Today we are going to take a special look back for Throwback Thursday. The last couple weeks, I’ve been taking you back a couple years to show you some photos I re-edited from 2009 but today, we are going to go WAY back….13 years to be exact, to take a look at some photos I took when I was just a kid at various car shows I attended. 1999 was a very different time… I had no cell phone, I had a spikey head of hair, and in ’99, I was still a junior in high school. I was already very interested in the import scene and the cars that were a part of it, and so I went to as many car shows as I could. Things were very different back then. You had to be a baller to have a digital camera TV shows like Dawson’s Creek and 90210 were still on the air. Everybody was worried about the whole Y2K scare and President Bill Clinton was busy getting in trouble for getting a blow job from Monica Lewinski. I was already driving by then but I didn’t have a Honda or anything to really modify. My buddy Jose and I would go to car shows and just take photos of whatever we saw and grabbed whatever free shit was being handed out. I guess I wasn’t too different back then, just a lot more naive. I carried a backpack like I do still today but instead of it being packed with camera gear, it was the same backpack I used for school and I used it to carry all the free stuff I would get at shows. Man, if I knew then what I know now, I would have tried to take better photos and more detailed shots of stuff. Back then there was no such thing as blogging and web car forums were limited to a handful or less…

Back in 1999, the bodykit era was just huge in the import community and headlight/taillights conversions were all the rage. People shelled out all kinds of money to do these conversions and though they may be totally ugly and gaudy by today’s standards, that was the trend that was pushing the industry. “JDM” was not a household name yet and there were very few people that had full-on Japanese-spec builds. If they did only a small group of people would recognize the parts that these people had. The show scene was all about being flashy and doing what you could to stand out. The more wilder the conversion, the better. There was no flood of knock-off parts either. Nobody had fake garbage wheels and faux-JDM parts because there was no such thing as a mainstream “JDM” scene. People did whatever they could to acquire quality products and though you will see all kinds of crazy body kits in the photos to come, make note of what wheels these cars were on. Even with the crazy body modifications, basically everybody had real wheels and parts. The closest thing we had to anything that was a replica, knock-off wheel came from Axis and Konig. Thinking back now, I would still take the ridiculously over-the-top body kit era over any of the garbage you see today. Sticker-bombing cars, fake parts, and unused bike racks are a bane to the import community. At least back then people used creativity to stand out and didn’t take short-cuts to make themselves “cool” and subsequently call everyone “haters” if they didn’t agree or called people out for the short-cuts they took to be the next bandwagon trend hopper. The scene was very different back then but that is what people had to work with. They made the most of it and created whatever else didn’t exist then. Now you have an endless variety of options and the enthusiasts of the past have paved a road for the future generations. A lot of people spend more time trying to justify why they rock fake shit these days instead of spending their time building their cars. “I don’t have the money to afford baller stuff” wasn’t an excuse either. There were a majority of people that couldn’t afford shit back then either but they grinded and hustled and did whatever they could to build their idea of a dream car.

I personally am happy that I was able to see all the stuff from back in the day and see how much we as a community have progressed throughout the years. Things are WAY different now and are moving at such a fast pace that major innovations are coming almost every year. Even so, it is cool to take a trip down memory lane to see how things were back then. If you are still new to all of this and are relatively young, check these photos out of some of the cars that paved the way to what you know now as “the import scene”…. Thinking about how things were a decade ago, it is really remarkable to see how quickly the community shifted when the whole “JDM” craze took over. There are a couple cars in these photos that would still be relevant by today’s standards but mostly these cars were specific to that time period. If you think these cars were ridiculous back then, just imagine five years or so from now when you look back and think about how stupid all these overly stanced-out cars look. Yes, if you haven’t noticed, wheel fitment and stance this and that are the new “bodykit era”. People doing whatever it takes to stand out in the crowd, going way overboard with their builds, all the while not realizing that they are just hopping into an overly-crowded bandwagon. Sound familiar? In the group of photos you will look at 5-10 years from now, on a Throwback Thursday in the future, you will see a collection of cars that were way over done and a select few that are just timeless. Again, does that sound familiar to you? I am not “hating” by any means. Like the body kit, head/tail light conversion era, I embraced it, just as I have embraced the current style of modification. I don’t agree with all of it now but I didn’t agree with everything back then either, you just have to have a good understanding of what people were thinking and what they set out to do. There was no “rice” back then but you would consider what you see today possibly as “rice” or uncool by current standards. Hella-stanced-out cars, fitment this and that, are not considered “rice” or uncool by today’s standards.  How you will look at the current state of things when you think back in the future….well…Let’s just say that history has a way of repeating itself…As long as you can look back and laugh at yourself like these car guys from the past do now, you can do no wrong…

I just love cars. With over a decade and a half of being apart of this wonderful community, I can honestly say that I have seen and learned quite a bit. Do whatever makes you happy to your car. This is your world, I’m just here to document whatever I can and be a witness to your lives…

The photos are mixed-up but are mostly from old car shows that I attended back in San Diego, CA. These shows include Import Showoff 1999, 2000-’01, as well as Hot Import Nights 2000, and two Extreme Autofest events back when they were still import shows. I have a lot more photos but they are dark and they just don’t come out correctly when scanned. These were all shot on my mom’s old camera and shot completely on 35mm film. I had to take these to a local VONS supermarket by my highschool and have them developed. It wasn’t fast either. I had to drop them off in the morning and then pick them up after school. It took quite a bit of time to scan these too and I did whatever I could to bring out more detail in the photos. With that said, let’s get started…enjoy and look at these photos knowing that things were different back then and not representative of the Honda/import community now in 2012. This was 13 years ago, some of you reading this site probably hadn’t even hit puberty yet, haha….

This car was important to me back then and now because it was the first R34 Skyline that I had ever seen in person. The only thing even remotely close to a Skyline back then were the lights that people were molding into their cars. This is the original Blitz R348 Skyline that was sent over to the states to compete in the Nevada Silver State Challenge. The goal was to hit a record top speed but it failed to do it that year because it ran out of gas… Pretty amazing car for its time and still one of my favorite builds ever… Additionally, Blitz Technospeed Z1 wheels will always be a favorite of mine, even though they weighed like 18-20 pounds each…

I didn’t really know much back then so I didn’t even know what I was looking at other than the fact that it was an R34 Skyline GTR… Make note of the time stamps in these photos because they are all correct. I shot these photos with a crappy camera back in October of 1999….

I used to always see this Civic coupe at shows in my area… He was from a crew known then as “Powerban” and would always park next to that pink Integra in the background… This baby blue coupe was on Racing Hart C5 Evos…

The pink Integra that was with him was owned and built by his girlfriend. I don’t know them personally so I don’t know if they ended up together but back then, they were always parked side by side. I don’t know what kits these were back then because they weren’t used as often as other fiberglass kits. Knowing them they modified them in some way to make them different. Note the Supra headlight conversion and the Volk Racing TE37s….

