A Visit to Kodawari Collective

/ jasonhoang / Leave a comment

Last week, I went out East for some work meetings in Toronto and had one evening to myself where I was able to meet up with Nau, his family and team at his shop – Kodawari Collective. For the longest time now (over the last several years, at least), Nau’s shop has been a place that I’ve only seen through pictures and through his retelling of his vision and aspirations for the place. I’ve tooned basically almost everything about the shop – from the interior wash bay, to the outside store front and all the cars that they have around – but I’ve never physically seen the space.

Right after my last meeting, I hopped in an Uber and made my way there. It’s cool to see a place in person after you’ve drawn almost every line, wall and brick of it from reference pictures. For reference, head over to their site and the landing page image is one that I tooned in Kawaii-spec. Many elements of Kodawari Collective were put into toon form and then used on their site – from PPF, the icons, the packages… In the grand scheme of things, my (JTooned) art was really just a small piece of it all and I only ever did what they asked. But when I see it on the site and see elements of it in their shop, it really brings the vision that Nau talks about together so nicely. I’m appreciative and honoured that I can be a part of it – even if in the smallest way.

https://www.kodawaricollective.com/

Nau and his team are very passionate about what they do and it’s hard to find that in a business these days. It’s either about money or about fame and clout but they’re really just there to do what they love to do and to share that passion with everyone else. You’ll kind of see what I mean as you make your way to the end of the post.

Anyway, I apologize for the lackluster shots – I didn’t bring my camera so my iPhone had to do the work.

Probably the coolest thing in their shop was this scale model of a TE37. Made by Rays, forged and using the same material as a real TE37. It was actually unreal. Nau even took it out of the case to let me hold it LOL. BOI… let me tell you, the urge I had to steal it was mad high. LOL

Even came with a scale model box too. So legit.

Another of the coolest things to me was seeing Jtooned stuff scattered around their shop. Specifically these two colouring books. For the most part, when I sold these I didn’t know where most of them went or what happened to them… For all I know, some could be in the recycling. I personally cherish my own copies because they are the first test prints that I had and have some misprints or errors so I consider them to be “limited edition” to me.

Nau and Sherry display these in their front office. Both told me that absolutely no one is allowed to touch these LOL. So honoured!

More Jtooned pictures around the shop…

Their wall of automotive-inspired goods and accessories

Another cool thing that they have is this apparel spot with – you guessed it – more Jtooned stuff. That shirt in the front is one of my favourite designs to this day. Sitting right next to the Bearbrick design and of course, Kodawari’s designs as well.

 

On the other side of the office, some detailing supplies for sale that they’re looking to begin building up so that customers can walk in and grab as needed.

The customer waiting area is rather fancy with lots of automotive memorabilia and other things to see while waiting.

On the back wall of the waiting area is somewhat of a vision board. A vision of what Nau wants the shop to eventually be and it features sources of inspiration from all around the world – boutiques in Japan to storefronts in the States that have been recognized as places as the “go-to” destination to stop by when visiting.

The vision for Kodawari Collective is rather unique because it’s a detailing shop, but Nau wants to expand it into a space that can be shared with other enthusiasts – where car meets can happen, where people can come and buy cool and unique automotive goods and accessories… Or in simpler terms – a Collective – hence their name.

In the back shop – they were just washing the NSX in preparation for the meet later that night.

A cool little Naruto/Perler bead display.

A wider view of a bit more of the back area

One of Nau’s cars – the S2000 that is still a work in progress. When I initially tooned it, I think it was still stock, but it’s coming along nicely.

Nau’s Varis widebody FK8. This one was the highlight for me because of obvious reasons. The fitment and execution was perfect. I’ve yet to see one in all black besides Nau’s.

   

Fitment on the TE37V’s

Wiping the NSX down… Nau was my Uber for the night and I’d never actually been in an NSX before so I was pretty stoked. Needless to say, I want one…

Nau was gracious enough to wine and dine me for my first Omakase sushi experience. I’d seen it but never thought to go because I never really knew what it was about. Nau asked me before coming what my last meal would be and I said sushi. Believe me when I say that this was probably the most delicious meal I’ve ever had in my life. I was talking about it all night haha

Thank you for the awesome dinner, sir!

After dinner, on our way back to the car – we saw this gentleman parked right beside in his Mini Cooper smoking his cigar and admiring the NSX. I’m not going to bore you with the details of the discussion but it basically ended like this – Nau asked if he had ever driven in an NSX before, to which he responded no. Nau proceeded to invite him to the shop on the weekend so that he could give him a ride. Nau has given countless rides to customers and friends in his NSX which is really rare to see. I don’t even like giving people a ride in the Type R and that’s not even exciting LOL.

One thing that Nau said that stuck with me on our way to the meet was that he didn’t look at cars as objects to not be driven. He wants to drive them and enjoy them. Listen, I know everyone says it but most of the time, their cars are garage queens anyway. I’m the same way – I want to enjoy it but I’m also too stuck up to want to ruin it. It’s a terrible thing LOL. Nau is the only person I’ve met that talks the talk and walks the walk in regards to that phrase. If you ever get the chance to be in and around the Kodawari Collective area, pop in and say hi. I promise you that you will be hard-pressed to find a more dedicated and welcoming bunch. Tell him you want a ride in the NSX too 🙂

Kazoku X Tuner Decals Cars & Boba Season Opener 2023

/ jasonhoang / Leave a comment

There’s been a flurry of meets and shows all around the same time that it’s sometimes hard to figure out where to be and which one to go to, so you kind of have to choose your battles lol. JC chose to go to this one, so we decided to stop by after dinner to grab some drinks with the kids and check out the cars.  Royal Tea was nice enough to give everyone that was at the meet a discount on the drinks but they were slammed for most of the night. It took almost an hour to get our drinks (no fault of their own – they were really great) so lots of the cars came and left while we were in line. I didn’t get everything but did what I could in a random lot lol. Looked to be a good turnout from what we saw in the line – though some of you dudes need to chill with the ripping it out of the parking lot. It does not, in fact, make the panties wet. crowd boos

I also brought along the new black diffusion lens filter I had and paired it with my polarizer – literally got the diffusion filter that afternoon so I had no idea how these pics were going to turn out LOL. I just wanted a different feel/look to the photos and I gained some inspiration from some portrait/cinematic styles and wanted to try and translate that over.  All it does is add a somewhat blurred/dreamy effect to the photos – you’ll notice it pretty quickly as you go through the photos. It’s not as sharp but it’s col when you have some harsh lighting to give it some “bloom” effect. If you’re not a fan, suck it, cause I like it 🙂

Anyway – just a few photos. Thanks for the meet Kazoku/Tuner Decals!

Aldrin’s widebody FRS

I think this is a car I haven’t seen in a while… Is this Steven’s Varis widebody STI? Or is this a new one? Don’t see this chassis with Varis around too much. Brings back some old memories – sans the widebody lol.

Adeem’s Imola Orange S2000. This might be the one and only one I’ve ever seen (this is not the first time I’ve seen his but probably the only orange one ever).

Brandon’s RSX with J’s

Punit took the red dragon out and is on the Mugen’s again

The effect is cool here lol

Jackie’s NSX – so cool to see. I don’t think this ever gets old to look at.

OG Crown on Meisters.

Joven’s 300ZX

Eric’s M4

R34 GTR

The family hauler lol

The kids making a mess…

Trio of red

Jeff’s GTI – inspired by the GT3 RS livery. Looks dope!

An interesting cutout and display for this FK8 hood

Winner of the meet. This thing was so clean and bad ass. I lowkey want one now… Anyone got leads? LOL

Super mint.

Punit rolling out after I took a picture of his car parked. Classic…

Diffuser is cool. I’m probably going to abuse the shit out of it now lol

The moms ruining my shot.

Kevin’s Genesis

Joshua’s Civic Si

Kelvin’s Varis FRS

You already know. I happen to be writing this on his birthday – so Happy Birthday JC!

Josh’s M3

Rich’s IS

Alvin’s Golf R

Eric’s M3

B&W

Clean

I wonder if the intent for Mazda was to make this look cute. LOL

I understand that the guy that owned this was stuck to the car most of the meet with his girlfriend and some thought it was cute lol. Oh the days to be young again…

He asked me for a pic of his car, so you get a bonus one with your girlfriend. Only cause you asked nicely.

