Speedfactor YYC Grand Opening!

August 20, 2022August 21, 2022 / jasonhoang / Leave a comment

Another new exciting shop popping up in and around the area is Speedfactor. This afternoon was their grand opening to unveil the new shop and to get some eyes on what they have in store. It’s nice because it’s slightly reminiscent of the Speedtech days in some ways. Nick and Derrick did a great job hosting and putting together the shop. Super clean and just this wheel of walls and seats – kind of like what you see at Autobacs Japan – exactly for a candy store for adults. It’s funny, you could just stand there and admire this wall of JDM goodness for longer than I’d like to admit.

Congrats on the new shop! Super exciting to see another great place open up with a large focus on quality parts right at your fingertips.

Anyway, I dropped by with Aria and checked it out quick and took some snaps. If you were there around 1:30-2:30 then I might have gotten a shot of your car if you were out back. Sorry – no shots of the front cars – I had completely forgot until we left.

Clean matte purple GT3RS up front

Also offered free bubbletea for anyone that came!

Two flavours to choose from.

Jackson’s Porsche on new Advan GT’s in black. Man, I immediately thought of my FRS when I saw this. Black and yellow is such a great combo. I love it

Awesome fitment on the rear with that concave

Nick’s new DB8 was sitting in the middle of the shop as well. Super clean.

Fitting plate

MF10’s in blue

Chris’s Lotus on bronze TE37. I’m not sure when the last time I saw this was…

Alfred’s Type R at the back of the shop sporting the new Spoon bumper paired with a J’s hood.

Isaac’s FC RX7

Derrick’s FD on his new CE28’s

Rich’s IS300. Dude didn’t even clean his car. (JK, I saw your Instagram story)

Brandon’s J’s RSX. I freaking love this bumper so much. Kind of close to the front of the Fit’s bumper.

Took this one out today. Kind of the neglected beater child. The Civic was all clean for Sunday School tomorrow so this was naturally the choice.

Aria wanted to pose with it. She’s never asked to before, so I’ll use this pic instead because I like it.

Romel’s GX. Looks so sick

Jackie’s Tundra

Levi’s GTR. Man, I haven’t seen this thing for a while. All I ever see is Levi cursing at it on his IG stories cause things never go right for this guy LOL.

Ben’s Supra with a new wing out back. I love these so much. Those hips… Phhewwwww

Alex brought his other M3 which just got all refinished with ZE40’s. So good.

Adrian’s Civic clean clean clean

Justin and his wagon. God this is so cool.

Danny’s Porsche slammed on TE37’s. Man, I haven’t seen Danny since like the days when we both had our STI’s. So dope – he takes all 3 of his kids with him in this too. Function.

Nick’s GT3 out back on new BBS’s

Josh’s new M3 on mag blue CE’s. Man this is a great combo – reminiscent of his old M3 days. Basically the same thing.

JC’s IS – got that mag blue to pop too because of the nice overcast lol.

Anyway – that’s all I got! Stay tuned for Sunday School coverage soon!

illmotion Sunday School Show & Shine: History and Retrospect

August 17, 2022August 17, 2022 / jasonhoang / Leave a comment

With the finale of Sunday School just around the corner, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on the last 9 shows and talk about the rise of illmotion and the show as you know it today and the end (I don’t want to say demise because it’s far from that) of illmotion from my own personal perspective. For background information, so that there’s no misunderstanding as you go through this post, I was a part of the conception of illmotion and somewhere along the way, life got in the way and my personal needs and wants took precedence and I said my good-bye’s. Bridges were never burned and to this day, I’m proud of what the guys have continued to put out and organize. It may not be what we/they had envisioned over a decade ago anymore, but if illmotion is synonymous with anything, it’s one of Alberta’s biggest and best quality shows around. No cap (Kids say that these days right?). No question. There is hardly a local show that garners the attention of car-people in the West like Sunday School does and I’m so, so grateful and happy to have been a part of it from the very beginning.

Let me paint a picture of the birth of illmotion before we get started. It was March 2010. We were young. The weather was warming. We thought we had some cool cars. The car scene was trying to break through the phase of sticker bombs and GT wings were frowned upon. Your chassis-mount wing and burble tunes were so far out of view that it would’ve probably been made into a meme before we knew memes were a thing. Car groups were not even a thing unless you were a drifter. Clubs? What’s that? The three biggest names in the Western hemisphere for the car scene were illest, Stance Nation, and Canibeat. Canada had nada. There was no such thing, there were no “cool” groups to “identify” with. That’s all we kind of wanted back then – something to associate ourselves with as a collective group of hobbyists. One thing led to another – the logo was designed, decals were created, a website was born, a storefront put up, photoshoots and write-ups were non-stop. What else could have been done?

A car show. A big one. We pooled ideas together – we want it big, we want it to be about quality, we want people to come together unlike they have before. What should it be called? Sunday School. How much should people pay? A minimal fee. What do we do with all the money? Donate it to different charities each year and keep the rest to continue putting on the same show next year. Will we be successful enough to do it next year? Who knows. We just gotta try.

