As part of our 20th anniversary retrospective, we're showcasing some of our favorite vehicles of the past two decades. You'll be able to vote on your favorite car later. Here's another installment.
This isn't some web version of VH1's "Where Are They Now?" show, but for you veteran car audio enthusiasts who've wondered whatever happened to the talented Mark Fukuda, here you go: He lives in Lone Star state, doesn't build cars anymore, but still owns the Blazer. We had a chance to conduct a short interview with him for our 20th anniversary collection of stories.
CA&E: How did you get into car audio?
Mark Fukuda: I used to DJ in high school. That sparked my interest in audio which led me to car audio once I got my license to drive. I ended up hooking up all my buddies systems and eventually began charging for my services. My senior year in high school I started window tinting/car audio business and the rest is history.
CA&E: What attracted you to SPL competition?
MF: I was fortunate enough to live right in the middle of the car audio boom in the early 80's (Beaumont/Houston) and in those days it was all about crazy installs with multiple 15" woofers. During this time I catered to the competition rats of the era building eight vehicles that competed at a national level. At the shows there was always this guy (Tom Fichter ASC HOUSTON) that held the World SPL record and he would spank the competition so I decided it was time to build something to beat him. So in 1989 I began building the yellow Blazer.
CA&E: What was your first show like?
MF: My first show with the Blazer was the 1990 Thunder on Wheels finals in Houston. On that day I beat Tom Fichter and his Toyota 4 RunnerS. That pretty much started my obsession with SPL and competition.
CA&E: What are the key features of the Blazer that set the vehicle apart? Can you give readers not familiar with the vehicle the basic rundown of the system?
MF: There were many iterations of the Blazer so Ill just give you a couple of system rundowns, as it did change over the course of six years with innovative features and I think probably firsts in the car audio arena: