Oh sweet justice…
I love it when people get their justice due when they scam people. I love it even more when it’s caught on video! Haha…Oh man, just read through this and take a look at the videos on the bottom. The moment when the camera man directs the camera towards the owner is priceless. Just to see him cover his face in shame is awesome enough as it is….
For those of you who don’t know there’s a guy by the name of Vu Tung who owns a “shop” called Crown Autosports in Fountain Valley, Calif. Supposedly they specialize in wire tucks, paint jobs, conversions, etc. and they post ads on Craigslist and what not advertising their services. The prices may seem good but to say that the quality of work is anywhere near “acceptable” would clearly be an understatement. Watch as this man documents the demise of his project car at the hands of one Vu Tung….
I am posting this to let everybody know how bad this guy is so that you won’t ever have to deal with him in the future. Under no circumstances is this part of my deal/agreement with this person that I cannot warn you guys or post about him. He is pissed off that I am posting this on TI/HT and letting you know what I went through. I have text to prove it. i reported this to the local PD in both Nor Cal and So Cal area (just in case). So please read the info below and take it how you want to take it. But this is a WARNING and I’m doing my part in helping you guys out!
I did try to do some research on this guy and his work. The pictures he posted looked good and how he did it or so he claims. Spoke with him on the phone for a week or so maybe more before driving 6 hours to drop off my car. As a result to all this, my car is now ****ed the hell up.
I already called Fountain Valley PD and San Jose PD on this matter. Both PD’s have a record on this (in case this guy tries to retaliate. Safety of my family comes first before anything). Vu (owner of the shop) will answer calls before you drop the car off text you back. But as long as he has your car in his shop, he gives you the run around. He keeps telling you he understands how you feel about your car that its your baby but in fact, he doesnt because he treats your car like shit since its not his. You have to put trust into the shop you are leaving your property with. My car was dropped off on March 28, 2009 (Sat). Drove there with my gf and our baby and my friend drove my car and he flew back home the same day while I stayed out there for the weekend. I visited the car for 2 days when I was there and he was working on it since I dropped it off. So that got me thinking that he was good at what he does.
Well its easier to rip things apart than putting it back together from what I can tell you. I paid for a RHD Conversion (I provided my own from HMotorsonline.com which I picked up the same day), Complete Paint Job including the engine bay, wire tuck. The prices he gave me were pretty good. Lesson learned, if its too good to be true, it probably is and with this matter, it is in fact TRUE!!!
After a month which he said is all he needed, I was suppose to pick up the car. Got my tickets with a friend to come a long and he cancelled the day before I was going to pick it up. He moved it for the next week, got my ticket and he cancelled 3 hours before my flight was leaving because he said he could not start the car. I flew down there anyway to check out the car. A mod here on HT picked me up from the airport and took his time to help me out. We went to his shop and he never showed up that day. I came back in the afternoon/night and he still didnt show up. He wont let me see my own car at his shop and I’m not even local. He even turned off his cell phone the whole day. Throughout this whole ordeal, he never text or calls me for any update on my car. I had to keep calling and calling and texting. But once I told him I would leave a negative feedback on HT, he calls you back within 5 minutes. I explained everything to him on what I wanted done, he says he understands and even left him a check of list to make sure all are done before I get the car so I dont have to wait for it at all. He says he goes through the list everyday but again another lie.
The 3rd time to pick it up was again cancelled. 4th time was set for May 18 (almost 2 months in the shop). I spoke with him the day before to make sure we were good to go. He says yes and my car is driveable and all set for the next day. Again, the mod here on HT (wrx-killer-Sti-eater) picked me up from LAX. He is suppose to do my alarm that day before I drove back home. When we get to the shop and saw the car, I was very pissed off.
The paint was f***ed up. It looked like someone spray painted it. Bodywork was messed up. Lots of orange peels everywhere, glossy on some parts and others none. Trimmings were painted/broken. Both fenders were not even bolted on. NO front bumper at all installed. Missing my JDM Hood latch to close the hood. My trunk was filled with car parts that were suppose to be installed such as bumper, HID’s and other things. My new windshield was cracked on the bottom where the RHD side was. Engine Bay: my jdm headlights had all the wiring cut up, missing gaskets and covers on the lights, power steering pump missing and not installed, no AC of any sort which was suppose to be installed, my battery was thrown in there and was only supported by some engine wiring, intake was not on, wiring everywhere were cut up. It’s a fire hazzard and cannot be driven. Car starts and shoots out power steering fluid. None of the lights work, windows, etc. Missing my JDM Front Bumper Pole Relay and lots and lots of bolts in the engine bay and the car. The shop was very unorganized. Car parts were everywhere.
I asked Vu where my parts where and he just looks at me with a blank expression on his face and says I dont know. He claims my original front bumper along with the lip was STOLEN by his mechanic. I asked him how and why and he kept saying I dont know. He doesnt even look sorry or apologetic. Not once did I yell at this guy or do anything at all. I was pissed off and all I could think about was the car and how it was before and now. I just got robbed by this guy! I called the local PD right away to make sure this was reported. He told me that he will fix everything if I leave it with him and I told him Hell NO! The car is leaving today with me and he never gave me any reason to trust him at all. He sent me a pic of the car a couple of days before and my gf was even wondering why the car looks dull. Not shiny or glossy. I told her maybe the lighting or so but I was wrong because it was not painted at all correctly. This was the pic sent to me via email:
First set of pics sent were about 20 or so pics. These were process of taking apart the dash, interior wiring, and the black tar. Sent on April 8, 2009. Nothing else after that. He kept promising me that pics will be sent but he never does and he always had excuses after excuses. The only pic he sent me next was on 04-30-09:
That was all. Nothing else. I was still waiting for the pics from the RHD process which were never sent to me at all. I kept asking for pics over and over again when I do get a hold of him which was once in a blue moon. I kept texting and still nothing. The next 2 pics he sent and the last one were on 05-11-09 and my gf who is not really into cars unless it was mine even recognized that it was not glossy at all. It was dull from the pics. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and told her it was probably the light. But I knew better.
Officers responded to the scene and do their routine questions. Its a civil matter they said so I have to deal with him personally and take him to court. Vu mentioned to the officers that my front bumper was stolen by his mechanic and that he was willing to give me some Recaros for the bumper and among other things. The Recaros were f***ed up. They were missing rails/sliders, broken latch to incline/recline the seats, the bolster were messed up and it was dirty as hell. We kept asking were are my car parts and what belongs to me. He says I dont know. So we just started packing things in the car to get the hell out of there and took the seats also. Vu calls the cops and the same officer comes back. He told the officer that we were stealing the seats from him but the officer remembered what he had said that he was going to give them to me. So he could not do or say anything. The officer told us to take all of my stuff including the Recaros and car and leave. So we did.
Before we left, I decided to see if he wants to settle now or go to court. I do not know what is missing from the car (completely) except for the JDM Bumper, lip, hood latch, missing gas/trunk cable inside the car, ITR VIN tag, bumper pole relay, bolts, license plates, etc. until the car has been overhauled. But those were things that stick out for me. I wanted my money back that I had given him when I dropped the car off plus for any of the missing items. He did not want to give me the money right there andthen and wanted me to come back at night. For what? So that I can get jacked? We settled on an amount which to him would be a steal but a loss for me and decided to meet up at the Police Station for my safety (just in case). I took the amount we decided because it was better to have something than nothing at all so at least I can get the right shops/people to work on my car. I know at the point I am at a loss since it will cost more to fix the damage he did to my car than my original plans.
The car has been towed out of his shop the same day and dropped off at another motor shop to do my electrical and motor parts. They were able to take off the motor within 15-20 minutes. Part of the reason was because the motor were missing tons of bolts. The same day, the car was towed to a body shop and work has already begun.
I lost lots of money and time on this whole thing. A lot of people, not just myself, has been affected by this. Thanks to the help of wrx-killer-Sti-eater and hooking it up with another shop that can actually do the work and is capable of it. Not some mickey mouse shit.
I think thats enough explanation. i have videos of the car from Vu’s shop when we picked it up. My agreement with him was to settle everything that day as he paid me my money back and that I will erase one of the videos (which I did) from his shop. I did not agree to erasing anything else or not posting on Honda-Tech about my situation and to warn others.
FYI: My JDM Front Bumper, grill, hood latch, and lip were not STOLEN by his mechanic. Vu actually sold my property to another member here on HT that was scammed by him and got a lawyer. I spoke with the member on the phone about this to verify my property and indeed it was mine. He owed him all of those things since January or so and this member just got his items about 3-4 weeks ago when my car was there at his shop. I reported this also to the Fountain Vally Police Department. Here are pics of my front bumper he sold which is now on the HT members car: Sleepyboy2004.