And so, the rest is history. Sunday School. Fucking cool. I like to compare it to the Big Bang in an obviously much lesser form. Everything that happened, happened at the perfect moment and everything came together so perfectly.

At the very beginning, illmotion was a lot of work. It consumed us. It consumed our lives, our free time, and every waking moment that we had was spent thinking about how to make illmotion better than yesterday. Photoshoots every weekend, then editing, then doing write-ups… Rinse and repeat. It became a tedious thing but the end results always made it worth it. The shares, the joy, the recognition, and seeing people want to be a part of what we worked so hard for.

Over the years, illmotion changed and aged as we did. As you did. As the scene did. It became less about doing photoshoots and having posts up on the site and more about just bringing good cars and good people together. Sunday School was the place to do it and where it always happened. The last 9 shows have always been one of the hottest days of the year – there hasn’t been a show that has had shitty weather. The crowds have been great, the cars have been top notch and the day always ends up being one of the best days of the year for car enthusiasts alike.

Sunday School has become one of the only shows all year where you get to see a lot of the cars that never come out to any other shows or meets. It’s gained the respect of those that don’t believe in showing their cars anywhere else – and that means something. The thing we sought to do at the beginning of it all is what was achieved. The guys have put on the biggest and best car show for over a decade and unfortunately, it’s coming to an end in just a few days. The finale. X.

I’ve said it in other posts for car shows, but it’s worth mentioning again. Car shows of this magnitude are no easy feat. It’s not just booking a venue and making sure everyone knows what time to come. The minds behind it all put a lot of thought into placement and ensuring it’s aesthetically pleasing and that it makes logistical sense. Attention to detail plays a big part in putting on a show. People aren’t parked all willy-nilly, there’s room for everyone to do what they need to do, and if the space can only handle 500 cars, they aren’t bringing in 600.

Sunday School has also naturally created other things like friendships that never would have been formed otherwise. It’s become a catalyst for forming these new relationships and fostering existing ones. Friends are what make this show come together. Everyone – from the moment they wake up – puts in 110% to help ensure the show goes smoothly. From packing things up, to picking up supplies and setting up the tents and booths, to being at the gate to guide people, to staying under the tent to organize merch or handle goods, to breaking it all down at the end of the day. It’s all friends doing what they know best after learning over the last few years.

Every year, I absolutely dread doing coverage because it’s just so massive and I 100% try to capture every single car at the show if I can. This year is going to be one of the biggest shows yet (not kidding) and I already feel exhausted thinking about all the photos and editing, not to mention it’s going to be around +30C…

But I think this one is going to be a little bittersweet. It hasn’t hit any of us yet – so I’m sure it hasn’t hit any of you either. We’re all so busy prepping and getting ready that we have no time to think of the end. On behalf of myself and illmotion, I want to thank every single one of you for one of the best decades of our lives. You are the reason we started illmotion and you’re the reason the illmotion team has continued to do what they have. But alas, as we grow old and families grow and life starts to take new turns, the last chapter is about to come to a close. It has been a very long and fulfilling journey. My hope isn’t that someone takes over the Sunday School show legacy – I think it’s fair to say that it comes to a close with no expectation that the torch be passed on. My hope is that there is something in the near future that is void of the need for clout and scene points and followers and money that has the same kind of small dream for the car scene that we did. I want to feel a truly self-less show again that brings people together that isn’t a popularity contest. I hope that day comes.

And so as Sunday School X draws near, I want to end on a different note. Bring your A-game. It doesn’t matter what I or anyone else thinks that means – just bring your best. Make this the best possible show by bringing the best possible version of your car. Whether that means clean barrels, polishing your car if you’ve never polished it before, fixing that loose end up on your wrap… Whatever it is that you think is the best you can do, I want to see it.

I’ll likely be sweating my ass off all day but please do come say hi if you see me. I really don’t bite. I’m just bad with names.

The countdown begins. See you all on Sunday!

Redline Sorority – 3rd Annual Sorority Row Car Show

August 8, 2022 / jasonhoang / Leave a comment

This past Sunday was Redline Sorority’s 3rd “Sorority Row” car show at the Max Bell Arena and it was a gahdamn scorcher. Not complaining (maybe a little) because when it’s winter, I hate it even more, but it’s always a good time to hang out with some cool cars and good people. This was my first time entering the show, and I went to spectate last year when it was at Hyatt Infiniti and the amount of cars probably about doubled what it was – so it’s nice to see it growing so quickly. The Redline girls have been making a bit of a different splash in the car world over here – not a bad one, but a welcomed one. Car groups have been largely male dominated, driven, and led by groups of well… Males. Once in a while you would see a female enthusiast trying to break through that glass ceiling but would often fall short. Not because the males didn’t let them or the females didn’t try hard enough. It’s like trying to make your voice heard in a crowd that has megaphones while you stand there without one – some people around you might hear you and acknowledge you, but the majority of the crowd likely won’t notice you. Again, not because they don’t want to, just simply because they can’t hear you.

