Central Station Customs excels at car audio championships
By: Jordan Standup The Eastern Door

Central Station Customs owner Donald Phillips is a self-described perfectionist and when you get a chance to see the work he has been doing from the shop he opened last August, you will understand exactly why.
Phillips' 'perfect' work was recognized last weekend at an International Auto Sounds Challenge Association (IASCA) competition in Whitby, Ontario when two vehicles he spent a countless number of hours working on won a some awards. "Basically it's the North American standard for sound quality competition where they judge installation, sound, presentation, how well you know your sound system and a whole bunch of other categories," he said. A 2002 Dodge Caravan that Phillips worked on participated in the competition and won big.
"It's a guy that has four kids so he has no other choice of vehicle. So we built his car with custom pillars on the dash, a lot of wiring, clean work and a lot of sound installation," he said. The Caravan won first place in the rookie class and first place in the Sound Quality Challenge. A 2007 Honda FIT that Phillips worked on earlier this year was also in the competition and took second place in the same division as the Caravan. "I had the two best sounding cars at the entire competition," he said. It wasn't the first time Phillips' work has been recognized at a competition. During the World Finals competition in Daytona, Florida on March 13-14 the Honda FIT won first place in the Sound Quality and Installation (SQi) division. "They judge you on how good the sound is and how safe the set up is. It's a lot more about safety then looks. Once you get into the higher class it's a lot more about ascetics and consistent theme," he said. "The customer did a good bit of the work himself, but I did all his speaker aiming, fabrication and in Daytona I tuned the car for him," Phillips said. "Basically, he spent the entire year with a whole different set up, getting enough points (through various other competitions) to make it to World Finals and once he got there, his car was not scoring good enough to compete with the guys in the States. "That's when the customer decided to bring his car to Phillips. "We had that car in the shop from January 10-21 and we must've worked on it for 12-13 hours hours a day," he said. "It ended up working out pretty good for him," Phillips said. "It was his first year competing so he won World Championship in Rookie Class. "Phillips said he is proud of the work he has done, but won't let the accomplishments go to his head. He feels that the awards will work as better exposure for his business, located on Highway 138 across from the Mohawk Super Bingo. "The more shows, the more competitions the more trophies behind us and the work just kind of speaks for itself after that," he said. Phillips began working on his and his friends' cars back in 1998, but at that time it was just a hobby. In 2001, he quit his job and attended Mobile Dynamics College in Richmond Hill, Ontario and officially opened Central Station Customs last August. The shop will host an IASCA sound competition on June 6 from 900 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Anyone interested in participating can register by contacting Phillips at the Central Station Customs Facebook page or www.centralstationcustoms.com