Here are pics of my car before I dropped it off to his shop:
Pics of how it looks like from what Vu did. (this was taken at the current shop by wrx-killer-Sti-eater who has been helping me out a whole lot deal with this. Without his help, I would be lost and feeling hopeless). Parts that were sanded down were done by the new shop. They work fast. But the whole car was shit when I brought it:
Anybody else that wants to get there cars fixed up by this shop, go right ahead. You will end up with a nightmare than a dream car.
This thread was locked because it was not intended for commercial sales as stated on the bottom of the page. But read the last page and the postings on there. Vu calles out wrx-killer-Sti-eater as a scammer and this guy, desmon, is the only person that was there to help me out and is still helping me out with my car to fix what Vu created.
Needless to say, there is plenty more to this story. I’ll pass along the original link to the thread which contains so much more stuff about what happened. I just thought the videos were hilarious so I’ll put them up on here for you to see haha….
This one is the good one, reaction of the owner is priceless haha…
When all you can do is cover your face in shame, it pretty much means you fucked some shit up big time…haha. I sure hope this guy gets his car fixed and the owner of Crown Autosports gets his…
ehh…ehhhh….
Definitely have some good stuff up for you guys tomorrow!! Oh man, such good stuff…I love it when people who scam others gets called out and caught on video…It’s gold I tell you!
My back is a bit better, thanks for the people that asked how I was doing….time to drown myself in Bengay!
Ehh….
Gonna have to take a break today…I fucked up my back and it’s hard enough for me to sit down in front of a computer let alone try to update. Sorry guys…Back tomorrow.
Oh…figure I’d mention this. The J’s Gathering event that was supposed to be happening in conjunction with the Redline Time Attack has apparently been cancelled. Why? I don’t know….I’ll let everyone know when I myself find out…
Alright, back to laying down…
Another month comes to a close…
Image is straight jacked from Alex Zhao at alexisthemovie.com (I don’t think he minds…)
May is coming to a close which means that the new month will soon bring a new set of magazines for the world to see. I haven’t really been keeping up-to-date on my magazines like I used to but I got word today that a member of AS1 and loyal Chronicles-sticker-haver-oner (what?) is featured in the upcoming issue of Super Street magazine. I didn’t even know that the car was shot for a mag but it’s definitely cool to see such an understated Honda getting some spotlight. It’s a really clean build and I’m a sucker for a mint set of CPRs so I’ll definitely go out to take a look when it hits the newstands. Congrats to Bryan Leon aka Ricky Ross the boss and his 1993 Acura Integra for making the leap onto print. Welcome to the club homie….Now you get the pleasure of someone walking up to you at a meet and telling you that your car looks alot like the one that was in a magazine. Then they’ll proceed to tell you how you bit off that guy and how that guy’s car is cleaner. Trust me, it’s happens…more than once too…
I also got word today that the Skunk2 garage sale and car show is this Saturday. The car show is limited to 40 cars and will include cash prizes to the winners. I know this because I read the flyer…which is here:
If you didn’t hear about this meet before you read about it here, and you win, I will gladly take credit for telling you about it. I accept partial cash prizes as well. The weather seems to be cooling down lately so it’s a good time to go out and enjoy it. Car shows are always fun and they got a bunch of Skunk2 stuff available at crackhead prices… Crack is good and so is head, I’m outta here!
Last of the Eibach stuff…
I always enjoy when people document their roadtrips to any particular automotive event. The original plan for Chris, from crsfoto.com, was to document his trip down from Norcal for Eibach 2009. Unfortunately he ended up only riding with one person (Chronicles reader, Integraslut) and Chris slept the whole way and didn’t take pics of shit. I don’t blame the guy though, when it’s like 5am in the middle of nowhere, there usually isn’t much to document. He could have taken pics of the drive but it would just be like those Myspace pics with two people in the front seats of a car. Not every eventful at all….
So I decided to hand the ball off to the PG+K guys today and let them tell you all about their trip. If you guys aren’t familiar with PG+K, they’re probably one of the better crews out east and their cars are definitely some of the best out right now. I normally don’t just link you guys to some other stuff unless it’s perverse or incredibly entertaining so you know this is gonna be a good read. Plus for the ones that don’t like to read, there are alot of pics too…so enjoy, sit back, and let Premium Garage Krew tell you all about it…
And to actually give their site some traffic for a change….haha! For real though….shout-out to some cool cats out there….and you’re welcome for the traffic…haha…
The Eibach stuff you didn’t get to see…
I’m sure by now, the majority of you have seen the pages and pages of Eibach coverage that’s been posted up throughout the internet forums like H-T and NWP4Life. I myself have enjoyed them because it’s always cool to see something that I’ve seen but through the eyes of someone else. It makes it that much better to be able to enjoy that same car over again and perhaps spot something that you haven’t otherwise seen before. My friend Chris from crsfoto.com made the trip out from Chicago to attend his very first Eibach and he was cool enough to share these following shots with me. You’ve all seen the cars at the actual meet but what about what happened leading up to and after Eibach 2009? Think of it as a “behind the scenes” look…
This was right after Eibach. We were all heading home and Chris decided to get some rolling shots of us on the 91 West freeway.I still had to take Chris to the airport later that night so we were heading back to my place. The Element had so much stuff packed in it like a Canopy and my burnt ass so Chris’ friend actually had to drive him there before heading home to Simi Valley…
Living proof that the new set-up works and runs. So many people have been talking shit about how it’s a show car and how it’s undriveable. It’s definitely everything but undriveable. Even I was a bit skeptical when I first heard of his specs but I know Arnel puts maximum effort into making it operational. Trailer? Never…You wanna talk about function? It’s meant for cruising in Southern California and it looks like it’s functioning like a motherfucker right here….
Chris also had a chance to meet up with all the guys at Showstoppers the day before. A lot of them met up there to get their cars detailed and to shoot the shit with eachother….
You really have to see this hatch up close to really appreciate it. I think Chris does a pretty good job trying to capture it though with his camera…
Apparently this was the detailing guy that was hired to clean some of the cars. He kept insisting for Chris to put him in the “magazine”….haha…
I like this shot of Chase’s CR-X. Kinda shows you how small those things are for someone to have to kneel down just to speak to Chase. Either that or the guy is a giant…
I’ll let the blatant advertising slide just this once…haha. I didn’t even notice the new valve cover at Eibach. Then again, I don’t even remember the hood being up at all that day….
S2kjay and his S2000 from the east coast. This thing was definitely a hit at Eibach. If you take a closer look at the intercooler you can definitely tell that this thing is driven. When I say “driven” I don’t mean like “down the street” either, this boosted S2k came straight from the other end of the country…
Speaking of driving out, I’m sure you guys have heard by now about the adventures of BonB and how he fucked his cylinder head up on the way out here. This was taken that night when I first arrived to hang out with all the east coast guys at Do It Dyno. It was strapped down and getting a fresh tune. That was the night when I ran into the biggest group of white kids ever…haha. In all seriousness though, all those guys from out east are cool dudes and it was nice meeting all of them…
That’s about it…I heard there were stories from the Compton street races, lots of drinking, and strip club debauchery but all of it wasn’t captured unfortunately. Probably some anal tossed in there somewhere as well…
Follow The Chronicles on Twitter…
I’m not really sure what Twitter is all about or how it works, or how people can see themselves in a mirror, or well, anything but now you can follow my ass around on Twitter. Now you can find out when I update, shit I see, or just basically any hijinks that I encounter that’s directly related to “The Chronicles…”
Follow me on Twitter even though I don’t have a cell phone that contains a feature where I can use this…awesome. Tweet Tweet.
Eibach 2009…Part 4…Our own personal best…
“Live your damn life and get your hustle on and understand that people are going to hate you regardless of what you do. Get that out of your head, that fantasy world where people are not hating on you. You got to be grateful, you need haters…” -Kat Williams
Back with the final part of the 2009 Eibach meet coverage….As I said in the previous post, this will pretty much just be all of our own stuff from our group….
I’m sure you’ve heard all about Arnel’s new set-up by now. There is all kinds of rumblings about it on the net. Mostly negative and some just plain shit talking but you know what our response is to that?…..WE LOVE IT….I can’t sit here and tell you that it bothers us really. They say that if you’ve never been criticized, then you probably haven’t done much with your life. When it comes to cars, if no one is talking about you, then you’re just plain irrelevant…
I just find it funny how the only people really talking shit about it are the people that either have never seen it in person, or aren’t even in the same state. They’re opinions are based off pictures seen on the internet. At the Eibach event, it probably drew the most crowds because people were shocked and impressed to see it. I didn’t really hear anything negative about it. I guess that just goes with the good vibe that was apparent throughout the day….