Going forward, no one ask me for anymore couple pics. LOL

Last shot was Gem rolling in with her WRX with the glare of the sun on the building in the back.

Thanks for the great meet!

Midnight Rev Up Edmonton 2023 Coverage

/ jasonhoang / Leave a comment

Yet another year of Midnight Rev-Up has come and gone and as usual, it does not fail to disappoint. We already all know my stance on the show and I praise it as one of the best shows in Alberta for the last several years and each year, they just keep raising the bar a little bit higher than the previous year. That’s a good sign that everything is growing and the team is learning to make things better. Once a show starts to feel stagnant and less exciting to go to, you know that the plateau has been reached and there’s either a lack of motivation or that the show itself has begun to go into a downward spiral.

Several years ago, when I attended Wekfest Chicago – that show marked the day that my expectations of a car show changed forever. It’s a much different scene, as expected, but there are still elements of a show – minus the cars and style – that should always remain in focus. Placement, organization, presence, environment… It all comes together with the cars to make it a collective and enjoyable place to be for a few hours of that day. Afterall, we’re all there for the same reason – sharing the passion and collective love for cars that we know all too well. Midnight Rev-up holds true to those elements and mindset and I’m always happy to be a part of an event like this. I’ll be honest, over the last several years, I’ve drifted further away from the car scene I was all too attached to 10 years ago, but this show makes me feel excited again and it reignites that flame a little bit more… And it feels good.

This year is no different than previous years in the sense that the caliber of cars is always so high and refreshing. Unlike other shows, it’s just really hard to find cars that don’t match the presence of the collective whole. In other words, almost every car comes out with high output and you kind of have to be nitpicky about what’s not good versus what is good. That’s not a bad problem to have. You don’t want to walk through a sea of cars that are just “meh”. You want to walk through a floor of collectively good cars and be faced with the dilemma of what’s the best of the best and you don’t get that by approving every car that applies, mind you.

For the last 3 years, the MNRU team has asked us to come and judge to help be the “unbiased” voice amongst the crew so that it’s a little more objective. I really truly believe that when we go in there, we’re being as objective and fair as we possibly can. I want to dispel the idea that we only pick friends or that we always give it to the same people. If friends are chosen, it’s because they deserved it the most – not because of our relationship. If the same people are given an award, it’s because they still hold the torch for being top tier when comparing to everyone else and there’s nothing wrong with that, but when we’re faced with that sort of dilemma – believe me when I say that we do go through lengthy discussions about maybe why they shouldn’t get it so that we’re sure that we’re completely fair. There are so many cars but only so many awards. I’m sure (mostly) everyone is aware of that and if we gave awards to every car, then it wouldn’t be special anymore – it would just be a participation trophy. You don’t really want that now, do you?

We experienced something very interesting last night after the awards ceremony and I’m not going to go into details but I’d like to spell my thoughts out at a high level so that everyone can understand without pointing fingers. The primary purpose of a car show is to literally show your car. Show your new parts, show your hard work, show your prized possession. The secondary purpose of a car show is to come together with your peers and friends and strangers to share the (as I’ve mentioned above) collective passion that really brought us all to the car show in the first place. The third and optional purpose of a car show is to award the best of the best for recognition in the craft and blood, sweat and tears an individual puts into their project. Let me be clear – awards are optional. Awards are a simple way of creating positive reinforcement for people to either A) come back next year, B) provide fulfilment when paying to register your car into the show, C) establish an invisible, yet reachable bar for others to try and hit next year, or D) all of the above. If you are coming to a car show with the belief and/or intention that you are going to take home an award before the car show even ends – you are not coming for the right reasons. Read that again. You. Are. Not. Coming. For. The. Right. Reasons.

I’ll tell you why – I know what that’s like. I know what it’s like to spend thousands of dollars on parts and labour and to build your dream car, to register for a show with the excitement for others to see it and to think “this is my year”. Let’s not fool ourselves – many of us that started out in this game has felt that adrenaline at one point only to be met with the disappointing reality that someone else stole it from you. As the years go on, you learn that it’s not the award that should validate your work and your dream car. It’s not the opinions of someone like me who got picked to be a judge to validate your work and your dream car. It should simply be that you’ve worked hard and now you have your dream car or now you’ve mastered your craft and you just want others to see how good it is so that they know where to go when they need your skill. Nobody can steal that from you. The award is optional.

