Scat packs to accessorized smart cars, stacked TRD 4runners to lowered trucks with the cleanest chrome rims you’ll ever see. Fresno City College parking lots seem to have it all and only get better with each passing semester, from simple to more acquired tastes.
When you see these cars parked, you only get to see the car and not the driver. My hope, as someone who has a great passion for cars, is to show that you can appreciate these works of art and their drivers as much as I have.
Evangelina Castellano
Auto Body Collision major
2021 Chevrolet RS Camaro: Redline Package “Babygirl”
3.6L V6 Engine
335 Horsepower
0-60 in 4.9 seconds
Evangelina Castellano is a 23-year-old Auto Body Collision major at FCC who plans to make a career out of working with cars, with the possibility of opening an auto collision shop to repair damaged cars, or an auto body customization shop. With her graduation coming up this spring, her future is bright.
Castellano drives a beautiful satin rose gold wrapped RS Camaro bolstering a 335HP V6 engine that roars. This specific Camaro comes with the redline package which includes several red accents throughout the car and an upgraded interior with 20-inch black wheels with a clean coat of jet black paint from hood to trunk.
Now although the car seeks and attracts attention in more ways than one, it has a couple more subtle changes that give it even more flair and personality. The finishing touches on this work of art include BMR lowering springs, and a rear street aero diffuser to really enhance the sporty look. No engine modifications have been made as of yet.
Castellano originally got into cars through her brothers and family. Something they all share is their love of Camaros. One fateful day she would head to a dealership to browse what they had and it seemed to be love at first sight, driving off the lot with her car that day.
“I loved all the accents, on the seatbelts, the red accents on the outside, it’s beautiful,” Castellano said.
Sebastian Bojorquez
Psychology major
2008 Smart Fortwo “559_exotic_yellow”
1.0L 3-cylinder Engine
72 Horsepower
0-60 in 11.5 seconds
Sebastian Bojorquez is an 18-year-old psychology major who aspires to be a school counselor. He shared that his career inspiration came from a counselor that had become a role model in his life by showing him a path through college he hadn’t seen before.
“I feel like a lot of kids, especially in a Hispanic background, they expect just to go to work right after high school,” Bojorquez said. “My counselor, she showed me a new vision where I can go to college and get a better opportunity, and do something with my life.”
Bojorquez drives a Smart Fortwo from the early 2000s with an absolutely iconic look to it. Cosmetic mods range from a stylish wing on the back to the underglow on the bottom, and the toy crank key to top it off, along with some other small creative choices.
But looks aren’t the only way you’ll know it’s coming with a huge upgraded sound system and a custom exhaust that has you anticipating anything other than a smart car. This little piece houses a small 3-cylinder engine with a bit more power than stock with a custom exhaust and performance air intake, making the 0-60 three seconds faster than from the factory. But with plans to swap the motor to a motorcycle engine, that 0-60 is destined to become vastly shorter.
Bojorquez got his interest in cars from the Fast & Furious movies. Those movies enforced a love for imported Japanese cars which was a bit different from his family’s taste, consisting of older, classic American muscle cars.
After being a Prius owner, Bojorquez wanted a show car. After looking through the Facebook marketplace, he came across this.
“It really just spoke to me, it gave me this vision where I need it. I need to have this car,” Bojorquez said.
His car is his art piece, and it seems to represent him and his creative vision in every way.
Daniel Martinez
Computer Science major
2005 Acura RSX type S
2.0L 4-cylinder
225 Horsepower
0-60 in 6.6 seconds
This blue beauty is owned by Daniel Martinez, a computer science major who eventually plans to transfer to Fresno State and get into some sort of software engineering career or cyber security. But his love for computers isn’t the only passion he holds.
Martinez drives a 2005 Acura RSX type S. As opposed to the base model RSX, the type S houses a slightly more powerful 4-cylinder engine, boasting a modest 225 horsepower and a punchy 0-60 of 6.6 seconds. Consider all of that and add in a manual transmission and you have one hell of a fun ride.
Lots of love and care has been put into this car and definitely some nice creative choices as well. Under the hood and behind the wheels we find a ram air intake for better airflow, drilled and slotted brake rotors to better cool the brakes at higher speeds, and coilovers for a slightly lower and sleek look. Mods on the exterior include bronze wheels with blue lugnuts to match the paint, JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) swapped tail lights, and a red Honda badge on the front making it the figurative cherry on top.
Martinez loves cars, his influence comes from his father, an unofficial drag racer and hobbyist who buys cars to work on and then sells them.
After owning a base model RSX with an automatic transmission, he wanted a change and something with more power. In search of a Civic hatchback or RSX type S, he found the car he has today by pure coincidence and timing.