Over the years, the Redline girls have really toughed it out and stuck through a lot of what I mentioned above and eventually they really started gaining some positive traction. They put on little meets and invited other female enthusiasts to come out to build that comradery, or sorority, in this case. And over time, we started to see more ladies bringing their cars and their projects to these once male-dominated meets and shows where they have made that aforementioned “splash” in an ocean where it’s really tough to stand out. This ocean has become so saturated with car groups and teams and brands and shops that it’s really hard to individualize oneself so uniquely that people want to be a part of your image. Not that anything is wrong with any of the above because it’s easier to get noticed as a group versus an individual – I get it. The one thing that the Redline girls have that many other groups don’t is some really focused and like-minded individuals. They bring a strong sense of pride with them and their cars and it shows through their social media, their products, and of course, their shows. It’s not easy putting on a show – it takes planning, teamwork, the understanding of the logistical pieces of putting one up from the time of registration to packing it all up at the end of the day. There are so many moving pieces and it is largely underestimated.

I’m going to be the one to say it here – because it’s the elephant in the room when we’re talking about it – but a large part of the car scene comes from how you build your car. I know, I know – there are memes about spending $30k on a car just for the clout or to stand beside it for 2 hours at a meet. But that $30k (or whatever it is) and how it’s used goes a long way if you want to really want to “hang with the big boys” or however you want to think about it. The Redline girls have very well-built cars and since we’re already on this topic – they’re better than a lot of cars some guys build. It shouldn’t be a topic of males vs females (I’m better than that, believe me) but had the Redline girls all owned base Civics and Altimas with some FAST wheels and Hello Kitty neck pillows (HARD stereotyping here for the sake of the example lol) – I’m not so sure that splash would have been made, know what I’m sayin’? Before anyone gets mad at me, the point is not that there’s anything wrong with the above (again), the point is that these girls have built quality cars with attention to detail in things that have earned the respect of others in the community. That’s what it comes down to. That’s what it’s always come down to – whether you’re a guy or a girl.

Anyway… The Redline girls have come a long way in really making these waves in the community that have never been made before and I’m here for it. When illmotion was first started in 2010, I remember the excitement and the passion that flowed through my veins. I remember the thrill of it all and I think that’s something that should be shared by everyone. So when these girls come in and are looking to make the same moves we did over a decade ago, it reignites the passion and excitement. Rich and JC know – there’s a fatigue that just comes after doing it for so long but when you see that same drive in another group that you once had, it makes you happy because you always wondered what’s going to happen next or what the next big thing is. Maybe Redline Sorority is the next big thing…

I blabber too much sometimes, so let’s just get on with it. About 130ish pics in this post. Usual disclaimer – I try to capture every car. If you don’t see it, well once again – people were in the way, you were chillin with your lawn chair right out front and I get performance anxiety, or you came or left after I was done the section. If it’s not here, I don’t have any other pictures. It was also duck buttery hot so I apologize as these were not my best photos… I was melting. LOL

PS- not too much jabber below. I just wanted to get the post up for you guys to see, as I’m sure that’s all you care about as well.

PPS – don’t @ me with the he, him, they, she, her, female, male shit. Not about to have that convo when this is just about cool cars LOL

Rich doing this thing all day. Props to this man for standing here playing music all day. Thanks for also playing Clarity and BTS.

Rich and his new wheels – just in time for the show. Looks real good now.

Had to turn the shadows up real high to get my wheels to show a little bit hahaha

JC on his new TE37 Sagas in mag blue. Dark wheels on white is a problem. lol

The Evo on the right there was pretty slick. Wrapped in almost pale army green with Voltex aero and some Infamous canards and a splitter.

Nicely built engine as well to boot

These two GTI’s were rad.

Something for everyone at the show.

Not much of a stranger anymore to our local shows but also a sight to see…

Vert S13

Xavier’s MercS220 bagged on OZ wheels

Jay’s bagged Jetta

Jon’s G37 looking great as usual. Just realized it’s wrapped – never noticed until yesterday. Super clean job!

Carley’s Tiguan – no longer on the light pink wheels sadly as I thought it was always a perfect fit. They’ve moved onto a new home on Alyssa’s RS5 and they look fantastic on there too.

Danny’s TT bagged on BBS’s looking clean as usual

Zak’s Acura Vigor on trispoke wheels

I understand this Genesis underwent quite the transformation weeks and/or days/hours leading up to the show and finishing in the wee hours of that same morning. Repainted, wetsanded and polished. Turned out great.

Toyota Crown – TONS of these at the show yesterday it was unbelievable. Didn’t know there were so many. Many of them were still fairly stock – understandably – probably harder to get some parts maybe? That’s the only thing holding me back on getting one too lol.

Chris’s wild F-450.

Still loving the details around this with the blossoms.

Brooke’s bagged Q60 looking mean.

Chris’s bagged RS6 wagon.

Alyssa’s bagged RS5. It debuted at Driven with the new purple wrap and pink wheels (from Carley’s Tiguan). Great combo.

Justine’s highlighter FRS. Glad to see she got her barrels cleaned even after getting her nails did.

The many raffle prizes that were available from their sponsors.

And the awards.

Yolanda’s Focus ST

Mel’s Fiesta ST. Engine in and all running now.

