Workers at a famous West Coast auto modification shop where the color rendering of paint and illumination levels need for intricate craftsmanship are crucial are thrilled with the company’s new LED lighting system.
[dropcap style=”letter” size=”52″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#ef7517″]F[/dropcap]rom the custom DeLorean ordered by musician Black Eyed Peas’ Will.i.am (for a reportedly $700,000) to pop star Justin Bieber’s matte black Cadillac CTS-V (aka “the Batmobile”) and creating a functional mobile office (which includes a 33-inch Samsung Smart TV) within a Cadillac Escalade for actor Mark Wahlberg, the team at West Coast Customs (WCC) – the internationally renowned California-based vehicle modification shop with franchises in Dubai, Mexico, Germany, Malaysia, Russia, and Japan – know the value of good lighting.
Famously recognized from the first four seasons of MTV’s Pimp My Ride series before headlining its own TV series Inside West Coast Customs on the Velocity network, Street Customs on TLC, and now West Coast Customs® on Fox Sports 2, WCC has a reputation for providing innovative, high-end workmanship. Naturally, having good lighting is important.
When the time came to upgrade the lighting system at its new design center and showroom in Burbank, Calif., WCC’s founder Ryan Friedlinghaus turned to Stamford, Conn.-based Revolution Lighting Technologies, Inc. (RVLT).
A leader in advanced lighting solutions, RVLT outfitted the entire 60,000-sq.-ft. facility and parking lot with energy-efficient LED flat panels, LED tubes, and other LED products to reduce the facility’s energy usage by 64 percent, saving the company more than $26,000 annually. Those savings are equivalent to reducing 194,808 lbs. of greenhouse gases annually, saving 7,305 trees, or akin to planting 17 acres of trees.
“Our new facility is now truly energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. After an in-depth review of energy-efficiency options, the benefits of LED lighting were obvious and Revolution Lighting’s LED solutions were superior to all other options,” says Ryan Friedlinghaus, CEO of West Coast Customs. “In addition to using less energy and saving a ton of money, the LED upgrade has provided exceptional lighting conditions that gives the WCC team better vision to bring our clients’ dreams into reality.”
The new RVLT LED fixture solutions provide optimal lighting and burn up to 90 percent cooler than the existing fluorescent fixtures. Within each of the 12 custom workshop departments, the LED fixtures emit a cleaner and brighter light, which allows for higher visibility and greater precision on custom projects.
In addition, for the showroom portion of the facility, thin panel overhead LED fixtures illuminate the die-cast cars below in a way that highlights all of the details on each custom vehicle.
“The nice thing about an LED retrofit is that you can do a quality, one-for-one swap using 65 percent less energy,” explains Vincent Alonzi, VP/Network Sales for RVLT. “We are a 100-percent LED company [that creates] a higher quality of light with significant costs savings.”
“WCC is the industry leader in custom auto styling solutions — with only the cleanest, most innovative, and design-conscious solutions for their business. This retrofit design redefines what automobile showroom lighting can be,” adds Ken Ames, VP/Sourcing for RVLT.
The lighting renovation project was featured in a two-part series of West Coast Customs on Fox Sports 2 and can be viewed on YouTube.