Martinez mentioned that he felt the color was the opposite of him. He described himself as more introverted, and for the most part, he kept to himself. But the brilliant blue over his car did the opposite, grabbing the attention of anyone it passed by. With the bronze wheels and lowering coils already installed, it seemed like the perfect start for something he could “go all out with”.
Josiah Fierro
HVAC Technician major
2017 Chrysler 300
3.6L V6 Engine
325 Horsepower
0-60 in 6 seconds
Josiah Fierro is an HVAC major with the intent to possibly change his major to plumbing. It is undecided whether he will transfer to another college or come back to FCC, but he is definitely looking for a career in trade. He also expressed the desire to create his own business in contracting for construction.
“I’m a really hard worker, I’m motivated to just make money,” Fierro said.
As is the case with many other car enthusiasts, Fast & Furious played its role here in inspiring Fierro to get into cars. But the main catalyst for him was when he went to his first car meet with a friend of his. After this, he dove into modding and absolutely took off.
He thinks of his car as a true fulfillment of his childhood dreams. When he was younger, seeing other cool cars drive by, he only wished he could own something like that someday. Today he feels like he’s one of those cool cars driven by the starry-eyed kids, and he is, driving a sleek stone gray Chrysler 300.
This beast carries a V6 engine of around 325 horsepower and a 0-60 of a fairly quick 6 seconds. On the outside, you can see the beautiful work that has been done to it from the badges down to the wheels being gloss black, with a black Hellcat hood to really give it an aggressive look.
Some other nice subtle touches include smoked-out head and tail lights as well as slime-green painted brake calipers. Although not visible, the interior has also been extremely well upholstered with a starlight roof topping off the passenger experience.
Fierro’s creative vision for his car was to model it after a gorilla. “Gorillas have gray but gorillas also have black in front,” Fierro said. With the name of the car’s Instagram being ‘300_ape’ “It represents me, it represents the car.”
Under the hood we have an intake for increased airflow and horsepower, Accel super coils for better voltage to the spark plugs, and a modified exhaust featuring a straight pipe towards the end to give it that V6 roar.
Ruben Huerta
Criminology major
2010 Hyundai Genesis “Jenny”
2.0L 4-cylinder Turbocharged Engine
212 Horsepower
0-60 in 7.5 seconds
Ruben Huerta is a criminology major with aspirations to work with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office or California Highway Patrol and possibly become a detective one day. His inspiration comes from his family and a desire to follow in their footsteps.
But his family’s inspiration does not stop there, with Huerta being raised in a car culture from the get-go. When wanting to find a car to call his own, he had been on the hunt for something like a Subaru BRZ or Toyota FRS.
In the middle of his search, he came across this piece of work fully stocked and low miles, and with the prospect of modding involved, it just worked.
This Hyundai Genesis 2.0 Turbo has 212 horsepower and gets to 60mph in about 7.5 seconds. But that is definitely not something to scoff at, as the sound it makes as it drives by will have your jaw dropped and your head turning.
Under the hood, we have a street race exhaust combined with a turbo blow-off valve to help the engine regulate air pressure with an air intake for better airflow. Combine all of that and you get that astonishing sound. Behind the wheels are lowering springs for a sleek look and better handling.
When outfitting the car with whatever he deemed necessary, Huerta’s vision is a bit more basic and simple.
With exterior mods only including a front gloss black lip, a carbon fiber duckbill on the back, and some aftermarket headlights. The elegant black and white style doesn’t need more than that to look fantastic. “I can’t wear colors. I just saw the white and I had to go with the black accents just to be plain, nothing crazy,” Huerta said.
Will Foster
English major
2007 Subaru Legacy
2.5L 4-cylinder
243 Horsepower
0-60 in 5.9 seconds
Will Foster is a student from just across the pond, hailing from Bath, England. He is currently studying English with a set goal of becoming an English professor and plans to earn his doctorate at UC Berkeley or finish his studies back home.
Foster drives a 2007 Subaru Legacy with a 4-cylinder engine running 243 horsepower and a 0-60 in less than 6 seconds.
From the underglow kit he installed, forcing him under the hood and into the wiring, he soon became fond of the work he was doing and his creative vision only grew from there. With cosmetic modifications like the gold accents, England badge swaps, and stylish hood vents being added later. It comes, under the hood, with a high-performance fuel pump, slotted Powerstop brake rotors, and coilover suspension for increased handling making this car a definite contender on the road.
Combine all of that with an interior of custom seats, a carbon fiber hand brake, and a custom switchboard wired by Foster, and you have not just a car that can compete but a comfortable and sporty car at that.
Foster’s passion for cars was a self-taught inspiration. His first car was an old Chevy Tahoe which was beaten to death, smelt bad, and hated with a passion.
“I thought I hated cars because of that, I thought I hated these machines,” Foster said. It wasn’t until he came across his current ride on Offerup, saw its potential, talked down the price, took a 30-minute drive and the rest is history.