Maggie’s Golf R on RE30’s

This was a super clean FRS with RB flares. Love the headlights too. 🙂

This S15 went on to win the best JDM.

Bill’s S15 looking glossy.

Sue’s Focus hatch

My oh my did this one pop. The red…

The super clean wheels/barrels. Everyone knows the pain of owning white wheels. Bill pointed out that he even had the wheel weights painted white to match. That’s how you do it.

Mannnn… It’s like Preludes have gone extinct. Don’t remember the last time I’ve seen one with a Greddy lip. OG.

This BRZ went on to win Hyatt Infiniti’s choice award. Wrapped in a millenium jade with pale pink blossom wheels. I saw this in Edmonton last – I love this color combo.

Chrysler 300 with a massive reverse hoodscoop… I forgot to check if it was functional though…

Another Crown in Orange. SOMEONE PLEASE BAG ONE.

Jon’s Mini Countryman S – been a minute since I’ve seen this thing out!

ANOTHER Crown. This one more modded than the others.

Stageadaddy’s Nissan Stagea

Raf’s bagged STI

Roel’s Varis Type R. Can’t get a good picture with everything open bruh lol

Jon’s EK hatch looking real clean. Saw him putting in some late work on Instagram to get this thing together for the show.

Lots of polished and revitalized pieces he brought back from the dead here.

Clean LS400 – this thing is super mintyyy

Baby blue RC-F

Jeff’s S15 Spec R

Kelvin’s Varis FRS in the Tunerdecals booth, of course.

Gerald’s widebody WRX

Gelo’s Civic Si

Another shot of it with the wheels

And an upclose of the honeycomb carbon in white/silver. Pretty cool

Gem’s WRX – also taking home an award yesterday.

TIL this was called a Blit. I literally had no idea hahaha

Thanks JC

This thing was pretty unique. Corolla XRS which was boosted. Not sure how much power this was putting down, but super cool to see.

Up close of the engine…

A rear quarter shot of that Evo from earlier. Check that dish though…

So gooooood

This GTI was another favourite with the crazy fitment on the BBS’s

Peep the new design for the Redline girls I (Jtooned) drew up for them a while ago. Was pretty stoked on this one – glad to see another one on a shirt!

The three old geezers…

Figured this was an appropriate shot to end the post. Award time with a few of the RS girls in the shot. Congrats to all the winners and thanks to the RS girls for putting on a pretty dope show. Hopefully you just keep growing from here! Good job!

Midnight Rev Up 2022 Coverage

June 19, 2022June 20, 2022 / jasonhoang / Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again for our (JC and I) annual trip up to Edmonton to take part in the Midnight Rev Up Car show. It’s really only our second year but the way the MNRU treats and graces us with unbelievable hospitality makes it really feel like we’re family and that we’re right there with them the whole way through. I had the chance to judge again alongside Lito just like last year and it was an absolute blast. Having JC, Mark and Carlo providing insight and opinions make for a fairly thorough walkthrough – believe it or not. Lots of eyes on subjects makes things interesting and opens up a lot of doors for discussion and it’s definitely discussion worth having when you only have 10 cars to choose out of 160.

More on that later… MNRU continually sets a higher bar for themselves each year and it makes you wonder what they have up their sleeves for the next year. Putting on a show like this is not easy – the planning, the media and advertising, the logistics and so much more – gives me a headache just thinking about it. Then there is the MNRU team – last year they hosted it at the Edmonton airport inside two hangars. Just a really surreal place to be for a car show with helicopter tours and everything. This year was at the Edmonton EXPO center which really gave a Wekfest vibe with the industrial look and the bright white overhead lights. Wekfest has really set the standard here for car shows and even for me, personally. Several years ago, I attended the Chicago Wekfest and man, was I blown away. The set up, the quality, the smoothness of everything… Just what seemed like light years ahead of what we ever did here. Each car, placed well and spacing generous enough for photo ops and people-traffic. It doesn’t seem like a big deal but when you cram as many cars as you can into a space without screening them – you’re left with a big clusterfuck of so many things. I won’t go into that again for the millionth time, but the point is that MNRU is really breaking that barrier and/or stigma of a frustrating car show in a big way. The vibe is just so close and the EXPO center this year really helped to do that. Not to mention their custom steering wheels that they had for trophies, the MNRU x JTOONED collab shirt (which I am totally grateful and stoked for), MNRU slaps… It was the works on Saturday. It’ll take time but with good strides, it’ll get there – more people just need to come to see what it’s like.

We were sitting in the staff room for a bit before judging last night and Carlo was just talking about their vision and their wishes for next time, what they would change, their reflection on past shows – all before this current show was even over. Most of you reading this won’t know what goes on behind the scenes and my blogs really are just to provide that third-person view in as much of an unbiased view as I can. Reflecting on the efforts and the show while the show is currently in progress says a lot of things – 1) they are actively engaged and looking for opportunities – whether it’s right now or for next time. 2) the show is for you, the customer, first. “What can we do or what can be done next time so that it’s better?”. As we (JC, Kristin, and I) sat there quietly eating our dinner, all I could hear and feel is the energy coming from the conversation and that meant a lot to me – both as a spectator, participant, and judge. I wish everyone there last night knew that in the moment because it really made me feel proud to be at a show where quality is the top priority. I hope that reading those words made you feel the same because you really should. I know that it’s just a car show, but it’s really just been so long since we’ve had a good car show, know what I mean? It’s easy to go through the motions and enter as many car shows as you can/want, but when you’re at a good show, it’s a different vibe.