Signal Auto’s chop-top EK Civic drag car…. This thing was nuts for its time and something that no one had seen before. Signal Auto was still a fairly new name in the U.S. as well. I don’t think they made their way over to America yet where they later opened up a U.S. division. All Signal had back then was this Civic and a very, very fast Skyline drag car. Drifting wouldn’t hit the U.S. for a couple more years so they were known mostly for their drag racing stuff. If I remember correctly, this Civic later had a NSX engine swap as well…

DPK David’s coupe back in 1999…haha, just kidding. If it was it would probably look something like this I am sure… “Goldcrest Autobody” as seen on his windshield was a huge shop at that time that was known for doing wild conversions. They later painted both my cars…. Peep the Volk III wheels on the white coupe in the back..

Does anyone remember Alley Baggett? She was Miss Import Showoff back in ’99 and I remember looking at her old Playboy photos online at night on my crappy dial-up internet connection on my 486DX2 IBM computer… It would take like 5 minutes just to load up a full size nude shot of her and if anyone decided to pick up the telephone, the photo and your internet connection would cut-off… I was all about Alley Bagget back then and she was one of the hottest females I had ever seen… sadly, she didn’t do much after that and is still doing internet modeling today….

How about a shot of Francine Dee back in 1999? She hasn’t really changed much over time and her tittys will never have the ability to sag so we are good…haha…She is still doing her thing as well and having stared at her meat flaps over time, I can tell you that her vag has gone from Flame Broiler, to Yoshinoya, and now to a #1 super bowl at your favorite Vietnamese Pho spot…..No matter what though, Francine Dee will always be a staple in the fabric of our import community and I will always be a huge fan of her and her wizard sleeves. I still remember the days when she had no implants and was rocking the blond hair… I may or may not have fapped to her so many times in my youth that my penis is on some grandfather plan, haha…

Does anyone remember Speed Options and International Allstars? Haha, back in those days, if you had a Speedoptions banner on your car and it was photographed, you would get paid for it… If you remember Speed Options, then you probably remember Rowena Galam and Jynki Cruz… I don’t remember the name of the girl in the middle…. Random but I think Rowena Galam is a dentist or orthodontist these days…

This was shot earlier that year at an Extreme Autofest event, but as I said before, headlight conversions were all the rage…this was an Integra from 935 Wiked Draggers with an Eclipse headlight conversion…Turbo B-series too, as were many of the show cars back then…

This coupe was from Team Techna and had shaved moldings, molded-in sideskirts and an Accord headlight conversion…that wing on this coupe was a “DTM-style” rear wing that was also very popular…

Tucked bays are a standard nowadays but what about back in ’99?….

FD RX-7 from Team Bosozoku with a VeilSide Combat kit…

Random unfinished cars would occasionally show at Import Showoff then, because these shows only came around once a year… This DA Integra had a R33 Skyline taillight conversion that hadn’t been completed yet…

I remember seeing a lot more Accords at shows back then as well…This one had a R33 Skyline front end conversion that honestly didn’t look half bad…Check out the “WWF Attitude” graphics on the car in the back, haha…

Stephan Papadakis’ legendary AEM H22-powered Civic drag car in the Import Showoff booth…

Right hand drive Prelude INX on Racing Hart C5s, chameleon paint, and a retro-fitted DC2 Integra Type R front bumper….

RJ de Vera’s mom was a huge hit in the import community back then because she drove this turbocharged Honda Odyssey…

All kinds of stuff was done to this Civic coupe that I spotted at Hot Import Nights in 2000… Notable stuff is the Saleen style wing, Acura CL headlight conversion, MR-2 taillight conversion, MR-2 sidevents, shaved moldings, door handles, and Racing Hart C2 Evos…Also had orange and grey two-toned vinyl interior… I think this thing ended up on the cover of an issue of Import Tuner later that year as well…

This BB6 Prelude was the flagship vehicle of Team Techna back in 2000… You probably know the owner of this car now because I believe he is one of the head guys over at Auto Explosion, a body shop here in LA that is still in business today… I couldn’t even name all the things that this car had on it. The amount of bodywork was just insane… He later painted this car yellow and then showed it for a couple more years before selling it…

Elaborate show displays were a standard back then and often rivaled the stuff you would see at Lowrider shows…

Widebody CR-X on Axis Touring Cup wheels and an Integra front end… When was the last time you saw a pair of Momo Corse reclinable seats?…

You won’t see too many first generation Acura CLs these days because enthusiasts in 99-2000 were too busy robbing them of their headlights for conversions. CL headlight swaps were crazy popular then and were referred to as the “Cali Type R” conversions on Integras. Here you see a pretty clean CR-X on OG Racing Hart C2s and a CL headlight conversion…

A couple of young ladies (who are probably moms now in their early 30s) posing in front of a Civic from 935 Wiked Draggers. This one had Feel’s style fenders and a front bumper from a company known as Street Weapon. Strange now to think back because these bumpers were called Street Weapon “Drift” bumpers and drifting hadn’t even hit the U.S. yet… Happy early Mother’s Day to the two ladies up top, haha… Shit, maybe they were already mothers back then…

If there is one thing that is completely different about car shows back then and now is that shows then still had a very “underground” feel to them. There weren’t very many corporate sponsors, if at all, and you had a lot more freedom to do things without worrying about rules and regulations. These days, police presence is heavy at car shows and show promoters are very weary of what they can do at shows because they have to follow strict rules. Nudity is something you will never see in a bikini contest or whatever today, unless it happened by accident. We call them “wardrobe malfunctions” now but back in those days, we just called it “getting naked”…haha. Below are some NWS images of some females from a bikini contest at Extreme Autofest 2000. If you can’t view them, I would suggest scrolling 4-5 images down to get back to the car coverage. These photos are so old now that you probably wouldn’t get in trouble for looking at them, they are just moments in history now….

Today’s car show bikini/”hot body” contests are a lot like this… Girls with clothes on with a little bit of cheek showing… Tame but safe, cops wouldn’t be all over your ass about getting naked because you weren’t doing anything crazy…

Bikini contests back then, were more like this…

…and also like this…

Girls did whatever it took to win back then… fuck a bikini contest, they just wanted some good old fashion attention… Look at the dude’s face holding the video camera, haha…

You didn’t have to worry about offending families and old people or kids because they weren’t present. The demographic wasn’t as wide spread and commercialized as it is now… If you popped a titty out these days, you would get a hefty fine. Back then, showing a titty or two was just fine….haha…

Imagine if somebody knew this chick now and saw her in these photos…haha… if you are in this photo and you are also now a mother, happy early mother’s day. You are a vital part of car show history… You can now officially look back with regret..