The main two complaints I heard were either it wasn’t functional or the front fender was kinda messed up. First of all, it’s not a race car, it was never meant to be. What you define as function is all relative. For Arnel, the car runs and it gets him to wear he needs to go. That makes his hatchback functional. It’s never gonna see any track time or run on the fuckin Tsukuba circuit so who cares if it defeats your idea of functionality. It’s not your car. And it’s definitely not built to serve your purpose. You wanna know about function? The car was stolen and left down the street before with no wheels on it and sitting on frame, if there’s wheels on it and it rolls and the car drives, guess what? Functional. Second complaint is the fenders. Look, Arnel is a body guy and has bodyshop experience. As you can tell the more aggressive fitment is out rear and it clears perfectly. Sections of the front are jagged because well, the car was driven and turned. No one has ever had this set-up or fitment on an EG so everything was experimental. The fender work was done and it wasn’t jagged before he drove it. When you experiment, things don’t always go according to planned. So if he measured it and did the bodywork accordingly, we all knew there was a chance that something might rub or interfere with the wheel well. It’s not exactly like the guy that called out Arnel in Florida. That guy had jagged ass fenders before he even put the wheel and tire on. If you’ve figured out a formula to run a 0 offset 9 wide wheel in the front of your eg and you didn’t run into any issues, and you did it before the Phaze2 EG, please feel free to post pics of your perfect fenders. There’s a first time for everything, I’m sure the first time you had sex everything didn’t go perfect either. Take it for what it is, it’s a fucking nasty set-up and there was a lot of work involved in getting it to where it is today. If you hate it, that’s fantastic, thanks for your consideration….
At least the wheel set-up took the haters away from talking shit about the bay for a moment. Seems that everyone is okay with it now once more people saw it in person. It’s definitely outside of the box thinking in terms of Hondas. Just be happy the rusted hood is off haha…
All I’m really trying to say is that you really shouldn’t judge it unless you’ve seen it in person. We got people half way across the world talking shit. It’s an international incident….Oh well, people will do what they wanna do. You can give 100 people a blank canvas and you can have 100 differing opinions on what to do with it. Some will be safe and paint a pretty picture and call it “art”, some will go outside of the box and redefine the word…
Luckily for Mikey, Arnel’s set-up was so ridiculous that no one bothered to talk shit about Mikey’s new set-up….
Ever since he got his new Vision seats he’s been talking about how great it is to sit on the floor in his car. He likes sitting on the floor so much that I don’t even know if he’s gonna sell the thing anymore…
I got a chance to see this thing on the freeway on the way home. Everyone always is in awe of the stance and wheel set-up but I don’t think you can truly appreciate it until you see it on the road….You gotta also appreciate Mikey actually driving his own car too because that fool never drives his own car. Either Tina is driving it or one of the homies is. If it had room in the back for him he would probably pay someone to drive him around in it…
Ojay was my ride to the meet. I didn’t think it was necessary to drive my car out there just for it to sit in the sun for like 6 hours. I like how someone walked up to the car and was talking to his homie and said “Damn, this is a sick as Pilot.”…. Guess it’s better than calling it an xB or something…
He added a bunch of custom one-off ARC stuff like the air induction box. I helped him install two sausage mcmuffin wrappers in the backseat…
You probably wouldn’t really notice unless you owned an Element at some point but if you look closely, you’ll spot the Element SC rear wing and taillights. There are so many little details in this car that you could probably stare at it for like an hour and not spot them….Hell I see it all the time and I don’t even remember seeing the wing until just now when I put the picture up, haha…
Like Arnel and Mikey, Sid’s DA also had a different set of wheels. The Work Equip 03s give it a more timeless look compared to the XSAs he had before. It definitely looked way more aggressive with the XSAs though….
The rest of the pics are just of us fuckin around or are random…
May doesn’t have a car to build for Eibach anymore so she decided to make red velvet cupcakes for everyone. It was so hot that like 5 of them melted though…Tom also decided to show up too. Like the Eibach meet, he only comes around once a year….At least he wasn’t wearing a long sleeve this year…
We put him to work and had him grab the free pizzas for us that Eibach provided…
Ralphie aka Opposum Jenkins and htmoc talking to Mikey…
Fobtions and FF-Greg talking…I thought the dude in the back was Manties at first…
After the meet was pretty much over, our buddy Chris went out to the side of the building to shoot Mikey’s DC for S3 magazine. After he finished up, the other cars rolled so he could get some shots of them together…
I don’t really know what happened because like everyone had a camera and then started shooting the cars as well…I wanna say I know who these guys were but I don’t….
Loi from Sportcar hit me up and asked if I could get some shots of Morgan’s EK9 for Hasport and other sponsors. Chris was already shooting so I just had him do it. Dude was so burnt and tired that he almost passed out while shooting pictures. He was so excited to be out in socal that he didn’t bother to wear any sunblock, sleep, or eat anything. Gotta give him props for sticking it out though and shooting whatever we asked him to….
Tom and I being human lightstands….
After that everyone just kinda just hung out in the shade and relaxed…
Big Mike aka Newly Standard-Size Mike aka Just Limpin’ showing off his new tan…Probably wouldn’t have been so bad if the sun wasn’t reflecting off his gigantic watch…
That’s about it….Personally for me this was the best Eibach meet by far out of all the ones I’ve attended. Great cars, everyone was being respectful to eachother, good vibes, and we got to have a memorial for our friend Armando aka Coke in a Can….Rest in Peace homie.
Until next time…
Eibach 2009…Part 3…
Ahhh..is it part 3 already?…Seems like only a couple of hours ago that my piece of crap browser was giving me problems.If you haven’t noticed, there hasn’t really been any pics of the Phaze2xDoods! aka Hot Stuff International cars and peeps. That’s because I wanna highlight the other guys first and give them a chance to be seen before everyone just jumps on here looking for pics of our cars. It would also make a nice closing to my coverage of this year’s Eibach meet. On with it shall we?…
Everybody is trying to be different nowadays and try different things to set themselves apart from the rest of the pack. This engine bay happens to be one of them and the owner did an excellent job in my opinion of trying something different that doesn’t totally ruin the car. I couldn’t really get a good shot of it because it was sitting in the center row and people kept walking but it but it also had a set of refinished Stark wheels that also looked pretty cool. Not sure who the owner is but the bay came out nice….
Here is also something different. Not really sure how I feel about it because I thought the car looked fine the way it was before. Maybe I’ll feel differently about it after it’s all painted and what not. For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is a Orthia frontend. You see the conversion done more on sedans and maybe it’s more fitting because I’m not sure if it flows very well with the hatchbacks…Work in progress though so I’ll reserve judgement for later….
Nasif’s Civic is always on here. I’m sure you’re all familiar with it. He’s got some new things done to it though. I think he just recently added a rear diffuser. He also got a daily CR-X too so he doesn’t have to drive this car around everywhere anymore. Which in socal is always a plus…
Parked right next to him was Carlos aka Mugen Boy’s 4-door. Another car you always see here. I never get tired of seeing of it….
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT TIME…..Not a bad looking Civic right? At a glance could you tell that those “CPFs” are fake? Well I was sitting down under our canopy and spotted this from pretty far away. I heard some guy walk by and go “dammmnnn CPFs” so I guess the owner got the reaction he wanted out of them but sorry to say….this dude is fakin’ the funk…
First of all, Sprint Hart CPF/CPF-Gs never came in 16s so that was a dead giveaway. That and I guess the white was kinda obvious. The Spun wheels have a different finish to them that makes it easily spotted. I guess you’d have to look at the originals enough to know but anyway, the size is what I saw initially…
Second of all, the decals don’t even fit. It’s just like, chillin’ on the wheels. They probably don’t fit because the wheels is bigger than the 15s that the stickers were meant for…Also, you’ll notice that the wheel for some reason lists like every bolt pattern there is. I don’t understand that at all but these wheels are 4×100 so there should be no reason why it says “5×100″ on the wheel…
Here’s a better look at the wheel sizing that’s been cast onto the face. No reason why it should say “5×114″ and “4×114″…Also another shot at the stickers that don’t fit. I wasn’t really running around trying to find people with fake shit on their cars but this one just happened to catch my eye when I was sitting down and it was pretty clear that the wheels were fake….Another dead giveaway…
…were the seats. At least he didn’t go as far as to get the seats restitched with the Recaro logo… Car didn’t look bad overall, it’s just that the knock-off stuff takes away from it…
On the opposite end of faking the funk is Rywire’s CR-X, which is about as real as it gets. There’s just so much detailed paid to this car that you probably wouldn’t notice all of it in one sitting…
The bay itself was so sick that I didn’t even look at the interior of the car or much of the outside of it. It drew a constant crowd throughout the day too and it was definitely deserving of the attention. Unfortunately, I heard his transmission broke on the way home and he ended up having to tow the car the rest of the way. Unfortunate but I’m sure Rywire will get it running again in no time…
Tegboi’s DA on MF10Ls….obvious-stater I am…
Here’s a pretty nice DC2 I spotted while I was walking around on the backside of the building. I think I only walked through there like twice. Looks like it has alot of Spoon gear on it. The black on black is a good look…
There was a whole line-up of TLs parked in the back. They were all parked together which kinda takes away from them cuz they all look about the same, but they all had nice wheels and good stance. I saw them on the way over and these TLs look great on a nice set of wheels. I really don’t like it when people park like in the little dip portion of the lot. Sure it makes your car look lower but it ruins pictures. I wish people would stop doing that. I didn’t take pics of some cars just because they were parked that way…
If you’ve attended a HIN or any major car show lately in socal, then you’ve probably since this TSX before. It’s an extreme build and everything about it screams “show car”, which makes it even cooler for it to actually drive to and attend a meet….
