Good news…
Thanks for everyone’s concern in regards to Sam’s Civic…your words have motivated him to continue on with his build and he promises that it will be better than ever. I also spoke with Alexisthemovie last night and he informed me that there was indeed no frame damage and that all damage is just on the exterior, which is great news because nothing major will have to be done other than bodywork. The wheels are easily repairable so no real worry about that. Good news all around…it was a very unfortunate event but now Sam’s car will be better than ever and it’s given him added motivation to make this thing great…
Did anyone happen to notice that the dude was still INSIDE the Jeep? Haha, man…I barely caught that when I was messing around with this image. Might seem kinda fucked-up but everything is cool now and Sam is happy that his car will be fixed so why not…haha…it’s not often I see pictures like this and in my crazy fucked up head, this was the first thing I pictured… The hits on yesterday’s update was crazy and people from all over are looking at Sam’s car. The pictures are so crazy that I’m willing to bet that by the end of the year it might be one of the most viewed posts of 2010…
Oh someone actually saw this when they were driving by that day and captured some of his own pictures and even video of the aftermath…
Just a small bit of news before I go…The Chronicles “hellaSUNK” Version III sticker is now up and available in the store for you guys. It’s a different look from the previous two and even comes in purple chrome. I was reluctant to do the double chrome because it tears so easily when I weed the extra vinyl out. With the way the font is, especially for the smaller letters, it tears to easily. It’s nothing for you guys to worry about but I just don’t like to waste the chrome vinyl material and the risk of me tearing it while putting the stickers together is not something I look forward to. Thanks for everyone’s support though, you guys seem to love this hellaSUNK stuff…haha…
The Chronicles Storefront – hellaSUNK Version III
Well…fuck…
…is pretty much all I can say. They say that pictures say a thousand words but in this case many of the words are probably questions. I have a vested interest in this car because I’m a huge fan of the new Civics with the FD2 conversion and I am an even bigger fan of Sam’s Civic from AS1. The combination of parts he has makes it pretty much one of a kind, and apparently, it was so unique and shocking that some asshole that wasn’t paying attention to the road decided to drive into Sam’s car and proceed toroll over on it’s side in the process…
I’ve been keeping a close eye on this build since the very beginning and it was very promising. I liked it so much that it’s even on the banner of The Chronicles. It’s a shame that he finally makes it onto the site and then this happens but hey, I guess it’s just one of those freak things that you can’t avoid. I talked to Alexisthewitnessatthescene and he told me that this fuckin guy wasn’t paying attention when he was making a turn and swerved to avoid another car and subsequently hit the Civic and then toppled over. It’s definitely a strange picture and I’m sure everyone on Sunset Blvd. was in shock. How a Jeep randomly rolls over after sideswiping a parked car I will never know, but apparently the impact was enough to push Sam’s Civic forward about a foot and curbing the wheels in the process. Luckily he didn’t have his Spoon Sports bumper on and there wasn’t another car in front of him for him to hit, or else the car would have been double fucked. It woulda been a full on DP session….
As you can see the damage is pretty significant. I say it looks close to, well….a fucking Jeep hitting it. Alex’s custom re-barrelled Mugens are bent up, rear quarter is probably gonna have to be cut out and replaced and Alex even told me that there might be frame damage. Everything else is replaceable of course and the wheels will need some refinishing and a new barrel, but the possibility of frame damage is what might ultimately kill this project. Hopefully the frame is fine and Sam can just get this thing repaired. I’d hate to see it parted out, it had so much potential you know?…
Man, it’s crazy how these accidents happen. You can’t even park your car on the street anymore without some shit like this happening…I’ll try to keep you guys updated if I hear anything. I’m sure the guys will pass on the news when they get more information and when the damage is assessed from a professional… =(
800+ for the haters…
Got a text from Sheepey aka Alex Soto yesterday that he was heading over to Bisimoto to get his drag hatchback tuned. Of course, I can’t sleep for shit so I didn’t get to bed until 7-8am or so and totally missed the text. I woke up and looked at my phone and realized that he was already over there and I was kinda disappointed that I didn’t make it out to see this thing on the dyno. Luckily Bisi was able to capture the final run on video where it made over 800 horsepower at around 30psi of boost…The graph is below and make sure to check out the video that’s posted. There are a lot of guys out there that doubted Sheepey’s car could produce these kinds of numbers but here’s the proof for all of them to see…enjoy…
Video of the final run…Bisimoto Dynapack 3000…
Sheepey himself…
“
Its within 5 hp of Bubbas dyno from what I did on spring pressure with lots of fuel!Bobby and everyone else couldnt have done it without great homies like yall!
Big Mike thank you for sharing the lunch with me, those fries wer bomb homie!!