Anyway, I’ll talk more about the show as we go. This is gonna be a fairly lengthy post – about 226 pictures. I really tried to capture every car that I could and I think I got 99% of them. I don’t know all of you, but bravo for last night.

So begins our trip… We met at the edge of Calgary at 8AM to head out.

JC and Kristin sitting beside me. I decided to take the Type R this time over the Fit. The Fit is fun and cool and all, but it just isn’t fully show-worthy to me. Still a few things that are off that bug me and I thought the Type R would be fun to take on the trip this time.

I really love the car when you can see the wheels in the pic LOL

The Tunerdecals team showed up with Kelvin’s Varis FRS and Kevin’s Genesis. We decided to head up together since we were going to be in their booth.

Sitting pretty with the front lip all protected.

Same with Kevin’s Genesis.

A quick snap of JC on route…

When we got there, we had a quick lunch at Gyu Kaku… At the back of Kevin’s Genesis was the set of his rear wheels. He had some issues with the valve stems (I think?) so he couldn’t make the long distance with the rear wheels on and used stockies instead. Thought this was a cool shot.

We stopped at one of the most ghetto car washes I’ve ever seen – sorry Edmontonions – but no matter where we go in Edmonton, everything just seems ghetto LOLOL. It was $1 per minute, the pressure was as strong as my pee stream on a good day, and I wasted $4 to come out no different than when I came in. Ghe-Toeeeeeee.

The EXPO center was about 7 minutes away from here, so Kevin started taking off the tape to wash the car.

Looks clean when I edit it to look like this LOL

This some Driven-quality wheel cleaning though. Shietttt

The entrance to the car wash was kind of a weird angle and Kevin couldn’t get in straight on any of the bays. There was one right at the end where he had to angle in pretty hard and was hella close to the pole LOL

Made it in though…

Kelvin’s FRS also made it in with no issue.

En route…

Waiting outside the center before rolling in. Kevin was trying to change his rear wheels before heading in but the security guard didn’t like that, so we ended up having to do it right at the entrance of the center… There was literally no one in the lot, not sure why it was an issue lol.

See what I mean? Car wash did nada. lol $4 I’ll never get back. ((Yes, I’m cheap) No, I don’t care)

After a long ass time of basically having to clean the car twice and the humid arena (before HVAC was turned on), we finally got it all cleaned up. Lowkey jealous because JC had Kristin helping clean his car while I suffered on my own…

She did help with tire shine on my car though LOL – thanks Kristin.

The lighting is just chef’s kiss

The first time the Type R has been this clean in a long ass time. I always love shows for that reason…

Kevin and his Genesis cleaned up nicely and with the rear wheels back on.

Kelvin and his FRS also cleaned up nicel… Wait… Kelvin, did you miss a spot on your hood? Ah nvm… LOL (inside joke)… (Inside joke is that he ceramic coated his car and missed wiping a spot off so now he’s got a small hot spot and I’m going to make this the next trend where I spot people’s cars who missed wiping ceramic coat off LOOOL).

Truth be told though – it’s not that bad. I just saw that it bothered him a lot so me being the dude that I am is making a big deal about it.

White, white, red, red. Except JC the combo breaker with Work wheels. LOL

A few of the Kazoku guys joined the Tunerdecals group as well. Kenneth and his STI on TE37 Sagas…

Nathan and his widebody S14 and glitter paint sitting low on Work Meister 3PC…

Really loved the look and fitment of this…

Cusco/Bride on the inside…

Khail’s Civic Si Coupe ending the line up…

A red STI on Superspeed wheels in matte black

Corolla dumped right to the ground. I really got Mark X vibes from the way this was laid out. That VIP look.

Good fitment (clean wheels).

Focus ST Hatch also aired down nice and low…

Bagged CLA – I believe this was the same one from Driven Calgary…

Genesis coupe with a bunch of CF bits

This was the top pick for me at the show Saturday night. A full Junction Produce VIP van – just had the works… They went on to win one of the awards last night.

JP wheels and full AP Racing brakes front and back

JP interior, of course…

All the bedazzle and JDM flavour you could ask for…

The theme rolled to the rear, naturally…

XBOX and Sapporo…

Even the trunk was great. The diamond stitched mats all over were too good. Well done!

A really clean 10th gen Si on Gram Lights.

Not a car you see too often – in a really nice pale pink.

Marko’s STI hatch sitting down low in the Mkzer0 booth. That blue looks great.

Audi S4 on the coughbestcough brand tires you can get 🙂

135 on Rotiforms. I really loved the 1-series platform – a shame this didn’t take off much. I thought this was super clean.

