GTA Online Benny's Original Motor Works: How to Unlock, Retro Customs and Prices

Benny's Original Motor Works is GTA Online's lowrider and retro-custom garage, tucked away in Strawberry, Los Santos. Unlocking it takes one short mission chain with Lamar Davis and costs nothing, but the real spending starts once you bring a car in: hydraulics, retro engine swaps, and full-body "Retro Custom" conversions are exclusive to this shop, on more than 30 eligible vehicles and one motorcycle.

Essentials

• Location: Strawberry, Los Santos, a standalone garage separate from Los Santos Customs
• Unlock cost: free, just a short mission chain with Lamar Davis (LD)
• What it adds: hydraulics, lowrider paint and livery packages, unique wheels, and full "Retro Custom" body conversions
• Vehicles eligible: 30+, from the BF Weevil to the Bravado Gauntlet Classic
• Typical spend: $330,000-$900,000 for the base conversion alone, before hydraulics or cosmetics

How to Unlock Benny's Original Motor Works

1. Open the map and find the "LD" blip. That is Lamar Davis.
2. Walk into the yellow marker and call Lamar using the phone prompt.
3. Lamar redirects you to a second marker, labeled "LD 1," in Strawberry, Los Santos.
4. Step into that marker to trigger a short cutscene introducing Benny and the garage.
5. You will land on an invite screen for a job that needs up to three more players. Back out of it, you do not need to play the mission.
6. Drive any vehicle through the garage entrance. That single trip unlocks Benny's for good.

There is no GTA$ cost to unlock the shop itself. You only start paying once you bring a car in for work, and the unlock only has to happen once per character.

Why the mission sometimes will not trigger

If Lamar never calls back or the second marker does not appear, the most common fix is switching sessions (Story Mode then back into GTA Online, or a fresh public session) and trying again from the first "LD" blip. This is an old bug from the original Lowriders launch that still shows up occasionally after game updates.

Where Is Benny's Located in GTA Online

Benny's sits in Strawberry, in the low-rent stretch of Los Santos near the railway underpass south of Davis. It is a standalone building, entirely separate from every Los Santos Customs branch, so once it is unlocked its own icon appears permanently on the map. For the shop that handles everything Benny's does not, like performance parts, armor and standard body kits, see the complete Los Santos Customs guide.

What You Can Customize at Benny's

Benny's exists for lowrider culture and retro builds, not raw performance tuning:

• Hydraulics, for the classic lowrider bounce and three-wheel motion
• Lowrider-specific paint, livery and interior trim options
• Custom wheel sets sold nowhere else in the game
• Full "Retro Custom" body kits that change a car's entire silhouette, not just its paint

Every eligible vehicle needs the base "Custom" conversion first, before any of the above becomes available. Think of that conversion as unlocking the car's Benny's menu; everything else is optional on top of it.

The Retro Custom Conversions, Explained

The shop's signature feature is the full-body retro conversion, sold as its own trim rather than a paint job. A handful of vehicles get this treatment:

• BF Weevil Custom, added in October 2022, a two-door hot rod that becomes the fastest vehicle in the game once fully upgraded, at roughly 137 mph
• Pfister Comet Retro Custom, a period-correct take on the Porsche 911-inspired Comet
• Annis Elegy Retro Custom, styled to echo the Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 made famous by 2 Fast 2 Furious
• Bravado Gauntlet Classic Custom, pulling its lines from the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona and 1970 Plymouth Superbird

Most other Benny's-eligible cars only get the lowrider treatment rather than a full retro body, among them the Brioso 300, Sentinel Classic, Glendale, Manana, Peyote, Yosemite, Youga Classic and Diabolus, plus the FCR1000 motorcycle. Curious where a fully-built Retro Custom lands against the rest of the roster? The complete fastest cars ranking has the current numbers.

Benny's vs Los Santos Customs

The two shops do not overlap much, so most players end up using both on the same car:

	Benny's Original Motor Works	Los Santos Customs
Vehicle eligibility	30+ specific cars and one motorcycle	Almost every vehicle in the game
Performance parts	Limited, cosmetic-first	Full engine, brakes, transmission, turbo
Signature feature	Retro Custom body kits, hydraulics	Armor, bulletproof tires, liveries
Cost per car	$330,000+ for the base conversion	Varies, usually far cheaper

If a car is not on Benny's list, Los Santos Customs is still the place for armor, performance upgrades and a standard respray. Benny's is worth the detour specifically for the lowrider bounce and the handful of Retro Custom body kits nothing else in the game replicates.

How Much Does Benny's Cost

Prices scale with the base vehicle and how deep the build goes.

Upgrade	Price range
Base "Custom" conversion	$330,000 - $900,000
Hydraulics	around $125,000
Full lowrider visual package	$200,000 - $400,000
Custom livery	$18,000 - $50,000
Custom wheels	$50,000 - $100,000

A fully loaded build, conversion, hydraulics, paint, livery and wheels together, can pass $1,000,000 GTA$ on some vehicles. If your bank balance cannot cover that yet, the best GTA Online money methods for 2026 ranking is the fastest route to funding a garage full of retro builds. Rockstar also runs periodic sales that cut Benny's conversion and hydraulics prices by up to 50 percent, usually timed to the weekly bonus rotation, so it is worth checking before a big purchase.

Which Cars Are Worth Converting First

If the shop is new to you, do not spend seven figures on the first visit. Buy the base "Custom" conversion on one of the cheaper eligible cars, the Manana, Peyote or Glendale are all inexpensive starting points, and see whether the lowrider look is worth building out before committing to a pricier platform or a full Retro Custom. Retro Custom builds also count toward LS Car Meet reputation and are eligible for the Test Track, so a Benny's build doubles as a showpiece there too.

A Quick History

Benny's Original Motor Works launched with the Lowriders update on October 20, 2015, GTA Online's first DLC built entirely around vehicle culture rather than heists or businesses. It predates almost every other customization system in the game and is still the only shop offering these retro conversions a decade later. For more on the game's early vehicle scene, see the first cult cars of GTA Online.

FAQ

Do I need to own a specific vehicle to unlock the shop? No. The unlock mission with Lamar Davis does not require owning any particular car. You just need a vehicle to drive through the garage entrance at the end.

Can I unlock Benny's solo? Yes. The mission-invite screen that appears mid-unlock is for a separate job you do not have to play; you can back out and finish the unlock alone.

Does every car qualify for a Retro Custom? No. Only a short list of vehicles, the Weevil, Comet, Elegy and Gauntlet Classic among them, get the full retro body conversion. The rest of Benny's roster is limited to lowrider-style mods.