For Bisi and Hedi, straight up nothing what I expected! They are awsome fucking people and Bisi does not fuck around on the dyno. I ran into some small issues where I was ready to just call it quits but the guy has such love for it all helped me work the bugs out. Considering its a damn drag car he still tuned every 1k rpm to 6k being actual boost runs!
We then inspected the plugs to make sure if the tune was really what the ECU was saying and man they looked perfect! We tuned spring pressure which is 14 psi, 20 psi and 31 psi was the end. This turbo will max out around 45ish with the boost duty cycle only ending 30 percent!
I couldn’t be happier with the results! We’re going to go testing and get some seat time before we up the boost even higher.”
First look at the “Championship Edition” Chronicles sticker…
Purple chrome vinyl finally came in today and I had a chance to finally put the “Championship Edition” stickers that many of you pre-ordered. I love how they came out…the purple chrome on gold chrome looks crazy and it’s probably gonna be one of the few times I cut them this way. If you still want one, grab them now…gold chrome is kinda scarce right now so once this first batch are gone it would take a couple weeks until I can get a hold of some more gold…Thanks to everyone for their continued support…
Amuse S2000 rips it…
Man, watching these old Best Motoring videos is cool and all but it’s also a sad reminder that some of these great tuning legends aren’t around anymore. I was checking out Vol. 32 and couldn’t help but notice Hideki Tanabe of the famed Powerhouse Amuse. As you all know (or not), Tanabe passed away sadly last year around September after battling an illness. The man created absolutely wonderful works of art and the Amuse S2000 is definitely one of his finest works. Many of us stateside probably only know it for the crazy widebody aero and aesthetics but this thing fucking rips!…oh man, just watching this quick video will give you an idea oh how fast and completely functional it was. It’s amazing…Now I can’t show you the whole video of course because I’m sure my ass would get into trouble for it but they actually have the J’s Racing S2000 in the same race and it gets pretty interesting. While most of the drivers assumed that the Amuse S2k would be all over the J’s car, The yellow J’s S2K actually held it’s own and with a 4.3 final drive, it was actually somewhat quicker than Tanabe’s car on the straights. Funny part of the video was that they were interviewing both the owner of J’s and Tanabe together and they were joking around that they hated eachother and both men kinda kept their mouths shut. It’s an interesting video and I highyl recommend you guys buy it or download it or something. Anyways, here is the Amuse car on it’s initial run…
Today is Wednesday…
…and there isn’t much going on really. Just wanted to let those of you who ordered The Chronicles “Championship Edition” stickers know that the purple chrome material should be in within the next two days or so. That means that I’ll probably get started on cutting them by the weekend and have them out for you guys next week. They’re gonna look good, trust me and they are limited in quantity so grab them while you can…Double chrome vinyl stickers look good but not exactly sure how often I wanna do them, haha…
That’s all for today, it’s been a slow week. More shows coming up next month though so things are gonna start getting interesting…
The Chronicles Storefront – “Championship Edition” Chronicles Stickers…
Another Tuesday…
Not much going on today. Hope you guys enjoyed those last two video clips from yesterday. With basketball over and the majority of other tv shows going on leave until the fall, I’ve been looking for things to watch to keep me occupied. Old Best Motoring vids seem to be doing the job right now and I’m watching all the ones where Hondas are heavily involved. It’s just a reminder of how the Japanese do Hondas overseas and how crazy some of these machines are when they’re put to use. I mean, I love the U.S. Honda scene but Japan is totally different. Like Takeshi from Type_K said “we make Hondas cool”…that’s very true and I am proud to be apart of that community but the Japanese shops overseas are busy making shit fast and it’s a blast to watch these videos to see them in action. I’m currently watching Best Motoring Volume 32: Civic Type R Returns. It’s their featurette on the debut of the now defunct next gen. FD2 Type R. The middle to end of the video is where it gets crazy though with their touge battles. I haven’t had the chance to finish it yet but here’s a animated gif of the Spoon EK9 just to give you a guys glimpse of what’s going on. This thing is K-swapped, 250PS, Spoon ECU, exhaust, LSD, dampers, calipers, everything…Fucking thing hauls ass through the mountains…(Allow the gif to load, it’s pretty large so it may take a little bit to load…)
Awesome…
Anyways, I was talking to Big Mike today on AIM about his car and what aero options he had. I really don’t know too much about BB4 Preludes other than the fact that I think the dashboard looks like it belongs on a fuckin spaceship or something but Big Mike is knowledgeable of all things Prelude so he was showing me all the JDM kit options available for his car. He was telling me about this one kit and I tried to google it and I discovered the incestrious love child of a CB-chassis Accord and BB4 Prelude…
Fuckin thing looks like a 4-door Prelude! Whaaaaat…Designers at Honda must have gotten lazy when they decided to make this CC7-chassis Accord. This is the UK-version apparently and is dubbed the Honda “Accord Saloon” or something but in Japan, they are the Honda Ascot Innova (Fancy ass name!). The only difference between the two I think is in the window pillar area. The Japanese one had different framed windows from the Saloon model….
