BlackLotus Performance
I’d like to introduce you to one of my favorite sponsors: BlackLotus Performance
“Where Form Meets Function.”
The founder, Joe Piazzisi, has always had a knack for modifying things. Especially when it comes to offering a balance between form and function. So for every project that comes across his table, whether it’s a factory or aftermarket part, Joe tackles it with a "How can this be improved" mind set. Sometime there are little changes, other times they are complete reworks starting from scratch at the drawing table. The thing about Joe is he’s not afraid to scrap a design that doesn’t meet his standards, and every product is refined through feedback from a community of fellow fabricators and Supra enthusiasts.
“I dont try to pretend I know it all or even like I know what I’m doing most of the time. Feedback is key. I’m an "ex-banker" who turned his hobby into a business.”
Starting as a “Hobby Builder” back in 2001, Joe’s obsession with cars and a frustration with a heavily saturated “mostly for looks” parts market led to the birth of BlackLotus Performance. During his early days he would often get asked “Nice car, is it for sale?” and if the price was right he figured he could always build another one and do it better.
Among the various car’s Joe owned and built are a couple Zs. During a large car show, he had the opportunity to meet Jojo and the Golden-child Supra. Once they got to talking about their passions Joe fell in love with the iconic Supra. Later on, Joe found a stock 1993 NA of his own with a 5-Speed transmission. A couple simple modifications included a cold air intake and body kit.
Eventually life got in the way, as it does, which forced Joe to free up some funds. He wasn’t ready to part off with the Z just yet so the Supra was the one to go. About a year later the itch came back for another soup but funds were still low. Nonetheless, he still managed to find a 95 hardtop out in a field in Salem. It was in absolute rough shape with a blown engine (With piston #2 sticking out the side of the block) and windows which had been down for over a year.
“It wasn’t just left in a field btw, it was left in a horse field with horses who loved to sit on the hood and bumper.”
Joe ended up going overboard with his new purchase. An all metal wide body painted in Elise Graphite Grey with a Do-luck body kit…etc. which took a few years to complete.
He rarely drove his Z since it had super low miles (~45k) and the paint was too nice which led to a fear of rock-chips from driving. So, he ended up putting a For Sale/Trade post where he managed to trade for a Renaissance Red 1997 Toyota Supra with BPU.
Joe drove his new to him 97 while building the 95 until life, quite literally, happened again and his child was born. Joe and his wife wanted to buy a house so they sold the 97 to cover down-payment.
At this time, Joe was building a 96 Toyota Supra for a friend (Which is the Lotus Supra we see today).
After finally finishing the 95 it was sold with kid #2 on the way. But the itch remained. So he managed to get a 93 Twin-Turbo 6-Speed which he owned for nearly a decade)
One day, the owner of the 96 reached out asking if he knew anyone looking for a Supra as he had put less than 2k miles on it since Joe had built it 8 years pior.
They struck a deal and Joe had both the 93 and 96 for a while. With “Supra Tax” on the rise, Joe couldn’t bring himself to mod an unmolested 93 TT 6-speed let alone justify having 2 sports cars with three kids. So he ended up letting go of the 1993.
Also, if you look closely you may notice the wheels on the Golden-Child Supra as well as the wheels on the 96 are the same. The Golden-child Supra has a special place in Joe’s heart hence the widebody wheels and Do-Lucks he got from Jojo have been passed down on a total of 3 of his own Supras.
After a while of doing custom builds for himself, people started reaching out. In a way it started out pretty organically and just grew from there until it reached a point. Finally, Joe’s wife pointed out "you’ve built x a car, built xx a car, you’re working on yours and now building xxx a car... Why dont you start your own business doing this?"
Before we move forward, I think we should take a moment to go back in time and talk about where the name got it’s roots: Joe used to be very big into martial arts and opened his own studio back in the day called "Black Lotus Martial Arts" where they taught Tae Kwon Do, womens/children/general self defense and stunt training. As tribute, he resurrected the old business name as Black Lotus has a strong meaning within asian cultures. After building some cars under BlackLotus LLC, Joe took things a step further and started designing T-Shirts in addition to parts to keep full builds separated. Hence, BlackLotus Performance was born with it’s first offer being Joe’s signature Twin-Turbo Kit for the 2JZ-GTE.
Joe, pictured next to one of “the Fast and the Furious” on-screen cars. A dream come true.
Since then his creations—everything from turbo kits, and intercoolers to shift knobs or valve covers—are developed for the end-user experience.
“At the end of the day I’m an end user and like to wrench on my car. If something is a pain for me to work on and I designed it... I can only imagine how hard it is for someone else. So I try and keep those sorts of things in mind.”
Owner: Joe Piazzisi
