Australia’s first; Liberty Walk Audi S5

What you’re seeing before you, is a true European beast, a true gem of German automotive engineering that has been graced with the styling cues of Kato-SAN. Not familiar with Wataru Kato? Ever heard of the infamous Japanese shop “Liberty Walk”? LB works? You can check out some of their more famous work here. Daniel’s idea was to take a cool platform – the Audi S5 – and turn it into an ultimate show-stopper. What Daniel wanted was to build a show car for himself that was unique, different, and definitely not mainstream, but also to help represent his business, Detail Central, along with the same level of quality. Feast your eyes Daniel’s final product.

The first and only Liberty Walk Audi S5 in Australia.

Daniel’s goal was simple (in theory anyway). Do another project but build something that hadn’t been done before in Australia whilst creating something really cool, unique to drive and be fun to do. It had to also promote his business, involve his customer base and show his commitment and dedication to not just serving the car scene but also his support and contribution to its culture.

“From early on in the dream stage I had my heart set on a wide body because it was different and not the mainstream”, is a fantasy that Daniel has tried to live by. After coming across a picture of Kato-SAN’s Liberty Walk S5, Daniel loved what he was seeing and knew that was exactly what to build. Cool, different, stylish, insane, and a showstopper.

This was the image that started it all;

Image; Sourced

This was everything imagined, to looking amazing. The kit flows so well and looks like it should be there (which is something hard to get right). It has to be a fun and exciting project, end up with something cool and something that can help to promote the business. Detail Central is also unique and different in what it does, why it does it with a range of products that are designed specifically for the industry. This was why it was so important for Daniel to make sure this car reflected exceptional detail and quality in every way.

Once the picture of the Liberty Walk S5 was seen, Daniel knew it is what he wanted to do, The hunt for the right car began. After an extremely lucky search, a car that made the perfect platform for what he wanted to achieve was found, 2008 Manual Audi S5. Within a two week period Detail central’s project went from a bit of a fantasy “how cool would it be to build this” to finding a car, then flying to Sydney, buying the car and driving it back home to Melbourne.

Things snowballed rapidly from here, phone calls made to order the Liberty Walk wide body kit, working with a wheel factory for custom made 2 piece Forged wheels, ordering Airbags, fittings and rapidly amassing a parts list. Body kit was ordered with a 3-4 week lead time to wait for it to be made and shipped, the Custom made 2 piece forged wheels in 19×9.5 & 19×12 were also 4-5 week lead time before we would have them. Once arrived, Michelin Pilot Sport 4S where then fitted.

Daniel also wanted his customers involved in the Detail Central Audi S5 Liberty Walk Build. I mean whats the fun of having all this fun and not sharing it with your friends right? This is incredibly unique these days for a car build! So Daniel documented a lot of the build process on Detail Central’s social media platforms and Live streamed the cutting up the guards for the first time via facebook.

From bags, Fitting and fabrication of the body kit was all done in-house at Detail Central. Once completed the was off to RK Restorations in Carrum Downs were it was expertly treated to a lick of paint. Between Detail Central and Eyecandy motorsports, some designs where put out, put it to a vote with our customer base and come up with the final design. The wrap is a cool multilayer wrap, Matte Black with gloss graphics and a reflective DC logo

Whilst chatting to Daniel he confessed “I am super happy with the end result. A one of a kind Liberty Walk S5 that not only looks good but has a parts list thrown at it to make it shake a leg when needed.

– Stage III+ APR build,
– APR exhaust,
– RS5 front Brake upgrade
– Custom built clutch
As well as a few other things I wish to keep to myself for now.

Thanks to all those physically involved and to all my customers and followers that supported me through the build.” Well Daniel has surely kept true to his goal. Something different, something unique, didn’t follow the mainstream curve. What used to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.