The rear looks even more strange. Taillights look like stretched out 4-door Civic Ferio tails…and everything from the bumpers down look almost exactly like a CB-bodied Accord. I’m pretty sure they used the CB as the base because everything about it, particularly the time frame in which it was built, relates to what our 90-93 Accord would be…
It’s weird to see the older Japan/Europe exclusive Hondas…It almost makes you understand why most of them didn’t make it over here, because they look awkward as hell. Like the Orthia wagons, other model Ascots, and the new Civic Type R hatchbacks…ehhh, weird…then they had that partnership with Rover where they were making Rover 400s and 600s and whatever the fuck. It’s just confusing trying to keep up with all the other models they have over there. Americans are simple people, haha. Just give us one of each, not like one that looks like the other one or some Accord/Prelude merged cousin or some shit…
Here’s some more info on the Ascot Innova if you guys are interested, direct from the bringer of all knowledge (True or not), Wikipedia… *Click on the links only if you enjoy mass confusion and Geena Davis* I’m not a fan of either… =P
Launched on March 5, 1992, the (Japanese: Ascot Innova) was also based on the CB Accord underpinnings, but was given an all-new, modern-looking and rounded body, with styling similar to the Honda Prelude BB4 series (1992-1996). The Innova retained the original Ascot’s six-light greenhouse layout and horizontal taillights, as well as long, sleek and low body proportions (as opposed to the second-generation Ascot’s upright stance and more Accord CF-like rear end). The Innova was fitted with frameless side glazing to provide for the “pillared hardtop” look, thus being Honda’s answer to cars like the Toyota Carina ED/Toyota Carina EXiV, Nissan Bluebird ARX and Mitsubishi Emeraude.
The Ascot Innova was available in two four-cylinder engine choices: the 2.0-litre F20A unit, producing 135 PS in the less expensive 2.0iC and 2.0i versions, and 150 in the 2.0Si trim, and the H-series 2.3-litre H23A engine fitted in the export versions of the Prelude, producing 165 HP (the 2.3-litre versions were designated 2.3Si-Z). Interestingly, while the 2.0-litre versions maintained the 1695 mm width which allowed them to remain in the favorable tax class, the 2.3-litre Innovas were 1710 mm wide, as the engine displacement didn’t allow them to remain in the lower tax band anyway.
A 4-wheel steering system like the one in the Prelude was made available for the 2.0i, 2.0Si and 2.3Si-Z versions. Apart from the cheapest 2.0iC version, which came with a 5-speed manual transmission, all Ascot Innovas came with a 4-speed automatic. The Ascot Innova range started at ¥1,558,000 for the 2.0iC in the Tokyo sales area, while the most expensive 2.3Si-Z fetched ¥2,992,000 in Sapporo area, not including extra charges for options such as 4-wheel steering, moonroof, passenger airbag or ABS. The television advertising campaign was built around the slogan “Hardtop Innovation” and featured the American actress Geena Davis.
The Innova itself remained a JDM-only model, and a Honda Primo exclusive, with no JDM sister cars, but it spawned a very closely related European derivative, which was made in Swindon, UK and marketed in Europe as Honda Accord saloon in lieu of the Accord sedans sold in most other markets. The European Accord and the Ascot Innova differ only slightly, with the Accord being wider and featuring framed windows.
The European Accord was in turn the base for the Rover 600 saloon, developed under Honda’s long-standing relationship with the British Rover Group. The Rover 600 and the Swindon Accord also shared two engine options not available for the Ascot Innova – Honda’s F18A 1.8-litre unit and Rover’s 2.0-litre L-series turbodiesel. The Ascot Innova remained in production until 1996, while the European Accord saloon continued until 1998, when it was replaced with an all-new model.”
Imagine if one of these was done up with like a K20a or something…
A close look at some rare rides…
Damn, there is just so much win in this old ass copy of Best Motoring Vol. 4. You guys saw the Battles at 10,000RPM with the likes of the SS Works CR-X and Esprit NSX but here is a few quickies that were also included in that DVD. The first one is about the JUN Prelude that us Americans never really got to see in action and I must say, this thing fuckin hauls ass…oh man. It’s funny because the whole time all they did was talk about how unpopular the Prelude was in Japan and they were shocked by how well it performed…You gotta see it to believe it. I’m sure a lot of you have because this video is so old but for those who have never seen or heard of it, please take a look…
The second is pretty sick…Didn’t even notice that this car was in the DVD the first time I watched it back in the day. First impression is that it’s not a Honda but it’s got the heart of an S2000. Pretty interesting video if you’ve never had a chance to see how an F20-swapped AE86 performs…
Don’t mind the weird intros, that’s just how the Japanese roll…haha…Good thing I have the technology to show you these videos now. Back then when I was watching this, my computer was slow as shit and a 3 minute video would take me probably 25 minutes to watch. Alright, I’ll let you guys get to watchin’….
