The 2015 SEMA aftermarket auto show is currently in full swing, with lots of Vegas-style razzle-dazzle. In the middle of a sea of outrageous body art, deafening paint jobs, and massive horsepower, there is a nondescript gold sedan at Acura’s booth. The modest ride is generating one of two opposing responses: confusion and unabashed excitement. From the first camp: “Why do they have a 20-year-old Legend here?” From the second camp: “Yoooo! This is Luda’s whip!”
The 1993 Acura Legend four-door in question stands out for is plainness. That, and its celebrity owner: Rapper Ludacris (real name Chris Bridges). He’s known as a multi-million dollar recording artist today, but in the late 1990s, he was just getting his start. The “Ninety-three Ack,” as he calls it, was his first car, his dream car, and the one that “took care” of him before he was famous. Despite a skyrocketing music career that afforded him any car he desired, Bridges kept the Legend, maintained it, and drove it regularly, clocking 283,000 miles and counting.
“The majority of the first three or four albums were actually written in this Acura Legend,” Bridges explained. He even put it on the cover of his latest album, parked beside a slightly more expensive private jet.
However, when the car was recently involved in an accident, Acura brought the car into its California design studio and gave it a full resto-mod. From afar, the changes look minimal, but when you get up close to its 6- and 4-pot calipers front and rear, 18-inch lightweight Rays wheels, and Alpine sound system, you appreciate how the Legend was re-worked. Most of all, the oh-so-90s Cashmere gold paint dances in the light, with far more pearl than a factory spray.
When Acura revealed the finished car to him last week, Bridges shouted: “My baby!” Then he gave it a hug. For a rapper, authenticity is everything. Many boast about the Bentleys they own, but the multi-platinum, Grammy-winning Ludacris has nothing left to prove. Keeping his 1993 Legend, and remembering where you came from, is the ultimate act of loyalty. It doesn’t get more real than that.