Didn’t get any full shots of Big Mike’s Prelude but everyone that reads this site has seen it plenty of times. I just like taking pics of the bay and I thought I’d show you his gigantic NWP4LIFE windshield banner….
I don’t know where Travis was parked but I didn’t even see it when I was walking around. I only spotted it when he was about to leave. The first time I took pics of it I didn’t even know it was his car because I was so used to seeing it when he first got it. Awhile back it didn’t have anything other than suspension and a set of SSR mesh wheels….
K-turbo…
Clean CR-X on Work S1s…
This RSX is from somewhere in Texas I believe. There was a thread on NWP awhile back when someone mentioned that they thought this DC5 was better than As1 Brian’s DC5 when I mentioned that it was the RSX to beat this year. There’s definitely alot of custom stuff done to it but I’m still sticking to what I said. I just think Brian’s RSX is better executed. Not taking anything away from this one of course, I just don’t feel that the wheels belong on this car and the copper bay almost kinda blends in with the red….Very nice build though….
CCWs seem to be making their way onto a couple Hondas lately. I can’t blame the owners either because these wheels are beautiful. If I still had a Honda I might have considered picking up a set for myself….I wonder what’s under the hood of this coupe, everything else on it looks good…
949 wheels are starting to get pretty popular too…
Meeting of the Accord minds right here….To the left is Timmy from Supastar who owns a couple Accords and to the right in the Chronicles tee is my homie Chris who made his first trip out to socal ever. He got to experience the socal Honda community firsthand, enjoyed the California heat, and even had a chance to experience his first earthquake…. We were hanging out at my place after the meet and while we were waiting to take him to the airport, the earthquake hit and this fool got up and started running…haha…where he was running too I have no idea but that dude ran like a motherfucker…He came back later as was all “I’m pretty freaked out right now”…haha. My response….”Uhh…where the fuck were you running to?”
That’s it for all the other cars. Part 4 will just be Phaze2xDoods/Hot Stuff content. So if you’re not interested or just plain hate us, let’s go to the “support the chronicles” section and buy some shit from me okay? Out.
Eibach 2009…Part 2…
Alright, back with part 2 of the Eibach Meet 2009 coverage…I swear there is something wrong with my Firefox browser, it took all night just for me to even get into WordPress….
Anyways…
The night before Eibach, my buddy Chris notified me that one of the east coast guys that came out, BonB, had messed up his engine and bent 8 valves on the way out here. How? I don’t know, but the car ended up at Do It Dyno where they installed a new head and even found the time to tune the car. It was about 10pm or so when I made it out to Do It Dyno to meet some of the east coast guys and I can honestly say that these are some cool dudes. I was a little uncomfortable because I had never been in a room with so many white people at once but it was definitely interesting. The car you see above belongs to BonB, it’s a pretty clean hatch with some BYS parts on it. Apparently he also cracked his Backyard Special front lip as well as totally fucking his motor up. What an interesting trip that must have been…
I was also interested in checking out the yellow S2000 from Premium Garage Krew. It managed to make it out to Cali from Atlanta with no problems. I love this car. Probably one of my favorite S2000s of all time. Mooncraft hardtop, aggressive fitment TE37s, and boost…how he made it out without busting anything up is beyond me but I really enjoyed seeing it in person for the first time….I really didn’t get to get too many shots of it upclose but I did catch a pic of it leaving….
Ben’s TSX from PGK was another car that I had to see. Not only because he too made the trek out from the other coast, but I also wrote a feature about it for Honda Tuning magazine. Sometimes I have to write about cars I’ve never even seen before so it’s cool to see the car and meet the owner in person, especially if they made the effort to drive across the country…
I remember seeing Chase on Saturday night and the guy looked completely drained. Most of the time he looks malnourished regardless but he was like falling asleep randomly and shit. I think that fool even called me “Ben” when I saw him…haha…Alot of the east coast guys were staying with him while they were out here and he was busy showing them around Socal all weekend. He made it out to Eibach though with his newly refinished Sprint Hart CPs and was parked alongside a couple other Skunk2 sponsored vehicles….
Old Skool was working the DJ booth and his Integra was sitting inside the bay at the Eibach facilities. There were so many things around it that I didn’t get a chance to get a shot of the car itself but here’s the bay. You’ll notice that he’s redone it and ditched the Spoon stuff for Mugen goodies…
I rarely see Reza around these days. I couldn’t even tell you the last time I saw him actually but he came out to show support for our friend and pay his respects and that means alot. He had alot of kind words to say to all of us and he helped lift our spirits and stay positive. I didn’t get a chance to thank him so if you’re reading this, thanks a bunch for coming out and passing along the kind words….
Love Reza’s DC….everything about it is so “functional”. Like there’s nothing wasted on it. What you see is what you get. Everything you see is put to use….
So simple…
Speaking of cars from SD, I’m sure everyone is familiar with TJ’s S2000. I almost didn’t recognize it without the crazy wheel fitment, but it still looks great on the Sw388s…
Here are a couple other S2Ks at the event….There was a nice mix of them and they didn’t all look the same which is always good…
Love this Spoon-inspired AP…
J’s Racing-built N1 Concepts S2000…
First time ever seeing these two…
Good fitment on this one, just wish he didn’t have all that blue tape shit on it. Woulda looked so much better without it…
This one belongs to Jackson from Eibach…
Hasback had a pretty good showing at Eibach. Above is Tuan from Fast Autowork’s coupe. Really simple on the outside with the SiR bumpers and CPRs and a nice contrasting purple bay…
I talked to HBK Jon and I guess he got tired of being confused with Arnel’s hatch all the time so he went out and redid his car. I’m not sure what to call the purple but it’s a custom mix that Jon came up with when looking at a Home Depot color pallette. He found the color he wanted and told his paint guy to mix it to that shade. I guess you can call it like…uhh…Laker purple?…
Interesting contrast with the teal in the bay. I like the attention to detail paid in the valve cover and plug wire cover…
I really haven’t seen Son out and about much lately. I didn’t even run into him until much later on in the day but here’s his EK. It’s looking better and better lately…
This is a cool touch to include the “Plus One” on the MF10L wheel…Nice Autozone brakes homie haha…
I heard from a couple other people that James doesn’t like me very much for critquing his car while back when I did the Top 10 cars of the year list I made in December. Truth is that it was never meant to be negative. That’s what happens when there’s anything written on the internet though, it can be misconstrued and misunderstood. I even heard he thought I was signing up for fake accounts or something to talk shit about his car on Honda-Tech…haha…that seems a little far-fetched. I mean, I don’t really beat around the bush and if I ever had anything to say about anything I wouldn’t hesitate to say it. I actually like the car alot. It photographs really well too. Eibach was the first time I got a chance to see under the hood too and it’s a really clean set-up. I heard he picked up a sponsorship from CCW too that’s why he has their signature Neo-Chro series wheel sitting next to the car. Very nice build…
While we’re on the topic of people that don’t like me, this is NorcalEm1′s coupe. Looks good on the WRDs, I almost didn’t recognize it until I saw the Dumpedstars sticker.
ATS Garage also made it down from Norcal and brought out their Del Sol. I wish I had more time to take a closer look at it….
Integraslut78 (hopefully not his real name) was kind enough to drive Chris down from Norcal. If you remember awhile back I made that post asking for someone to bring him down here so he could cover the trip down to Eibach. Well he and Integraslut were the only people that drove down that night so there wasn’t much to cover, that and I’m sure they were eagerly trying to avoid awkward conversation after meeting for the first time and then driving together for 6 hours…haha…
Polished Gabs….very nice.
I’ll be back later on with another update. Stupid computer is acting up and my connection to wordpress is on and off….Check back soon. Sorry for the delay…
Eibach 2009…Part 1…
Eibach 2009 has come and gone…this is part 1 of my coverage of the event…
First off, let me begin by offering a huge amount of gratitude to all of those who came out to pay their respects to Armando Flores Jr. aka Coke in a Can. It says alot about our community as a whole and how we can unite together for a good cause.
