PHOTOS: ANDRIJA TADEJEVIC | @BICEP.AUTOMOTIVE
My name is Greg DePass, and I was born and raised in NYC and am currently living in Yonkers, NY. I’m a cancer survivor, and I’ve served more than 20 years in the U.S. Navy and Air Force National Guard, with one tour in Afghanistan. I recently medically retired from law enforcement after eight years due to a bad injury in a domestic violence incident. Now, I’m continuing my journey with my custom Dodge Charger Hellcat.
THE OBSESSION BEGINS
I’ve been completely obsessed with cars before I could say “car.” When I was a toddler, my parents frisked me before leaving the house because they didn’t want me bringing my Matchbox toy cars out. My dad and uncle both tuned and raced cars when I was younger, so they were my first influences. They were into Volkswagens. You could say we were a VW family, so my first few cars were VW GTIs and Jettas. Every one of them had after-market wheels, stereo equipment and lighting. I’ve owned more than 20 cars and about five motorcycles, and I’ve always customized my vehicles. I also had a fully custom-painted and chromed-out Kawasaki Ninja with a few hundred LEDs. Once I discovered the Dodge Charger, there was no turning back. I’m currently on Charger number four, with each of them more customized than the last. I’ve only recently started attending custom car shows as well and I guess you could say I got bit by the car show bug.
BIGGER IS BETTER
The decision to move to Dodge cars was from a desire to get away from small four-cylinder engines and get my hands on a powerful V8. I wanted something with rear-wheel drive and some power. And I wanted something aggressive and the Dodge Charger Hellcat did it for me, but I love all kinds of makes and models. I would probably own a few dozen cars if I were financially wealthy.
The first mod is always wheels. So I found some larger 22” (DUBZ) and mounted them. A few weeks later, I had the car wrapped in Satin Grey and disassembled the front fascia to mount my signature push-bar. The other modifications were just part of a continuous evolution of the build. I went bigger after attending a custom car show and deciding I wanted to win a trophy. This car has seen at least five complete makeovers with wraps or paint. And another five or so sub-revisions with different wheels and other cosmetic modifications. The most challenging aspect of the build is my custom lighting. I have hundreds of hours invested in changing, upgrading and fixing the hundreds of LEDs integrated into the build. I have lights everywhere, and I’m addicted to adding new lights. I will never be done building and modding. Showing the car is only the cherry on top. Building it and working on it is just as satisfying to me, so it will be a continuous evolution for as long as I own it.
IN IT TO WIN IT
I entered my first car show in 2019. It was a RIX Magazine show. After seeing the creativity in the builds, I was hooked. The following four times I went to the RIX Magazine show, I won “Best of Show” all four times. In 2020 and 2021, the car went home with 15 “Best Of Show” awards from different shows, big and small. Plus a bunch of other categories like “Best Dodge,” “Best Wheels,” and Top 25, Top 50 and Top 100 awards, to name a few. I’ve also won awards at Vorged Society, Flex Fest, DJ Envy’s show, Clean Culture, Driven 2 Inspire, Nexgen, Race & Tuners, WeAreMopar and was recently featured in the NeverRideStock booth at the NY International Auto Show.
The car is a crowd favorite. At any show, it seems to have a constant crowd around it. I drove it from New York to Texas for WAM 2021 (WeAreMopar) and stopping for gas was always a blast. I love meeting people who love the car, and it always surprises me how many will tell me they follow me on Instagram or Tiktok when I pull up to some random gas station in some small town. My craziest reaction was when I had just wrapped up at Flexfest 2019. Flexfest was a car show/concert hosted by Funkmaster Flex. There were many artists and some beautiful cars. So after winning 2nd place in the Dodge category, I was preparing to leave the building and rapper DMX saw my car and proceeded to lose his mind. As he held his phone up to record my car, I excitedly asked him if he liked it. He replied, “Like it? I want to have sex with this car!” I don’t think I’ll be able to top the reaction of having one of my favorite recording artists going crazy over my car. It was a highlight of my life. Rest in peace DMX.
PAID DUES
My most important lesson learned goes back to when I was in my teens, and I didn’t have enough money to modify the car the way
I wanted. I had to learn how to do things myself. That lesson continues to serve me in owning a car with as many modifications, such as in this Hellcat build. The more I do myself, the more capable I am in repairing problems that are bound to happen. Besides saving money, I don’t have to wait for a shop to fit me into a calendar to get my car repaired. Having the vehicle off the road awaiting repairs while waiting for someone to find time to fix it is the worst. My best advice to someone starting out would be to learn how to do as much as you can to your car yourself. And when you have to bring it to a shop or expert, educate yourself as much as possible about what they are doing. I have so many cars in mind that I’d love to play around with in modding. But all my friends will tell you that I have my heart set on a ‘60s Lincoln Continental with the suicide doors. I love that car and it couldn’t be more different from a Dodge Charger Hellcat. One of these days, I hope to be back here talking about my Lincoln build.
Regarding the future of muscle cars, I’m a little disappointed that Dodge chose to stop producing internal combustion models so soon. I would have liked to have a more gradual introduction to electric vehicles. But I really appreciate Dodge’s attempt to make something different from all the other EVs being released. They are appealing to their market. With all of us going electric inevitably, I welcome their attempt at being different.
BIG THANKS
I just wanted to thank everyone who’s been a part of my journey with this car. My mom, dad and sister were so supportive during
my difficult days post injuries. My girlfriend for being there for my first “Best of Show” trophy and every one since. Thank you to Lighting Trendz, TNA Motorsports and NeverRideStock. Also, shoutout to Kultiv8d Kustoms for wrapping the car.
TECH SPECS 2015 DODGE CHARGER HELLCAT “ENFORCER”
OWNER: Randy Weaver of Weaver Customs
WHEELS / TIRES
