Seriously…fake ASR subframe braces?…
As you all know by now, I absolutely can’t stand fake ass/knock-off parts. Wheels of course are my biggest complaint but if you got them, hey all good, it’s not my car. Personally I just don’t like it. Wheels and their designs are being knocked-off left and right and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. I may not care much for Rotas and Konig and what not but again, if you want to rock that shit, that’s cool. You buy what you can afford. It’s not my car. My thing is when people try to rock the real stickers on the fake wheels and try to front like they’re real. Branding something as authentic when it’s not is just wrong and frankly, it’s a bitch ass move. I’ve even caught some people up on occasion at meets and shows and the like and I have absolutely no problem calling them out on it. Same thing goes for seats. Fake Recaros, Bride, etc. It’s easy to spot and you will get caught.
The worse thing about faking the funk and making people think it’s real is the deception. People spend their hard earned money on these items sometimes not having any idea that they’re fake and that shit is just plain wrong. It’s basically robbery. Not only are they buying fake shit, but these people have absolutely no idea whether or not they’re safe to have. You know they have fake Takata harnesses out there floating around and a lot cheaper than the real deal. What if someone bought that shit and thought it was real? Who knows what that shit is made out of and whether or not it works? What if someone were using that and got into an accident and the cam lock suddenly fails and breaks? Someone could die from that shit or be seriously injured. They’re SAFETY harnesses. The fake shit could kill you.
Tein is also one of the companies that has apparently been caught in the cross hairs of counterfeiting. There are fake Tein S-Tech springs floating around and people are trying to make a quick buck off these, all the while sacrificing the safety of the customer and others on the road. Who knows what these fake S-Techs are made of…they could potentially fail as well and cause irreparable damage.
I was honestly a little shocked when I heard about the Tein counterfeits. Afterall, we grew up in a time when many quality parts were hard to source. We just worried about how to get enough money to buy them and whether or not they were available. Nowadays shit is so easy to get a hold of that people are making copies of everything and there is so much of it floating around that no one has any idea whether or not it’s legit. It’s a sad sight to see that the industry has come to this…
When I got word of this news today, man…I couldn’t believe it. I probably shouldn’t be shocked since fake shit is everywhere now but to see ASR subframe braces getting knocked-off…..WOW. Really? Someone actually has the nerve to make copies of these things?
This is what was posted on the JHPUSA Blog recently…
Buyer Warning! Fake ASR Subframe Braces on the Loose!
It’s a real shame that knock off companies are on the rise lately. The latest company to fall victim of the copycat plague is ASR. There is a company/person within the San Gabriel Valley that is producing fake black and silver (and soon to be purple) EG/DC2 ASR subframe braces within the last 5 months. This person was selling them via Craigslist Los Angeles and to a number of local import performance shops. This ballsy individual has copied the first version ASR EG/DC2 subframe brace (which is no longer in production) in hopes of deceiving unknowing individuals and making a quick buck.Because we are a dealer for ASR on top of being good friends with the owner, we took some time to share with you how to tell Fake vs. Legit. Below you will find comparison photos that show distinct differences between real and fake.
We hope this will educate the masses and prevent this copycat in making any more money than he/she has already made. To ensure you are purchasing 100% authentic American made ASR products buy legit ASR product, please only purchase ASR products from an ASR authorized dealer such as JHPUSA.
#1 Dead giveaway – PACKAGING:
Fake ASR brace comes packaged in a generic white box. FAIL.
Legit version is packaged in a genuine ASR brown box with printed “ASR A-SPEC RACING” logo. WIN.
#2 Dead giveaway – GLOSSY FINISH:
Fake version has a glossy uneven brushed finish and is made from unknown material and strength. Safety is a big concern if material used is unknown as it may fail under certain stressful conditions. The finish looks pretty bad in real life too; looks as if the manufacturer made finishing touches by hand and not by machine. FAIL.Legit version has a clean and flawless flat brushed finish and is made from 6061 T6 aluminum from Keiser or Alcoa. WIN.
#3 Dead giveaway – MOUNTING HARDWARE:
Fake version has low 8.8 grade nuts & bolts. Using 8.8 grade bolts on load bearing suspension components can potentially be very dangerous . FAIL.
Legit version has a high 10.9 grade nuts & bolts, which are excellent for load bearing suspension components. WIN.
#4 Dead giveaway – EDGES:
Fake version has straight cut edging. FAIL.
Legit version has rounded edging. WIN.
#5 Dead giveaway – MOUNTING BRACKETS & BACK PLATE:
Fake version has anodized black brackets that are pinned to the brace. The back plates are also anodized black and are unevenly cut that will cause improper fitment and installation. FAIL.
Legit version has non-colored brackets that bolt onto brace. The backing plate is cut evenly and will ensure proper fitment upon installation. WIN.
Again, to ensure you are purchasing legitimate ASR products only buy from an ASR authorized dealer such as JHPUSA!
Grade 8.8 bolts on a suspension piece that’s under load? No thanks…Imagine if that shit gave out and you lost control of your car and wrecked it…you could kill yourself and anyone else on the road. That shit could just come apart while you were driving. Let’s all remember that your suspension is under heavy load. Who knows what these things are made out of. What if they’re using cheap ass aluminum on something that is supposed to be constructed out of 6061 T6 aluminum? Please, don’t try to save a few bucks on this bullshit and put everyone at risk on the road.
I actually went and looked around on Craigslist to see if I can find any of these but I guess the JHP post spooked whoever was selling these fakes. I did however, spot a couple of them on Ebay. Remember guys, buy from credible sources aka Authorized ASR dealers.
Here’s a link to a fake ASR piece…
$50 brand new? Uhh….
99 cents for this one…$18 shipping. Someone should buy this thing just cuz so we can show everybody how fake that shit is…
Don’t get caught up in the hype. Save up and buy real shit. And make sure you buy from legitimate sources. You’re putting yourself as well as everyone else in danger when you drive with unsafe, counterfeit parts….
C-West CR-Z…
In my subpar attempt to actually bring you guys Honda news, here is a rendering of the new C-West kit that’s coming for the CR-Z. We can look at this two ways….1. I’m actually a very big fan of the new CR-Z or 2. Things have been kinda slow lately and I’m basically using this as a filler. Either way, here it is. I love seeing drawings like this. I once attempted to take an automotive design class at Art Center in Pasadena and we did exactly this, but as you can see, I am a writer now and not an automotive design major. Clearly, we can see that those classes were not money well spent. I mean I learned something and I definitely drew some cars, but I have the uncontrollable shakes and it makes it hard for me to even draw a straight line without totally fucking it up.
On another note, they’re also developing aero for the new Insight which is also pretty cool. You can do a bunch of shit to Insights and people will still have no idea what they’re looking at. It’s amazing. Maybe the addition of the C-West kit will get your friends and family members to stop asking you whether you enjoy your new Prius or not and if you’ve had problems braking at all. They look about the same, I’m just sayin’….
Enjoy the pics. Why was I on C-West’s website? I don’t know, stop asking me questions. I look at a lot of random things online…
Looks pretty mean. I like it…looks like they have Advan RG2 or something similar on there as well. Just imagine a couple years from now these cars are gonna be everywhere and all done up and cops can’t say shit to you cuz you’re driving a hybrid…
I actually had to look up pics of a stock Insight to see what they did. Looks good nonetheless….chances of seeing it in America? Ehhh….pretty unlikely.
I’d rock either one of them all day, kit or not…the 4-Runner I drive is neither a hybrid nor is it aerodynamic.
Image Source: C-West Japan
The one and only Nisei Import Showoff…is back…
I’m sure most of you have heard rumors and rumblings about it but it is indeed true; Nisei Import Showoff is back. One of the major contributing reasons to why last year was to be “the last one ever” was due to problems with location, meaning the lot that the show is held at every year was to be no more. The once empty parking-lot was bought out and they were gonna level it and build over it. Nisei just wouldnt be the same if it were at a different spot so that was gonna be it.
