararam VR-G8 ram air intake, long tube headers, an E-85 flex fuel conversion kit with upgraded injectors, trunnion kit from Michigan Motorsports, and a Displacement on Demand (DOD) delete kit and a BMR Suspension strut bar.
The exterior sports an aftermarket fiberglass hood, LED headlights and an LED DRL strip bar projector from Spec-D Tuning. Most of the badges were removed and it only has the G8 Gt badge with a Holden Lion flag badge in the right rear of the trunk.
She has also replaced the stock antenna with a .50-cal bullet-style antenna. As Magna explained, “This car has never been any other color than red, and I love it.” But she did explain that the original hood was once wrapped in satin black, but when she purchased an aftermarket hood, it went back to red.
Her tire setup (right now) is a set of 275/45R18s Nitto NT555 G2s in the front with 295/45R18 Nitto NT555 G2s in the rear bolted to the car with a set of satin black Enkei Raijin 18x9.5s all around.
She does have plans for a set of 17x9 Race Stars Drag Pack wheels with a yet undetermined set of tires to roast at the track.
With a total of four years invested, and a little over $10K, her dividends are well noticeable, and she just loves it. She’d really like to thank her club buddies at 210 Motorsports, CalSpeed and Performance in Bakersfield, CA, Speedline Motorsports in Shafter, CA, and BRC Raceworks in Murrieta, CA.
Follow -> @mags_g8
Author -> Anthony Soos