Those two girls thought they were going to win by showing their titties…

…and then the white lady comes in and starts doing this type of stuff… Eating her own titty milk and shit… Grand prize was like $500 or something so girls went to work to try and win…

At age 18, these were like, the best titties I had ever seen then..haha… I should also remind you that these were shot on film so a VONS supermarket employee had to develop these. Imagine going through photos and seeing something like this…haha…oh man… I don’t remember who won this but there was also a girl that was doing the splits in a g-string and shit and all kinds of stuff was showing…

Anyways, back to the cars…

This turbocharged Mugen-everything Integra was WAY ahead of its time… Art-n-Motion was the crew to beat back then and they had a bunch of really amazing builds like this. I didn’t know too much about Mugen stuff back in 2000 so I took builds like this for granted. I look at it now wishing I had known better and I would have studied this car inside and out…

Another look at the Supra-headlighted Integra from Powerban… this was taken a year or so later I believe. Fucking car was on clouds and shit with a diamond structure around it…

I remember around 2000-2001 being a time when the Buddy Club front bumper just took over car shows. Every car had it and it didn’t even have to be a Honda. People would just take the bumpers and make them fit onto their cars. This was a pretty clean example with some 5Zigen 5ZR Copse wheels…. I remember I almost bought a set of these a couple years later because I worked with a guy who was friends with someone who worked at the company that was distributing 5Zigen stuff. The company was called ATK or something. The dude would just back door the wheels and make all kinds of money off of it. That’s probably one of the reasons why that distribution company went out of business… I ended up not buying them because I didn’t want that shit to come back to haunt me and I’m glad still that I didn’t…

White vinyl on anything color interior was popular in those days… here you can also see that this guy was super ballin’ because he had a Playstation and a Nintendo 64….

Prelude from SIK with some ghost flames and SSR GP-O wheels… this particular front bumper was very popular among the Prelude crowd. You’ll see another one later that also has this bumper. Like today, there are still random idiots that will bring a completely stock Saturn into a car show (as seen in the background)… This Prelude owner had all white interior, meaning he couldn’t even walk outside without having to wrap himself in trash bags before getting into his car…

This RX-7 from Rotary Xecret 7 has to be one of the best builds EVER… FEED Type II aero on some legit Volk Racing TE37 Mag wheels. I don’t mean “mag blue” color either, I mean these were real magnesium TE37s. Back then, these wheels were the type of stuff you only heard about or saw in the Volk catalog… This build was just incredible and way ahead of its time…

Another sick RX-7 build, this one with a full Mazdaspeed kit on some rare (because nobody wanted them) Volk Racing Daytona Speed wheels…ANother car that I just totally took for granted back then because I didn’t know what I was looking at…

The first strawberry face S15 conversion I ever saw in person from PJ Bonifacio…

Speaking of cars that were ahead of their time, check out this BMW M3 from Techna on Blitz Technospeed Z1s. If this car was still around today with this exact same set-up, it would still be a hit… This M3 also had Sparco Milano seats, which were like, the top of the line seat to have because it had Alcantara leather. Now we hear Alcantara leather and run as fast as we can because it is so often associated with fake Bride seats….

Another car that would just shit on people today… Authentic Blitz Supra aero with gold faced Blitz Technospeed Z1… Just lovely. I look at cars like this and really kick myself now for not paying more attention to them…

I used to run into this del Sol all the time wherever I went. I thought it was ugly as fuck back then too but I always appreciated the work. It was just way too much for me but the quality bodywork was there. Racing Hart C2 wheels, custom gold paint, BB6 Prelude headlights, and Feel’s front bumper…. Also notice the first gen. Eclipse behind it with R33 Skyline taillights… This was around the time when 935 Draggers were a really well-known car crew and they recruited a lot of new members….

While on the topic of Eclipses, this was one of my favorite builds back in 2000 and it was the sole reason for me knowing what “Bride” seats were. I loved the Bride gradation livery on this Eclipse. I remember reading the magazine feature on this car and it wasn’t a GS-T model Eclipse. The owner actually turbocharged it after he bought the car. You should have noticed by now that Racing Hart wheels were the most popular wheels to have during that period of time. This Eclipse is on Racing Hart C5 Evos….

Here is a better shot of the turbocharged Mugen DC2 Integra from earlier… No time stamping on the photo indicates that I took this photo around 2001. I don’t remember how I did it but I managed to turn that feature off….If this car were still around today, it would still be totally relevant…

This car needs no introduction. L.J. Garcia’s FEEL’s Civic was and still is legendary. It was the first to have a complete FEEL’s aero kit and at this stage, Garcia had already repainted it yellow and added all the Ichibahn stuff to it. I think the engine bay had like TVs and shit too. Also one of the rare Civic builds to be on air suspension. I loved it before the makeover when it was still blue and had less stuff on it. One of the greatest things about this build back then was that L.J. actually took wheel fitment into consideration and ordered custom Racing Hart C5 wheels to fit correctly with the widened FEEL’s fenders… This car helped to make L.J. a household name in the car show scene… The Import Tuner issue that it was featured in alongside Francine Dee is probably the most remembered issue in the publication’s history. That issue not only made L.J. and his Civic known to the world, it also made Francine Dee a star in the import auto industry…

Complete legit C-West aero on this Integra… Don’t quote me but I think I remember this Integra being a legit R…I like the front splitter and the Advan AVS Model 7 wheels…Another build that would be pretty relevant now, especially now that body kits (legit Japanese aero) are becoming acceptable again…

Widebody Integra with a R33 Skyline-styled front bumper (Sinsei kit I believe) with kouki S14 240SX headlight conversion…

BB6 Prelude taillight conversion… Wheels were made by Gewalt…  By the way, does anyone remember Sprewell Racing? It was a shop that was owned by former NBA basketball player Latrell Sprewell, who was a huge car head. The shop was around until like ’06 or ’07 and I never heard one positive thing about them…

This Lexus IS300 was one of the first heavily-modified ones that I could remember. It was built and owned by a female member of Techna and another build that would be current today. Full C-West aero, Advan AVS Model 5 wheels, Recaro seats…just very well done and great execution… I’m pretty sure May still remembers this car because she was a member of Techna a couple years later with DPK J.P….

Erica Lam’s Accord was the car to put back then… it had an insane amount of work done to it and I always remember her winning top honors at Showoff, HIN, etc… I think this photo was taken before it had air suspension. I actually wrote a small piece on it in 2008 when The Chronicles was just a couple months old… click here if you are interested…

As you may have noticed, baby blue paint was very popular during that time period. The baby blue would then be combined with any sort of flake or pearl tone and people would be all over it….

Widebody Accord with a Lexus IS300/Toyota Altezza headlight conversion…widebody as well with custom magenta paint with red pearl… Again, Racing Hart C5 3-piece wheels…

It wouldn’t be a throwback without a Cali Type R conversion… This was the typical front bumper that usually came with the CL conversion. I never understood the purpose of having that upper grille on this bumper. The CL headlights weren’t supported very well either and they just kind of sat in the bumper. If you hit a bump hard enough the headlight would probably fall off, haha….

Every now and then you would run into a modded Toyota pick-up at a car show… this one had Axis Touring Cup wheels and the Street Weapon “Drift” front bumper that I mentioned earlier…

Autocannon was a huge motorsports clothing line  in 2000. The only people you will still see wearing their stuff today is Loi Song from Sportcar Motion. I think this guy bought all of their merchandise before they went out of business. When I used to go to Sportcar to go have dinner with Loi, he would go into the stock room and pull one of these shirts out brand new in the bag and put one on. Probably still has them today… This Civic was one of their sponsored vehicles and had a chameleon paint job, Buddy Club body kit, and Racing Hart Tracer wheels…. Oddly enough, the Autocannon site still works, you just can’t actually go into their online store… www.autocannon.com

Turbocharged Prelude with NOS…NOS bottles were important show pieces to have on your showcar. You didn’t even have to actually have a NOS system installed. As long as you had the bottle laying somewhere on the car that was all that mattered. In the year 2012, NOS is more of an energy drink and at car shows, empty NOS drink cans are just fucking EVERYWHERE….

