DRIVERS: Intaek Ryo and His 2003 Lamborghini Murciélago

DRIVERS is a series highlighting influential individuals in the HYPEBEAST sphere and their passion towards all things automotive. The approach is simple: what is car culture to you, and why do you have a passion for it? Each contributor is given a chance to shine light on their personal vehicle or vehicles, and asked to remark on how they are driving culture forward, both metaphorically and literally.

The term “lifestyle” gets thrown around a lot in the car industry and many companies, brands and personalities tend to use it without really understanding its meaning. For Intaek Ryo, he has made a veritable business out of the term.

Intaek Ryo, better known to his friends as simply Ryo, runs the South Korean brand Peaches. You’ve probably seen its logo around before – a playful typographical logo that evokes both streetwear fashion as well as car culture. For the uninitiated, the brand took inspiration from the peach emoji commonly used to refer to rear ends, humans and cars included. And while the fashion side of Peaches covers the gamut of essentials – tees, hoodies, sweats and accessories – the car styling element of Ryo’s vision is much, much more.

The Peaches brand is a lifestyle play in the sense that Supreme calls to mind a rebellious mentality; properly attached, a “Peaches” sticker on an exotic or import car speaks volumes on the image you want to get across with your vehicle. It’s in similar vein to wearing the right basketball sneaker – but not the obvious basketball sneaker – to a Chicago Bulls game; an underlying statement, or “IYKYK” (“If You Know, You Know”). Peaches wants this to come across in all that it does, and looks to achieve a status that if you pull up in your Italian, German, Japanese or even French dream car with its logo on it, you know what you represent and how to do it.

That being said, sometimes a “subtle” play isn’t necessarily the case, with Ryo’s 2003 Lamborghini Murciélago being a perfect example. With its reworked pink metallic hue offset with rose gold AG forged alloy wheels, the turn-of-the-century hypercar stands out from your purist-appeasing Murciélago. But that’s not to say it’s all loud; Ryo prides himself with the little things as well, such as his insistence for a rare gated manual transmission, an embossed “Peaches” vinyl across the sides, and applying necessary work to the car – even if its custom one-off bumpers – for a true vision.

Check out Ryo’s awesome Lamborghini Murciélago in our latest edition of DRIVERS and in case you missed it, we featured actress and driver Emelia Hartford’s super-clean 2000 Subaru Impreza GC8.

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Make, model, year of your car?

2003 Lamborghini Pre-LP Murciélago Coupe, with a six-speed gated manual transmission.

When did you acquire it?

2021. I begged the previous owner to sell it for a year. He let her go to buy a McLaren P1. I happened to pay a premium for the key, but I’ve never regretted it since.

What made you choose this car specifically?

I have owned four Lamborghinis so far, both old and new.

I had a 2004 Murciélago with an automatic transmission (e-gear). I think it was the cheapest available Murci on the market for $50k USD. I thought it would be the perfect project car to build with Khyzyl Saleem for his brand, Live to Offend. However, as we expected, my clutch got messed up during the video shoot, and I had to let it go for a cheaper price. I learned my lesson; get a manual Murci. Never buy a cheap Lamborghini.

However, to my knowledge, there are only five, manual Murciélagos in Korea, [and] most of them are pre-LPs and few LP640s. My current Murci is the only one without any accident records and with low mileage. Luckily enough, I know the previous owner, and he is a very meticulous and picky person when it comes to owning a car. It became my turn to ruin a pristine car and enjoy it.

I have always loved to hunt down something rare. I especially like manual cars. That does not mean that I look down on automatic cars. PDKs and dual-clutch missions are amazing to drive. However, I feel more connected to a car when I decide which gear to put it in on my own. Plus, it is the last, manual Lamborghini V12 with scissor doors, and mine has only 8000 miles!

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What is the main purpose of this car for you?

Achievement or a trophy. Motivation. Lifestyle. If I can work my ass off for six days and can spare one day to hear my V12 screaming, everything is fine. It’s a good life.

What has been done with this car? Where has it gone?

I just can’t live with only stock cars. I don’t look at cars as an investment. I love cars because they can be a great canvas for one’s taste and creativity. When I first got into the car scene, I would buy parts from major, aftermarket companies. But now, I am more into designing and making my own, one-off versions with my friends.

I just recently began modifying my Murciélago. It had a Liberty Walk non-widebody kit from its original owner; however, I f*cked up the rear diffuser on a parking bumper. It was the day I transferred the title so, as you can see in the photos, it has an aftermarket front bumper with a stock rear bumper, (laughs). Thanks to that, I am in the process of designing one-off bumpers.

For the second question; it goes through so many tunnel runs now at night.

Any details? Modifications? Changes?

Cosmetically:
Inozetek Metallica Rose Wrap (Giallo Orion Original Paint)
Liberty Walk Front Bumper (soon to be replaced)
Liberty Walk Side Skirt (soon to be replaced)
Liberty Walk Rear Bumper with a Diffuser (honorably dead on the bump)
Custom-Designed AG-Forged Wheels

Mechanically:
Intrax Racing Coilovers
Kreissieg F1 Valvetronic Exhaust System
Two Recaro RMS Bucket Seats
Braided Hoses All Around

“I wanted to show Korean audiences that cars can be very fun and are a great medium to express one’s lifestyle. …I definitely see [they] are starting to embrace the diversity of car culture now.”

What is a car to you: aspirational achievement, functional tool, stress-reliever, etc?

Cars started out as a hobby. However, they became my passion when I started the Peaches brand in 2018. I know how hard it is to turn a hobby into a job. However, I am glad that I get a lot of exciting opportunities to own or drive many cars.

I spent most of my childhood in Ann Arbor, MI and Los Angeles, CA. I liked cars and [the] various car cultures in the States. After my college graduation, I exited out several times from food businesses in my motherland of South Korea. At that time, I could finally buy my own cars, and the car culture that I experienced in Korea was pretty different. Koreans tend to look at cars as mere transportation tools. White, silver, or black cars rule the roads.

I started Peaches because I believed there is something that I can change in the Korean car culture scene. I wanted to show Korean audiences that cars can be very fun and are a great medium to express one’s lifestyle. After three years of hustling, I managed to open up the very first 25,000 sq-ft. offline store in the city of Seoul. Now, the brand is working with major car manufacturers like Porsche, AMG, Genesis, etc. There are so many things that I still want to change, but I definitely see that Koreans are starting to embrace the diversity of car culture now.

So, a car for me is my passion that I would love to share with my hometown.

What was your dream car growing up?

A Lamborghini Countach and a Ferrari F40. I’ve [also] always wanted to own a box-looking BMW with black plastic moldings on the doors…

What have you owned before? What would you like to have?

Since 2015, I have owned about 60 cars. There was a moment when I was into new cars, old cars, manuals, M series’, supercars, etc. Now, I am trying to balance my garage list and tend not to sell those that provide me the most joy.

Currently in the garage:
1988 Porsche 911 G-body Carrera Cabriolet, manual transmission
1989 BMW E30 Live-to-Offend (LTO) Coupe, manual transmission
1994 BMW E36 M3 LTO Coupe Euro Spec, manual transmission
1997 Porsche 993 RWB Carrera Coupe: RWB Korea #1
2003 Lamborghini Murciélago Coupe, manual transmission
2003 BMW E46 M3 LTO Coupe prototype, manual transmission
2016 McLaren 675LT Spyder
2021 BMW F96 X6M

What I would like to have in the future:
A Verde Abetone Green Ferrari F40 with tan interior
A Glossy Silver McLaren P1

What is the future of the automotive industry? Car culture?

Bring the joy back!