In the past few years, Sport Utility Vehicles have been selling at dealerships in higher numbers than ever before. So it is no surprise that Erik Harbour from Huntington Beach, California chose to customize his 1997 Ford Expedition that has been seen at shows all over Southern California and beyond. The car and truck club he belongs to, Relaxed Atmosphere, is well-known in California and beyond. After some clever merging of two names, he named his custom ride Relaxpedition

   There are many SUV's out there that would benefit from a lower stance to go along with the big chrome wheels that a lot of dealerships are installing before selling the vehicles on their lot. So in order to be different from every other grocery-getting, soccer-mom SUV out there, Erik had Todd Faulkner and Ramses Schanchez of Winning Edge Customs install an Air Lift Easy Street air bag setup to lower the Expedition at the touch of a switch. The wheels are 24 inch American Racing Cryptic wrapped with Cooper Zeon 295/35R24 tires.

   The first thing that most people notice on Erik's ride are the House of Kolor Oriental Candy blue flames over a lighter base of blue. When you get closer, you'll see a mix of other airbrushed graphics inside the flames including skulls, faces, and realistic fire. Paint and airbrush credits go to Winning Edge Customs including Todd Faulkner, JC Poulsen, Jose Villiagas, and Dave Smithly. The pin striping was laid down by Tom McWeeney at Kustoms Inc. Before all of that paintwork was performed, the body was shaved of it's stock emblems. A Street Scene Lightning front bumper was added along with a DJ Motorsports flamed grille. The undercarriage is lit up at night with a Street Glow LED under vehicle kit and led bars for accent. Logos and window decals were all cut by Modern Image Signworks.

   Setting this Expedition even more apart from all of the other SUV's on the road is it's amazing interior. The stock interior was gutted and totally reborn. The front seats were replaced with Lincoln Navigator bucket seats and the rear seats are custom mounted buckets from a Lincoln Continental. The seats were then wrapped in leather with dark blue suede inserts and blue piping. All of the interior panels and the headliner were wrapped in grey suede. After completing that phase of the interior, California Auto Upholstery turned it back over to Winning Edge Customs where the fiberglass center console, door pods, and other parts were being built and shaped to Erik's liking. Erik is deeply rooted in the custom audio aftermarket scene so he made sure to get his hands dirty too. All of the fiberglass work had a purpose, that purpose was to house a multitude of in-car electronic products. The in-dash head unit is a Star Vision 7-inch touch screen with the capability of controlling everything else Erik was planning to install. Also installed for listening purposes are a Sirius Satellite Radio tuner, two MA Audio HK2000D D Class amplifiers, two MA Audio HK598 AB 4-Channel amplifiers, six MA Audio HK80XC 8-inch subwoofers, and component speakers for the doors/kick panels/rear cargo area. For visual stimulation, there are three Vivo Electronics 15.7 inch Flip down monitors, a Samsung 42-inch Plasma HD-TV, and two Xbox 360 game consoles. Powering all of this voltage hungry equipment is three Kinetik HC2000 Power Cells and Smart Mobile Technology Power inverters including a 1500 watt unit with two 500 watt units as well.

   Erik would like to thank Scott Talcott and everyone at WXP, Todd my roommate and best friend thanks for all the hard work and effort, and thanks for not letting me give up!  Ramses and everyone at Winning Edge Customs, his parents for their understanding & support, Chris at American Racing, Doug at COOPER Tires, Joe at California Auto Upholstery, MA Audio, Doug at Smart Mobile Technologies, Louie at Street Glow, Pat and Rich at Kinetik, Ernie and Julie at VIVO Electronics, Teo at Modern Image Sign Works, Big Bill, Scott, Jose, Barrett, Skittles, Shawn, Mike, Kyle, Rod, Tom, Keith, ///RELAXED Atmosphere, and all of the great people that helped get this truck together.