I remember really liking this 4-door Civic when I spotted it at Extreme Autofest 2000. Probably because it was a rear sight to see a Civic with Civic headlights on it, haha…It was one of the first Civic builds that I saw with a Bomex EK front bumper….

It didn’t have a Bomex rear bumper or side skirts because they didn’t make one for the 4-door sedans… I don’t remember the brand of the mufflers (either Bomz or Hayame or something) but I do remember them being loud as shit…. Racing Hart C2 Evos wheels on this 4-door…

Max Boost!-themed Civic with CD Accord headlights and MR-2 sidevents. Max Boost!, for those unfamiliar, was a monthly short comic that was included in the pages of Import Tuner magazine in its early days…

Crappy photo (aren’t they all?) but this 300ZX is significant because it was the first Z that I ever saw with a legit VeilSide body kit on it (Minus the ugly ass hood, which isn’t from VeilSide). I used to see this car all the time after school. I believe the owner of this car’s name was Lawrence Gayoso. He was one of the founding members of 935 Wiked Draggers and was also one of the first guys to shoot “import models”. He’s the brainchild behind sites like Finestmodels.com, Finestallstars.com, etc. These sites were the first to feature risque, sometimes nude shots of popular import models then. The site actually still works but you can’t access anything. You’d be surprised who is on there and who is still around today…. The guy made a shit ton of money running these sites because no one else was really doing this type of stuff then… Unrelated to naked models but his wheels are from a company called Manaray Sports, which is a Japanese wheel company that is now extinct. Anyways, these dude made all kinds of money charging people to look at “implied nudes” of import models. You could see like the occasional nip slip but everything else was usually strategically covered by hands or bubble bath soap…

If you haven’t caught on yet, the popular trend was Buddy Club kits and Racing Hart wheels. The Racing Hart C5 was probably the first and most popular copied wheel. These were so popular that they were later knocked-off but all kinds of different wheel companies. One of them was a company called Katana and they made a copy and called it the Concept 5…You can probably still buy those motherfuckers too…

Ever seen a EF headlight turned into a fish tank with real gold fish in them? (R.I.P gold fish because they probably died a couple hours later) ….Blatant placement of the neon light too…

CR-X on Racing Hart C2s, ITR headlights, and suicide doors… two of the three companies represented on this car, oddly enough, are still around today… Carcraft is long gone but JT Autobody is still in business as well as Raceline USA. I’m sure Elton from Raceline will be happy to see that his business survived post vinyl interior, suicide doors, and headlight conversions…

In 1999, we didn’t even have Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions yet and the closest thing to having one was purchasing the complete conversion kit from VIS Racing…

I wish I had a better photo of this car but this was fucking bananas in 2000.  Turbo monster of an EG on Volk TE37s…

Well, that’s pretty much a wrap. I hope you guys enjoyed this look back because it took me a lot of time to put this together. I’ve been wanting to do something like this for awhile now but I haven’t been able to connect my scanner to my PC until recently. It seems like so long ago and it’ll be interesting to see how things change in another decade or so. I’ll be an old man by then but I hope I’ll be able to look back on this hobby and be proud to tell my kids about it. Thanks for looking, now let’s return to the year 2012….

When Loi first mentioned that he and Morgan were putting a meet together, I didn’t think we would be able to make it down there because I thought it fell on the same day as DPK David’s wedding shower. I told him we might not make it and then I checked my calender and found out that it was the day before. Even still, the girls had a lot of stuff to prepare for the shower so we had to set aside some time to make the drive down to San Diego for the meet. At first I didn’t think the girls were even going to come but I guess with all the hectic preparation that had been going on the days leading up to the shower, they needed a little break and the girls decided to come along…

Rodrez getting some gas for his side project FA5 Civic SI before we headed down to SD. DPK David rolled out in his Civic coupe as well and I drove May’s three hub-capped Yaris…haha…

When we got there, I really had to pee so I ran inside to the bathroom and on the way, I spotted Ryan Novak’s R33 Skyline GT-R. You probably know that name more for the Honda projects that he has but when you’re ballin’ out of control like him, you can occasionally drive a Skyline too…

I don’t see too many R33 GTRs nowadays after the U.S. government seized a majority of them…

Shot of the engine bay on Novak’s GTR… The R35 GTR is definitely an amazing car but there is still an indescribable feeling whenever you have a R32, 33, or 34 in front of you…

The interior of the R33 Skyline is as mint as can be…

Outside of the shop, the first two cars I took a close look at were Enrique Rosario and Alex Colon’s Civics…

Enrique’s Civic has made huge strides since I first saw it a couple years back… he recently re-did somethings and the car is looking really good these days…

The engine bay is about as clean as it is going to get without deleting the brake booster and redoing the brake hard lines…

Alex’s Civic rocking the SCM front bumper sold by Sportcar Motion…

His bay is looking pretty good as well. You can spot his Rywire mil-spec harness and plate against the firewall… Also spot a lot of Skunk2 accessories…

Loi Song from Sportcar Motion snapping some photos of Rodrez’s baby…

A rare photo of father and son…

FA5 Civic with FD2 conversion and Mugen RR (or RR-style) front bumper…. Also has TE37s on it but it would probably look slightly better (opinion) on some thicker tires. Just seems a little unnecessary to have such a skinny tire with all that room to play with…

The rear is also converted but with the ’09 and up FD2 Civic taillights. They are slightly more angular and less round than the taillights people usually use when doing the conversion…

Never seen this trunk before… Looks to be a “CSL” style trunk that you usually see on BMWs…it’s an interesting look…

Renzo Marsano’s FA5 Civic sedan that recently ran 1:59 at Buttonwillow. Anything below the 2-minute mark is pretty impressive, especially for a street car with full interior and no real aero upgrades…

17×9 WEDSport TC105Ns and Endless brakes…

Supertwinz John and Lost is Black aka Brandon…

Rywire NSX on matte black Regamaster EVOs…

Alex Peng’s S2000 that recently ran a 1:58 lap time at Buttonwillow during the Global Time Attack event…

“Big Red” aka Ken Suen’s FD2-converted Civic sedan and the Sportcar Motion Integra Type R…

Ken’s Civic has changed drastically from when I first spotted it in the parking lot of last year’s Spocom 2011 show… I heard he is making huge strides on the track as well and running some really good times…

Rays 57Motorsport G07WT wheels on Hankook RS3 tires… also note the Brembo brake caliper and the brake temperature strip on it…

If you haven’t noticed by now, the old ITR bumper is now temporarily back on the Integra after the custom-built front end from Evasive was destroyed during Global Time Attack…

World Racing’s Scion tC time attack car…not the one with the crazy wing on the front…

Lotus on black Volk CE28s…

Sportcar Motion’s “Dirty Hybrid” CR-Z on gold Advan Racing RG-Ds…

Loi recently got his other project, “LRRH”, back from World Racing. It was there for some fab work in the engine bay as well as the full cage…

The bay is nearing completion. Just a couple things here and there and it should be up and running again…