Big thank you also goes to everyone that also donated money and purchased stickers to help the Flores family.
We were able to to raise $1200+ on that day alone thanks to you guys. Every little bit helps and if you would like to help out as well, please contact me and I will direct you to the appropriate people to send donations to…
It was quite an emotional moment when friends and family spoke at noon of the event. We all gathered as a whole in front of the Eibach facility and had a moment of silence for our fallen friend. Armando’s S2000 and former Integra were both brought out by friends along with his 1000rr bike. His father was kind enough to bring his lowrider out as well and we put it up front for everyone to see. It’s quite an impressive body of art whether you’re a lowrider fan or not. A fellow enthusiast was also kind enough to bring out a canvas for everyone to sign. Again, thank you so much for coming out to show your support. Rest in Peace Armando, you will never be forgotten and the impact you made on the lives of your loved ones will live on forever….
Eibach 2009 was quite the event. Personally for me, I think this one would probably be the best one by far. After the initial NWP Eibach gathering in January, I had a good feeling about this one and I was right. Sure it was hot but definitely not unbearable like last year. The turnout for high quality builds was great as well. I haven’t really heard anyone bitch about how some cars didn’t deserve to be inside the complex and what not, which is definitely a good thing…
Roll-in was surprisingly smooth. I arrived at 8 am to a pretty long line outside the gate and when I walked up to the front, Ryan aka VtecVoodoo gave me a stack of shit to pass out to people coming in. I somehow always manage to end up helping out in some capacity and I’m glad I can. I promptly handed the flyers to someone else and walked off…haha…Shout-out to Leon Casino for handling the business outside as well as Jeremy who pretended to help out so that no one would ask him why his car wasn’t there…
The talk of the event had to be Arnel’s hatchback from our group. I don’t wanna root for my home team, but judging by the constant crowds it attracted, it was definitely the most talked about car at Eibach 09, and it was also the most controversial. Everyone seemed to be in owe of the wheel set-up but from all the talk on the internet afterwards, the hate and dislike is definitely apparent.
Funny thing about it is that the majority of the talking is being done by people who weren’t even at the meet or in person to even see the car. I won’t get too much into it further, but I just find it incredibly entertaining to see so much talk from people who just look at pictures online. The internet is a funny place. We love it when people talk shit. The controversy is a good thing. They say that if you’ve never been criticized, then you probably haven’t done much with your life. When they stop talking is when you’re no longer relevant. The owner could care less really. He’s not heavily involved with all the talk and he really does build his car for himself. People can bitch about functionality all they want. No one ever said it was a track or race car. It’s a street cruiser. It was built with the intent to run lap times. It’s got a muli-colored bay, wire tucked and hammered on the floor. If it rolls and runs then it’s functional enough, correct?…More pics of this thing later…
The second most talked about Honda at the event had to be Sheepey aka Alex Soto’s DC2 Integra….There was so much hype about it that I didn’t even get a chance to get a shot of the whole car. People just kept crowding it all day. The moment I got there Sheepey was trying to get my thoughts on it. Sorry homie, I was running around all day but I really love the set-up. It’s a beautiful build. I apologize if I didn’t get a chance to let you know. You never disappoint, make sure to tell me more about it next time….
Unbelieveable….
So I spent the majority of the morning basically just standing in the shade under our canopy. People came by and bought some shirts and stickers and what not and I thank all of you for supporting this site. It would be nothing without you guys. May made red velvet cupcakes for the homies and Ojay and I just stood around and mashed on them. Arnel ate one and then coughed half of it up because he doesn’t know how to chew and then breathe in sequence, haha. I wish I had a picture of it but I was too busying eating. I saw alot of coverage from other people and saw that they took pics of the white bB on BBS wheels right outside the gates. That bB belongs to the guy pictured above. We call him “Goldmember” even though his wheels are obviously yellow. We can’t call him “yellowmember” because the only yellow member in our group is the one in my pants…
Speaking of yellow people, one of the first guys I ran into when I started walking around was DC5*Brian aka brianistheyaoming and the most filipino-looking guy alive, Octodad Norman. Nancee is also in the picture but Norman as always is flying around or doing cartwheels or some shit in my pictures…
Brian finally managed to get his car running and was parked up front along with the rest of the As1 guys….
No one has seen it since Wek’Fest and all the pictures I took of it then came out looking like total ass. Good thing there was some decent light on Sunday and I got some better shots of it….
As I stated earlier in the year, I think this is the RSX to beat this year. Hopefully he stops driving it to school and getting flats and shit on the highway before class. Leave it at home man. You got a girl, you don’t need to impress the ladies at school…
Speaking of his girl, I’m sure you’re all familiar with Nancee’s S2000. From what Brian told me, she lowered it some more and took the Chronicles sticker off. I also sold her a t-shirt that’s probably too big for her so I guess we’re even…
Thanks for buying a bunch of stickers Norman, I’m using it to pay for the UFC Undisputed game that just came out today…
A couple other As1 cars and the Streetlighz demo car…
After talking to the As1 guys I headed over to the NWP booth. Tess was working the tent and trying to explain to people that the stickers aren’t free and you shouldn’t just be grabbing them and walking away…
Of course this guy was no help and was doing the usual and stuffing his face…
Next to the NWP booth was the Source Interlink booth. Under a canopy was this EF Civic that belongs to Johnathan Wong from Super Street. He’s been documenting the restoration of this Civic in the magazine and it was definitely looking clean….
This has no relevance to anything but I was taking my usual crowd pics and I caught this kid hawking this dude’s girlfriend…haha… Creepy stare and all. Looked like he wanted to squeeze her boobs together and make her torse look cross-eyed…I’m just sayin’….
Loi hit me up and asked me to bring some stickers by for him so I went to the hanger to drop them off. Morgan was lucky and had her car parked inside with some shade…
The Sportcar Motion Castrol Challenge Civic was also present and Loi was showing Black Pie all the goodies that were recently installed. Too bad the crowd didn’t get a chance to hear this thing fire up. I got a chance to witness it a couple days before down at Sportcar and I must say, this hatch is a fucking monster….
Billy actually decided to drive his DB for once. It normally hides out at Sportcar but it got the chance to see some sunlight for once. I was talking to Billy for a little bit and he said he was planning on head home in a bit…
…but then like 3 hours later, I found him sleeping under some tree by the gates. Gotta thank him for rocking the black Chronicles tee…
Speaking of sleep, time for me to get some…I’ve been editing pictures all day and my head hurts….I’ll update with part 2 later on today…thanks for looking…
So….tired….
Oh fuck, I’m so tired….I tried editing pictures tonight and half way through it I don’t even know what I’m doing. I need sleep badly…This year’s Eibach was probably the best in terms of quality and what not. Plus the tribute to Armando was very touching. But I really need sleep. Been up since 6am and ran around like a maniac all day….I’ll just leave you with some teasers or whatever you wanna call them…
Nevermind the “some”…just one for now. Wanna save the rest of the good stuff for later…
More tomorrow for sure, I gotta finish up all the pics that I took…..I’m out…need to sleep…I mentally checked out like 4 hours ago…
Eibach Eve…
Went out to my homie’s Import Tuner shoot today over at Creative Audio & Motorsports. Weather was kinda nappy and hot today, I hate that shit. Shoot went smoothly and was nice to meet Steve Demmitt from JTuned and Import Tuner. I also finally got a chance to meet Jay from JDMEgo for the first time. Definitely a cool guy who knows alot about the scene. Probably helps that he’s been around for a long time and had a chance to see it all. Good talking to you Jay…
After that I headed home to eat a quick meal before heading out to Do It Dyno in Signal Hill to meet up with some people from the east coast that came out for Eibach. Some of these guys are down as fuck. Driving all the way from other end of the coast and risking their cars and parts is not something everyone would do. Chronicles-follower BonB actually messed up his engine on the way over here so they had to put a new cylinder head on and tuned it for him. Also got to meet Mr. Coupe and a couple others as well as Chris aka Sleeves aka My Ass is Haunted aka The Blizzard man….Good talking to all of you. I never seen so many white kids in one place at one time…
See everyone at Eibach, if you want gear and stickers and stuff check the post before this one for more information….
Shirts are ready…
Picked up the shirts today. Special thanks to Loi Song for actually physically picking them up…I was too busy sitting in traffic all day and almost didn’t make it in time to swoop them up. I have a limited supply of these so if you’re really interested, please let me know and I will save you one. Make sure to actually come pay for them though or else I’ll remember and you’ll get a special shout-out from me on the internet. Either that or I’ll grab the mic at Eibach and announce your name to everyone….
Price: $15
Sizes: S, M, L, XL, and (1) 3XL tall
Colors: White w/gold lettering & Black w/gold lettering
Look for me at the Eibach meet or if you don’t know what I look like, ask whoever is wearing one that day and they will direct you to me. Thanks.
