LDL Auto and Speedshop is one of the major facilities in Northern California to provide high quality work that puts the excitement into vehicles long thought to be gone from existence. Run by Dennis Liongson, LDL specializes in building high-horsepowered vehicles from the early Japanese compact era, from 1970 Toyota Corollas to 1975 Mitsubishi Lancers. Now, don't think Dennis doesn't have his share of late model Hondas. Although he specializes in vintage Japanese sport compacts, he has also turned his attention to the needs of the current Import Vehicles and has applied his knowledge to them as well.
Dennis' automotive history began as a young boy in the Philippines, where he watched his father race and tune cars. In high school, he would repair and upgrade his fellow classmates' cars for fun. While attending college, Dennis would do headwork in return for term papers. By his senior year, he was forced to open his first shop because his father's place was simply too small.
Dennis moved to the United States in 1987, working as a mechanic for U-Haul, and returned to the Philippines shortly thereafter. In 1990, he returned to the States and opened up an Auto Sales/Service shop, servicing customers he had known in the Philippines and had moved here to the States.
Dennis' business really started to climb after meeting with three young gentleman who were interested in building an older Toyota Starlet that could be competitive with all the Nitrous-assisted Acura Integras. Dennis says that after building that particular Starlet -- his favorite of all he's built -- his business skyrocketed and is now ninety percent Import Performance-related work.
Most of his business comes from building motors for other shops as well. Some of his work could be seen as a result of his ingenuity. He has successfully put the Old School cars in good competition with all the recent Import timeslips. From a 13.2 N/A 70s Corolla to a twelve-second NOS CRX, it's obvious that his skills are adaptable to a vast array of import vehicles.
Dennis is constantly looking for ways to make racing affordable and is ready to take on almost any formidable task to produce power from cars not as popular by today's standards. He also offers to build custom turbo kits for those of you not interested in joining the Honda craze. Actually, he has a 3TC Turbo kit in the final stages of design and mass produced in addition to exclusive access to stainless-steel valves for that motor. For those of you who don't know, the Toyota 3TC motor is commonly used in those blistering eight-second Puerto Rican monster 4 bangers you may have heard about.
One of Dennis' beliefs is to "adapt new technology to the Old School cars," which I have personally seen since the first debut of late-breaking technology for Imports.
Go check out LDL if you have something unique that you want to explore to the maximum possibilities. Whether it be Old School Toyotas or the latest Import, Dennis is always ready to accept the challenges that others might not even consider while keeping costs down.
Source: http://www.speedmagazine.com/issues/98/april/ldl.shtml