The dump pipes still need to be made as well as the rest of the plumbing for the intercooler…

Engine breather and oil catch from AFI Turbo…

AFI Turbo K-series intake manifold…

AFI turbo manifold… Can’t wait to see this thing running…

Morgan’s EK9 Civic Type R…

Another Sportcar Motion project that will eventually be finished…

Another shot of the “Dirty Hybrid”…

…and a shot of the K-swapped bay. I guess you can classify this car now as a “KR-Z”…

Jose Guzman’s RSX is coming along… He recently added J’s Racing front fenders to go with his Backyard Special bumper. He just needs to get his suspension dialed-in and the car should be hitting the road once again…

DPK David’s EJ1 coupe…

GRETS_ONE aka Joseph Riofrir used to own a gold Integra coupe a couple years back with an ITR front end on GAB Sport wheels that you guys may or may not remember. These days, he’s working on this 4-door Integra on Enkei J-Speed IIIs…

David Nguyen’s Integra on Volk TE37Vs… Not only does he have an ITR front end, he also has a right-hand drive conversion that has all the necessary paperwork…

I was wondering where his ITR wing went but when I spoke to him, he mentioned that his wing was getting painted…

PingPing’s authentic Canadian Acura CSX with Voltex wing and J’s Racing FD2 front bumper… I shot this car a couple months back when I encountered the abandoned puppy that Arn Reyes eventually took home…

If I remember correctly, he used to daily drive this CSX but now he uses it more for track events. He hasn’t added much else to the car since I shot it, the only thing I noticed was the orange ducting in his J’s bumper…

That pretty much wraps it up. We had a lot of stuff to take care of back at home before DPK David’s wedding shower that Sunday. We hung out for a little bit more with baby Maddox and then headed back up to LA…

Thanks to Sportcar Motion, Loi Song, and Morgan Jade for hosting the event and also providing stacks on stacks of pizza along with cold drinks…

Thanks for looking once again and thank you to the people that contributed to the content from USDM Jam 9.0…

Aztec Green Pearl DB2 Integra GS-Rs are rare enough as they are in the U.S., but here is an original, left hand drive of course, U.S. Integra GS-R on Work Equip 03s…

Love the way this MK5 GTI looked on Hayashi Racing mesh wheels… Click here for larger Version (1400×933)

Z33 Nissan Fairlady Z Roadster on aggressive SSR MS1 wheels… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

GE-chassis Honda Fit on Rotiform NUE…

U.S.-inspired CR-X that I wanted to show you guys because of how clean it was on the outside…

…as well as in the engine bay…very nice shave and tuck job on this CR-X. Probably one of the cleanest CR-X bays I have seen so far from Japan…

Zenki S14 Silvia on  fluorescent yellow Gram Light 57D wheels… Love the clean lines of the aero kit…

Nissan 180SX Type X on original Work Equips…

Immaculate Porsche 912…

JDM Toyota Corolla GT that was in the parking lot of the USDM Jam 9.0 show. I wanted to show you guys this Corolla GT so that you could see a better comparison of the Japanese Corollw with our USDM Corolla…

In my opinion the Japanese GT looks better, but this Corolla GT, owned by Masaru Tanaka, is the same Corolla I mentioned a couple posts before that was converted to complete U.S. specifications. It’s not just a simple front and rear end swap either. Though it looks very simple in nature, it is one of the most labor-intensive builds at the USDM Jam event. Tanaka bought a U.S. Corolla and pretty much chopped it up along with his Corolla GT and pieced all the U.S. components back into his GT chassis and this was the end result. I first heard of this build from Takeshi Kobayashi from Type_K and I found a link to Tanaka’s blog site where he documented the build. Click here if you want to see just how much work was involved in this build… Pretty insane stuff…

The original “black-top” 4A-GE from his GT remains as well as the individual throttle bodies…

You don’t see very many Mitsubishi Eclipses these days here in the U.S., but there are a couple of them floating around in Japan with their original U.S. left hand drive configurations. I can do without the XXR wheels but this particular Eclipse GS-T is really clean… The strange thing about the Eclipse is that they were only available here in the U.S. because the Japanese received the FTO model instead and I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen one of those things modded either. FTOs were pretty cool for their time too and I always thought they were better looking cars than the Eclipse model. I guess the rest of the world did not agree..haha…

Nothing says “USDM” like a lifted Chevy Avalanche pick-up truck…This owner even took the time to leave the mud tracks on it…What I am wondering is why this Avalanche has a carbon fiber fender on it….

Speaking of American car culture, lowriders have always been a big hit in Japan and like part one of our coverage, here is another great example of one…

Three-wheelin’ with the Japanese “19-63″ vanity plate…

Hydraulics and batteries in the trunk…

Not sure if this was a part of the event or not or just a passing work truck from Mie Prefecture…

Nothing too wild about this JZA70 Supra… Advan RGs have always been one of my favorite wheels and it’s rare to see them on Supras…

Bright green BMW Z4 on black-faced Work Meister S1s…I believe this thing also has scissor/Lambo doors as well…

Audi R8 just hanging out on the street…

Mercedes from Team Madame with a full-body Louis Vuitton “Damier” style wrap…

F50 Cima with U.S. Infiniti Q45 grille and BBS LM wheels representing Funny Fellows car club…

JZS161 Toyota Aristo turbo sitting on the floor…

Matte grey 3-series BMW on BBS LM-R wheels…

Beautifully done E89 BMW Z4…

MK4 GTI on Rotiform NUE…

Japanese Honda Zoomer/U.S. Honda Ruckus on display with a Yoshimura exhaust and custom-wrapped Bride seat…

Another JZS161 Toyota Aristo, this one from Grinders seated on Volk Racing TE37SL…

Datsun Bluebird 510 coupe on some Barramundi Design wheels…

Civic coupe from Grinders on gold-faced SSR mesh….

Relatively stock RX-8 on Work Meister S1R wheels…Next to it is a completely stock LHD U.S. Lexus SC400…

MK5 VW Jetta slammed on some CCW LM20s…

USDM-inspired brizzles reppin’ Grinders… I wonder if they had the USDM conversion done top to bottom…aka the fur burger delete…haha…

Wild Toyota pick-up over in the area where they presented the awards…

I don’t know what the awards categories consisted of and who won what, but whatever award this Cressida won, it probably deserved it…love the modern Rotiform wheels on it as well as the 1JZ-GTE swap…Very cool to see these things modded… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Masaru “MSR”  Tanaka won more than one award and he was very-well deserving considering the amount of work and fabrication he put into his Corolla GT build…

One of my other main contacts in Japan, Yuya Yasunari, won an award for probably being the only person to ever admit to owning a 1988 Chevy Nova. These things were originally built in the U.S.A in Fremont, CA by NUMMI, which was a plant that was a co-op venture between GM USA and Toyota of Japan. The Novas are terribly unattractive vehicles but the Twin Cam model, which Yasunari owns, has the same twin cam 4A-GE motor that came on the Corollas… In Japan, this would seem totally cool to drive a LHD Nova Twin Cam… in the U.S., it probably just means that you are poor as shit. I love how it is in mint condition though…awesome…