I will also have some stickers available for you guys too for whoever wanted to purchase. The ones that paid online, they will definitely go out to you, so don’t worry….
There is also gonna be a very large supply of stickers dedicated to the memory of Armando Flores Jr. aka Coke in a Can. All proceeds from these stickers will go to the Flores family. So please try to donate to the family. We are not making a profit off these and these are made specifically for the family. Only available at the Eibach meet. Stickers are 10×2.5 inches. Colors are only in white. Please please please support a good cause. Look for HeyMikeyyyy, Salemmm, DJ Murdock 818, me, or any of the Phaze2xDoods/Hot Stuff guys and we will help you out. These are not directly related to this site nor will I profit from these. This is in loving support of our fallen friend. Thank you in advance for helping.
Armando’s Memorial…
For those of you who want to attend the memorial for Armando Flores Jr., the service will be held at Forest Lawn Cemetery off the 134 freeway.
The address is:
6300 Forest Lawn Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90068
The viewing will be from 5pm to 9pm on May 21st at Forest Lawn.
The actual memorial service will begin promptly at 12:30pm on May 22nd at the Forest Lawn Church of the Hills.
It would mean alot to the friends and family of Armando Flores Jr. if you could make it out there and pay your respects. It’s always tough to lose a loved one and having the support of friends and family will only help in the healing process.
As many of you know, the annual Eibach meet is this Sunday and will be dedicated to the memory of our friend. We will be having a moment of silence at noon on that day. All of Armando’s friends got together and will be bringing out his S2000 as well as the DC2 that he once owned. The new owner was kind enough to revert the car back to the same state that Armando had it in. HeyMikeyyyy and the rest of the guys will also have stickers available for everyone that wants to donate some money to the Flores family. Thanks to everyone in advance who are coming out to support the cause and for everyone’s kind words. If anyone needs any information regarding the service, the fund raising, etc. feel free to contact me and I will pass the word along or direct you to the appropriate people who can answer all your questions.
With that said, I thought I would pass along a blog post tha Armando put together before his passing. Duffman Eddie saw this posted on his Myspace page and passed it along to other fellow NWPer’s. If you didn’t know Armando then reading this will definitely help shed some light on exactly the type of person that he was. I sit here regretfully thinking that I myself did not have enough conversations with the man when he was around….All I can say about what he wrote is…”No truer words have ever been said.”
Sometimes, just sometimes… we go through some immense pain in our lives that we learn something of ourselves. We learn who we are. Not all people can do this. Trust me. I’ve seen a ton of people get hurt around me yet fall back into the same perpetual bullshit and never really learn from their experience.When you learn this “thing” of yourself it’s the most amazing thing if you could actually step back and notice it. Realize it. Focus on it. And see what it is you did with yourself to be a better person.
When I say better person it does not mean help the homeless, give money away, or do favors for people, those are things you should be capable of doing regardless of whatever you have or will go though, that is just a natural way of life to help others in need.
But to be a better person, improving yourself. Learning a new language, taking up a sport, going back to school, dressing better, bring your friends back together, learning to write. These are all things that once accomplished you sit back and go “whoa”.
My mind had cleared. It has settled. My scars have healed and are starting to fade. Each day passing seems to be more beautiful and I feel like no one else can see it but me. No one takes the time to close their eyes and feel the breeze. To walk through a garden and smell each flower and almost feel that new scent you’ve never taken in before. To listen to a song, not speak one word and listen to each strum of the guitar, each symbol of the drums, every lyric being spit from the vocalist, and let the whole damn thing consume you. let the whole song take you in and make everything else just go away.
Wake up early, grab a cup of coffee with someone you care about and watch the sunrise.
Take in that early morning scent and remember your childhood, and know how fucking lucky you are to be alive and well off. To have your family and friends who love you. Each day is a gift. Embrace it. Cherish it. Adore it. For one day…… it will be your last.These thoughts consume my mind each day. I try very hard to not let it bring me down, and lately, it hasn’t. I start to smile for all the wonderful things that are around me. My dad has grown to be such an amazing guy. My mother has taught me the meaning of strength. My friends have shown me how much I mean to them. I love them. I never though I would be so lucky to have each and every one of you in my life. You’re all welcome in my home anytime of the day. You need someone to talk to, I’d love to. 4am, who cares. It’s those moments of being half asleep, stumbling to the door and one of your friends asking if he could come in for some coffee and conversation.
I need that in my life, that blender of mixed fruits. Each one of you a different flavor, a different mindset. With all of you offering something different to the table. All of you opening up my eye’s to things I’ve never seen before. Fresh, New, inspiring. My life is what it is because of people like you. I’ve been able to see you, inspect you, observe you and see who you are and if you are what I need in my life. Luckily you have made it this far into my life. Luckily I have made it this far into yours.
Take that time, it’s sounds so typical but seriously. Take that fucking time. Listen to what everyone has to say. Stop dwelling on your own hypocritical bullshit and take the time to hear your loved ones out. Open your ears, hearts, minds to the possibility of other life out there than your own. You want to pay attention to you, of course. But remember who’s with you, who’s next you, supporting you, listening to you, and try to return that favor with the same respect.
Remember the best things in your life. Throw out the negative nonsense and smile. Smile for this is your day. This day is beautiful. This day someone loves you. This day someone needs you. This day you can find the pleasure in something so simple and pure and you can go to sleep with a smile. Go to sleep and dream. Dream about what you want and who you love, and when you wake up. I will be right there to help you. Because I have learned from my pain, and will not let those around me feel that alone. Not ever again. -Armando Flores Jr. (April 22nd, 2009)
R.I.P….
Rest in peace friend…
Just got back from Donut Hut in Burbank to spend some time with friends and to mourn the passing of Armando Flores Jr. Many of you NWP4Life and HT forum followers know him as “Coke in a Can” but to us he was a son, a brother, a friend, and an all around great guy. It’s hard to even fathon the thought that we lost another fellow enthusiast. You always hear about these kind of things on the news and stuff but never think that it would happen to you. It’s just another remind that life is truly precious. You never know what the day may bring. That’s why it’s always good to remind the ones around us how much they really mean to us. You just never know when it could be that last time you see them you know. I’m honestly kind of still in disbelief and at a complete loss for words. Armando was a friend that I had just recently got to know on a personal level and now I’ll never get the opportunity to speak to him again. The last time I saw him was at DPK David’s birthday bbq and he even just left a comment a couple posts back on here letting me know that he wanted to pick up a Chronicles shirt from me. It’s tough anytime you lose someone and it’s even harder to see others who have to go through it. Nothing you say can really bring them back and it’s a humbling thought. There’s been a huge outpouring of support and kindness since the news of his passing so hopefully this will help the healing process. I sat here for awhile trying to finish up the tribute I did for him and I almost feel as if I wouldn’t be able to do the guy justice. There are a couple of guys in our circle of friends that know him best and hopefully I can draw some inspiration from them. As soon as I can get it finished I’ll put it up. It really hasnt hit me yet that he’s really gone. It’s crazy.
For those of you who don’t know him personally, we’re working on something to pay tribute to him at the Eibach meet this Sunday so make sure to come out and show your support for a fellow enthusiast.
That’s all I really got for now, I’m really just at a loss for words….
Damn…
Rest in Peace Armando, we all miss you.
Actually working…
I’ll get a bigger update tomorrow. I’m actually busy working this week. While you guys are getting your cars ready for Eibach, I’m busy writing about cars instead. The weather looks like it’s gonna be kinda hot, but hopefully not as hot as last year. So all you guys who wear super tight pants and purple shirts *cough*norcal*cough*, make sure you wear the super tight pants with the tears in them and have your Kanye glasses on so the breeze gets into yo eyes. I’m still looking through some of the build threads and trying to compile a list of cars that should have a fair amount of attention. That is, if they make it to the event of course. Usually when you’re so busy concentrating on finishing up a car, you forget minor details like ummm…registration…and oil and gas or something. Just make sure you guys make it there safely and shit doesn’t catch on fire or something. Getting stranded on the side of the road isn’t fun either. Trust me, I’ve been stranded somewhere along the SD-LA freeway at one time or another in all my cars. It is not that fun. The thought of standing on the side of the road while cars zoom by you at 75mph may sound appealing, but it’s all hype. Believe it. It’s actually pretty interesting how so many people are coming out from the other coast and from up north this year. This makes me believe that this Eibach might be the biggest one ever. There are naysayers out there who once said that once they started to charge for parking, the Eibach meet would die. Well it’s been a couple years since and it looks like everything is all and well.
