When Your Nickname Is Bombka And You Own A Custom Body Shop, Your Signature Vehicle Better Be The Bomb.
When Tomasz Stasiuk was growing up in Poland, trundling about on a Czech-made motorcycle, he acquired a nickname. "It sort of means like MacGyver," explained Bombka in his thick Polish accent. "One day my friend started calling me that after I installed power windows in my house."
While Bombka may have had a decent house with windows that turned alfresco at the push of a button his 150cc set of wheels remained far short of his desire. Since then though, he's moved to America and is currently having a Supra time.
As you can see, Bombka's come a long way from that little motorbike and his former city of Biala Podlaska. He and his transformed Toyota now reside in Philadelphia where he and his cousin Ralph own a body shop, R&B Custom Autobody. Both of them came here from Poland in '97. They started to learn bodywork when they arrived . Judging from the stately shape of the Supra's custom exterior they paid close attention to whoever taught them.
The body tuning strategy for the Toyota consists of a few wisely chosen VeilSide parts. Bombka molded in the sideskirts and added some shape to the front bumper. Their relation to the VeilSide name ends there. The rest of the body, including the rear bumper, rear wing, fenders and quarter panels, were custom made by Bombka. He spent countless hours after work perfecting the widebody kit. Six inches are added out back and three inches up front. "The widebody kit took an incredible amount of time," said Bombka. "Because I had to make sure that each side was exactly the same length."
Widebody doors with shaved handles open up to more custom work. So does the reverse latching hood and trunk. Other finishing touches include the eye-popping candy orange paint job, taillights from a '98 Supra and front turn signals and headlights with their interiors painted white. It appears that our Eastern-block buddies can be as creative as they are calculating. Just take a look at the hole in the passenger-side headlight. This makes the Supra look like it's winking at you but allows cold air to go directly to the turbo.
Now, about that turbo. Before Bombka ever got started on the eccentric exterior, he wanted to sort out the engine. Although this was to be a show car, none of us (at least not Turbo readers) want the show without the go. The 2JZ-GTE has been called a 500hp engine detuned to 350. So, it was off to CAR V2 in Wilmington, Del., to free those extra ponies from the stable. They got the nod for the engine work due to their extensive repertoire of highly tuned turbo vehicles. James Cusack, one of the main technicians at CAR V2 was there when the Supra rolled through the bay doors. "When it came in, the number six piston was melted," James said. "There was some damage to the cylinder wall so we had to send the block out to get an overbore."