Atuki’s Honda Integra Type R won the USDM FREAX-choice award at USDM Jam 9.0. USDM FREAX is a major publication over in Japan that is strictly dedicated to providing stories and photos of USDM-themed builds. Maybe I should go work for them too…hmm…

With the awards ceremony coming to a close, it was time for the Tactical Art guys to get packed-up and head home…

The Tactical Art DC5R on the road…

Shimomukai also managed to catch a couple of other cars from USDM Jam on the way home…

Lack of contact patch on the rear Barramundi wheels on this 7th gen. Civic…

One final shot of the Tactical Art Integra R on the way home…

One of the best things about the USDM Jam event was not only the unique builds but also because the show served as a fundraiser to raise money for the Japan relief fund. Though we don’t hear much news about the rebuilding process after the devastating earthquake and Tsunami that hit Japan last year, they are still recovering and the money donated from enthusiasts at USDM Jam went to the Red Cross Society of Japan…

Here is Mr. Tetsuya Yamaguchi, the creator of the USDM Jam series, presenting the money to a Japanese Red Cross representative…

With that photo, our USDM Jam 9.0 coverage officially comes to a close. It was quite the insightful look into the Japanese USDM scene. I hope you all enjoyed it, I know I did. Thanks for looking…

Let’s get moving…

Much like events over here, everybody seems to have a camera these days. Where this photos pop up I will never know, but it seems like you can’t even walk around for 5 minutes without walking into someone’s shot….here you see one guy demonstrating the one-armed snap shot pose while the gentleman in the back is using a more traditional pose, haha…Maybe the shutter button is in his pocket or something…

It would be really cool if I was able to set up a booth out there if I were to go to the 10th anniversary USDM Jam show in 2012…here you see a shot of the 10×20 Wek’Sos booth at the show which they shared with Hiro Ueda and KC Trading… Wek’Sos is very popular in Japan so I am sure they made a killing that day…

Yasutaka Shimomukai from Tactical Art and Ken from Wek’Sos got together for a photo during lunch…

Another shot from a different angle of Kei Takafuji’s EG on Meister S1s…

Kazu Imai’s engine bay…

The “Hellaflush”, or what Takeshi refers to as the “HF” style, has become very popular over time in Japan. Some have subtle, true flush fitment, and you have really aggressively cambered-out builds like this EG on custom BBS wheels…

R34 Skyline V-Spec II Nur driving over to its spot at the event… Nothing USDM about this at all but Skylines are a hit no matter where you are. In its country of origin, it is probably their most highly regarded vehicle… This particular R34 is a customer of Mr. Yuya Yasunari from Garage K&K…

I showed you that VW GTI in the background of this photo yesterday in high resolution, but here is another pair of euros representing the VW contingency at USDM Jam…

How fitting that there is a S13 coupe over in Japan that looks practically identical to Brandon Burke’s S13 coupe here, except with a U.S. front end with pop-up headlights. Brandon’s coincidentally enough, has the JDM Silvia front conversion. Crazy that they have the same wheels and everything. I believe this S13, a creation of Masaki Morohashi, came first though and has been in this exact state for a couple of years now… It was pure coincidence that they both have similar looking cars though and neither one of them knew of each other until after their builds were completed…

Z33 Nissan Fairlady Z sitting on a set of gold-face SSR MS1 wheels… Love how simple and straight to the point this Z is… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Always enjoy seeing photos of this Volkswagen Scirocco on OZ Futuras….

This custom Ice Cream truck had to be one of the coolest builds at USDM Jam 9.0… I hope that kid doesn’t actually think that they are serving ice cream though… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Audi TT RS with a lip kit, air suspension, and Incurve wheels… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

MK5 VW GTI with a nice contrast of orange on cream interior…

Yuichi Kimoto’s JDM FD2 Civic Type R to U.S. FA5 Civic Si conversion…. I absolutely love how the Japanese FD2 front and rear looks so this is something I would never do but I can understand why it was done. That’s how you know USDM style has become a hit with Japanese enthusiasts. People are willing to import front and rear ends from a FA5 Civic and doing full-conversions…. Kimoto actually had the same set-up for awhile, in terms of wheels and suspension, without the conversion and it looked great too… Cool that he kept the FD2 rear bumper though…Kimoto probably realized how boring the FA5 rear bumper is, haha…

Tetsuya Yamaguchi’s Integra with U.S. front conversion, shaved and tucked bay, on brand new 16-inch VIP Modular wheels… The car looks a little higher in the front than usual and that could be due to the angle he was parked at. He was probably too busy organizing the event to care….

Ferio representing Osaka JDM/Car Craft Boon on JDM Loop 5s aka Work Meister CR-01… The Loop 5 is a wheel produced by Work, but with more options exclusive only to Osaka JDM… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

A quick interior shot of the Ferio above… just straight gutted-out in the rear and a single Bride seat…

This looks to be a Toyota Starlet with a custom Boser hood…

Another shot of the Porsche 997 from part 1… I love how this Porsche looks and many of you agree, seeing as how the photo from part 1 was the most clicked on photo so far from the series of coverage… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

DA Integra from Akebono on some old school Ewing mesh wheels…

This Civic coupe has a complete USDM EM1 Civic Si conversion. It is probably the most complete EM1 conversion in Japan and the owner even imported the Si roof skin and sun roof. He used to have wheels on this coupe but I think he has ITR wheels on there now after he did his 5-lug swap…

Takahiro Kato’s Integra SiR-G… According to Takeshi, he used to be one of the Japanese enthusiasts who were into the “HF” style but recently went back to having non-aggressive wheel fitment…

Integra Type R slammed on WRD Chevlon mesh wheels… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

EK hatchback on bronze-faced/matte black Barramundi Design wheels… Love the tone on the seats… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Ryuji Yoshino’s CB Accord coupe with Xenon front lip…

EG with BYS front lip, Work Equip 01, and GTS headlight covers…

Yellow EK also on Equip 01 wheels…

Interesting to see an EJ1 coupe with ATS Cup wheels… The owner also has one of my old HellaSUNK stickers and an NWP4Life.com sticker…cool stuff…

I posted up a photo of this coupe on The Chronicles Facebook page a couple weeks ago and asked what your opinions were on it. It was mostly negative but that’s usually how Facebook comments are these days, haha… I think it would look better if the front vent was the same size as the bumper and the roof was color-matched. I don’t even mind the stripe on the side so much, which many people hated on. The Kaminari sides aren’t bad either. Wheel and tires looks good on there but the front fenders are a new addition…

Really liked Daishi Tanaka’s W201 E190 Mercedes….

I liked this del Sol on BBS wheels a lot more before he sticker-bombed it…at last year’s USDM Jam show it was one of the cleanest cars there….

Another shot of Atuki from Tactical Art’s new U.S. RSX-inspired Honda Integra Type R on CCW LM5s…. Click here for larger version (1400×933)

96-spec Integra Type R on Sprint Hart CP-R… random old school AEM intake on the floor….