Derek Harvey’s super clean 86. Lots of small little details on this that I’ve been able to follow through Instagram. The custom V-mount turbo and titanium fabrication. The incredibly meticulous wrap job… This was another one of our picks for the top 10.

The titanium piping – front and center and getting all the attention…

Small little details like the custom headlight air inlet cutout with carbon fiber lining the inside.

The EVS carbon mirrors were a great touch as well. I much prefer this look over the Craft Squares…

Another one of our picks for the top 10 was this mint E36 vert. I saw this last year at Driven Calgary and thought it looked fantastic. This time, I had some more time to take a closer look and my thoughts have not changed. The car is wrapped beautifully over a red paint – so you’d imagine that if spots were missed, it would be easy to see.

This was also in the Mkzer0 booth, so I expected no less on the wraps for the cars in this booth.

Beautiful engine bay with the go-mods to boot. Lito was also impressed with the engine and he’s not an easy guy to impress for under-the-hood mods.

Meticulously clean ESR’s. A perfectly complimented wheel design for this chassis and the yellow brembos peeking from behind. A really great build, for sure.

Purple glitter-wrapped widebody E82 sitting on some wide Heritage wheels in the Mkzer0 booth.

A pretty rare bodykit to see over here – the Liberal Addiction front bumper on this VAB STI. It’s extremely aggressive and totally a true JDM bodykit that only the brave can rock here.

An upclose of the bumper – really good fitment and paint job. I dig it.

HKS-equipped boost blue FK8 on ZE40’s in the First Gear booth.

Voltex GTR on Advan GT’s. No stranger to most of these shows… Check that dry carbon front lip.

Super clean Rallybacker widebody BRZ wrapped in a matte white.

I have to say – there were a lot of clean wheels at the show but this one had to take the cake for one of the best ones. I had to take a closer look. This guy needs to give lessons to everyone on how to clean wheels.

Another shot. Anyone who’s ever owned wheels with chrome lips or anything chrome, for that matter knows how much of a pain in the ass it is to keep them clean. This guy doesn’t even have any wipe marks or marring on them – they literally look like they rolled off the press. So good.

Voltex-equipped GR86 on Advan RG’s in the First Gear booth. I really love the look of these – even in their stock form. They look super clean.

From the rear – also super clean and sharp. Voltex wing and diffuser and an Amuse R1 exhaust to boot.

Brett’s Super clean WRX

Not sure of the widebody maker on this one, but probably the wildest VAB at the show sitting on ultra wide Cosmis Racing wheels.

Another less wild, but still aggressive Subie in the lineup and a sticker bombed hood underneath. Been a while since I’ve seen sticker bombed parts tbh

The same GC Subaru from Driven Calgary – recognizable from the intercooler text lol

Still clean though. I dig the choice of wheels too.

Really clean Raiu edition WRX. I love this colour.

The Voltex hawkeye STI on Advan GT’s froM First Gear. Also no stranger to the local shows.

Nissan Stagea/Skyline wagon

Sitting on the Nismo version of Gram Lights 57CR

Mark’s Voltex/ARC Evo X on Advan RG’s in the Racing Copper Bronze finish. Quite a unique colour!

A super clean 240SX in the First Gear booth…

Evo IX on TE37 OG’s…

GR STI Sedan on Work Meister 3PC’s

I always remember this one as well because of how clean he keeps his wheels too. I salute those of you that have chrome finishes because it’s such a pain to keep clean LOL

Fake Hero’s NSX

A fresh EP3 Type R – RHD and all.

Cool to see some clean SUV’s that weren’t 4Runners too LOL

On the other side of the Fake Hero booth was the Fake Hero AE86 – I still love this look and it should never change.

Tacoma on a pretty sick display in the Legit.Society booth

With TE37’s no less…

Pale pink Toyota MR2 in the Fake Hero booth.

Kris’s Varis widebody EVO X on TE37’s. Nice meeting you finally sir!

Sleeper status S2000 on BBS’s. I think this one is pushing 400ish hp?

This Varis STI is always a pleasure to see. Lots of good stuff on this…

Sitting on british racing green TE37’s.

An upclose of it. So clean!

I love the execution of the colours in this – lots of really bold colours that compliment each other so well.

FK8 sitting low on CE28’s

This was probably my favourite SUV at the show – R-Line Tiguan in a white silver metallic finish on Rotiforms. SO good.

@BagitoTV’s Seeker Civic. I was really excited to see this one in person as I’ve been seeing it unfold on Instagram over the last year or so. I even tooned this a few weeks ago for him – so seeing it in person was great. I had the chance to speak with him about it as well.

The car is not wrapped – it’s painted with a Tangerine Kandy. Not quite the same as the orange that Seeker used. His inspiration came from the muscle-car side of the car world and boy, does it work well here.

Leaving the carbon pieces exposed – staying true to the Seeker style. Even brand new FD2 headlights to fit the JDM theme. Looking forward to seeing this in the future as he plans to go full Seeker. The paint job was really well done as well – no orange peel, nicely polished and glossy.

Sitting on an aggressive set of TE37 Saga’s and FD2 Brembos behind. His FD2 was also one of our choices for the top 10. Well done.

