Part 2!

Just to reflect on my comments on the first post – I was talking with JC on Sunday about the lull in the community – and it for sure isn’t a bad thing. When I say lull, I mean that a majority of the cars in attendance have primarily stayed the same from the previous year, more or less… Including mine. I think we’ve hit the pinnacle of widebodies, GT wings, and stance. We’ve successfully phased out most of the Rotas and Varrsucks or however you spell it. People – for the most part – understand quality and how much better well-made parts outshine every other sub-standard part. Car trends come and go and we’re at the point right now where people have done almost everything to meet that trend and we’re just coasting now. Coasting is not a bad thing, in fact it’s a good thing. I’ll tell you why – because if you’re coasting with the trends, that means we’re not degrading the quality of builds. We’re just sitting there waiting until something else happens and everyone will jump on the next bandwagon.

We seem to have a roller coaster ride of trends – sometimes good, sometimes bad. Whatever it is kind of determines the next level of builds that come about. The OG’s kinda stick around and dip their feet in the waters to see what it’s all about, the new guys may embrace it and make it great or abuse it and make it bad. One example I keep coming back to is the GT wing hype. I remember way back, Jackie Law – the original GT wing hype man was the one that persuaded me to get a J’s wing for my Civic at the time. I can’t count how many times people made comments on pictures of both our cars to “get rid of the wing”, or “park benches belong in parks not on cars”. Today, though? Don’t get me started on today… But I’ll start anyway – let’s find the biggest carbon wing – doesn’t matter who it’s made by as long as it’s carbon fiber – let’s make the tallest aluminum stands, cut shapes out on the stands for weight savings and JDM scene points and then mount it somewhere on the chassis because that’s the only way it’ll hold my cargo box weight. I mean, I kind of exaggerate but I’m kind of not at the same time. The point is that it’s gone from “GT wing” to “BIGGEST, TALLEST, CARBON, CHASSIS-MOUNTED GT WING I CAN FIND AND USE”. There’s a mild difference. I’m not hating either, I’m just stating the extremes of one trend that tends not to stand the test of time.

Either way – simple or not, our car scene has grown an incredible amount and in a very positive way. The more it grows, the more it inspires others to build better quality cars. Some people do not-so-great shit so that other people know not to. Other people build good shit so that other people build upon it. Good vibes, everyone!

Last note – illmotion killed it again this year with another great show and smooth roll-in and roll-out. Thank you for always putting on a great event with a great cause. I always love roaming around the show taking pics, stopping to chat with people and finally putting faces to usernames from Instagram, like “dude, I like your pics” and you return with a “dude, I like your pics too”. It’s like a mini social media gathering for awkward car guys like us. Either way – whether you’re in the show or not, whether you win or not, it’s always great to get together and just shoot the shit. That’s pretty much what all of this comes down to – building something that you can share with other people and inspiring each other. I always tell Diana – I could be spending my money on other things like drugs and hanging out somewhere sketch with shady ass dudes. Instead, I’m either on my computer looking at car parts, or in the garage putting the car parts I ordered on my car. Win.

As I mentioned in my first post – this is why it’s hard to get photos of every car. It’s really no one’s fault – perhaps just a perfect combination of bad timing on my part for being there at the time and a herd of people standing there when I was ready for a shot. The show is busy, there’s only so much room to stand, so this happens.

Classic look on BBS’s

Andy – owner of Dreamworks Garage owns this ’76 Lancer with an Evo IV engine swap. I remember a few years ago it was sitting on the side of his shop with the interior all gutted and messed, the panels all stripped of paint. Let’s just say it had seen better days… Now look at it shine!

Rad MR2

AE86. Right in the feels. The only car that can rock the two tone and still look good.

One of my favourite styles of the Impreza is the GC8 chassis. Add some flares and meaty fitment and you have a mean looking Subie.

Benny’s F20 swapped AE86. Hasn’t changed much since I shot it years ago but still minty. Maybe he hasn’t driven it since I shot it years ago? lol

’81 Celica with overfenders and a 1JZ swap. I love how certain oldschool Jap cars have a certain “muscle car” look to it. Bad ass.