Here is what Ken had to say on the NWP forums…
Wow… news travels fast!!! We just confirmed this yesterday!!!!
As for Nisei 2010… YES its on!
City of LA is the current owner of the parking lot of the annual Nisei show. They sold it and the process was “pending sale” on that lot. We have been contacting them on a monthly basis and they have replied as “Its pending sale and all contracts and details will be signed on July 2010″. That did not leave us much time to confirm and put on a car show if its avail in July (only a month left to rush and put on show)
So we went backdoor stylee and found out who ended buying the lot… low and behold it was a Japanese business/organization (lucky!!!) and we contacted them and told them the situation. They were OK with us using the lot for this this year since the sale of lot is going down in July and the lot will not be demolished for August.
So its on! Tell your friends, your uncle, your momma that its on… spread the word – Thanks!!!
Registrations will be up soon.
I’ve been talking to Ken and he suggested that there be a section specifically for The Chronicles and the cars that have been featured on this site. It’s a flattering idea and it would be an honor to do something like that for what *might* be the last Nisei. Of course I’ll have Big Mike’s car in there and once I figure out the details then I’ll see who else to have in that section with us.
That’s about it for today, just wanted to give you guys the heads up who haven’t heard yet. Those of you who are looking for some added motivation for your builds this year, now you have it. Nisei 2010…the best of the best.
Store and random stuff…
Umm, just a quick notice today… HellaSUNK stickers are currently out of stock. I’ll get them back up once my new shipment of vinyl comes in. All other orders placed before today are going out this week as I type this so expect those in the mail soon. The shirts are selling pretty well so if you guys want to grab those you should probably hop on that soon. Surprisingly the medium sizes are selling especially well. I made those not thinking anyone else would really wear those but me and some of my other homies but those are popular.
Other than that, got some photos to edit and what not.
I also got my new bumper in last week for my Q45. Hopefully get that thing painted up and repaired soon. I didn’t expect it to come in so soon from my importer but the dude has skills, what can I say….
The right side has some scuffs and the lip is kinda hanging off so that needs to be fixed. Apparently in Japan, whoever owned this bumper before just decide to ride the wall and scrape up the whole side. It’s cool that it’s the same OEM color as mine but that shit is gonna be repainted anyway. I’ve been looking for this bumper forever, I guess you can say it’s my “unicorn” of stuff I wanted for my car. Hope it looks good when it’s all said and done. Even came with fogs too so that’s an added plus. I don’t have to fork out like 300 dollars or whatever for that shit. The Wald kit I had on there now is gonna come off for the time being. This way I can go lower until I can finally afford air. Anyways, that’s about it for today…Back tomorrow…
Remix Irwindale Coverage…
Very few Honda coverage pics here because it’s going elsewhere (as I mentioned in the other post). So I’ll just put up some non-Honda stuff mixed in with some Honda stuff here and there. Plus the usual debauchery of course that comes with anything we do…
My opinion of the show? Umm…certainly I think it coud have been advertised a little better. It came outta nowhere and then some people were super hyped for it, some didn’t know what it was, and most weren’t hyped and had no idea it was even going on. The judging? Always an issue. Not really sure what was going on there but the results were sketchy to say the least. Either get better judges, or judge correctly. Overall I think it was an alright show. Every show held at Irwindale seems very similar though. I hope in the future it continues to improve, this is just a starting point and I kinda expected the turnout to be the way it was. Always good times chillin with the homies though.
I should mention, for everyone going to an event, please please please hydrate and drink plenty of fluids. You never know when the hot weather is gonna hit, especially in Socal. We had a guy who was just there to check out the show literally pass out in front of one of our friend’s cars. Not really sure what the issue was but it looked like he was suffering from heatstroke or something similar. Had to be attended to and taken away. It was kinda scary to be honest because we watched it happen and were completely shocked. I wanna say this was an individual case but there was another person that also got wobbly and/or fainted in the food line. Please take care of yourselves. The people involved with putting on these events can get into alot of trouble if these things continue to happen. We wouldn’t want anyone getting their event shutdown.
Anyways, back to the action. Remix…was cool, had some highlights, could use some improvements. I hope it gets better and better, we need more events like these. It’s starting to become scarce…
Random ass comments are forth coming…
The homie Doug representing The Chronicles to the fullest. JDMEgo Jay and Salem in the distance…
Ballin’ ass LS460 that I occasionally see on the freeway. I hope to own one of these someday…maybe in 2036 or some shit when they’re only 4 grand…we can only dream…
A car I actually currently own. This Y33 Q45 is representing Platinum VIP. Version Select kit, JDM headlights, Vienna Dish wheels…nice car. Makes me miss mine. I haven’t even seen my car in like a couple months. Hopefully that shit still starts…
Big Mike of course…
HeyMikeyyyy’s xB…
Some dude that looks like Loi from SportCar Motion…
One of my favorite xBs of all-time…as seen on The Chronicles…
The guy’s pants were so tight I can see how much change he had in his pocket…
Craziest Matrix you will ever see in your whole life. Something tells me you might be seeing more of this car very soon on this site…
Import Tuner cover model Maureen Chen posing in front of the Street Lights Civic…
Guess who…
Peep that site…
Infinit wheels CR-X…
This is the look Salem gives me everytime I bring up how much I dislike those black Regamaster wheels on his car…Seriously….sell those already…
Antonio from Motormavens always gives me love on his site when Honda stuff in mentioned on there. So I decided to pay him back (Terribly by the way) by taking this horrible pic of him…You’re welcome sir. Next time I promise it’ll be a better shot. Maybe I’ll actually prepare you for it…
Everytime I look at this car it reminds me of chilli cheese. I don’t know what they’re talking about with the giraffe thing. Personally I want to eat Wienershnitzel when I see this car. Funny thing about Wienershnitzel is that it comes out the exact way it goes in. Now most of you may think that it means that I think this car looks like shit. That is untrue. I just like to eat Wienershnitzel and study my dookie. The fact that any car reminds me of chilli cheese should be a great compliment. What the fuck am I talking about. I like Guillermo, he’s a nice guy. I just don’t like that I can’t spell his name for the life of me and I always have to go on Facebook just to check if I’m spelling it correctly…
Meeting of the minds…
Billy’s IS300 of course…
I’ve been waiting for someone to do one of these new Maximas up…looks great!…
F50 Q45…
Okay, now I’m sure any of you who have followed the Wek’Fest coverage has already heard that Tony with the Phaze2 NSX is getting a new hood. Because he’s getting a new hood, he came up with this idea to get all the well-known models to sign his old hood. Well you heard about the Lisa Fleming gag that they did but this time the joke was on Tony. He asked Maureen Chen to sign his hood and she accidently signed his fender in the process. She was so upset about it that I heard that she cried about it but it’s okay, I mean, it’ll come out. No biggie…
Tony got a bunch more girls to sign his hood at this show because frankly, there were more models at this show than cars. And on top of that, Tony was parked right next to the model booth area so he had access to everyone he every fantasized about…haha…
Horrible angle for facial identification, I know…It’s actually Jeri Lee. I normally don’t take pics of models because that’s not what this site is about, but I will if they’re defacing Tony’s car or sitting on his headlights…
Here’s a less perverse angle…
Smell check?…
Tony probably would have put those stickers on his hood anyway…
Ursula Mayes came by and signed too…
Back to car stuff…
Salem and Doug…
Saw this Mini at the Auto Concept area that was fucking AMAZING…Honda K-powered as well with all kinds of crazy fabrication…
You can spot the K here through the rear window…
According to Billy everything is titanium as well…$$$$$… Crazy….