This Miata was pretty wild. The engine was extremely well done and just super clean. I thought I had taken a picture of it but I guess I didn’t – sorry. Interior had zebra print and a whole bunch of other things going on. Great paint as well.

This 9th gen Civic was sitting static and low on these aggressive Work T5R 2Pc’s.

Actually kind of crazy how low and fitted this was. The stance look has been fading a bit and at one point, I was getting kind of tired of seeing it but when it’s well done like this, I can appreciaet it.

M2 sitting on Advan GT Beyond in Racing Copper Bronze. A really hard finish to capture nicely…

An upclose of the finish – but still not true to real life. It has a small spectrum of different hues in person depending on the light.

A car that I’ve probably never seen at shows – the elusive Mitsubishi Eclipse. Maybe the only time we’ve seen it was in 2Fast 2Furious? This one was pretty clean though for the Ghost Gang booth.

86 in track mode.

NSX on Advan GT’s

Blobeye STI in the Ghost Gang booth.

Super wide EVO X in the Ghost Gang booth.

Boost blue FK8 on Gram Lights, Mugen-kitted and a Voltex wing out back.

FK8 on TE37’s

Green-wrapped Civic Si on Gram Lights. The “Spoon” caliper covers in red were a bit much for me otherwise it was fairly clean.

Pretty rare to see a clean TSX/Accord these days…

Lots going on with this BRZ at the show that night. A pretty wild sound system – almost rivaling the actual DJ booth…

Birdy’s Streethuner Supra…

Roel’s Varis FK8 sitting on Champ White CE28’s in the Garage111 booth. Roel went on to win one of the awards that night as well.

VAB STI sitting down low on TE37’s with Garage111.

Birdy’s Rallybacker/Aimgain widebody FRS

R35 siting on TE37’s

Daniel’s rally EVO X – no stranger to the shows now either with the infamous titanium-clad engine bay. I’m pretty sure he has everything that could be made into titanium in his engine bay.

Some shots for the bling factor

Even the valve cover – looks to be carbon fiber with the titanium gradient finish on it.

Side pieces are even titanium…

Strut bar, caps, covers, you name it – he’s got it…

John’s Mugen RR FD. No introduction needed as I covered that in my Driven Calgary post.

Varis Widebody EVO X sitting on new Volk 21C’s in bronze. I believe he was on Work wheels before. Would love to see if there’s anything done to the engine on this one – but aesthetically, I love the execution.

Rocket Bunny FRS – I believe this is the poster car for Garage 111. Crazy, the words Rocket Bunny were coming out of everyone’s mouths at one point and now it’s just gone. Nice to see this one well-executed.

On some bronze Volk TE37V’s too

Varis-kitted FK8 on Advan GT’s. I really liked how this looked – the colour scheme, the paint work… Fairly clean. The only thing that caught my eye was the hardware used in the center to hold the lip together. I’m not sure what happened there, but it looked like generic non-automotive hardware and it just stood out to me.

Don’t get me wrong – it still looked really good. Just swap those bolts out to titanium or a lower key black chrome and it would be Gucci.

This really rad Datsun 280Z – a really cool Japanese-inspired theme with a steel-esque look to it.

Under the hood was also a treat… This Datsun went on to be one of our selections for the top 10.

R35 with a Voltex Swan neck and Advan GT’s in the Mercari Auto booth

Another R35 on work wheels and Voltex goodies

Super clean Honda S2000 in all white in the Invision Auto booth

BRZ on Gram Lights

Jiahao’s Evo IX Wagon with Voltex goodies. Always nice to see this one at shows.

Berry’s Varis Widebody FRS on TE37V’s.

Cleaned his wheels too. LOL

Jason Choi’s R34 GTR V-Spec II on TE37’s

As usual, Invision Auto had their Bride seat display out for spectators to try out.

Peter Luu’s FRS – classy as always.

JDM Odyssey in the Mercari booth. I love these things. I’m sure you guys all know that by now lol

VAB STI in the Invision Auto booth on Volk 21C’s. Probably the car with the best fitment in the show IMO…

Low. Tight. Perfect fenders.

So good. I really love these wheels and love that many people are starting to jump on them over the much-loved TE37’s. (I still like TE37’s, but I think I just have a little TE37 fatigue lol)

This Porsche was another one of the top picks for the show. Obviously really hard to tell but it’s K-swapped and totally rad.

Caged, Brides… All colour coordinating…

SSR’s – an iconic pick for Porsche’s 🙂

Out in the back you can kind of see the engine set up but not much more.

A closer look… This thing sounds crazy too

Close up of the wing and the carbon stands…

Chameleon/gradient wrapped S4

Evo X on some aggressive CE28’s

John Velasco’s Supra on ZE40’s

Super classy

M4 with aggressive aero

Voltex swan neck out back

Another shot of Mark’s Evo X from the rear quarter

Shawn Zhang’s bagged WRX in a new pink wrap

This slammed VIP 7-Series. I love it.

