Pirelli and marketing partner Will Castro, a noted Long Island, N.Y.-based car customizer, are rolling right along as the television program Unique Whips returns this fall for its fourth season on cable’s Speed Channel.
Castro will be joining Pirelli executives at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 4 p.m. at the company’s booth.
Castro’s Speed Channel show is set to air three specials featuring entertainment and sports celebrities with their customized rides.
Cleveland Cavalier LeBron “King” James will be highlighted on an episode of Unique Whips scheduled to premiere Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 10 p.m. ET. The special will feature James and his Ferrari F430, along with a special Toyota Sequoia Platinum NBA All-Star Game project with Miami Heat center Alonzo Mourning.
“Will Castro and his team are the best, so all of my cars are customized exclusively by Unique Autosports,” James points out.
Castro’s second TV special pairs him up with rapper 50 Cent as the pair work on a special project with Pontiac on location at the performer’s Connecticut mansion. The Pontiac G8 is powered by a 500-horsepower LSX 427 engine, and is completed at Unique’s New York shop.
“My people already know – if you send my cars to somebody other than Will, don’t even bother coming back to work,” says Cent. “And it’s not really about Will; it’s about his work ethic. I know how hard it is to become the best (in the world) at what you do and I respect that.”
The third SPEED special has Castro and his team reworking a pair of Jeep Wranglers for Sean “Diddy” Combs.
“Diddy wanted us to make Wranglers like the ones Wesley Snipes drove in the movie New Jack City,” Castro explains. “Since Diddy has twins of his own, he wanted the Jeeps to be the same, but each with its own look and personality … each one Unique. We delivered one with a merlot theme and the other was platinum.”
Castro is also tackling the largest project of his career – opening a brand-new 20,000-square-foot Unique Autosports customizing shop in Miami, Fla., and expanding his brand globally by opening a shop in Dubai. The new shops will focus on serving ultra high performance and luxury vehicle customers and will place Unique and Pirelli in the middle of the biggest celebrity, business and fashion markets in the world, the tire maker reports.
The partnership between Pirelli and Unique Autosport developed nearly ten years ago, and continues to grow. “I’ve been with Pirelli since early 2000,” says Castro, “back when we were a small 1,500-square-foot shop. Pirelli really believed in me, and now, Unique is taking on car customization on a global scale. With our new 20,000 square foot shop in South Beach and our new Dubai-based customization shop, we are able to serve our high-end clientele better than ever before.”
Castro’s new TV specials, filmed under his new Facio Productions banner, have added a new twist: He and his crew getting out of the New York shop and interacting much more with his clients.
“We put a lot of time and effort into building relationships with our clients,” continues
Castro, “we go way beyond just working on the cars. From auto to marine to in-home, the Unique brand experience customizes the look, sound, feel and texture of any project.”
Unique Autosports is also expanding its presence on the web – creating short-form Unique Whips content made available all season through Speedtv.com, VOD cable, iTunes video podcasts, mobile phones, cable broadband sites and Internet distribution.
Long-form episodes of the shows will be available on Sprint wireless handsets via Sprint TV. Speed Channel clips and original short-form content will be made available to Sprint, AT&T, MobiTV and others.
For more information, visit www.us.pirelli.com.