Trying to dispute an award has no negative impact on my decision – it does not make me regret our choice, it does not make me want to reconsider, it does not make me want to give an additional award out because you’ve felt that you argued your case with me. It is straight up disrespect. It is disrespectful to say that “John Doe” didn’t deserve it or that his car/work is not as good as mine. It is disrespectful to take pictures of the things you believe are flaws for proof. It is disrespectful to go around and disrupt the positive energy with your disappointment. The most unfortunate thing though is that it is disrespectful to your own craft and person. It is a sad display of character that displays entitlement and arrogance within the community we’ve worked so hard to build, and while nobody can steal your skill/dream car from you – you can easily lose the respect of everyone around you. That’s worse than someone “stealing” an award. Although the MNRU team ended the night on a positive note, it’s unfortunate that we all had to have it with a side of bitterness. But alas, sometimes bitterness is what we need to enjoy some things.

While that’s not the happiest note I wanted to leave you with in my intro, I hope that you might feel a little lighter and maybe a little less angry if you think you should’ve gotten an award but didn’t. Maybe a little more grateful for what you have and what you’ve built. Every car at the show last night was on its A-game and I truly mean that. I love this show and I loved all the cars and I’m glad we were able to see all of them. Just remember – an award is not the be-all and end-all to validate your work – whether it’s cars or something else. It’s recognition – sure – but the lack of an award is not a testament or a disapproval to your actual work/skill/project. I hope to see all you in Calgary next month as MNRU makes it’s way down for it’s first show outside of Edmonton and if not next month – next year! Happy scrolling!

Our first stop was at my highschool friend – Jon’s place. He was gracious enough to let JC and I use all his detailing stuff and high pressure washer. Much easier doing it here than at a coin-op car wash and half-ass everything lol.

Mans knows all about the two-bucket method.

Lots of bugs caught on the highway…

Classic Edmonton – every damn road under construction, bumpy, merges out of nowhere… lol it’s like they make no progress from the last year. It’s just shitty every time LOL

Got to work detailing once we got all parked.

Dizzy Mob team setting up

Really enjoyed this bug-eye in red and the racing copper bronze Advans.

Pretty clean EK with Spoon goodies and a First Moulding carbon lip

The Evo game is strong in Edmonton – so many Evo X’s and IX’s fully Varis or Voltex’d out. Crazy.

Another pretty clean EK with a Voltex wing out back on Regamasters

Kent’s EG build with Spoon goodies as well. Interior was pretty mint with OEM seats and everything. I hadn’t seen this before so I assume it’s new!

Boss man Carlo’s M3

Bro didn’t even wash his wheels. I was looking for him so I could mark his forehead up with the brake dust like Simba from the Lion King.

Pretty clean RX8 – don’t see these much these days but this one was pretty solid.

This Volvo was interesting. It tugged us in all different directions because of how clean it was with some Gram Lights.

This looked like a sleeper S4 – Alcon brakes and a cage and all but wasn’t sure what was under the hood. Looked cool.

Turbo K20 swapped EK all the way from Winnipeg. This was one of our picks for the night – massive Turbo in this but I never got a pic since the hood wasn’t opened until later on in the night.

Regas and Spoon.

G Wagon in the MKZero booth

Derek’s FRS

Probably one of the best builds of the night was this millenium jade 2JZ swapped FRS. Lots of meticulous attention to detail here. I watched this come together over Instagram and it was nice to see in person. One of my favourite paint colours ever.

Awesome Endless BBK sitting in the back. Not a thing untouched on this – so good.

Another one that caught our eye was this molded/wrapped widebody STI. The owner caught us taking a look and mentioned they just finished it the night before.

Some fitment shots with the Work Meister L1’s

Really loved the curves and such around the gas tank and the way it formed into the panels.

Super clean going onto the door as well.

And a nice distinct line on the carbon hood creating some separation. Well done.

I liked the Mugen-themed stripes on the fender on this. Bold but matched the execution overall.