Infinit Wheels Civic hatchback…
Custom widebody GS…rear looks almost stock. I saw the build for this car on VIPstylecars and the rear was chopped up and extended…
One more of Mikeyyyy’s xB and Big Mike in the background with his Monopoly man-stache…
That’s pretty much it. I’ll post the rest of the stuff that was unused later on if I get the chane to….Thanks for looking.
R-R-R-Remix…almost…
Sup everybody, been busy and stepped out to do some real life shit for a little bit. I did attend the Remix show though so give me another day and I’ll get the non-Honda stuff up for you guys. I can’t use most of the Honda stuff because it’s going elsewhere (you understand), but yeah, thanks for checking in. Grab a shirt while they’re hot…shits everywhere right now!…Laters…
HKS CR-Z
Guess HKS got their hands on a CR-Z now and are building it up…
Fast? …..No…
Stylish? …..Yes…
Looks sort of like a wireless mouse?…. Definitely… 
Have a good Sunday…
Remix Car Show…
Make sure to go check out the show, first of it’s kind and there’s been a lot of talk about it lately. Should be a good one…
Your 15 minutes are up…
Ahhh, it’s funny when people get caught up. I was gonna drop this issue already because a few ignorant comments are really relevant when you look at the picture, but this…I’m sorry I just had to do it….
“SolFreshKrew” comes in to save the day…yes, surely we all hope that this East vs. West debate ends one day, “perhaps when everyone matures a little more”…
To further their attempts to squash “the beef”, user “ddipre11″ from “SolFreshKrew” even posted on their own personal blog reiterating that “It’s surely not an East vs. West thing”. Reza quotes and responds…
Ah, it’s good to see guys out there who are so forward thinking and try to make their point without sarcasm or malice….beers for all I tell you, beers for all!!…
and then you gotta click here…
Wait! What’s this? Hypocrisy?
Way to represent guys, none of it was about East/West until you guys made it that way. It’s a little self-righteous and self-serving to light the match and then try to put out the fire. You do know that there is such thing as IP logging right?
*applause*
Good game. See you at IA 2010…
One more thing, we have nothing against the east. There hasn’t been anything said that would show otherwise. That’s the whole point of us coming out, we want to see the builds out there. We just want to be able to share the hobby with one another. If you have something to say, say it, don’t say some dumb shit and try to act like you didn’t.
Feeling generous today…
ONE DAY ONLY SALE!!! $2.00 off on all Chronicles tees, today only! Grab them now while they last!! (Only applies to U.S. orders!)
Business as usual…
Trying to knock out some non-Honda work for Super Street…You know the drill. Remix show this weekend, first ever, so that might be interesting. I will be there doing coverage for work and for the site as well so be on the look-out for that. For those of you still interested in that whole debacle with the random kids who post stupid comments about the IA thing in the other post, check out the new comments…hilaritity ensues. Can’t really take anything seriously when kids post under fake aliases….in any case, don’t comment on this post, keep it to the other one, I kinda already made my point so you guys do as you will. Funny thing is that I’m actually gonna be heading out to New York soon on a mini-vacation. I can’t wait til I go out there and see all these fancy show cars driving around everywhere, I’m so excited!!
Alright, back to work…
When it comes down to it…
It’s funny what people will say when they’re behind a computer screen. Even funnier when they post under a fake alias when in reality, people wouldn’t know who they are anyways. I normally don’t care about people who post dumbass comments on this site because I would probably just delete it and move on. When I read the comment that has caught some steam apparently throughout our circles, I decided to leave it up so people could respond. The comment that we’re discussing today was made by anonymous user “el oh el”…
“Question is, if/when them Cali boys come out to the east, bringing their trailer queens, will they trailer them here too?? Lol sorry boys we drive our cars on the east!”
Hilarious. I don’t know, I kinda built my car as a hobby and for myself, I don’t build it to show how hardcore I am by driving across country, you catch my drift? I mean, if you drive your car, hell more credit to you. We drive our cars too, but we don’t drive them to be hardcore or to show people that we like to drive long distances, that’s fucking absurd. You know what’s hardcore? If you could like, fuck 16 bitches and you could keep your dick hard enough to like nut in each one of their faces…that’s hardcore. If you could jump out of a fucking burning building with a newborn in your hand while you eat a sandwich that doesn’t have the toothpick inbetween it to hold it together…that, is hardcore. Building your cars to drive them long distances? Ehh, it’s not that cool. I mean, if you do that, alright, round of applause, but you’re not gonna win a fuckin medal for it right? The point is this; we’ve all at one point built a Honda or another project car and driven it everywhere. To work, to meet up with friends, to take on trips, etc… we don’t drive our cars everywhere now, because well, we don’t have to. Do you get it? It’s more self-preservation than anything. I think I can speak for all the guys in our group and say that we are at a point in our lives where we have the ability and income to drive other cars, and to preserve our hardwork in garages. I’m guessing whoever the guy who made the comment (who lives in Jersey or the Tri-state area by the way) is a younger cat who is in their late teens to early 20s, got a somewhat okay income, building his first car. “sorry boys we drive our cars on the east”……Uhh…sorry young buck, we don’t drive our cars cross-country because we don’t have to. Now if you think that makes you anymore of a man or a cool guy than us, well fuck, congratulations. We love driving our cars…we also love that fact that we don’t have to sit in them for however many hours with our buttholes clinched worrying about whether a fucking animal or some debris is gonna fly at us and ruin our hardwork. If we make the trek to Import Alliance, you better believe we’re gonna come correct and not bring some damaged shit.
The original plan was to come out to IA just to check it out you know. I’ve become more of a fan of the entire community than the cars itself. I want to be able to say that I’ve been to both coasts and I’ve seen what both have to offer. I could give a fuck less if you drove your car out there or not. Seriously, I don’t give a shit. People act like we’ve never driven together or caravan’d together long distance to attend an event. We’ve done all that. That shit ain’t that fun. If I have the opportunity to transport it out there while my ass sits comfortably on an airplane, why wouldn’t I do that? Bringing the cars was just an added plus. When we originally set out to go, bringing the cars out was the last thing on our minds. When the thought came up to do so, driving out never crossed our minds. Stunna Ben attempted the trip out to Eibach and he hit a fucking deer or some shit half way and his car got fucked up. PG+K guys did it (which I can say was very cool of them to do so) but BonB fucked his motor up when he hit Cali and had to get a last minute repair done the night before Eibach. He also spent a chunk of change to fix it to, which I guess makes him hardcore because he had to spend lots of money he could have used on something else. Many others have done so and run into problems. Why would we possibly risk an occurence like that when we could easily transport out to Nashville? Just doesn’t make sense to do so. Rotten Egg says he’s planning on driving out, I’ve met him, you know what? I don’t really wanna drive across country with the guy. He’s not a bad guy, I’m just saying… Ryan aka Rywire is driving out to Niagara Falls and then to IA, that doesn’t sound fun at all! He drives everywhere so that’s his peragotive.
When it comes down to it, why does it matter how we get our cars out there? Isn’t it more important that we’re taking the time to go out there to experience the community as others out there do? Shit is fucking stupid. Who cares if you drive your cars wherever the hell you’re from. I had more important stuff floating around in my stool in the toilet this afternoon that mattered to me more than that. The people that talk the most about dumb shit like that, often times tend to be the people that matter the least. That’s what I’ve come to realize from internet forums and blogs and what not. They probably have failed to build anything noteworthy as well. That’s why they hide behind fake alias and post anonymously.
James from Wek’Sos said it best on Facebook…
“Thats such BS. We had cars from Kentucky and Canada that came out for wek’fest. None of us cared if they were towed or if they drove. People should just be happy that others are willing to journey so far to attend their events.”