SW20 Toyota MR-2 with purple Meisters…

Takeru Tojo’s Honda Element on bronze Volk TE37s from Lowered 2 Perfection car club… I don’t follow too many online blogs but Takeru’s is one I actually follow regularly…. Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Touma Kaga’s EF9 Civic on Gab Sport wheels…and now they are not Rotas… Kaga is also a member of L2P like Takeru Tojo…

Yukihiro Shinohara, also from L2P, is another one of those guys that used to be into the stickerbombed and “HF” style but he’s recently taken on a more subtle approach… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Honda Integra SiR-G on white BBS wheels…This is the same Hypnotic Teal Mica-painted Integra that I posted up a photo of in part 1 during roll-in… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Very clean CD Accord sedan on BBS wheels…. The “Simply Clean” sticker on the windshield is fitting…

Atushi Ishiyama’s DB8 Integra with U.S. 97-01 front end on Dunlop Formula Hart CP-R…

Teru Ito’s turbo Honda Odyssey van on SSR Formula Mesh wheels in a custom blue/teal tone…. I love seeing these vans modded nicely, it puts a smile on my face every time I see one… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Speaking of nice Odysseys, this one belongs to Hiro Ueda from KC Trading… He has a WEK’SOS banner on his windshield because he is actually good friends with Ken and Adam. I met him earlier this year at Wekfest SF and he often travels out here to visit them. Whenever Ken and Adam are in Japan, he’s also the guy that takes them everywhere and hangs out with them…. Click here for larger version (1400×933)

That is going to close out our coverage for today…back this weekend possibly with the closing portion of our 4-part mini-series. Thanks for looking…

Before I begin, I’d like to take some time to discuss comments and criticisms that I have seen on various social media outlets in regards to the growing USDM-style community in Japan. While many of you find it to be totally cool to see, there are a lot of people within our community that are making statements out of misinformation or just plain ignorance. I see people talking about how they think that it is “stupid” to see what they are doing, taking their original Japanese parts and replacing them with U.S. domestic market products. Some also say that it is pointless to do this to a car just because YOU have taken time to source out these “baller” Japanese parts. For those who are naive or critical of this style, you have to think about how they interpret your style or your way of building cars. For them, it may seem “stupid” that you are taking USDM parts off of your car to replicate OEM Japanese vehicles. You have to imagine that you are taking parts off of your car that are unique to your country of origin to make your car look like someone else’s. You do that to achieve a specific look for your car and they are doing the same thing. Just because “JDM” parts aren’t sought after over there like they are here, it doesn’t make what they do over there “stupid” by any means. You have to try to walk a mile in their shoes to have a good understanding of what they are about. I think we can all be more appreciative of what we are doing as an automotive community worldwide. Back when this car culture was in its infancy, we all looked to Japan for inspiration. For decades, Japanese car culture has served as a model for what we want and today, the American car scene has grown and become better because of that. Now, there are people looking to you for inspiration for their cars, all over the world. You should be proud of that and proud that there are enthusiasts worldwide who are motivated by the builds they see here in America. Instead of shunning the idea and laughing it off, learn to understand cultural differences…

I’ll be honest, when I first discovered this USDM car culture in Japan, I too was a bit surprised by it. What could we have that they would want? But then I thought about how the Japanese probably used to ask themselves the same thing when they started seeing the whole “JDM movement” here in the states, and it made sense. After meeting Takeshi Kobayashi and discussing with him in length about the USDM craze that has hit their country, I have a great appreciation for what they do. Japanese domestic market parts are fairly easy to come by these days, thanks to the internet and open communication between businesses in both countries but American products in Japan are a little harder to come by. There are a very few select group of people that bring our stuff into their country and the prices are at a premium to acquire them. Takeshi, owner of Type_K Autosource, is one of those guys that has made a business of strictly bringing in American domestic products and automobiles into Japan. When he is here, I see the amount of work it takes to get what his customers are looking for. You wouldn’t even believe some of the stuff he brings back over there. He’s told us many stories about what guys are doing to their cars to achieve the U.S. look and the amount of labor they put into simply making their cars look “USDM” and it’s crazy. Some guys bring in anything from a roof skin with a sunroof just because their cars didn’t come with one and some enthusiasts go as far as bringing an entire vehicle over there just to chop it up and piece it back onto their Japanese chassis. You’ll see a Corolla later in the coverage where someone did just that. Masaru Tanaka imported an American market Corolla parts car back to Japan and literally pieced it back together onto his Japanese Corolla GT. The roof, quarter panel, front end, and basically everything you could think of is from an American Corolla and the only original portions of his car that are originally “JDM” is the front A-pillar and bulk head. It’s just nuts. Way over the top? Definitely…but you have to appreciate the man for putting in that kind of work just to say that he was able to do it. At the end of the day, we are all just modifying cars and trying to make them unique so they stand out from the rest of the crowd. JDM, USDM, it doesn’t matter. Hard work and ingenuity should never be discounted and unappreciated….

With that out of the way, let’s get on with the coverage. Today, a bulk of the photos will come from Koji “KaRy” Karimata…he was able to capture a large portion of the cars that I wanted to see and I’m happy to display them here on The Chronicles….

Enjoy… I’ve also attached links to larger versions of certain cars that were at the event. Click on the links below to see them…Don’t just click on the photo either, because that will just take you to a photo of the same size. The links BELOW each photo take you to the higher resolution versions…

USDM Jam 9.0 was the largest event for Tetsuya yet, I read somewhere that they had somewhere around 780 vehicles there. The tenth anniversary USDM Jam show will probably be even larger than that and they stated that they needed a larger venue next year. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to go out there and check it out in person…

This Ferio is a car that I see often whenever I see photos of Tetsuya’s Integra. They are usually parked next to each other and I’ve also posted photos of it on this site before at a different event. I was trying to find the owner on Facebook but I don’t believe he has one. It’s just a really clean sedan with a BYS front bumper and refinished BBS wheels. I think Tetsuya was the one that did the majority of the work on this car… Click here for a larger version (1400×933)

A shot that Shimomukai from Tactical Art got of the engine bay…Clean tuck job by Tetsuya with a lot of American aftermarket parts like an AEM cold-airintake, Mishimoto cooling hoses, and Benen heat shield….Also has spike hardware from Downstar Inc… Nice engine bay that still retains air conditioning…

Yuya Yamashita’s EK9 CTR on gunmetal-faced Work Meister S1 2-piece wheels… Also repping The Chronicles and NWP4Life.com…Like the repainted Midori EK9, this is yet another example of a Japanese enthusiast turning his EK9 into a more US-style DX build… I think he has the USDM-style stolen Honda emblem as well haha… Click here for a larger version (1400×933)

The VW and Euro scene was very well represented at USDM Jam 9.0…this is just one of many great examples of good VW builds in attendance… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Legit U.S. FG2 Civic Si coupe on Volk Racing TE37s….