I still really enjoy seeing this at shows. From the colour to the fitment and the wrap.

Amuse widebody S2000

Sweet Vortech S/C Foxbody Mustang – another one of our choices for the night. Super clean.

I think the ITB’s on this were new? I don’t remember these last year but do remember the car – so clean.

Another choice of ours for the night was this drift S13 with a 1JZ swap. I like when cars that hit the track hard come to shows with the wild livery and attempt to dress up as show cars. I don’t mean that in a bad way at all either – I love the raw look of the scars from the track and some holes from possible past zipties – all while looking super glossy haha.

Cool glitter along the top half of the S13

This GTI had wild fitment with the BBS’s. Just wide and low with crazy camber. So cool.

Celsior on SSR mesh’s. It was nice to see a good representation of VIP at the show yesterday. It’s still not a super popular trend that I had hoped but still awesome to see.

Toyota Crown Majesta with Lorinzer kit, wheels and BBK. It was a tough choice between the few VIP that were there but we ultimately settled on this due to the overall condition and matching of the paint, full F/R BBK and brand harmonization throughout.

 

GR Corolla wrapped in a matte black. Still crazy how much these things go for.

Daniel’s Evo – making it just on time for the show after he had an accident. Glad to see you made it!

I’m pretty sure the amount of Titanium that is in this bay just increases each year lol. So cool.

Another Crown in the VIP line up – I think making a total of 3 for the show.

Soarer with Marlboro livery

I really think that coloured/luminous tint is kinda cool for builds like this. Has to be wild and crazy and it just fits the bill.

OEM Integra Type R

RB FRS – probably my favourite OEM colour next to the Millenium Jade.

More members of the Ghost Gang line up – they were parked pretty tight here – not sure if on purpose or just cause there wasn’t enough room for them, so it was hard to get good pics.

Cool pink Miata on Heritage wheels. I don’t think I’ve seen this before – or if I have, maybe the colour changed since?

Exhaust pipe with heart cut outs. Fitting.

We chose the Ghost Gang team for the best team in the show. Of course, all the teams were cool but as I said above, we can’t give it to everyone. The Ghost Gang team comes out consistently to almost all the shows and has really good representation – guys, girls, a full array of different cars. It hit home for me because I know what it’s like to represent with a close team of friends.

You’ll see what I mean about Evo game going hard in Edmonton if you haven’t already seen it in previous years lol

Pandem widebody FRS. Another pick for the night – lots of attention to detail on this. Titanium bolts all around holding the kit, BBK, fitment, etc…

Christian’s Mugen FK8 in red. First time actually seeing it in person and it looks great. I love red but personally couldn’t do it myself. Good job – and nice seeing you!

Roel’s Varis FK8 now sporting the varis widebody as well.

JC’s Hwip

Meh

Lito’s Datsun. Lots of attention throughout the day on this one – who can say no to a classic like this?

FJ on matte  bnlue Work Meisters

Pretty crazy that Tesla’s are now making their way into the modified world.

RV’s Varis FK8 wrapped in yellow

A few years ago when he first got the Varis kit, I (nicely) called him out and let him know that the bolts he was using were just ‘Home Depot’ bolts and that he should look at changing them cause they were a bit big and out of place. I recall he messaged me and he said that he appreciated it and it looks like he went and swapped them out and now it looks proper. 🙂

Just proof that I’m not out to hunt anyone down – I’m just pointing things out. I’m not hating. RV didn’t take it personally and now look at him go.

Peter’s FRS for Invision. Wheel barrel check passed, sir.

Yellow-wrapped FD2 with Mugen goodies.

Invision had their Bride seat display set up as usual. People love sitting in them.

Elgene’s slammed STI. it’s not new but he’s since changed from Volk 21C’s to CE28’s as shown here. I was personally a huge fan of the 21C’s because you don’t really see them but this was just as good.

His fitment has always been on point. It might not be everyone’s taste but there’s no denying how perfect it is. The front just barely sits on the rim of the lip and the rear is even crazier where the fender sits between the rim and tire…

Front…

Rear. The thing that really just won us over is that usually you’ll see fitment like this but it is usually accompanied by cracked or warped fenders, but not Elgene’s. It was literally perfect right down to the mm and even after all these years, it’s still mint. Well done.