Louis V inspired floormats

Closer look…

Meticulous and super nice paint. (Not wrap)

Bagged S5 in the custom decals booth

370Z on Advan RG’s

Ya’ll know what I think about this…

Teejay’s G35 on Work T5R 2P’s

Another Evo X on ZE40’s.

Fuschia-wrapped WRX

This K-swapped 240SX. I believe this is drifted regularly too…

A work in progress – I’m unsure though if this is a new swap or if they’re just making changes and were unable to complete in time for the show.

A very subtle pearlescen-wrapped 3-series

Another clean 240SX on Enkei RPF1’s

1JZ under the hood. Correct me if I’m wrong – this is another car that is regularly used for drifting. So good.

’88 Soarer!

MK3 Supra

Purple-wrapped 240SX. Loved this trio of clean 240’s.

A really nice colour choice for a wrap on this BRZ. It’s like a light jade metallic – reminds me a little of Millenium Jade Green. I really liked it – worked super well with the pink Heritage cherry blossom wheels.

Close up of the wheel design. I dig.

AE86 equipped with ITB’s

Close up of said ITB’s…

Matte red and dumped. This was super clean.

Great wheel choice too.

Dunn’s bagged 9th Gen SI. I’m sure a familiar site for most of you – I’ve covered this many times in previous posts… Sounds like he has some changes up his sleeve for the next year. We’ll see!

Those headlights are my fave.

WRX with APR exterior goodies on Superspeed wheels

4Runner and Tacoma faceoff. Good display idea.

8th Gen SI with a Mugen RR front and aggressive Work T5R

Prelude on RPF1’s

Rear shot of Daniels’ EVO X

Bossman Carlo’s (AKA Simba) M3 on TE37’s.

Some of you might have seen the story of his wheels and how dirty they were and @BagitoTV swiped his forehead with the brake dust – reminiscent of the scene in Lion King. LOL

Trung’s S2000 on TE37’s

Nismo 370Z sitting low on Gram Lights 57’s

VAB STI on TE37’s

Tiegan’s anime/Nero-wrapped FK8. Lots of little details on here that really stood out from basically the rest of the show. Tiegan went on to win one of the top 10 for those little details…

One of the details that flow throughout the car is the use of the forged carbon with gold flakes – from the engine cowl cover, to the hood, to the interior trim and steering wheel.

Nero statue front and center

Probably even the most unique wheels at the show as well – with the heart-shaped spokes in gold with a black lip. I know she spent a painstakingly amount of time cleaning these too – I was bound to come through LOL

A rare wingless Evo X

Bagged GR STI Hatch

Mazdaspeed 3 on RPF1’s

Another Mazdaspeed 3…

This Miata sitting in the corner looking real clean on Work CR01’s

One of the decals that Tunerdecals debuted at the show as this one. A little backstory on this – if anyone is interested…

Over 2.5 years ago when I first got my iPad, I had created an image similar to this just for fun and then I just forgot about it. Kelvin found it a few months ago and asked if he could revive it into a “clean your barrels” sticker for this show. It ended up turning out great – with the use of spot holographic and a littler verbiage on the other part of the tire. You can get these currently at the Otaku Drive website – I have them for purchase as well – but only in person. My online store is currently offline.

Evo X with Voltex goodies on TE37’s. Side note – this show was FULL of Evo’s and STi’s – it was crazy.

Anotehr yellow-wrapped Evo X with some Voltex/Varis.

Genesis sitting low and wide…

350Z on Work Meister 3PC’s

Nismo 370Z on TE37’s

Clean FK7 on Gram Lights

Which stud owns this? God damnnnnn… Mugen FK8 on Smoked Black Advan GT’s

Close up of the (clean) wheels and AD08R’s. I’m going to go on and talk more about my own car cause I can – the Smoked Black finish was a limited finish. The only way to tell is that the spoke has the engraving vs the regular sticker. The smoked black finish up close has a very small hint of gold flake on it – but you have to look closely. Cause I’m extra. OK thanks – that’s all.

A shot of the rear that I rarely take pics of…

FK8 with Mugen front and rear and a Voltex Type 5 out back.

Another Evo X with a red/black theme

A pale army green-wrapped BRZ with RB flares and aero pieces.

This was pretty clean. Looked like they were trying to go for the Midori green look – but still nice overall.

8th gen SI Sedan on Gram Lights…

That ends the coverage of the show… From this pic on are just extra snaps that I ended up taking and thought were worth sharing. The front end shot of the mint e36.

Cholo going around taking his coverage shots. Peep his newly designed shirt that he just dropped. He’s a genius when it comes to combining automotive-themed shirts and other elements. The last one was Sushi and TE37’s and this one is Pizza and the Mugen steering wheel. So good.

The Duo.

Last but not least. I didn’t want to but I was convinced otherwise… I thought we were past this point by now but at the same time, I can’t tell if this was a troll. Either way, I couldn’t help but notice that not only was there no effort into cleaning, but if you’re advertising detailing services – wouldn’t you want your wheels to be clean?

I dunno… Seems odd to me. I think this was the c-c-c-combo breaker of the night lol. The only one with dirty wheels in the whole show – I had high hopes it was gonna be a perfect score that night too LOL. Oh well…