Ford Focus RS. This thing looks so cool in person – BBK, aggressive front bumper. I dig.

This brings me back. An R18 Civic fitted with SSR MS3’s and a Varis wing out back. Interesting that he chose Varis over Voltex/J’s model-specific fits. This was boosted too which was cool to see. There weren’t many options at the time my Civic was in show condition and the ones that were available either weren’t reliable or made by an off-company.

Sunnie’s boosted BRZ

Clean Supra. I still want one of these…

Romel’s Celica – still fresh as always. I will never get sick of this thing.

Bagged STI

Andrew’s IS-F on those Leon Hardiritt money wheeeeels. Still the best colour combo wheel I’ve seen. That champagne gold though. There needs to be more Leon Hardiritt around here and less any other VIP wheel everyone is rocking.

The frankenstein FRS – a mashup of Levi’s old RB V2 kit and Meisters mismatched with a white FRS. Panda theme perhaps? I think this was just kind of all put together recently so probably didn’t have enough time to get it all matched up.

Mugen RR inspired CSX. Not terrible execution but could do without the baby levers on the lip and simpler headlights. Otherwise not bad.

Jason’s Varis x Aimgain BRZ on TE37 SL’s. A different combination of parts here but it works surprisingly well in the Tiffany blue/black combo.

Alex’s type R. Also for sale – $15,000!

Nick’s GT3 fresh on TE37’s and a Voltex wing.

911 Turbo on TE37’s

Justin’s S2000. Funny story – Alex made me move this into another position. Took me about 4 tries before I realized reverse is not all the way left and down in a Honda. Also, sorry Justin – I forgot to adjust the seat back cause my short ass legs couldn’t reach the clutch.

Aldo’s S2000 in track mode. lol

Isaac’s 820 Amuse S2000

Eric’s S15 slammed down low with flared wells. Too bad the hood was up at the time, he had painted it the night before and it actually looked really good.

Errol’s Type R on bronze TE37’s. The dude comes in with bugs all over his front bumper and doesn’t wipe it off the entire show. He might as well have left his keys in the car with the ignition running, amirite?

Punit’s Integra – haven’t seen this in a minute. This guy. Sometimes he takes his van and leaves both the Integra and GS at home. Wat.

Brandon’s RSX on permanently dirty white TE37’s from the brake dust. LOL jk,

Brad’s S/C’d K20 EM1.

One of many of Alex’s cars – K20 swapped, mugen, volk, project mu…The list goes on.

Tommy’s new project (or just new to me cause I’m out of the damn car scene lately) – clean Civic hatch on bronze CE28’s.

Josh’s K20 EG. Should be no stranger to those of you now…

Jackie’s race car – the amount of stuff going on with his car is insane. It’s a beast – with a hood exit, fully stripped interior, canards that could cut your shins… Too bad ass.

Kyle’s new Type R. It was great to actually see this in person finally. I’m not sure how I feel about it – I think that was the general consensus I got from everyone I talked to about it. It’s nice but not nice enough for me to buy. But I guess I’d have to drive it first…

The interior up front is very nice – the dash is intuitive and clever. Then everything behind that was just “meh” by Honda. The seats are fairly flat and unsupportive, there isn’t much bolster to hold your passengers in. The trunk is roomy (enough for a stroller, Diana *cough*) and that’s about it. There are a few other details pointed out to me here and there that seem silly but perhaps there are reasons unbeknownst to me. Ie., Derrick pointed out the passenger side lower grill is cut out for the horn while the right side lower grill is left all covered up. Whaaaa?

Alex’s other car (oh yes there are more) – seems to be forgotten about lately. His turbo’d GSR – one of the only cars where I’ve seen attention to detail from literally every angle, inside and out with no corner left unturned. This is kind of what I alluded to in my first post about things being put together just to be “put together”.

Everyone will eventually reach the point where they say “there’s nothing left to do”. There’s always something to do – it’s just a matter of asking yourself how bad you want to put effort into something that people “might” not see. Almost every single one of Alex’s bolts are Mugen – even in crevices that you can’t see unless someone told you. That’s where you need to make the effort to say “yup, that bolt is worth changing to a $20 bolt”. And eventually when you make those changes, those changes that people don’t all know about – that’s when your car is truly “put together”. Not many of us have that type of mindset – hell, I don’t have that mindset –  but it’s the mindset we should start getting into. If you think about a lot of the iconic builds you know, they’re iconic because of how much detail they put in. Not because they have Volks and KW V3’s with some nice LED lights and it doesn’t happen overnight… Think about it for the next show 😉

Another type R in the line up. I think 2017 is the year of Type R…

Alex’s (yes the same god damn Alex) other other car he put in the show. This one is a different type of car though. This was an ITR shell that he purchased in relatively good condition. Alex and friends all basically stripped the car down to the shell to get it resprayed in the Phoenix Yellow to be perfect again. Right after that, everything went back in with new OEM parts. Everything from carpets, to rubber seals to everything you could possibly replace that was available – Alex replaced it all.

What do you end up with? A basically brand new Type R sans a brand new engine… Which is not all that bad considering you’ve just restored one of Honda’s masterpieces back to showroom condition.

Alex brought the new NSX from his dealership to showcase as well. Quiet a machine… Didn’t get a chance to take a close look at it even though it was right beside the tent but mannnn that red…

Not sure what was going on here. Brandon stimulating Arif in some way… Arif stimulating Brandon in some way…

A very clean and perfect example of a Type R/RSX representation. Everything from the Brembos, to the seats…

And a RHD Type R Civic. Also very clean and well-maintained. Those Craft Square mirrors are perfect… But I’m biased.

RB S15 – I believe this used to be purple before? Now it’s orange and still bad ass. I like this colour much more. *EDIT* I stand corrected – this is not Coopers’ S15 that I was thinking of. This is a completely different one but with a 2JZ swap. Very niceeee

Track-prepped Miata in a matte black finish. I believe this was red before as well if I’m not mistaken. I dig the black better too.

Noel’s S14 in a brand new colourway with new DriftSquad livery. This colour was perfect in person. I’m digging all these red and blue cars lately!

Some tight fitment on this S14 with classic Meisters and gold accents/hardware. More Craft Square!!!

This was a wild bug eye wagon from Legit Society. It had a chassis mounted GT wing out back which was kind of weird to me but it still looked dece.

Dare I say… How muscle cars should be sitting? Nice and low… I need one of these too.

Paul’s Accord wagon – not something you see everyday but I’m glad when I do see it, it makes me happy. So clean!

Root Beer S14

Jesse’s Supra

A fairly stock looking STi but that’s where you’re wrong. JC filled me in on this today – it’s got a lot of things going on that’s easy to overlook. Apparently some rumblings were happening about him winning but let’s just wash those rumblings away.

This is a pretty rare S204 STI that’s got a fully built Tomei engine. Carbon roof, air suspension and overall pretty simple at first glance. The term “sleeper” works well here – a term you don’t hear all too often with all the wild styles going on nowadays. Well done, sir.

This STI probably had the most unique but simple colour in the whole show. It was a very light grey but it worked SO well for this build. It’s hard to capture and appreciate in a photo but it was very well done.

Another Root Beer wrapped 350z on a gold/bronze Work wheel combo.

This reminds me of simpler times – 240SX with no aero on XD9’s in bronze and some meaty fitment. Flashback to the mid 2000’s

Jake’s Subie sans the GT wing. Kind of feels nekked now…

And one of the last shots I took of the day. A very clean static GS on Work Equips with Endless BBK behind them.

I’m actually not sure why I stopped – I must have gotten distracted or something and then put my camera away. I walked up and down aisles for what seemed like hours… Again, if I didn’t get a snap of your whip – sorry – maybe next year. But overall – great show… Another one for the books.