Cholo’s Spoon FK8 with a display that went hard yesterday lol. Spoon SW388’s in the trunk…

The Spoon front for Cholo ended up being a little more fitting due to the better paint match. I know the previous Varis bumper and the paint match was not ideal and that it bothered him but he’s sitting right now.

Angelo’s Evo X

Enzo’s FK8 with EVS lip, CE’s and Voltex V-mount wing.

I don’t think this needs any introduction but Yi’s RX7 was easily best of show yesterday. It would be extremely hard to convince me otherwise that there was another car that came close to this caliber of detail, cleanliness and quality. The only thing that sucks is that the paint was so damn white and bright that my autofocus blurred this perfectly good shot of the front of his car LOL. God damn it.

At least he rear was clear hahaha

I could literally look at this all day. The way that it encompasses the heritage of the 90’s with hints of modern day fitment and styles – there’s no way this will ever go out of style. Well done!

Just look at that attention to detail.

Project Mu and Regas AND clean barrels? Ohhhhh myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Ray’s EG – super clean as always.

Man, I’ve said this at past shows but give this girl a damn TROPHY for how criminally clean these wheels are. It literally blows my mind and I would like to know how she keeps it this way.

LOOK

It’s really hard to tell but minus the dust from the venue, there is not a single hair line scratch on the lip or anywhere on the rim. You know when you clean your rims – even I’m victim to this – no matter what kind of cloth you use or how gentle you are, you’re bound to get some hairline scratches but she has chrome lips and not a single scratch. HOW. BRAVO.

  

Lol funny placement for the banner haha

Extra points for this one because it had a spicy decal of Marin on the passenger side window. You know the keys to my heart.

Politeslut’s MR2. Just to be clear, I’m not calling her a polite s-word – that’s her Instagram handle and I don’t know her real name. Don’t ban me.

This mini cooper was pretty wild. Liberty Walk widebody kit, glitter paint, a full air tank set up in the rear, blue interior…

Sick BBS’s

Lots of work put into this one.

Joshua’s dumped Miata in the Dizzy Mob booth.

This one had a special place in me and JC’s books just cause the execution was so irregularly cool. Pairing Leon Hardiritt’s (usually a VIP wheel choice) with a domestic such as a Mustang and then dumping it to a static height. Cool, man.

Another cool one – static at this height. When he was rolling in outside, he just YOLO’d the speedbump and everyone just went “OHHHH” hahahaha

Just some random shots cause it breaks up the monotonous scrolling of one-car pics…

Christian rocking the J-Tooned Asimo. Thank you sir!

I live for this quote.

A shot of the awards for the night.

Smoked black GT’s. I love.

I’m an ass man.

A shot of one of the aisles. This was so inherently satisfying for me to see everytime we walked the aisles. This is really how car shows should aim to be set up. Plenty of walking room to converse, walk AND take pictures all at the same time. Uniform and pleasant. Mini orgasm for my OCD.

Award ceremony. That’s a wrap!

This morning… We slept at 3AM, woke up at 6AM and then headed home. I almost fell asleep during the drive. Brutal.

Gas station pics are always cool.

Gas station pics with smoky air is even cooler.

Been a minute since I took a roller. Was pretty cool with the haze but wish I had a wider lens. Turned out alright.

As we left Edmonton – we went from this hazy, Resident Evil vibe…

To blue skies and sunshine. Nice way to end the weekend.

Thanks again to the MNRU crew for having us as always and for putting together another amazing show. We learned a few things, realized some oversights, made new connections and know more for the next show. Good luck and good bye!

Driven 2023: Sort of Coverage

/ jasonhoang / Leave a comment

I wasn’t planning on attending Driven this year but thanks to  @Kirby.S4 for getting a ticket for me, I showed up with JC to check it out quickly to see if there was anything worth checking out. No cars on steelies, but still some on winter tires for some reason lol.

I’m not going to do a full write-up or go into much about it – I got what I could. It seems like every year, it gets tighter and tighter with less walking room and less space to take pictures or admire cars without worrying about getting in the way of others within 3 seconds of approaching a car. I used to be able to walk around with a 50mm and take some decent shots. The last several years, I’ve come with a 35mm and had trouble. Pretty soon we’ll be needing to shoot 10mm to get some decent shots of a full car lol.