Video time…
I’m out and about this weekend spending time with my family for Father’s Day but I thought I’d drop this video off here to you guys who happened to jump on here to check out The Chronicles. I recently had the pleasure of writing a feature on one of these Hondas for HT and I looked to this old video for some inspiration and to get a true feel for how this car performs. You’ll have to wait and see which car it is but it’s truly a legend among the entire world spectrum of the Honda community even though not much is known about it. This is a great video though and it shows you that even though it’s about 4-5 years or so later, these cars are still very current and kick ass. It’s “Best Motoring International Vol. 4: Roaring VTEC, The Battles at 10,000 RPM”…Enjoy. Turn up the volume and embrace the sweet sound of pure Honda performance…
Championship Edition…
Wow, well what can I say…the Lakers did it again. It wasn’t the prettiest game in the world or even in a way they would have preferred to win it in but they pulled it off. All the credit goes to Ron Artest and Derek Fisher for keeping them in the game when it counted. While I can’t say I’m the biggest Laker fan in the world, I’m a fan of the game and I kinda told myself I would do this if the Lakers did somehow pull it off and win another ring…
So for a short time only, I will be making a limited run of “Championship Edition” Chronicles stickers in Purple Chrome on Gold Chrome…they’re gonna look pretty crazy and the first time doing double chrome layers of any sticker. If you guys are at all interested, place your orders now because when they’re gone….they’re gone…
I might even do a limited run of the HellaSUNK Version II sticker in the same color combo depending on how much interest there is for it…
CR-Z news…
While I’m busy writing a feature on one of the greatest CR-Xs every built, I thought I’d pass along some tidbits to you guys regarding the new CR-Z. I was randomly talking to Rodrez online early and he mentioned he saw pictures of the C-West CR-Z aero kit. He didn’t show me anything but I decided to go on a search for some pics of it that weren’t artistic renderings and sure enough, I found it….
Looks good, the front kinda reminds me of something Audi-ish but it flows well. Definitely adds a bit of style to the CR-Z, which apparently is very popular with older people. I’m sure they created this car with the intent of it being the next generation “green” sport compact for the new generation but much like the current crop of die-hard CR-X guys, the owners are older men. Nothing says “I’m moving on in my journey through life” than by surprising your girlfriend by selling your CR-X and getting…a…ummm…new CR-X…errr…Z…
Haha, I guess it’s understandable. People are generally nostalgic and when you create a car that’s a newer version of what is definitely a placemarker in the history of Honda automobiles, you would expect them to generate the interest of guys who were around when CR-Xs were new. Maybe when they hit U.S. shores the younger generation will take a liking to them but from this article in Best Car magazine, so far, it would seem to show otherwise…
We have received word in Japan on how popular the Honda CR-Z is proving to be with older people, the latest sales figures moving the goal posts for would be “sports car buyers” again, this time into a much older age category than is normally the case and all the manufacturers are climbing over each other to get a slice of the “Hybrid-pie”…
Traditionally, new sports cars are the domain of the guy in his 20’s to 30’s. Not any more. The CR-Z is the first of a potentially long line of cars to appeal to older buyers in their 40’s and over. All of them sporting something Hybrid.
Older buyers are taking to the “Hybrid Sports” concept, and specifically the Honda CR-Z like it was 70% off at IKEA, with a strength in sales even Honda hadn’t envisioned. Numbers speak of sales at more than 10 times the previous estimations that were made by the Japanese company, indicating a massive surge in support toward the movement for “Green Sports Cars”.
Men in their 30’s make up the bulk of the CR-Z’s sales which is acceptable to the casual observer. The real shock comes from where the other chunk of buyers of the car are coming from and according to the figures, a whopping 35% of buyers are those over 40, marking out a real paradigm shift in the sports car mentality for the Japanese male. This obviously doesn’t answer the argument that the Japanese males Western counterparts may desire a car altogether completely different and are arguably a lot younger and hungrier for a traditional turbo charged inline 4 as opposed to “Hybrid” anything. A meager 15% of males in their 20’s who have purchased the CR-Z tell the story of how impotent the “sports car” is to young Japanese adults.
Obviously the people at Honda are not listening to any of this and are happy to just sell cars it seems.