BonB from the east, Chris Sullivan, Sean Bradford, Stunna Ben Howard, etc…have all made it out to the west to experience what’s out here and have nothing but positive things to say. We took them in as our own and showed them everything we could in the short time they were here and they have a better understanding of the entire Honda community because of it. We don’t expect the same treatment, we don’t even expect to be overwhelmingly surprised by what’s out there, but we’re always down to give it a shot. It would be an honor for us to go out there and see what a lot of our friends from out east/midwest have been raving about. It shouldn’t be a discussion of west vs. east. If anything it should unite us all as one and to end all discussion like that.
There are gonna be thousands upon thousands of people there at IA having a blast. Number of people who give a shit whether or not you drove your car or not? Uhhh…ZERO.
Have fun driving to Import Alliance. We’ll see you there, remember to come say what’s up to us too, we wanna hear all about your trip.
IA 2010 bound?…
Totally possible. I haven’t really ironed out the details with Don Napier but at this point, I can officially say that we are tentatively scheduled to appear at Import Alliance 2010. When I say “we”, I mean The Chronicles, Phaze2, possibly Big Mike, and who knows, maybe some other surprise guests. I’m sure you guys have heard some rumors that it might happen and Mikeyyyy has mentioned it on the NWP forums as well as Sean Bradford. We’ve discussed the details and I’m actually pretty excited to see what the east/midwest has to offer. If we bring any Phaze2 cars out is still up to debate. We’re aren’t exactly filthy rich and can trailer each car out there but there’s a chance we can work out a deal on an auto transport or something. Time will tell. Maybe bring the infamous Phaze2 EG out there along with the NSX or something, possibly throw in the TSX with the full J’s Racing makeover….anything is possible. With the success of Wek’Fest and guys from the other end of the coast coming out as well as all the guys that came out to Eibach last year, we’ve become a bit inspired. Import Alliance is possibly the biggest automotive/Honda gathering out there and I think it’s a good idea that we at least experience it once. Depending on how our experience goes, who knows what will happen in the future. More details to come as they follow….Don Napier, facebook, hit me up…let’s do this.
Something you’ve probably seen already…
Not much going on lately, just been working and completing orders from the store. Make sure you guys pick up shirts while they last. They’ve been doing surprisingly well…
Anyways, you guys have probably already seen this but for those of you out of the loop who dont normally peruse other honda sites, here’s the first pics of the Spoon CR-Z. The CR-Z of course is the next generation CR-X. It’s also a hybrid, which makes things really interesting. I’m kinda happy that it still resembles the look of the old EFs but not entirely sure how far the tuning aspects are gonna go since it’s a hybrid. If anything, the majority of the work done will be purely cosmetic. It’s a cool looking car and I can’t wait to actually see these things in person. It’s got that nostalgic feel to it along with a concept car look, and it’s good for the environment, what more can you ask for? Can’t wait til Spoon starts making kevlar parts for it with their signature shit ass weave. Seriously, quality control guys…
Sorry for the small ass pictures.
Island Motorsports Meet…
Here’s some shots of the Island Motorsports meet from last weekend. No the clouds are not fake, they are definitely real. It was cloudy and half raining that day so everything looks overly dramatic and serious. It was a cool meet. I guess I was expecting a larger turnout but with the weather the way it was, the crowd was actually pretty decent…
There weren’t too many cars there so I kinda just stood around and took pics of the homies cars or cars I was familiar with. I’m sure you’ll recognize them because they’ve probably been on this site more than once…
Ross, Tony, and Ross’ dog Delilah…
Midnight Garage had a booth right in the middle of the entire meet. Billy brought out his IS300, Tony the NSX, and there was also a Scion xB and Lotus…
Top Ten sticker…
Billy and an old friend of mine, Tony Lee…
Best IS in the US…
Of course you guys must remember Matty’s xB…One of my favorite bB builds of all time…
One of the few Hondas at the meet. This one had like, an old school Iceman intake, thing was crazy. I remember when everyone had that shit and was mashing through tunnels to get that “intake sound”….
At one point the meet got super serious and this dude was laying down all over the place taking shots of cars. He must have had like 125 different angles of the front bumper of Nilo’s 240sx…
Doods! Travis’ Fit on newly repolished Viennas courtesy of Dipped-Parts.com…
Newer Civic on some aggressive Rota Nismo GT4 knockoffs…
Mazda 3 on some Rotas as well…
This Prelude traveled to the future from 1999 to see what the future of the import scene looked like. Talk about period correct, he even had 5Zigen Imperios S-08s. I haven’t seen that shit in ages…
Spotted this clean ass GS400 on Leon Hardiritt Ordens…The guy ain’t even on bags and just rolls around like this all day…
I left for a little bit but when I got back, Big Mike showed up with his new Monopoly man look. Also had a nice coat on and sweater/tie combo. This of course is how you have to dress after you win Best Honda at Wek’Fest. Must be nice!…
Nasty ass yogurt was consumed….a deuce was later dropped and the color of the turd was spot on with the chocolate yogurt…
More of Billy…
This clean G35 rolled up on HREs…
His research was finished so he angled out the long way so that he had enough road to hit 88mph to return to 1999….
Big Mike had a delicious ROARING LION ENERGY DRINK. It’s so aggressive and energizing that by the end of the meet, Big Mike’s entire beard had grown back…
Bullshit was exchanged…
The sun came out for a bit which made everyone happy…
We discussed Billy’s IS some more. As you can clearly tell, I didn’t do much walking around that day. There just wasn’t that much to look at…
Greddy widebody 350Z…
Big Mike deciding that he wanted to know how well he fit into Bride Low Maxs…
More random pics…
Stickydilshirts…
Ross napped for an hour…
After Ross woke up, we decided to clean up and go eat. By that time the meet was over so we took off…
Cool guys with their matching KEY!S steering wheels…
Driving by the police station…
As usual, we ate…
That’s all. Good times, good food, good friends….
This is cool…
Busy working on some actual work stuff but here’s something for you guys to look at. You’ve all seen the shitty Wek’Fest coverage I posted up, now watch a video of how the actual event was. The video came out so good that it makes me wish I was at Wek’Fest and I was actually fucking there! Awesome stuff…It’s from Studio Mountain and the link takes you to Vimeo. Other than that I don’t have anymore information on it. I don’t know why you would need anymore info anyway…Don’t mind the Transformers music, I know how Linkin Park makes you all want to go yell at your parents and hide in a bathroom for hours while you cry and write poetry but it’s okay, it’s just a song….
Wek’Fest 2010 Weekend…Part 4 – The Final Batch…
Alright this is definitely the rest of the coverage from Wek’Fest. Basically just covering the rest of the show and then random shit we did after…
So we last left off at us walking back to the show after eating at the japanese curry spot. We walked back and the line was starting to die down a bit but it was still incredibly packed inside.
Spotted this RSX with the two-tone bay. Looks like he’s added a lot more stuff since the last time I saw it. I think it was around Eibach of last year when I last got a good look at it…
Not a bad looking DC2…wish it didn’t have the Rota truck TEs on it though…
Clean Accord…
Very nice…
Really liked this hatch from Infinit Wheels… Very complete car, just needs some seats and interior accessories and you got a nice all around build…
Had to stop by and get a good shot of Big Mike’s Prelude. There was a fucking guy there that stood in front of me for a good ten minutes. Jesus, I have a giant camera in my hand, get the fuck out of the way. Haha…Anyways, the stickers you see on his car are the reason why the blade on my vinyl cutter died. So if you haven’t received your stickers yet it’s Big Mike’s fault. I mean, I have a new blade now and all the orders have been shipped out but if you want to blame someone, direct it at him. Big Mike is also the only person right now that has a one-off Chronicles sticker. He has the 1-of-1 “White Gold” Chronicles stickers which is gold chrome on a white border. Very bossy…
You’ve all seen Danny’s 4-door before. Custom-painted CPR lip…
Ryan’s CR-X of course…got his Top Ten sticker on and everything…thanks man.