Lighting was a little weird too – seemed really dim but it looked like they had the blinds closed and the lights at half capacity or something. Made for poorly lit pics and spotlights on windshields where dust collected.

My age is showing, so that’s all. Enjoy!

Super dope to see the new art on Redline Sorority’s merch this year as always. Appreciate you girls for always supporting! This is one of my fave’s for sure!

Alyssa’s RS5 on new purple wheels and back to her stock grey! Clean.

Girls and their imaginary dicks.  LOL

Maggie’s Golf R

Blair’s Fiesta ST – ended up winning an award that night, I believe!

Daniel’s M3 – always a pleasure to see.

Great combo.

Corolla GR on TE37’s. Looks really dope but can’t get over the price tag for a 3-cyl Corolla haha

Eric’s Sienna from VS One

Probably my favourite of the show was this Merc. I saw this a few years ago and it wasn’t running at the time – I still wonder if it was running this year. Would be dope if it was!

I liked the red inner barrels to match the whole black/red theme going on on these Fifteen52’s.

Carbon duct on the side window

Perfect fitment

That rear adjustable trunk wing was too cool

Slant nose widebodied Porsche

Massive centerlock 20’s

Kevin from Tuner Decals – his Genesis now wrapped in a rootbeer color. Been watching this progress on Instagram.

Kelvin also wrapped his Varis FRS in a matte silver.

I support thicc.

One of the details I loved seeing was the use of proper hardware to hold kits together. There’s lots of people that are not a fan of the exposed bolts and would rather mold the kits on if money is no object, but on the other side of the spectrum, if you’re going to leave the hardware exposed – use non-home depot hardware. Titanium bolts all over was great to see.

Gerald’s WRX now on White Meister S1R’s. Super clean widebody job.

I’m still a fan of the millenium jade wrap color on this BRZ.

Akua Garage’s JDM Odyssey now wrapped in yellow. Massive change from the full black.

One of my fave oldschool-style wheels

Recently tooned a version of this GTR for Alex at Executive Wraps

Pretty crazy RX7. Was tough to get more pics as it was crowded. I didn’t get a shot of the front, but the engine has been moved to the trunk.

Cholo’s Spoon FK8. Super clean

Derek’s FRS getting more wild with the front aero. Looks good

At the First Gear booth, it was just jam packed. I barely managed to sneak a pic in of this Amuse S2000

Voltex GR86

Widebody Evo X

Bossman Peter from Invision showed up with the Rays booth. Good to see you sir!

@yifd3s’s RX7 on Volk 21C’s and Project Mu BBK underneath. I’m pretty sad I didn’t get a full photo of the car… People were around this constantly.

Rear of the JDM Mugen FD Type R in the First Gear booth. Didn’t get a chance to get a front pic…

This IS changes colors yearly lol.

Danny’s Audi TT with matching roofbox.

Jay’s Jetta

Paul’s super clean Accord Euro R

Jon’s G37 now wrapped in a darker emerald green – quite the change from the Sapphire/Navy blue he had in previous years. The wrap job and condition on Jon’s G37 has always been top notch. Super smooth, no wrinkles/creases… Great job!

Xavier’s VIP Merc

I love the JP additions

400Z on Weds Kranze LXZ. First time seeing one in person for me – pretty clean!

Cool Astro Boy livery on this Porsche.

@kirby. S4 wrapped in the new Caribbean blue. Thanks again for the ticket!

Sickkkkkk

Pretty wild widebody Mustang. Reminded me of a hot wheels.

Yolanda’s Focus ST

Brooke’s Q60

Right on our way out, we noticed Andrew’s IS-F. We were so nervous for you buddy – people were practically sitting on your car (not actually) lol.

Mad clean though. I’m sad people walked by not knowing the amount of money that went into that suspension set up.

That’s a wrap on my end. I know I saw a lot of other friends’ cars and notable cars that I just didn’t get a shot of because of how crowded it was yesterday. Peter mentioned that if there was a fire, we’d probably all die because over the over capacity lol. Stop filling car shows to the brim and turn on lights! Quality > Quantity.