The sports car market, in itself, is still in good shape, price, design and concept wise if based on the current climate and if the product is right, there is a chance that these cars will sell, and sell well. Why? Perhaps BP has an idea…
Right now, the Japanese market is poised to take on an onslaught of “Hybrid-Sports” vehicles, with each manufacturer keen to offer up its own take on the theme.
And yet, one question lingers and a new one is asked…
Does this signal the death of the “traditional” Japanese sports car as we know it and if so, is this what the manufacturers would have us accept as its replacement? The argument “for” the change, at least from the manufacturers of the technology, certainly says so.
It makes us wonder whether the riots in Thailand were over the direction Honda is taking with its Hybrid technology instead of over a pay dispute…
Words: Adam Zillin
Source: Best Car Magazine.
It could be totally possible that the new CR-Z is the “mid-life crisis” car for older men, who feel that by owning this car it would make them “hip” or “cool”. Or who knows, maybe it’s just a solid car that will become popular with everyone. I guess time will tell… From a style standpoint it’s a very cool car, but trying to convince the younger people to modify a hybrid?…Ehh…that’s a bit of a stretch…
Buy.This.Now…
It’s got the widebody Sorcery NSX we’ve all come to know and love, a J’s Racing equipped Civic hatch, an S2000 from our neighbors up in Canada, a gold EK with a Domani front and CC-dubs, and a shop feature on none-other than Wek’Sos Industries…what more can you ask for? Buy this shit already, it’s out now!
That is all.
Read.
Look at pictures.
Be stingy and don’t let your friends look at it. Tell them to get their own issue and to stop being cheap, it’s 6 whole dollars, come on…
Island Motorsports 15-year anniversary meet…
Whaaaaadupppp…Fuuuck, look at those crazy clouds…haha. It was another somewhat gloomy Saturday at Island Motorsports. They were celebrating their 15 year anniversary and I was celebrating Saturday so it worked out that we were both in the same place at the same time. I headed out there around 12:30 or so to check it out and it was like, ridiculously crowded (as expected) but the turnout was pretty good and definitely better than the last meet. Nothing really new in terms of cars. I just wanted to head out there and snap some pics and shoot the shit with the homies. It was a good time as usual and here are the pics. Picked up a new lens and decided to mess around with it at this meet so everything is crazy distorted with dramatic clouds. I promise you nobody was really posing like that on purpose, I kinda just walked up to them and bombarded them paparazzi style…enjoy…and happy 15 to Island…
Of course, the talk of the town was Tony and the Phaze2xDoods! NSX. His Honda Tuning feature is dropping this week (some places already have it on newstands) and we couldn’t wait to check it out. I kinda saw how the layout was gonna be a couple weeks ago at the Source Interlink offices but to see it actually all put together was really cool….
Ross already picked up a couple copies and they were sitting on the dash…
You should all be well acquianted with Matty’s xB by now…
Autofashion was in the house with some models that thought I was taking a picture of them…
I asked Freddie why he picked a model that possibly had a treasure trail and he thought deeply about it…
May and Big Mike were all smiles, even with the dramatic emo clouds looming…
Pics for Big Mike to whore on the interwebz…
A rare shot of his complete interior…
Jimmy brought out the Team Praxis Matrix. Gonna try to get some more shots of this thing soon so keep an eye out for that…
DPK*David showed up…
…along with DPK Carlos aka Mugen Boy. Haven’t seen him drive his hatch in ages…
David parked…
…and drank NOS energy drinks…
Then I spotted this wild newer body Civic…
…I fell down and took this…
…and also this picture of Big Steve’s LS…
Salem and Doug showed up…
…we talked for awhile about random shit…
…then Big Mike joined in…
Walked over to the Midnight Garage tent where Sara was painting people…
Stared at Goldmember’s xB for a little bit…
Said what’s up to Tony from It’s JDM Yo!!…
Looked at the new issue of Honda Tuning…
Tony got out of work and came by and posed with his cover…
…then DPK*David stole Ross’s copy of the mag so Tony could sign it…Salem also got a signed copy…why I don’t know…
Big Mike did the robot for us…
Then we saw this S2 roll up…
…I took some pics of it…
Tony worded some people up about Audis and shit…
Emerson pondered the meaning of life in the clouds…
May also took pics with her Canon S90 and if you guys want to see those, they’re gonna be up on The Chronicles Facebook page later today…
We all stood around Big Mike’s Prelude again…
Oh I almost forgot, Carlos had Gump bring his new S2000 CR out…
Jared showed up and wanted to be as symmeterical with his car as possible…
…so he GQ’d the shit out of his v-neck tee…
I recently just finished writing a feature on this 370Z…interesting build…
Another shot of Matty’s car…
Towards the end of the meet Big Mike had to put his hood back on…
So all 40 of us jumped in to help…
David drank more soda…
Freddie bought food from the sketchiest looking cart ever..