DPK David of course. He and Tony are competing for who has less visibility out of their windshield. Big Mike came in and stole the show though…haha…
Chris Sakai’s EK…probably the best EK at the show. Actually the one next to it is just as good as well. Both are great cars…
Now to one of the most talked about cars of Wek’Fest. Well, actually most talked about on the forums AFTER Wek’Fest. Let’s start off by saying that this is not Heymikeyyyy’s old car. The ITR front end is a dead giveaway. That and the gold bay is kinda like a more dull, flat gold. I don’t know if that was intentional but that’s how it came out…
He’s got a gold plated valve cover but then it doesn’t match the bay…hmm, I don’t know. You guys probably recognize this car when it was in it’s previous incarnation. It was a silver color and dumped on CP-Rs. The guy is named Hai I believe. It’s not a bad looking car at all. Just nothing new that people haven’t already seen on other builds. That’s probably why he gets so much shit from other people calling it Mikeyyyy’s…
He’s got rebarreled M7s too…
Nice refinished MF10s…
I’m usually not a real big fan of Work RS-Deltas but they flow really well on this DA…
Awful picture of two almost straight out of the Spoon-catalog S2000s….very well done…
Sam from As1′s Civic. I actually used flash for this pic but the piller/pole that was in front of Alexisthemovie’s car cast such a huge shadow it ruined the whole picture…
bB Squad…
Ohhh awards time…
Most unenthusiastic crowd ever…
Tony clapping for some random person he doesn’t know…
GPRAuto Guillermo won Best IS and celebrated with our buddy Blanka…
Big Mike won Best Honda and definitely deserved it. Congrats to him and now I can’t stop bringing it up in conversation everytime he starts talking about regular life stuff. Best Honda has no replaced “Big Mike Edition” in my vocabulary. If you’re wondering what his shirt says, it’s an acronym. “F UR K” would probably lead you to believe that it says F your K…but it doesn’t. It’s another way to spell Farooq as an Farooq from the old WWF Nation of Domination group that The Rock was apart of when he first started wrestling. Yeah, Big Mike is a fan of professional wrestling. He thinks it’s real…
That’s Farooq in the middle next to The Rock. On the left of course is Kama Mustafa who was also The Godfather and Papa Shango. Yeah, he made the Ultimate Warrior throw up. The guy at the end is D-Lo Brown, who was awful and very unpopular. He only had one move, the Frog Splash which he pretty much always missed or was countered by a double knee….Anyways…
Tony and the Phaze2xDoods NSX ended up winning it all and taking “Car of the Festival” which was best of the entire show. Awesome… Pretty cool considering the fact that they were working on the car up until a couple hours before show set-up the night before…
After the awards finished up, we cleaned up, watched Arn drive off in his hydrogen-powered DC2 and we went back to the hotel…
So we got back, cleaned up, and showered while Tony and Ross loaded the NSX up onto the trailer again and decided to go out for dinner. We were so busy throughout the weekend that we didn’t even have a chance to go down to Fisherman’s Wharf to walk around so we decided to drive down there to go check it out, even though it was pretty late at night already…
We ended up at Hooter’s in San Bruno. I wasn’t really that hungry so I just decided to share some wings and eat some soup…
The wings were terrible. I’ve never actually been to a Hooters where the wings failed but these were the saltiest fucking things I have ever eaten. I took a bite and I think my nose started to bleed from all the salt. It was so bad that I didn’t even want to finish it and I usually always eat more than I should. I can honestly say that it was the biggest waste of $20 I have spent this year, and I buy alot of dumb shit that I don’t need…
So after that debacle, we headed out to Fisherman’s Wharf. Ross’s cousin who was working many sleepless nights that week helping out on Tony’s NSX decided that he couldn’t take it anymore and tried to strangle himself on his seat belt while he slept. We probably should have woken him up so he could shift positions but oh well, he looked so peaceful…
It was late Sunday night of course so as expected, it was pretty dead down there. Like I could count on one hand how many other people were there besides us. It looked like a ghost town…
We just walked around in the cold and listened to the seals. Ross apparently speaks Seal because he was communicating with them throughout the night…
…he also straddled this thing for a bit too…
Group picture…
Another one, this one more awful and more blurry…
We stayed a bit longer and than went over to the In-N-Out down the street and got some milkshakes. After that we called it a night and headed back to our hotel…
Not much car stuff after that other than driving them back home. Before we made the 7 hour drive home we went down to the wharf again to grab some lunch…
Thought about grabbing some crabs but ended up…
…with this. Calamari and chips, clam chowder in a breadbowl, and the shrimp sandwich, which Tina once told me was terrible but I tried it anyways and it ended up being delicious!…I shared with May and it was money well spent. Definitely made up for the Hooters wings from the night before…
Then we went to some everything chocolate store and tried out the ice cream. Wow, I don’t know what all this yogurt hype is about but ice cream like that would make me not want yogurt ever again. The cookies and cream….awesome. Shit had like whole cookies in it…
I was pretty full after that and ready to head home. On the way back, we caught up with Ross and them on the road and decided to meet up with them for dinner at Harris Ranch. I was still full so I just had a soup.
Ross raves about the steak there and at random location like that, I wouldn’t doubt it…
…the steak he ordered was bigger than his head. I feel sorry for his toilet…
That’s pretty much it. Hope you guys enjoyed the trip. It was quite a a weekend and something I look forward to going to every year…Thanks to Wek’Sos, N1, everybody that was apart of that great weekend.
Island Motorsports Meet coverage coming tomorrow….
The Chronicles Ver. 2 T-shirts are now available!!…Store also re-opened…
Shirts are now officiall available inside the official Chronicles storefront. The store has also been re-opened and all stickers are now available once again. That means for you guys that ordered shirts awhile back will finally get your shirts. As for the stickers, all orders have been packaged and will go out this week. If you guys placed orders and haven’t received them yet, then you should be receiving them shortly I closed up shop last weekend just so I could catch up on everything and we’re good to go now. International orders are going out this week as well so expect those to come in soon… Make sure to check the store out and grab the goods while they’re available. If biggers guys want shirts, I’ll be making a batch of bigger ones if the demand is high for them. Otherwise the current sizes I have are small, medium, large, and extra large. They come in either black or white (as pictured) and the back of the shirts have the “STICKYDILJOE.COM” printed. Thanks for all the support guys, it means a lot!!
New HellaSUNK stickers coming soon as well. Also gonna cut a few Rotamaster EMO stickers for you guys that actually wanna buy that shit haha….
Wek’Fest 2010 Weekend…Part 3 – The Craptastic Wek’Fest Coverage…
Ahhhh, finally back…Had a lot of stuff to go through as well as going to the Island Motorsports meet. I have pics from that too which I will get up as soon as I knock those out and process them. Just to let you guys know, the store is back open as well. I’ve finally caught up on all the orders so if you haven’t received your goodies yet, you will receive them very shortly. I guarantee you. Anyways, the coverage is pretty awful. I apologize. I was being stubborn as refused to use flash and on top of that, I was too busy running around working and talking to people that I just didn’t have enough time to bring you the coverage that I really would have like to bring you. I’m sure by now you have probably all seen the pics from the show from countless other sites, forums, people you know, etc. So if you see something that you like in an awfully grainy picture, there are chances that there are much better pictures elsewhere. I did however, capture some other oddball stuff like usual so enjoy that….Debauchery at it’s best, have fun…
Rywire’s bay…
…Rywire, who is always all smiles. But I would be all smiles too if I were doing the amount of incredible work he was…
Arnel on his new D2 airbag set-up…
Arnel’s harleyquin bay is gone and now basically every engine piece has been chromed. He also did the booster delete to manual brake conversion and also running a Rywire harness…
I hope you guys really got a chance to get a glimpse of this car. Sure it’s Arn’s and it’s sick as is, but in case you guys didn’t notice, this K is hydrogen powered. Yeah, pretty amazing. So if you guys looked at it and was like, oh why does he have that cheesy clean air vehicle sticker on there?…well that’s because he’s got an alternative fuel vehicle. How he comes up with his ideas I’ll never know but damn, I was in shock and completely and utterley impressed. I think a lot of people slept on this car because it certainly could have won Best of Show even without the alternative fuel set-up…PROPS.
