FINALLY getting around to shooting some cars. I’m starting to find “some” free time to squeeze in some photoshoots here and there in between all the new house appointments and Calgary Corporate Challenge training  and birthday parties all over the place… The last time I posted a shoot was July 1st of Michael Kwan’s Toyota Supra. It’s been that damn long… I need to step it up in this last month and start shooting like crazy. I’ve been promising a bunch of shoots and honestly never really have much time even though I really want to get them all done. So for everyone that I’ve told – it’s coming!

Well a lot of you have anxiously been waiting to see what Derrick’s car looks like and how it sits or even whether it’s finished yet. Yes, it is finished and it looks great. Derrick did a great job taking this car apart, doing everything from sanding, priming, and painting it, and then reassembling it back to how it used to be. I wrote all that out in a sentence and it sounds fairly simple – which it is – but I recall Derrick saying he would never do it again. The long and arduous task of doing something like this is both physically and mentally draining. As you can see from my previous posts from when I stopped by to lend as much help as I could, the days were long and the work was even longer. Hours were spent on a panel just wet sanding it down to get it as perfect as we could. More hours were spent polishing and getting rid of the marring from the previous step. Wiping and checking, wiping and checking.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’m proud of Derrick for doing this all himself in his own garage and having the outcome turn out as good as it did. I’m happy to have been a part of the process even though it was a miniscule part when you look at the whole picture. I’m also happy to have been able to shoot it last night as well and I know that was the first thing Derrick wanted as soon as he got it out on the road again.

Now let’s move on to the pictures. We went out last night at around 5:30PM just when the sun began coming down so it was still harsh and it was still hot as shit. The OEM Lexus colour – desert sage metallic really sparkles and shows what it has to offer when it’s in the light. In the dark, it still looks great but nowhere near as nice as when you start to see the metallic flakes shine. Derrick dubbed the colour that you see in the dark a Donatello green – for those of you old enough to remember Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it’ll ring a bell.

Derrick’s car in all its glory. A lot of people expected a Midori green like myself at first. Derrick had thought about it but it ultimately came down to two choices – Milano Red or Desert Sage Metallic. Obviously he did no wrong with the latter choice. There was a lot of “ehh’s” and “hmm’s” when Derrick first conceived the idea, and I’ll admit that even I did the same when he told me.

I applaud Derrick for sticking to his guns right till the very end, though. When everybody disapproves, but in your mind and in the end it turns out looking great – that’s when you hit the jackpot.

Side profile shot of his car. The first thing you might notice or think to yourself is “needs moar low”. Yes, it does and Derrick knows this. The CCW’s that he got from Adam’s EK and before that – Punit’s Integra – is a very aggressive set for the DC body. He raised his coils up a bit to clear them and he’s running very little camber at the moment. In his defense, he just wanted to drive and that was his only option. He’ll be dialing in some camber and going back down to his regular, lower height soon and that will be the icing on the cake.

JC accompanied me on the trip to once again help with the rolling shots later. He’s pretty much my partner in crime when it comes to photoshoots – I can always count on JC for locations, a chaser car, and on-location instagram tags.

Another shot where the sun was coming down really hard. Still looks great.

JC doing that instagram thing off in the distance.

Another shot where you can see the gold metallic in the paint.

A head on shot.

JC chillin over to the side. More instagram…

Shot of the rear.

Derrick wiping off some dust.

Finally JC posted the instagram pic and so they stand and admire the car from the shade.

I’d also like to point out that after all that time, the instagram picture was not even centered. Amazing. (sarcasm)

Getting ready for rollers…

No artificial light flares here.

Again, the sun was super harsh but it added a fairly nice effect.

Inside the CT rolling back to the rendezvous point.

It was funny as we were driving back, JC mentioned that it always looks so weird when there’s no RPM’s. I looked over and laughed because I’ve never seen that before. Weird ass hybrids.

PS – JC your dash is dirty as f.

Cleaning his interior. I gave him a hard time before we even started shooting about not cleaning the car as much as he could have. He was too anxious to drive it… So then he cleaned it at the location.

My car all dirty and shit. I gotta clean it today… and JC’s car is always so damn clean.

Asimo. Typical Honda owners.

I took this not because it was a Nardi wheel. I took it because it’s the Nardi that I sold to him when I started parting out my Civic and he’s still using it today. The suede is worn down right to the bone but it still looks great. He was even saying he was thinking of picking up a new wheel but he would never sell this Nardi because I sold it to him. LOL brown noser.

Recaros

Type R center console.

And a closing shot of my car and JC’s car. Bug guts and all.

I decided to close with this because I’m excited about what’s going to happen this evening. Mike McConnell (MDM Visuals) will be shooting my car tonight. I’m especially stoked because in the 6+ years that I’ve been shooting, no one has ever shot my cars other than myself. I’ve never really asked anybody because I was always capable, but Mike has been wanting to shoot for a long time and I can’t turn a fellow photographer down. He does exceptional work and I would only want someone who could take great pictures to take pictures of my car too…

Stay tuned for that!