That is all…we cleaned up and then went to eat like usual and went our separate ways…thanks for looking…
Healing…
So Ross gave me a call yesterday and wanted to show me some stuff at the old shop spot so I headed out after midnight to see what was going on. I had to pick up Tony’s AEM EMS that Ross eventually found in the rubble and I wanted to see what condition it was in. I wasn’t sure what it was gonna look like but hopefully it was still in working condition. Those things don’t come cheap you know, so if it was salvageable then all the better for Tony. The shot above was taken around 1am when I arrived. It was pitch black outside because the lights still weren’t working since the majority of the lines had burned down with that section of the building but I was able to capture what was left of the shop. Crazy to think that once so many late nights were spent here working on cars…
Here’s the inside. Most of the stuff has been cleared out and whatever is left is pretty much junk. Melted bumpers, tires, all kinds of shit. Ross had finally released the property back to the manager and cleared out whatever he wanted to keep, including Tony’s EMS…Kinda eerie that the sky shows up a burnt orange in the picture considering what had happened in here weeks ago…
And this is Tony’s EMS. I guess I’m gonna have to hit up Supertwinz John to see if he can test this thing and see if it’s still working. The outside is kinda beat up but still looks intact. Main concern would have to be water damage. It was in the main part of the shop that burned and most likely saw quite a bit of water. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. We’re just keeping our fingers crossed at this point…
Hmm…
Tried to put an update for you guys today but WordPress went through this new layout thing and did maintanence and what not and shit doesn’t work anymore. I can barely write this up without it being all bugged out and weird. Be back later today as soon as this shit starts working again…
Island Motorsports 15th Year Anniversary Celebration…
Gotdamn….15 years? Shit, that’s a long time…15 years ago I think I was still trying to hide my awkward random boners in middle school or something and these guys were already in business. I haven’t been out to an event in a while so I’m definitely gonna go check it out. The last meet at Island was a little slower than I expected but that was probably because of the weather that day. This one should be much bigger. They got vendors like 5Zigen, GReddy (whose been showing up to EVERYTHING lately), Mackin Industries, AEM, Torco, etc. etc. Sounds like it’s gonna be a big turnout judging by all the companies showing up. If you guys got nothing going on that day and just wanna get out to come chill, you should definitely cruise by. I’ll be out taking pictures and shit, you know the usual…Try to come out though, they probably got free shit to give away or something. Oh I think Freddy from Autofashion mentioned that he was coming out as well. Anyways, here’s some more information on it….
Sounds like fun right? They got discounts, live entertainment, cars, food, and even a little bit of “Don’t Miss Out” from what I can see on the flyer…cool shit. Be there. That is all.
Here’s the Ultimate Warrior to get you guys pumped up for the meet…
Dramatic “deep in thought” import model face included….
Supertwinz John’s Super Secret EA Civic Build….!!!Z!
Whoa….fruitiest picture EVERZ!!…
Anyways, I’m stupid busy working on Super Street stuff right now but I did squeeze in some time to update and to post the worst picture ever posted on The Chronicles. I don’t have much for you but during my random moments when I would stop doing work and run off and do random shit, I remembered to check up on Supertwinz John’ EA build. His brother told me about it awhile back and wanted me to post the build on here but John has so many pictures and text that he took time to write up himself, I didn’t think it would do it justice posting it over here. It’s a very intensive build that is not really posted anywhere except over at the ATS Garage forums but I’ll provide the link at the end of this for all of you guys to see. It’s definitely worth the look because it is one of those special builds that many of the hardcore Cali heads have been looking forward to for awhile now. Shit is bananas…b-a-n-a-n-a-s. There is a lot of super rare stuff being used and John definitely knows his stuff. I think you guys may know him as the guy that’s kind of an asshole on NWP but in person he’s a pretty nice dude. I met him at David’s birthday party and I honestly didn’t even know it was him until somebody told me…haha. His brother is “OldManJames” on NWP and he’s also got a couple of projects he’s working on currently including a Del Sol build-up that I know nothing about…hey at least I’m honest…ha. They also have that twin-thing so when one guy gets spotlighted on The Chronicles, the other one feels it too…alrighty…enough rambling. Look through the build, I promise you, it is worth a look. If you don’t think so then email me your address and I’ll mail you some of this extra “fuck off” that I have laying around…haha. Oh man, I need to sleep. Just playing guys, but really…take a look at it. Destroy ATS Garage’s bandwidth because they don’t get enough traffic anyway. I think if you register they have free porn too. That’s what I heard… Anh told me…yeah THAT Anh. PornANHgraphy…I can go on…but I won’t. Later people…time to get back to work…
They’re all the same…Just posted three as courtesy to the visually impaired…
We’re big in Japan…(literally)…
