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This article was published 13/9/2019 (379 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Gliding along the streets of Brandon, Nick Duval’s Japanese imported right-hand drive 2002 Subaru Legacy GT is a one-of-a-kind ride.

He has had the Legacy for almost two years and has been busy as a beaver modifying the Legacy to perfection.

Nick Duval shows off his customized 2002 Subaru Legacy GT at the Brandon Municipal Airport. (Chelsea Kemp/The Brandon Sun)

"It’s pretty cool," he said with a grin. "Everything is custom — It’s exactly how I want it."

He is the first Canadian owner of the Legacy, which makes it all the more special.

It has been fun driving a right-hand vehicle, especially with some of the puzzled looks he gets while out for a drive, Duval said with a laugh.

Modifying the Subaru has been a labour of love, since there is not a single aspect that he has not taken into account, he said with a beaming smile.

"It’s a lot of work, but it helps when you do it all yourself."

Modifications and changes Duval has made include a full custom air ride suspension, steering wheel paddles, pillar gauges, an intake manifold and injectors along with new rims and tires.

Nick Duval pops the hood of his 2002 Subaru Legacy GT. (Chelsea Kemp/The Brandon Sun)

For the most part, he figured out everything on his own, he said, and takes great pride in what he has done with his car.

When it sits at stock height, it is about eight inches off the ground, but when it is lowered and aired out, it sits right on the pavement.

"The skid plate is right on the ground," Duval said.

It was complicated building the air ride for his car, he said, especially because there is no air ride kit built for the right-hand drive Legacy.

"I’m the first person to do air ride in this car in North America, so it makes is kind of special," Duval said.

He estimates that he spent more than 100 hours on the air-ride system because he had to custom build everything to fit the Legacy.

"I had to build the struts and build the control panel and everything for it," Duval said. "I’m still tinkering with it doing auto-level and stuff."

He finished the system just in time to attend the Driven car show in Winnipeg. The maiden voyage of the Legacy’s air ride system was the 500-kilometre round trip to the province’s capital city.

"It was on a completely fresh air-ride system that I completely custom-built," he said with a wide grin. "It was nerve-wracking — it was pretty fun."

The front end of Nick Duval's 2002 Subaru Legacy GT. (Chelsea Kemp/The Brandon Sun)

However, the most challenging aspect to modify was the steering wheel. It is the only part of the car he would describe as "trial and error" work.

The steering wheel features a quick-release energy hub with pedal shifters that work to shift the transmission, and it has buttons to drain the tank from the steering column.

"The tricky part is it’s all quick release," he said.

To get around this, he added a magnetic connector and designed and 3D-printed a mount for it.

He built and wired the system himself.

Duval estimates that it took him about 50 hours to complete that project.

His work is complemented by the paint colour of the Subaru — it was one of 600 painted on the Legacy. As far as he knows, he is the only one in Canada whose car bears the striking Java Black colour.

"It has a really heavy gold flake in it," he said. "It’s awesome."

He added a ceramic coating to protect the paint that adds a depth to the dark paint, and as a bonus makes it easier to clean, Duval said with a chuckle.

"I like doing one-of-a-kind unique projects," he said. "It’s super satisfying."

The Legacy has a two-litre twin-turbo boxer under the hood, but Duval has added injectors to the engine.

He hopes to one day take it to the race track one day to see how fast the Legacy can hit when he puts the pedal to the metal, Duval said, explaining that he plans on putting the rubber to the road in Gimli or at the Rivers race track next summer.

"I want to see what it can do," Duval said.

The Legacy has all-wheel drive and is powerful. When he throws on the winter tires it powers through the snow.

"Honestly my favourite thing is the power, and how it puts the power to the ground through the all-wheel-drive system," Duval said. "I love driving it."

It has taken countless hours of work to create his extraordinary ride, and for now he said he is happy with what he has achieved for the Legacy.

However, he can never rule out doing more modifications to the Legacy if the mood strikes him.

Duval has spent as many hours driving his ride as he has modifying the Legacy. He has put on approximately 50,000 kilometres since he first got it two years ago.

"I don’t buy a car to not drive it," Duval said. "There’s no point to putting all this time into customizing everything and then not driving it."

» ckemp@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp