Machines Gone Wild: Jamaican-run performance shop tuning cars in South Miami
Nestled quietly in South Miami is the small
Jamaican-run performance shop Machines Gone Wild. Living up their name, they’ve
been responsible for some truly wildly tuned modified cars, including an
1100bhp Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX.
“We established the shop in 2006,” said
co-owner Gregory Gutzmore.
Gutzmore, a performance mechanic originally
from Kingston, left his daily grind and opened his own shop.
“I left the shop I was at and started this
business with a friend of mine, and he lost interest, so Don stepped in,” he
said.
Unique passion
That Don is Don Pottinger, another Jamaican
originally from St Mary.
“It was myself and Don as friends for a long
time. I would build his motors, so we decided to make a life from doing what we
love,” Gutzmore explained.
The third member of Machines Gone Wild, Matthew Ho Lung, isn’t Jamaican but has Jamaican roots as both his parents are. Gearheads worldwide will instantly recognise the last name as Matthew is son to famous Jamaican tuner and former import drag racer Lance Ho Lung of Toyomoto fame.
“Matthew, just being around us through his dad, started showing interest and a very unique passion, which just could not be overlooked,” said Gutzmore.
Three friends
The name of the shop came about as a play on
the title Girls Gone Wild, a popular direct-to-video series at the time. The three
friends then set about building up their status in the South Florida sport
compact car modification scene.
“It was supposed to be about cars, and bikes,
etc., so we used the name machines instead of cars, based on Girls Gone Wild,”
he said.
The shop specialises in a wide variety of tuning services, building engines and transmissions for customers while being able to handle anything from basic maintenance to full vehicle rebuilds.
“We sell performance parts, but we can install
them too, whether from us or brought by the customer. We can do brake and
suspension upgrades,” Gutzmore said.
Well-deserved reputation
Over the years Machines Gone Wild has garnered
their well-deserved reputation on ECU tuning and building hyper-fast Subarus
and Mitsubishis.
Having their own Dynojet 424x four-wheel dynamometer allows them to be able to dial in the necessary parameters via a vehicle’s engine computer to make impressive power figures. A shortlist of their accomplishments, beyond even the four-digit horsepower Lancer Evolution IX, includes an 811hp Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, a 850hp Subaru STI, and one pushing 50hp more that has survived over 80 quarter-mile passes.
“We do this mostly out of our love and passion
for cars. The horsepower mark keeps getting greater, and we keep striving to
accomplish the same goals, but in a tasteful and reliable manner,” Gutzmore told
BUZZ.
Crazy power
It’s this amazing ability to produce not only crazy power figures but reliable cars that keeps Machines Gone Wild at the top of many lists in the South Florida tuning scene and draws clientele beyond their city and state boundaries.
“We get many Subaru and Evolution customers
from out of state. We have customers in Cayman, Antigua, Jamaica, Guyana, and
Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.
The small Jamaican crew plans to use their
expertise to go on to greater heights within the tuning business.
“We have our eyes on developing, engineering and producing some performance parts of our own for these two cars,” Gutzmore said.