I’ve been meaning to post this for a couple weeks now but just never got around to it… So back during the month of Eibach, as you all know, Takeshi from Type_K Autosource in Japan came out to pay us a visit. He’s a big fan of the U.S. Honda community and makes the trek annually so this time around, I made it a point to actually meet up with him and hang out. The last time I ran into him was at Wek’Fest and it was very briefly outside of a supermarket. He’s picked up a bunch of Chronicles merchandise in the past so I really wanted to show him around a bit out here in Socal. He was also staying not too far away so it was very convenient to meet up. After Eibach, he stayed an extra week couple days or so because he usually stays out here for 2+weeks just in case he ends up purchasing a vehicle to bring back with him. All the paperwork and customs B.S. takes time so he had to leave the adequate amount of days just in case. Well he didn’t find the Civic he was looking for but he wanted to pick up some extra Chronicles stuff before he flew back so I met up with him at Midnight Garage. He seemed pretty happy to be over there to check things out, especially the Scions and whatever else was there. This was before Midnight Garage burned down so in hindsight, I’m almost glad that we met up there so he could see the place. When I showed up he was already there walking around snapping pictures and after delivering the merchandise, he gave me a big bag of japanese cookies and snacks that he brought over to give someone else. That dude unfortunately couldn’t meet up in time so I ended up getting the goodies. It was a bunch of like mini cookies, japanese crackers, and what looked like mini Pringles chips. Shit was good, I still have some here actually.
So anyway, what he did intend to give me when we met up was a Japanese magazine that he did some work in. He knows I work in the magazine industry and he even mentioned that he has a subscription to Honda Tuning; and they send it to him all the way in Japan. Pretty cool…Well this magazine he gave me was largely retro/restored and modified Japanese vans and vehicles similar to that but it also contained some Wek’Fest coverage that he had done while he was out here. I had no idea he even knew Ryan/Rywire but Takeshi actually flew out to Norcal and stayed at Ryan’s house! How that connection worked out I’ll never know because I never asked but he documented his trip in this Japanese mag and it was cool to see it…
It’s not an Option mag or anything I’m really familiar with so the cover kinda threw me off when he handed it to me…
…much to my surprise, he opened it up and showed me this full spread he did on Wek’Fest…
It had shots of cars that we’re all familiar with. The first couple pages had Phaze2 Arnel, Rywire, Anh, and Danny…Arnel is even mentioned as “Offset King”…haha…
Super Street cover boy, Anh Truong getting love in Japan…
The bottom portion of the page had DPK*David and his name is even printed…Look David you finally got into a mag!! Haha…
The next pages had even more pics…
Big Mike of course…
Chris Sakai and his Rando kit getting a mention…
I turned the page and there was even MORE coverage. The last page showed some of Takeshi’s adventures with Ryan and some of the Dumpedstars guys…
I kinda wish I knew what it all said because I’m sure it’s interesting, but my Japanese is pretty rough. By “pretty rough” I mean “I don’t understand shit”. It’s cool to look at the snaps though. They ended up with better coverage than what I had. Pretty cool to see cars that we’re all familiar with in a overseas magazine though, just shows how much of an impact the Honda community over here is making worldwide. If you guys think that what you do isn’t recognized or noticed…well just by looking at stuff like this, it’s very apparent that Hondas are still a force everywhere in the world.
I actually asked Takeshi why he and his friends/customers liked the U.S. Honda scene so much and why they read the Chronicles… his response….
“…because you guys make Hondas cool…”
Enough said.
Quick hits…
Sorry guys for the lack of updates…seeing as how great the last two updates were at the beginning of the week, I decided to let them linger for a couple more days like dirty dishes…haha. In all seriousness though, I’ve been busy working on some new features for Super Street so I’ve been kinda out of the loop. Plus I finally managed to finish reorganzing my room and it actually looks half way decent like a real office now but with porn, and toys, and old food I stopped eating, and fuckin cat hair EVERYWHERE. I’ll have something for you guys tomorrow, I swear. Today I’m just gonna give you guys a consolidated update of what’s been going on lately and what’s to come…
1 – Hellaflush 5 is today (Saturday) as I’m sure you all know by now. Those of you who haven’t heard about it probably aren’t going anyway or have little or no knowledge of where it’s taking place. They have a website of course so you should all check that out. I think it starts pretty early so make sure you guys go out there at a decent time as I’m sure it’ll be packed with people and jacked-up HeyMikeyyyy fenders… www.hellaflush.com
2 – Nisei Import Showoff 2010 is only a couple months away and I’m proud to announce that I am working together with Ken Myoshi to bring you guys “The Chronicles Top Ten Featured” spotlight area. I’ll have my own section where I will display some of the Top Ten Hondas from the past as well as a sneak peek of a couple cars that will undoubtbly make this year’s list. I’m pretty excited about this and I’m gonna do my best to bring out some surprises and some new goods for you guys. Maybe I’ll throw in a couple special appearances in there, who knows?….
