Work hard now and reward yourself later. At the young age of 29, Wai-Ming Wong has already figured out this tenet of life. Given his decade-long love affair with the automobile, his reward for five years of hard work after college could only be one thing: a new ride. "My A4 had very sentimental meanings to me," Wong reflects. "It was the first car I purchased through hard work, discipline and dedication to success in my career and life."
The A4's story begins on the Internet. Although he lived in Seattle, WA, Wong discovered the object of his desires on the other side of the continent. Rather than buying the Audi sight-unseen, he and a friend flew to the sunshine state (Florida) and had the seller book a hotel room as a goodwill gesture. Apparently, the seller wasn't overflowing with goodwill, lodging Wong in a fleabag motel. Disgruntled, Wong bargained the A4's price down even further. "The funniest thing about the trip was that the seller's wife had to sign the bill of sale over and, upon finding out what her husband sold the car for, began yelling at her husband right in front of us!" Wong relates. Perhaps the great deal was worth the hassle.
After getting the Audi back to the West Coast, moving to Southern California and completing the exterior and performance modifications, Wong moved on to the interior. He notes that few Euros feature full-customization in all areas, so he wanted "to create the most well-rounded and customized A4 B5 possible." For help with the A/V build and interior, he turned to Gilberto Gomez. "Gilberto Gomez undoubtedly has the Midas Touch," Wong states. "He transformed a stock interior and sound system into the piece of art you see here."
Sophisticated Themes
Wong had seen enough garish fiberglass enclosures and speakers installs that went against the flow of the car. For his A4, that wouldn't do. "I wanted everything to be clean, meaning staying away from speakers that just stick out," he explains. "The goal was subtlety with a wow factor." To that end, all the components were molded into place and wrapped in Alante leather in the doors. Angling and constructing the pods for the Kicker components took a lot of initial work and reworking, as the first iteration of the door pods jutted out too much.
In addition to more components installed in the same manner in the back doors, rear fill includes another set of carbon-fiber speakers. Gomez installed these into the rear deck, by taking the original panel out and modding it with fiberglass and double-stitched Alante leather. The new deck holds enclosures for both the components and crossovers, but also a plaque at center for the Audi logo.