Phaze2 Tony’s NSX of course. Man they worked on this thing all night up until almost showtime…
He’s running a pretty substantial tire size and it was causing some rubbing issues on the backend of the wheel well towards the door so Ross at Midnight Garage fabricated a bracket to actually push that part of the fender out and give it some more room. I think it came out great and makes the car look even more aggressive. If you look at older pics of it or other Sorcery NSXs, the fenders tends to taper in more towards the door but not this one…
Tony putting on his Top Ten of 2009 sticker…
All you see is floating hands in this disgustingly dark picture but it’s Ejay putting on his Chronicles sticker. Thanks for representing homie…
Anh’s Integra is fucking sick. Like crazy sick. It’s got all the essentials of a perfect overall build. Do I have any exterior pics of it? No. Why? Fuck, I don’t know. Cuz it was dark and it would have looked like Forest Whitaker swimming in a pool of Pepsi with teal speedos on. I got a chance to meet him, Anh, not Forest Whitaker, for the first time and he’s quite the interesting dude. Super nice guy. Really excited about Chronicles stickers in teal too…a little TOO excited…ATS Garage brought out some heaters for the show though, damn. I gotta say, they had the best Hondas at the show, easily…
If you’re trying to read the sticker that overlays the Wek’Sos banner, it says “Fred Chapman Built”. Who is Fred Chapman?…
This guy. You probably remember him from his numerous magazine-featured Honda builds. The guy can build cars, no question. That’s why he has his hand and mind in many of the great Honda builds in Northern California. He builds cars better than he plays Street Fighter 4, that’s for sure. I used to play SF4 with him a lot and he’s pretty good. He tends to get kinda angry though when he loses, which is a bit scary. He has a picture where he threw his controller and it got stuck in the wall of his home. Yeah, pretty aggressive. I don’t even know how I got to playing him at Street Fighter because I have never even met the guy in person until this Wek’Fest. Crazy how that works out. Cool guy though, he’ll build the shit out of a Honda. Just don’t get near him when he’s playing Street Fighter. Haha…
This Accord from ATS caught my eye. Just the fitment alone made me turn my head. That and I haven’t seen a clean set of Racing Hart C5s in a couple years. I am awful with names so I actually can’t tell you the dude’s name but he’s a super nice guy, especially because the majority of the Accord community fucking hates me. I don’t know what I did to them, maybe because I come off like a smug asshole to them but yeah, most of them, not very kind to me. But that’s okay. This Accord is nice and is on it’s way. Just needs to get his swap done and this Accord will blow up this year. Figuratively speaking, not literally because that would suck….
Yes, I know the guy was walking into my picture so I actually came back and took another picture of it so here it is….
Alexisthemovie was there with his new set-up, GLOW IN THE DARK Work Rezax wheels. Why he wants them to glow in the dark, I don’t know..but they do that, which is kinda cool. I would have taken a pic of the whole car but he was parked behind the biggest fucking pole ever. Like the thing covered half his car. EVER. He would need glow in the dark wheels just so people could fucking see the car because the pole cast such a huge shadow on his car. His new username should be Alexisbehindapole…
Nice car…
The infamous Loi Song doing his “DAT ASS” face…He picked up a new S90 hand held camera so he was definitely taking pictures of asses all day…
…either that or he was trying not to laugh when this guy walked by. No idea what was going on here. Hopefully he wasn’t using this as an attempt to impress the girl he has his arm around. What’s impressive about this and somewhat disturbing is that he and the girl pretty much have the same waist size, which means that if they wanted to, they could actually share clothing. All of a sudden everything makes sense now….
S2000….
I then walked over to the MemoryFab booth to go see Jimmy’s Civic and saw another S2000…
…really nice car… I then talked to Jimmy and saw his hatch build that I was following on NWP and Facebook…
The color came out really nice…I like it. The white Chevlons I’m not so sure about but hey, different strokes for different folks and the car is nice regardless…
Speaking of different strokes for different folks, here are some butts…
These were the girls that were dancing over by the Phaze2 NSX…
I followed them around for a little bit because I think some of them had lost their asses and were looking for them and I heard someone yell “Damn look at that ass” and as expected, the comment was directed towards me…
ATS Del Sol engine bay…
Stop asking me for free stickers guy who owns this car…
At this point, someone told me that they were towing cars where I had parked so I had to go move it out of the lot. So Tony and I headed out to the Safeway lot to get the car outta there. When I walked out, I saw the biggest fucking line I had ever seen in my whole life. Mind you, I’ve shopped at Fry’s Electronics on Black Friday and the line wasn’t even this long….
I mean, the line was so long, it wrapped around the entire block and wrapped around once more inside the parking structure. Hot Import Nights LA didn’t even have this kind of line. You would think they were giving out free handjobs or something, shit…
Oh while I was waiting for Tony to buy something at the Safeway, I ran into Takeshi from Type K Autosource. He and his entourage had flown out from Japan to attend the show. Hopefully they didn’t have to wait in that crazy ass line. Well I talked to him for a bit and like a dumbass, I totally forgot to take a picture with the guy. It was pretty crazy to meet him considering he lives in Japan and I’m not that easily recognizable. I asked him what he was eating and he said they were going to Panda Express. I was like “you came all the way from Japan just to eat Panda Express?” and he said “Panda Express is USDM so it’s good”….I don’t even know how to respond to that. It makes sense and doesn’t make sense all at the same time. Nice meeting him though…
After I finally moved the car to another parking lot, I went back into the show and it looked like this…
It was so crowded that I had to crowd-surf just to make my way back inside…
Okay, so some of you may have seen pictures of the Phaze2 NSX and wondered why there was writing all over the hood. It’s not because he’s trying to start some dumb trend where people write on their hoods. He’s getting a new hood soon so he decided to get some of the Wek’Fest models to sign it. Not the assless ones but like the actual Wek’Fest models like Natalia Marie and what not. The first girl he got to sign his hood was Lisa Fleming. She had a booth next to the car so it was easy to get her to sign it. Funny story behind that actually. Tony had asked her to sign the hood and the whole time they were talking, not once did she bother to ask if the NSX was actually his or not. So she goes up and signs it…
…and Tony decides to play a prank on her. A while after she signed it, HeyMikeyyyy went up to the NSX and pretended it was his car. He was like “What the fuck?! WHO THE FUCK IS TONY?!” And man from what the guys were telling me, she was all freaked out…haha. Like on her phone texting someone probably telling them she had just fucked up some guys car and wrote on his hood. Mikey makes a big scene like it’s his car and eventually they break it to her that it’s just a joke. One of them got the whole thing on video too so I hope I can get a copy of that and show you guys…
Anyways, moving on…
Coke in a Can S2000….