3 – Import Alliance is fast approaching…I wanna say like maybe 40 days left? We’re gonna figure everything out ASAP as far as travel plans go and as of now, we are definitely looking forward to being there to experience that with all of you guys. I’ve been so busy trying to catch up on work that I’ve neglected to keep the lines of communication open between me and the IA staff but I will definitely be speaking to them shortly. I know this kinda fell by the way side and I haven’t talked about it much but I am definitely excited to get out to Nashville for this event…
4 – Gonna try to get some new storefront items up for you guys. If you are on Facebook and follow The Chronicles on there, then you will have probably noticed a preview of the new “HellaSUNK” sticker. I’m still trying to figure out all the color combination possibilities but those will be going up shortly. Oh and if you guys are still interested in picking up some Chronicles tees, make sure to get them soom. I have limited quantity left….all the larges for both black and white shirts are gone but the rest I still have available. For you guys who are struggling with finances, hey, we all are! Hit me up if you want to negotiate some kind of deal. I’ll bargain with you guys. No trades though, tired of people fucking trying to trade me their electric guitar for shit. Fuck man, why’d you buy that shit in the first place? Girls don’t even like that shit, they like the regular OG guitars…
Exclusive Content…A first look at the upcoming issue of Honda Tuning…
Today we’re gonna take a first glance at the new issue of Honda Tuning. Of course you have all heard about this from me already and it’s a significant issue for me and the rest of the Phaze2 guys because one of our very own, Tony Khamly, will grace the cover. You have all seen the NSX out and about at events for the last year or so and it’s definitely deserving of all it’s praise. It is also very special to us since this NSX was the labor of love/love child of Tony and Ross at Midnight Garage. Ross put this car together with Tony and did all the paint and bodywork on it. Now that Midnight Garage is gone, it’s good that we still have this NSX to remember all the good times we had over there. I have so many great memories with this car, from putting Tony putting on the supercharger and then driving to Norcal immediately after, all the awards and accolades it has received at shows, and just cruising around alongside it. It has become a staple in the Socal Honda community and we all couldn’t be happier to see finally immortalized in print. I had a chance to see the layout of the issue a couple weeks ago at the Source Interlink office and it looks amazing, so I can’t wait for you all to see it. Until it hits the newstands in a week or so, Rodrez has been kind enough to pass these images onto me to show all of you. It’s just a quick teaser of what’s to come…thanks for looking and make sure to grab the issue when it comes out!…Support Hondas, support magazines, and support Phaze2 and The Chronicles!!
You know the routine…click on the link below each pic for the larger version…
The clouds are real!
Exclusive Content…The unused Bisimoto Super Street shots…
It’s nice to take a long weekend off from everything and just spend time with friends and family…With all this bad news lately, it’s good to get away for a bit but now we’re back in business….Thanks to everyone for their concern in regards to Ross and Midnight Garage. He appreciates all your kind words and thoughts. I’ll let you guys know when I hear anything new on his situation…
Alright, so back to regular Honda stuff. As you all know, the Super Street Honda issue hits the newstands this month and most places have probably had many copies sold out. It looks like it’s a hit and people are running around everywhere looking for them. If you haven’t found your copy yet, keep looking. I have seen them pop up on a bunch of spots in my area so I’m pretty sure it should be readily available to everyone. For some reason the 7-11 in by my place seems to get mags last, especially since I think the guys there are too lazy to ever rotate to the newest issues, so when I see them at this 7-11, it’s gotta be everywhere.
This issue is not only special to me because I had to pleasure of writing the double cover feature and tell their stories to all of you, but I also wrote and shot my very first feature for Super Street. I didn’t really expect them to ask me to shoot anything but when the opportunity came up, I thought it would be a good time to take on that challenge. I guess I’m my own biggest critic so I wasn’t very sure on how it came out but after looking at it a couple times, I think I’m happy with it. Everyone that has seen it tells me that it looks good so I’m happy about that. I’m already in the process of editing my next feature for SS and I think I’ve learned quite a bit since shooting Bisi’s Civic…
I absolutely love Bisi’s wagon and I feel honored to have been able to shoot it. Bisi Ezerioha is a good guy and very knowledgeable. It was cool to actually see this thing in person and capture all the little details in the build. These are the shots that weren’t used by Super Street and you’ll only see them here on The Chronicles. Enjoy…same set-up as usual, click on the link below each picture for a larger image…
