Gonna go ahead and take things out of sequence with this 2012 VIP Festival coverage. Originally I had planned to dive right into the SEMA 2012 stuff but there are just so many photos to go through still that it would just be easier to knock out the VIP Festival stuff first. I would have liked to have gone in order of how things actually went the last two weeks but the SEMA stuff is just crazy. The VIP Festival was really great as well but I think by Sunday I was just totally burnt out. I would have liked to have stayed from the start of the event until the end to really get everything there but I was just really tired from doing so much coverage that entire week in Vegas. Congrats to Freddie Fernandez and the Autofashion crew for pulling off such a great event. Autofashion has been a mainstay in the U.S. VIP community long before it became as popular as it is now and the continued success of this event shows how much respect everyone has for Freddie and his staff. Autofashion has laid the groundwork for how VIP should be executed here in America and you would be hard pressed to find anyone that doesn’t associate Autofashion with the U.S. VIP scene. I’ve known Freddie for what seems like ages now and I was even hanging out with these guys before I picked up a VIP platform myself to build so I always make sure to try and come out to support his event, no matter how tired or worn out I am. I appreciate everything that Freddie has done over the years and I am also very appreciative of how much he has supported The Chronicles over the years. He always makes the trip out for my anniversary meets to hang out and supply the music for the event, even when he has to leave to Vegas right after to head to SEMA for set-up. I’m proud of what Autofashion has accomplished and Freddie, Elroy, Kevin, and the rest of the guys are genuinely down to Earth people. We don’t always have the time to chill but when we do it’s usually good times…

Below are some photos from VIP Festival 2012, which took place in San Diego, CA the Sunday after SEMA 2012 week. I know there seems to be an over abundance of photos lately to catch-up on and if you managed to have missed-out on my coverage of my own Year.IV event, I’ve attached links below to take you to each post. I could just have the home page display like 4-5 posts at once showing you guys everything but honestly, there is so much content that it would take forever for everything to load so I’ve divided each post into individual pages so you guys can navigate the site at somewhat decent download speeds. I’m still in the process of finishing up the photos for this event but I’m pretty sure it will just be two parts. With Part 1 going up today, the second half will follow Friday and then we will finally be able to get into a bulk of the SEMA 2012 coverage beginning of next week… Thanks for looking and trying to keep up with everywhere I’ve been going. I know the VIP stuff isn’t what you’re used to seeing here but those of  you who follow the site regularly know by now that I am a car guy and cover a very broad spectrum of cars. VIP builds are one of my personal favorites and probably right up there with my love for Hondas. That’s why I have a Infiniti myself that I’ve been working on the last couple of years. In any case, if you only come here to see Honda stuff, prepare to be disappointed because there is virtually zero Honda content from SEMA 2012, haha… Stick around if you love a variety of car shit, if not, I don’t know what to tell you…Go find another Honda blog, there’s gotta be one that has stuck around somewhere….

If you missed my Year.IV Coverage, here are the links below to take you to each of the three parts…

Year.IV Anniversary Meet Coverage…Part 1…

Year.IV Anniversary Meet Coverage…Part 2…

Year.IV Anniversary Meet Coverage…Part 3…

What’s always interesting about the VIP Festival is that it is never limited to just strictly VIP stuff. Autofashion has developed quite a following over time and a lot of the friends of Freddie aren’t all enthusiasts who own VIP projects. You’ll see below that the VIP Festival offers a pretty diverse range of vehicles…

The great thing about the 2012 edition of Autofashion’s VIP Festival is that there was an obvious absence of rain. Last year, it poured down hard the entire day. While it made for some really cool, dramatic photos, the lack of rain made it easier for everyone to walk around to actually look at the cars. The turn-out was massive and undoubtedly the best that the VIP Festival has ever experienced…

One of my favorite VIP builds of 2012 is this LS430 from Squad One. The car itself looks great but what I love about it the most is the back story on how the car was put together. The kit is completely custom made by hand, and the interior and paint were all done at home without the help of any professional body shop or upholstery company….

John Liwanag is one of the original enthusiasts who helped popularize Japanese VIP style here in America. He was the first guy to bring Junction Produce over here to the states and also the founder of vipstylecars.com. This is his Junction Produce GS400 from Norcal…

Speaking of Junction Produce, here is a full JP-equipped Toyota Previa…

Another complete Junction Produce build is this Lexus LS460, owned and assembled by Ken from Wek’Sos/Wekfest…

Also making the trip down from Norcal to Vegas to San Diego was Adam Luong and his BMW from Wek’Sos Industries…

The Unicorn transported from the mystical waters of Lake Minnetonka to make an appearance at VIP Festival 2012 on black-faced Work Meister S1s…

Jin from Kyoei USA made the trek from Arizona to display his LS400 build. Absolutely love this LS but I have to admit that I preferred his previous wheel set-up…

The hood is closed in this shot but this 2GS from Kyoei USA features a 2JZ-GTE engine swap…

Tony aka “Blitz” brought out his K-Break Y33 Q45 on SSR Professor MS3s… Seeing this Q on these wheels is making me pretty excited about my own MS3s that have been on order for a couple of months now. I can’t wait to get them and get my car on the road again…

Seated behind the SSR MS3s are a set of gold Futura big brakes…

F50 Q45 slammed on WED’s Maverick 405S wheels….