Arnel’s Civic of course…no more red BBS caps…
His car was drawing a huge crowd all day, as usual of course. People love this thing…either that or they’re laying down next to it trying to see how the wheels fit or something…
Ever since he got his air set-up and can tuck his rear wheels now, he swears he’s super sunk so he put one of the Hellasunk stickers on….
bBsquad guys…
James from Wek’Sos telling people they can’t get in for free with his bloodshot eyes…
Baby Gap model Ross from Midnight Garage modeling the newest Chronicles t-shirts, which are available now in the store…
Around this time we all got hungry so we decided to go eat upstairs at Over the Bridge. It’s like a small Japanese spot that has really good food and the slowest service ever. I think I missed half the show waiting for the old lady to bring my the bill…
Walking…
While the girls were in the restroom, we ran into this person who was wearing a domo-kun costume. They did a pretty good job on it minus the eyes which look like someone bust a nut on it and let it dry…
Band of misfits…
Soup…
Don’t remember what that was…
Waiting for the check to come…
Oh when I was walking back to the show, I saw THE sketchiest parking job EVER…
What the fuck. How is that even possible?….You couldn’t even put a pube inbetween those two…
While you sit and contemplate how and why that would be a good idea to park like that, I am going to get some sleeep. I’ll post the rest up in a little bit….
Island Motorsports Meet…
I’ve decided to take a bit of a break from the Wek’Fest coverage. Going through so manypictures at once has really drained my vision and made it far worse than it already is. With that said, I’m actually gonna go out to the Island Motorsports meet. I’m going because Ross from Midnight Garage and I will have the main booth spot in the center of the meet. So make sure to come chill if you’re interested in picking up some Chronicles merchandise. We will also have some of the Phaze2 cars on display as well as my boy Billy’s IS300. It should be a good time. I’ve gotten ridiculously busy this past couple months and haven’t even had time to go to meets so it’ll be nice to get out to one of these to see what’s new with everyone. That and Island Motorsports isn’t that far from Midnight Garage which also means that it’s not too far from my place. Ahhh I remember the first time I bought something from Island, it seems like just yesterday when I was at an Import Showoff event in Del Mar, San Diego. I bought this device that made my turn signals extra fucking fast. That was the hot thing to do back then, especially when you had no money. Apparently the faster your blinkers were the sicker your car was and the more attention you would get from the ladies. Needless to say, the fucking thing didn’t work because I was a complete fuck-up at the time and had no idea how to wire it up. It certainly didn’t make my blinkers faster so much as make them completely NOT work at all. I had to go to the dealership with my dad and we had to replace the relay…ah fond memories. The thing I bought from Island started smelling alot like burnt up plastic too. I’m sure it would have worked, but on that day, 10 years ago…my blinkers did not flash super fast.
Alright, storytime over. Let’s go to the meet and have fun, blink our turn signals really fast…yah, kids these days have bike racks and tow hook charms and shit. Fuck all that, make your turn signals fast. Really fucking fast. Fast like a fucking Fox….Island Motorsports.
Wek’Fest 2010 Weekend…Part 2 – The Saturday Before…
Not really much car stuff in this update…Just mostly stuff that we did the day before the actual show. For those of you who aren’t really interested, then it’s probably best to come back tomorrow…
So I woke up that morning around 10am or so and ate my Texas Roadhouse leftovers from the night before. Pulled pork and ribs is not exactly the breakfast of champions per se, but it was something. We had to do a lot of driving that day and had to head out to Wek’Sos to talk to the guys who are running the show. Chris was shooting Wek’Sos that day as well for a HT feature so it made sense that we just all rolled out together. We had to go to Target to get something and managed to get lost for about an hour or so but eventually we headed down to San Jose to meet up with Mikeyyyy who was already there…
The rain was on and off throughout the day which was kinda weird. It was like sunny and kinda hot but still pouring rain, shit made no sense…
I have never been to Wek’Sos before but when I stepped foot inside the building, wow, I was impressed. They got like hardwood floors and the shop itself was really clean. Plus Ken and them all drive bimmers so they must be doing something right, haha…
Tina was showing off the new Wek’Sos Wek’Fest hoodies which turned out to be a hit because everyone at the show the next day was rocking them…
When you walk into the shop, there are magazine feature plaques all over their walls. This one in particular is special to me because this was actually the first feature I ever wrote when I first started the magazine writing thing.
That and it used to be Ken’s car and it was the first RHD EP I’ve ever seen…
Ken and Mikeyyyy discussing set-up for the show…
Bored…
Chris aka CRSFOTO aka The Blizzard Man aka My Ass is Haunted doing work…
The Sean Bradford was all smiles all weekend. I don’t know what he was more excited about, hanging out with the Blizzard Man or driving around in his Mazda 5 van…5? or 3 or whatever number it is, the van looking thing…
Staff photo…
Mikeyyyy telling the Wek’Sos guys about our adventures in Socal and all the drama we go through with “shops”…
While that was going on I was checking out their personal portraits and the guys over at Wek’Sos are very tight apparently….haha. I hope someday we can get all the Phaze2xDoods together and take a portrait around a piano while on a cruise together…
Chris finished up with some shots of the outside and we bid farewell to Wek’Sos and headed off to N1 Concepts to meet up with Salem and Murdock…
When we got there Doug was already there as well as Armando Flores Sr….
Senior and Doug drove Armando’s S2000 up the night before. They also picked up some J’s Racing stuff for their cars while they were at N1…
The whole reason why we were there that day was to check out Salem’s new J’s Racing front bumper for his TSX. I think there’s only one other guy that has one right now and it’s up in Canada…
The quality of this thing was amazing. I can’t wait to see it painted and installed on Salem’s TSX….I’m happy to see him working on the car again and he’s also got some other crazy shit planned for it…
Once that was taken care of, we headed to downtown SF to go grab a late lunch…
We got lost for a bit thanks to Salem but finally arrived at Joe’s Cable Car. It’s a famous burger spot that’s been on TV and shit so we were excited to go try it out…
The sign says that Joe grinds his own fresh chuck daily. This of course is better than “Joe grinds his own meat everyday” because well, that would be disgusting…
Apparently it is true because Joe was sitting next to us inside and even talked to us for a little bit. We thought it was some creepy old man but we looked at the back of the menu and sure enough, his face was there…
The waitress there noticed that we all had cameras and asked us what were doing in San Francisco. We managed to convince her that we were in the porn industry and that we shoot for porno mags…
We also told her that she probably recognized our friend, John who was our contract star and went by the name “mo-cock”…She giggled and then proceeded to rape us anally for our meals. Let me tell you, the food there is delicious, but the service….what the fuck.
Oh, by the way, it was Mo-Cock’s birthday that day and he got a piece of hamburger cheesecake and a balloon…
Okay, so to the bill…..They ask you like ambigious questions and then randomly place things on your order that you didn’t even order. We had a plate of onion rings sit there the entire time that none of us even wanted that they charged us for. That and they don’t understand the concept of separate checks. To them, I guess it means they can charge me twice because that’s exactly what happened. I paid for my meal and then I check my bank statement when I get home and I was charge and additional 93 bucks for god knows what….Burger was delicious though….but the hassle with the bill? Ehhh, not worth it. I doubt we’ll ever go back there again. I’ve never been to a place where they actually take an hour to figure out a bill…
It took so long that we actually hung out outside and bullshitted for awhile before they could figure out everyone’s bill…
After that debauchery was settled, we headed back to the hotel to get some rest. Plus a lot of the other homies were showing up that night that we wanted to see before the show tomorrow…
After a couple hours, the Phaze2xDoods NSX rolled up to the hotel…There was still quite a bit of work that had to be finished up on the NSX before the show so Ross, his cousin, Sara, and Tony spend the rest of the night working on it. The fenders had cracked and they were just recently repaired by Midnight Garage. Ross still had to finish waxing up the entire car as well as reassembling the interior. It was also filthy from sitting around at the shop all week so it also had to be cleaned up.