Good news about the shirts, I was honestly kind of worried that they wouldn’t be done in time for the event but it looks like it might actually come through. I can’t wait to see everyone wearing black shirts in mid 90s weather. Everyone is gonna look like hell regardless, so don’t worry about a little sweat. Let’s remember that everyone is gonna be out there way early and probably lacking sleep from the night before, whether they be prepping or partying.
Anyways, off to sleep and then back to work again. It’s tough job kids, but someone’s gotta work a couple days out of the month. Haha…I’m not at liberty to reveal what or who I’m writing a feature on but I can tell you this…..it’s….a….Honda. ! <–exclamation mark denotes surprise.
Oh that reminds me…please go out and pick up an issue of Honda Tuning magazine. If you have like 13 bucks to spare, why not get a subscription? Then that shit just comes to your house and you don’t even have to stand in line at 7-11 to buy one. It’s a pretty good magazine. Trust me. It’s definitely worth the read. There’s a guy who looks alot like me that writes for them. I heard he was quite charming and has boyish good looks and he’s also a pretty good writer. He might even be better than me. His style is similar to mine minus the “fuck” and “shit” that’s often seen on this site. I don’t know, judge for yourself. I’m just saying….
Ahh..finally, Eibach week…
Well it’s the time once again….the week of the annual Eibach Meet. Everyone is probably starting to finish up on their cars and some of you may actually just be starting on them and limping all the way to Eibach. You know what I’m working on? Nothing. Haha, I guess that goes with not owning a Honda anymore. I’m trying to get the shirts together by then but I honestly don’t even know if they’re gonna be ready in time. Hopefully so. I’ll do my best to cover as much of the meet as I can and bring you pics of the cars that stick out the most in my eyes. I’m actually pretty excited about just going and looking around this year. Last year it was hot as shit and I really didn’t even feel like looking at the cars. By the looks of the weather lately, it won’t be nearly as bad. We can all hope at least. This week, I’m gonna put up a couple cars that are gonna make a pretty big impact at Eibach and will probably be some of the most talked about Hondas this year. Alot of people will be bringing completely new stuff out so I may miss some of you. If you get offended then come up to me at Eibach and let me know. Then generously buy a sticker and be a happy reader. I don’t have anything major today because I’m at my parents house for Mother’s Day and the computer might be the slowest computer ever. Feels like a 486 processor….remember those? Haha….It’s so slow that if I attempted to play Oregon Trail on it, my whole group would have drowned in the river already and we wouldn’t get a chance to go hunt animals for food. I don’t even know how I used to use this thing but man, it’s unbearable. As I type there’s literally like a second delay so I can’t even see what I’m typing. Anyways, big week for everyone if you’re a true Honda enthusiast! Gonna be interesting to meet alot of you who are from out of state and making the trek down here. If you recognize me then come up and say what’s up. If you’re gonna punch me make sure you let me know beforehand……
Strange search time…
Haven’t done this in awhile so I figure I’d get some up since there’s nothing much going on this week. Everyone is getting prepared for the annual Eibach Meet so this week is definitely more for the guys who are coming down to the wire. I should have more news on the shirts as soon as I hear back from the place that’s making them. That and the stickers will be in my possession soon. I was outta town yesterday and didn’t get a chance to go pick them up. They’re definitely gonna go out soon for the ones that ordered them. Thanks for everyone for supporting this piece. Anyways, on with the searches. These were collected just within the past couple weeks or so. Traffic has really picked up and definitely not because of these particular search terms….
I’m not entirely sure what “Honda boob” is. If you’re the guy that searched for it, boobs belong on women and fat dudes. Hondas are like, machines made out of metal. “Get a boner” seems to be a very popular term. It seems to pop up every couple days. I’m not a genius but if I want to get a boner on the internet, I would probably search for something other than “get a boner”. Usually stuff like porn gives boners, not other boners. “Kara Navarro” seems to always pop up every couple days too. Give it up guys, she’s like married and has kids or something now. “HBK Gabe” has come up a couple times too lately, but I suspect HBK Gabe is the one that’s actually searching for himself…
I think someone is having a moment of self realization. Either that or he’s one of those guys that had no idea his Rotas were knock-offs. “Fat Lips” and “pubic fat” I’m not so sure of. Fat lips always comes up, the pubic fat one is new and kinda creepy. I don’t really remember ever discussing pubic fat either so I don’t know why that comes up. It’s one of those things that I don’t really want to like “google image search” for haha…There’s “get a boner” again….sad…
Rotamaster EMOs!! Haha, hopefully no one thinks those are real. Actually it’ll be a reality very soon but it’s gonna be a one-off custom Chronicles EMO wheel…can’t wait to start working on that. Keep an eye on that “Honda Del Sol Supra Conversion Kit”, I think the same guy searches for something else like that later on. Shave a leg? Hmm…
Oh here is what I was talking about… “Are the supra and del sol the same?” Uhh… NO. Is a cheeseburger and a dick the same thing? Are you blind? It’s not even the same make of car….what the hell…
“Building covered bird shit”? Really? Who would want to see that? I’m just gonna type “Feces in mouth” and see if that ever comes up in a search, haha…hell let’s try “Dragon wearing affliction shirt fighting a broken motorcycle”…
Pubic look and HBK Gabe is probably being searched by the same guy. I’m just saying. And what’s the deal with this “Dude Blvd.” stuff? Come on…you know Hot Stuff International is the first and only all male exploitation non car crew….We dangle strong all day long….haha.
Oh and for the guy who’s searching for the Carmen Luvana movie with the Hybrid cars in it, it’s called “Racer X”….I can’t wait for that to start popping up in searches…
Here’s a gift from me to you guys. I’m never gonna make this but we can all dream….of the Auntie Love tee….Fuck-a bape…look at the old lady gapes haha….
T-shirt stuff…
I think I’ve finally decided on a design for a tee. I wanted to do more but figured it would be wiser to just keep it simple. Preferably for the black shirts I would like to do the lettering in gold. I know it looks yellow in the pic but I can’t get the kind of gold I envisioned out of the color pallette in Photoshop….
Here is the white version. Not sure if I wanna do just the black or white, or just do both so people have a selection. I did the white one first so it may seem a bit simpler. I could do the lettering outline in a different color. Maybe even the gold that’s on the black…I’m just gonna make a small batch initially just to see how they look and I’ll have a couple available for sale and what not. I was gonna put “Honda dedicated” or something like that but figured it’d be kinda cheesy to have that shit on there so I left it out….Anyways, that’s what I got for now. Let me know what you guys think.
Stickers are coming too I swear. I’m supposed to pick them up tomorrow. D1 was happening and my sticker guy has been busy doing their cars and what not. I’ll have stickers and shirts available at Eibach if you’re interested in picking one up and supporting the site. Traffic has really picked up lately and I think this place is really catching on among the car community and not just within Hondas.
An indepth look at horrible ideas…Part 8…Fake Seats….
I don’t really need to remind you but I just can’t stand fake ass shit. Man, whenever I spot something that turns out to be fake on a car, I automatically get turned off by it and look the other way. Honestly it kinda sucks because there are alot of nice builds out there. It’s just a shame that they happen to cheap out on certain aspects of the build that take away from the car as a whole. I mean if that’s you, than do you. I can’t sit here and tell you how to build your car just like how you can’t tell me how to feel about it. The thing that bothers me the most, as many of you all know, are the people that fake the funk. These are the individuals who have say, fake ass Recaro seats with the “RECARO” stitched in place in an attempt to fool people. I’m sure you seen it at one time or another…
Look at that shit. I think I can do a better job sewing that on and I’ve never even touched a sewing machine before. It’s the “Recaro” for people with beer-goggle vision. In this case, it’s a dead giveaway. I found these on Ebay (Seller: initial eg) because I knew someone out there would be trying to sell shit like this. I just had no idea it was so poorly made…
God…at least try to line it up. Fabric is coming apart, “RECARO” is not even the right font I don’t think. Looks like it’s printed out in Arial Bold or something. The red stitching is even all jagged…
I doubt most of you that have the seats even see any track time in them but the real deal stuff has the legit safety approvals and measures. The fake ones are generally poorly constructed and may even fall apart (I’ve seen personally). So if you want to buy the fake shit, make sure you’re ready for that shit to fall apart…
*sigh*….Uhhh, now let me clear some things up about these supposedly legit “Bride” seats from Taiwan. You may have heard some kind of rumor where the original marketing company separated from Bride Japan and they became “Bride” in Taiwan. This is untrue. It’s actually just a bunch of internet bullshit rubbish that the counterfeiters started in an attempt to make you believe that their seats have any sort of legitimacy. If you have ever searched for Bride seats like on Ebay, you’ve undoubtedly run into 1-100 sets of fake Bride seats. When you look through the description, you may have also run into a line that says “BRIDE is a legal registered trademark in Taiwan“. Yes it may or may not be true that Bride was never officially copyrighted by TEE’s Japan, but under the Berne Convention, the Bride name, logo, and design, etc. is all copyrighted simply by creation. You wanna know how much a “legal registered trademark in Taiwan” is worth in the U.S. or any other country? About as much as me taking a huge shit and telling you it’s a white chocolate cupcake. “BRIDE Taiwan” or whatever you wanna call it can be “trademarked” in Taiwan because Taiwan isn’t apart of the Berne Convention. That’s why they make so much money reproducing work from others without permission. You can create something and they can reproduce it the next day and trademark it with your name and “of Taiwan” and you can’t even do anything about it! It’s only binding in their country. In any case, a copyright doesn’t really protect a brand name. It would have to be trademarked and TEE’s just never bothered with it. That’s what creates all this other loophole bullshit you see. The sellers can call it whatever they want, BRIDE Taiwan, BRIDE Marvel Fucking Universe, BRIDE Fortress of Solitude, BRIDE Mars, whatever….it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a counterfeit product and the very existence of it in any country that’s signed under the Berne Convention makes it illegal. So yes, if you in fact own a set of fake Bride seats, congratulations. Not only are you rocking some fake shit that looks REALLY fake, it’s also illegal to own. Am I the only one that thinks that it’s sad that people are putting their lives at risk using a poorly constructed seat just to have “the real thing” for half the price? You’re not really fooling anyone anyway. Anyone that has been around a geniune Bride seat produced in Japan for anytime longer than 10 minutes can probably spot a fake. Material, construction, brand placement, fabric print, etc.