LS400 from Liberty VIP on SSR Vienna dish…

I thought this G35 coupe looked pretty good on custom step-lipped Work Equip wheels…

Autofashion’s “Chicken Little” GS400 build posted up on the street….

First gen. Toyota Celica on classic SSR Longchamp XR4s…

Mercedes parked in an adjacent lot…

A couple of EF hatchbacks that you saw in my Year.IV coverage came out to support the VIP Festival…

The owner of this EF actually messaged me on Facebook letting me know that he and the other EFs were once the butt of one of my jokes back when I posted up a photo of their cars in last year’s Norm Reeves Honda Show coverage. They may not be recognizable now, but they were the cars in my Photoshopped “Racks on Racks on Racks” image. They took the joke in stride and I’m happy that their cars have progressed since then. I never meant any ill intent from the photos so I’m happy that they understood that it was all in good fun…

Y34 M45 from Liberty VIP with Autech aero and WED’s Maverick 210S wheels…Good color scheme going on with this build…

IS300 on HRE wheels rocking a rare HKS aero kit. Last time I saw this full kit was on my buddy Billy Shea’s old IS build…

Daniel Leung’s Subaru STi…

Junction Produce 1st generation Lexus GS…

Bagged DC5 RSX from Royal Flush on gold-faced Meisters…

FD3S RX-7 from Royal Flush on Enkei RPF1…

Ryan Delosreyes’ Scion xB also known as “Gumby”… Next to him is an xB wearing Rocket Bunny aero owned by Krist from Sticky Icons…

Noel Barnum’s Instafamous Scion FR-S build on Airrex suspension and VIP Modular wheels…

UCF30/31 Lexus LS430 on WED’s Kranze LXZs and Mode Parfume aero…

Next to the LS above was this stock body LS430 on WED’s Kranze Vishunus…

Another shot of Daniel Leung’s STi… I don’t know him personally but I felt like he was undressing me with his eyes in this shot…haha…

A better shot of the IS300 with HKS aero without all the shadows from the previous shot…One of the best looking aero kits for this chassis, in my opinion…

Another shot of the Squad One LS430 on Leon Hardiritt Ordens…

Interesting teal finish on these Work VS-XX/Brombachers on this VW Golf…

Lexus IS on SSR Professor SP1s…

Two of my favorite cars at VIP Festival weren’t even VIP-themed builds. This Datsun 510 and Hakosuka Skyline were highlights of the show…

Love how clean this 4-door 510 was…

Old school step-lipped Techno Phantom wheels…

Under the hood of the 510 was a Nissan SR20DET swap…

Skyline Mike’s Hakosuka…

….featuring a RB20DET swap…

Michael Johnson’s VIP-styled Acura TL, a car which you have seen plenty of on The Chronicles lately…

Drew aka “RITZY33” debuted his newly finished Y33 Q45 build at the 2012 VIP Festival…

His Q features a complete Version Select kit, custom front fenders, and VeilSide Andrews Racing F wheels…

Robert Chew from Falken Tire’s Toyota FJ Cruiser sporting 5 Mag Blue Volk TE37s…

Kevin from Autofashion’s Scion FR-S project…

Wek’Sos Josh’s Lexus IS on VIP Modular wheels…

Oscar aka Pancakes’ Aimgain Y33 Q45 with Airrunner suspension and Leon Hardiritt Bugels…

Phaze2 Mizzark’s VIP-styled BMW M5 on Leon Hardiritt Ordens…

Black-on-black Junction Produce LS430…

…with some baller Junction Produce big brakes…

Dennis Kiyan’s M45 featuring a complete Seraph (Huntington Cruise) aero kit and WED’s Kranze Magiss…

Jeremy Hancock’s VIP Honda Odyssey made the trip all the way from Texas for SEMA and the VIP Festival…

His engine bay was looking really good with the shave and tuck, as well as the complete H22A swap…

Great job on the interior of the Odyssey…

Lexus 2GS transported from Hawaii, representing Revision Audio, on Work Gnosis wheels….

Zenki S14 with Supermade Instant Gentleman aero and original Work Rezax wheels…

One of my favorite 510 builds of all-time that I first spotted a couple years ago at a Japanese Classic Car Show event…

Stopping Part 1 here for now with a couple shots of the Honda F20C-swapped Toyota Celica coupe from earlier… Thanks for looking and make sure to come back for part 2!…