Arnel also showed up around that time too and was busy showing off his new air suspension set-up to the others. I had made plans to go out to dinner with Jeremy and he had also just checked in to the hotel after visiting the Concord area. Jeremy, Teresa, May, and I then hopped in Jeremy’s TSX and headed back to downtown San Fran to walk around and grab some dinner…
We walked around the mall for awhile and I guess they had never seen a touch-screen mall directory so they fucked with that for awhile, then we headed to Lori’s Diner down the street for dinner…
If you’ve visited San Francisco, then you’ve probably seen this place. It’s across the street from the huge H&M in downtown. It’s on the upper level of some shops and it looked like it was kinda cool because it had a window view that overlooked the rest of the street. Unfortunately, of course with our luck, we didn’t even sit by the window. Hell, we weren’t even remotely close. They stuck us in the back where all the old shelves and equipment were and the place was actually kinda run down. I mean the front is nice and had all the cool shit to look at…
…They even had a mint Mortal Kombat 2 machine there. We didn’t get to experience all that of course because we were stuck in the back. It almost felt period correct and we were the minority in the back. I’m just saying. I ordered a quesadilla because that is obviously the first choice to eat at an American diner, and had a milkshake. I shared with May and Jeremy had southern fried chicken and finished the second half of my milkshake…
Of course his greedy ass over filled his cup to the point where it spilled everywhere and didn’t leave any for me, but oh well, it wasn’t that good anyway…
When we got back to the hotel, Ross and Tony were still furiously working on finishing up the NSX…
…I guess Ross has the most rarest and most expensive pair of Chucks ever because he had them bagged up while he worked on the car…
Mikey then came by and we headed off to go help the Wek’Sos guys set-up for the show. They needed help moving some cars around to make room for the show the next day. They also heard that Tony was working on his NSX out in the cold and invited them to bring the NSX down there to finish up. Big thanks to those guys for allowing us to do that. Big Mike was also able to bring in his Prelude earlier that night. He had some issues getting the car to run correctly so having it there early ensured that there would be no delays the next day. Jeremy also came by and picked us up and we went back to the hotel to get some much needed rest. I’m gonna stop here and start rolling out the actual show coverage tomorrow….Later.
Closing up the store for a couple days…
Title says it all. I’m backed up with Wek’Fest coverage as well as actual magazine work. Plus I need to catch up on all the current orders. If you guys haven’t received your stuff yet, it’s definitely coming. The new blade for my vinyl cutter came in and it’s back and operational. Just need to catch up on everything. Busy busy, you know how it is.
When I re-open it, look for the shirts to be in the store. Make sure you grab one while they last!….I’ll let everyone know when I re-open. For now, enjoy the Wek’Fest coverage…Thank you.
Wek’Fest 2010 Weekend…Part 1 – The Drive…
Finally, time to tell you guys about the trip up to Norcal for the 2010 Wek’Fest event. It was quite a weekend and I took a bunch of pictures of everything before and after the trip so be prepared to brick your phones. There are a bunch of sites out there that already have the pictures of the cars. As much as I would like to show you every single car that was at the show with detail shots and what not, I just can’t. I’ve always taken pride in being able to cover the lifestyle aspect of the shows more so than just the cars itself. This site is here to show you how we cars guys out west operate and how what we do, so if you’re here just for the cars, I’m gonna have to apologize to you beforehand because I honestly didn’t take that many pictures of the cars. I was busy running around like a fucking maniac the whole day of the show talking to people, looking for cars for work, and running into random people I haven’t had a chance to see in a long time. I did do coverage though so don’t worry about that. I was so busy I didn’t even get a chance to sell Chronicles merchandise. I was all over the place. I didn’t worry too much about covering all the cars at the show either because I just don’t have the equipment yet to do these cars justice inside this darker venue. If I was covering a Hot Import Nights or something, the pics would come out darker than 6 Wesley Snipes’…Anyways, on with the coverage…
So I was running around with my head cut off for most of the week. I was trying to get a bunch of stickers knocked out and to catch up on all the orders from the storefront. That and I had to cut stickers for Big Mike as well as picking up the new Chronicles shirts. I’m pretty happy with them and I hope you guys are too. Friday morning a bunch of us met up at the Denny’s off Magic Mountain Parkway at 10am. Of course, I never show up on time anywhere so I got there at around 10:30 or so…
They’re all smiles here but a couple of them were kinda pissed off that I was so late but oh well, what can you do haha…
Lost is Black Brandon, Big Mike, Jeremy scratching his nuts, and Teresa…
Jeremy’s Euro-R converted TSX wasn’t apart of the show but he decided to come up with us just to hang out in Norcal and to help out some of the guys with set-up…
Big Mike hadn’t really had enough seat-time in his Prelude yet and with the storm ready to come in, he didn’t really feel comfortable driving it so he had the car trailered as a precaution…
Salem and the Phaze2 TSX sitting on 24K Work VS-XX…
Everyone shot the shit for a little bit and then we headed out…
After a couple hours and probably 3 bottled waters and coffee later, May had to use the bathroom so I decided to take this one exit super late and somehow managed to lose Mikey in the process. Oh that and it was the sketchiest gas station EVER….
Jeremy wondering why there was a random lawnmower out front, along with an old oven with caution tape around it….yup, they all totally belong in front of a store…
Somewhere along the way, we randomly ran into the As1 Subaru Legacy on the road. As1 Bryan was riding along with him and they decided to caravan with us…
Bug massacre…
Jeremy and Salem aka Alternate Dimension Rodrez discussing TSXs…
Back on the road…
I’ve actually never seen this section of the 5 so green before. I guess the recent rain and what not helps. Sorry the pic is kinda blurry but I took this while I was driving and eating fried pork rinds and drinking an Amp energy drink. I multi-task…I was also driving both TSXs simultanesously too, wrap your brain around that one…
Somehow Salem got us lost and we missed the 152 exit so we had to turn around. We decided to stop for gas and more high volume peeing…
Salem was smart and decided to apply some Rain-X to his windows because the storm was definitely up ahead…
Hopefully the rain would help get rid of this mess…what’s blue tape?
Jeremy was heading a different direction because he had to head to Concord for some punk concert or something with Teresa so he stayed on the 5 while we turned around and went the other way…
…and we ran into this. The rain had come full force while we drove through garlic country. Shit got hairy for awhile and definitely made the drive interesting…
Here we are making our way through Gilroy and to the 101 freeway…
While Salem was leading the way and digging his car into the rain, I did what anyone would do in dangerous driving conditions…
…I ate a sandwich.
The rain began to calm down and we saw some blue in the sky as we neared our hotel. Chris from Chicago arrived in San Fran hours before and called me to tell me that the storm was so bad that our hotel actually had no power. Luckily everything was fine by the time we got there.
We checked in and took a break for a little bit until everyone else caught up and made it to the hotel. Once everyone arrived, it was already night time. We had such a bomb ass meal at Texas Roadhouse the last time we went to Norcal so we had to hit that spot up again. We met up with the Sean Bradford and Chi-town Chris and headed out once again…
Oh it was Big Mike’s birthday that day and he was all smiles about it…
Chris aka CRSFOTO aka The Blizzard Man aka My Ass is Haunted and The Sean Bradford breaking bread with us…
Of course the waitress forgot my order completely so I just sat there and watched everyone else eat. By the time my food came everyone was pretty much finished and I didn’t even feel like eating it. So I took most of it home and just ate it the next day…
Blurry onion contraption…
Tina with her steak…
Salmon seemed to be a popular item that night…
Yay. Birthday…
After that we all went home for such much needed sleep. I watched some TV and KO’d for the rest of the night. Tomorrow we were heading off to Wek’Sos to talk and chill with the guys that were running the event. And that’s where we’re gonna leave off for today….
Back tomorrow for more…
Back home…
Ah finally back home from an amazing weekend…I’m busy going through everything including my luggage and pics. I’ll be back when I can get some stuff out for you from the weekend.
On that note though, Socal did it again…Phaze2xDoodsxTheChroniclesxMidnightGarage…Wek’Fest 2010 “Car of the Festival” aka Best of Show. Congratulations Anthony Khamly and thank you for everyone who contributed…