So you got the fake seats with the real logos on it that look real, and then you have seats like the ones above. These are seats that aren’t really copies but are branded just to make the casual enthusiasts to believe that they might be legit. Sure the seats themselves don’t look bad at all, but they definitely aren’t Mugen seats. If you happen to own these, you do not have Mugen seats. You have some generic shit with a Mugen logo stitched to it. This kinda reminds me of a Honda I saw maybe 10 years ago or so at a show. It was like completely Tenzo R themed. Graphics on the outside, wheels, and he followed the theme so religiously that he had his Sparco seats rewrapped in the Tenzo seat material. Haha, now that is dedication. I’ve also seen fake Spoon adjustable seats, “GT-R” pretend Skyline seats, and Ralli-Art seats. You can put a logo on anything so beware of what you buy. There are alot of legit shops out there too that sell this kind of shit just to make a quick buck. They’ll even tell you that it’s real…
Those of you that follow this site closely will remember the other post I did about fake wheels and how they have companies reproducing wheels but with fake random names like “Vork” and “Ravs Engineering”. In the spirit of that, what if they did that for seats too? I created the Rotamaster EMOs and I am proud to present to you……
…the Ricardo SenoRDs. Almost like Recaros, but more ummm…latin?
Here are some “Bride” seats….
When it’s all said and done, no one can really stop you from buying what you want. If you want to buy the fake shit, go for it. Get “the real thing for half the price”, but be prepared for twice the ridicule. There are some really good copies out there but the true enthusiasts can spot them anytime. If you want to be taken seriously as a car builder, don’t cheap out on something important as seats. Don’t risk your life in some cheaply constructed garbage just for the sake of saving a couple bucks. If you save up the money and get the real thing, you’ll get the satisfaction of knowing you worked hard to get the real shit and you won’t have to look over your shoulder every minute wondering if anyone is gonna notice whether or not you have the real thing or not. Fake seats are just like fake wheels. There’s always something that just isn’t right about them and counterfeit products can always be spotted. I hear some people say “I just need something cheap for track days”….uhh..Please don’t do that. It’s pretend safety equipment, with little emphasis on “safety”. It’s not okay to have fake Takata harnesses either. Stuff like that is tested and gets FIA approval and what not to make sure they they work. Taiwanese copies aren’t tested for shit.
Buy at your own discretion people, be smart about it. You can pay half the cost for the look of the real thing, but you’re cheating yourself and losing the respect of your peers. Remember that. You’re also supporting companies that are stealing money from reputable companies by using their brand name to sell an inferior product. It’s theft of intellectual property. Louis Vuitton handbags, Nike shoes, Bape clothing…when those are copied and reproduced, it’s “counterfeit”. What makes this any different? You’re not buying a “replica”….you’re buying an illegal counterfeit product.
The rebuild of Jade…
I figure I should pass this along to you guys since Eibach is coming up within a couple weeks….For those of you that don’t know, fellow Honda enthusiast and devoted follower of the Chronicles (*ahem*), Jade aka Jadedm aka Morgan, is currently building a geniune Civic Type R which she plans to officially debut at the annual Eibach meet…
Man that sentence was awfully long…Anyway, not only is it a true CTR, it also has a Sportcar Motion-assembled K20z in it. Oh, did I mention that it was being built by a woman? Now I don’t know much about women other than the fact that they yell at me and don’t have penises, but I know one thing; there aren’t too many of them that build cars and they definitely don’t build Civic Type Rs. It’s a cool thing to see girls that are into building Hondas. It’s a shame that they are so far and few between. I personally only know of one other girl that has the know-how to build her own car but she’s currently on hiatus so that makes Jade’s build even that much more important in a male-dominated community…
This CTR has all the top of the line stuff from Skunk2 and BDL. The header above is the newly released K-series Skunk2 unit that you’ve probably heard me speak of before…
…and that piece is connected to Skunk2′s newly developed complete exhaust system…
Hasports newest version of the EKK2 mounts are holding the K inside Jade’s EK9. The newer versions include a different rear bracket as well as an updated tranny-side bracket….
Jade also installed a bunch of BDL stuff like their k-series fuel rail and oil cap…
The interior is all business. No radio, Karcepts shifter, m3-red cage that Morgan just recently painted, and seats I hear are coming very soon…
It’s currently sitting on 16×8 Enkei RPF1s but that last time I was down there I heard she was getting some Work wheels powdercoated and they should be on there soon. Other than the ARC winglets, the exterior retains it’s OEM appearance. It’s a Type R afterall so it’s not really necessary to do anything drastic to it.
She’s still working hard on finishing it up but it’ll definitely be ready for Eibach in two weeks. I have yet to see it in person actually so I’m looking forward to seeing it in person as well. It doesn’t get any better than this, classic geniune Civic Type R with an updated heart in the form of a K20 engine. For more on the build, make sure to check out Jadedm’s blog: Randomness of Jade. She’s always updating her whenever she does anything to the car so make sure to check it out and see her personal thoughts on build.
A follow up to the S2000 hate crime…
I can sit here and honestly say that I am proud of our automotive community for the out-pouring of support for the owner of the S2000 that was so brutally defaced. I don’t know if he really wanted that much attention directed at him because it was originally posted on somewhat of a small forum but posting his story up on The Chronicles has actually brought people in from all directions, not just the Honda crowd. I’m talking like, RC forums, Dodge Caliber forums, my350z.com, Dodge Durango forums, etc. etc…The story has even reached forums overseas. This not only speaks volumes for the automotive community but for human beings as a whole. The majority are in agreement that what occurred was completely fucked up and uncalled for. There are a few out there that are trying to convince people that it was a result of insurance fraud or because the guy is a bad person and that is certainly not the case. If the guy is a dick head, okay, maybe he gets fucked with but nothing to this extent. It’s one thing for someone to get attacked for acting a certain way. In the end they control how they present themselves to the world. But for someone to get attacked because of who they are or what they were born as is totally uncalled for. Afterall you don’t control what womb you climb out of. It truly is a shame that there are still people in the world today that commit crimes such as this and are willing to go out of their way to hurt another person. That’s why it’s a great thing that people are showing their support to the owner and making sure that they pass along a kind word. It gives a brighter glimpse at the world’s future and shows that there really are people out there that care, whether or not they even know the other person. It sucks that it took such a heinous act to remind us that people care but at the same time I guess we kind of need a reminder that bad shit exists in the world, even in our own backyard and not just in some foreign country…
As for an update. The last time I checked on that forum, I read that the owner actually decided not to leave the community and plans to build another car. He’s also going to be apart of an event/show where 50% of the proceeds go to his new project. It’s good that he hasn’t let this stop him from doing what he loves. If he did then he would just be allowing those individuals to beat him so it’s an awesome thing that he still has the drive. He also bought his car back after it was deemed totalled so that he can sell whatever is left to fund his new project.
One can only hope that not too many stories like this pop up in the future and the only pics we see on the internet are pictures of progress instead of horrible vandalism or cars that are recovered from theft. It’s hard enough to build a car nowadays because of the stigma and negativity that’s associated with the hobby and hate crimes like that do nothing but add to it. For those of you who have experienced something similar or just been hated on for who you are, just remember that we’re all human and there are people out there that care even if they’ve never had the chance to hear your story.
Thanks for reading everyone. Not so much fun and games today but it’s something that has to be said….