White Integra Type R with a random purple front lip and BBS RS wheels…

Check out the Glendale plate frame and LA Dodgers banner on this EG…

Nissan Skyline 350GT coupe with Recaro seats and white Work Emotion XD9…

One trend that I am not proud to see in Japan are the growing use of XXR wheels but I thought I’d toss this in the coverage since we hardly ever see Honda Orthia wagons…

Integra with 97-01 U.S. front end and Work Equip 01 wheels…

Absolutely love this GTI on SSR mesh wheels….Note the Sparco seats and full cage inside as well as the vented hood… A little curious as to why the owner has hood pins on the front bumper though…maybe the front bumper is removed often and the pins make it easier to take on and off… This might be one of my favorites from USDM Jam 9.0.  I like it so much that you can Click here for a larger version (1400×933)

Nothing at all USDM about this classic Toyota Carina coupe… Just pure Toyota nostalgia…Got the shades on the dash too so you know the owner dips this thing in style… Click here for a larger version (1400×933)

Blacked-out R35 GTR… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Another favorite of mine from this show was this Civic wagon from Akebono… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

I posted up a couple photos of this S2000 during the roll-in portion of the coverage yesterday… Takeshi from Type_K liked it so much that he ended up giving this S2000 the “Type_K Award” at the show… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Speaking of Takeshi, the Tactical Art guys stopped by his booth and snapped this photo of him setting up shop… How perfect is it that he’s paired his collection of Chronicles decals with a giant Pedobear sticker, haha…. Always good to see my buddy Takeshi doing work!…

Another “fitted” Integra Type R from “Staddict.C.C.” Clever name I might add… “Static” + “Addict” equals “Staddict”…C.C. should be pretty obvious for “Car Club”….well played…I just spent more time deciphering the name then looking at the car…

Clean 4-door on some Volk TE37Vs… I’m pretty sure someone is already telling themselves: “needs mirrors”….in any case, Click here for a larger version (1400×933)

Here is a much better shot of the Honda Saber/Inspire to U.S. Acura TL conversion on HREs… I love how this thing sits and how the wheels aren’t over-the-top and bulging out past the wheel wells…very clean TL conversion…. Click here for a larger version (1400×933)

VIP-themed KA9 Honda Legend to Acura RL conversion on Lorinser wheels. Not 100% sure what kit it is, looks like it might be an Aimgain kit…. Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Norifumi Kobayashi’s Honda Accord Tourer to U.S. TSX wagon conversion… Takeshi mentioned that Norifumi used to be a euro car enthusiast but has recently gotten into the USDM style. That probably explains his use of the Porsche wheels… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Wish I had a better angle of this EK4 SiR from Connection…

Honda Integra SiR-G on BBS RS wheels, also from Connection car club… Almost rare to see a true bug-eye front end over there these days that hasn’t been converted to the U.S. 97-01 front…  Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Mugen Pro.2 aero on this CR-X…Mugen everything practically, even on the mesh grille… Click here for a larger version (1400×933)

Honda Accord Euro-R with a U.S. Acura TSX front grille and BBS LMs…

Ferio with Work Equip 01 and some old school U.S. GTO headlight covers…

I have a soft spot for CB Accords, being the previous owner of one, so I’m always looking for photos of them at events. This one would have been sick if the fenders weren’t all jacked-up from the tire and Volk TE37V combo… The guy in the background with the Wekfest t-shirt on is staring at the other side of the Accord because the fender on that side is completely rusted out… The Circuit Hero banner might also be a self-made version too, haha… man, so much potential in this thing….

Shota Mori’s CA Accord sedan on SSR MKII from Akebono…. Probably the most recognized CA Accord in the world… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

EJ Civic coupe on BBS wheels…I like the color but the camber is a little much for me. Wish I had a better look at the engine bay too because it looks like it has a pretty clean tuck… Note the Guam front plate…

Nice attempt at a U.S. EM1 Civic Si coupe conversion on Regamaster wheels…It is about as close as it’s gonna get. Not everyone is down to change out the roof skin to have a sunroof…

Looks like the color might be Sepang Bronze on this VIP-inspired Civic…

Really liked the contrast of the brown tone and the blue Work Meister S1… Great looking coupe with a EK9 CTR front end… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

U.S. Acura TSX conversion and Work Emotion XD9 wheels…

EF hatchback from Osaka JDM that was recently on the cover of Super Street magazine’s Japan Issue…  Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Takanori Nagai’s Mugen EK4 SiR from L2P car club aka Lowered 2 Perfection….Love the complete Mugen theme front to back…. Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Fukuda’s EG Civic, also from L2P On DAMD Lover Soul wheels… if you are reading this Fukuda-san, thank you for having a Chronicles sticker on your ride!.. Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Civic wagons are very well represented at USDM Jam events… this silver Shuttle with an EF9 SiR front end is another great example…

Here’s something you don’t see everyday, no matter what the country of origin; a KA7 Honda Legend on Regamaster EVOs… pretty interesting look but I am happier to see that this Legend is in mint condition… This might also be the only Legend in existence that isn’t owned by a Vietnamese person, haha…

The artwork on the hood made for an interesting look for this EG Civic. 15-inch SSR mesh wheels and gutted/caged interior as well.  Click here for larger version (1400×933)

A better look at the EK hatchback from Osaka JDM/Car Craft Boon…. Someone is bound to ask again but the wheels are from a company known as Barramundi Designs…They are like the “CCW” of Japan… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

No crazy tuck here, just a turbo kit, some custom oil plumbing, and Carbing bar along with a engine torque damper… Osaka JDM is into U.S. style as well, that’s why you see stuff like the Password: JDM radiator cooling panel….

A look inside so you guys can see the cage…

Battery kill switch in the center console and a peek of the relocated battery behind the dash…

I just had to post a shot of this big body Benz on BBS wheels…haha, fucking sick!…Check out the white interior too… Also rocking old school blue Cali plates!… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Rare to see this things modded in any country but I thought this Toyota Corolla II, aka 5th gen. U.S. Toyota Tercel, looked good on the Work Meister CR-01 wheels with the bronze lip…

This Cressida on Rotiform wheels was pretty sick… It ended up taking home an award at the USDM Jam event as well but I am not sure what category it won in…

First generation JDM Honda Odyssey to U.S. Isuzu Oasis conversion….

Clean black EG on BBR Comps with a Spoon front lip owned by Daisuke Ishiyama…. Click here for larger version (1400×933)

BMW 3-series coupe slammed on some Volk Racing CE28s…

Akifumi Ikeda’s SiR-G Integra on bronze Volk SE37K… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Takashi Noga’s VIP-themed Toyota bB…

You should all be very familiar with Kazu Imai’s Integra Type R by now… You will also be seeing it very soon in an upcoming issue of Super Street magazine… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Kei Takafuji’s EG Civic hatchback on very aggressive Work Meister S1… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

Takafuji’s shaved and tucked engine bay. One of the rear Hondas at the USDM Jam show with a brake booster delete and custom brake lines… Overall a really clean bay…Nicely done utilizing products from USDM companies such as Benen Industries, AEM, Skunk2, and Wilwood… Kei has USDM-look down…

The graphic on the rear quarter is a little random but it works on this white ITR… Nothing too over the top on this build, just some gunmetal Volk TE37Vs, Spoon brakes, and non-ITR Recaro seats… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

The Work Meister S1Rs look huge on this EP3 Civic Type R… They have to be 19s or something because most 17-inch wheels still tend to look pretty small on the EP3 chassis… Good looking build though, also from “EKC Arrows” like the ITR above… Click here for larger version (1400×933)

That’s a wrap for today. I hope all of you are enjoying the coverage so far…there is still a lot more to come so stay tuned!…

American enthusiasts’ car blogs and websites are often a source of inspiration to them and they also are big on collecting merchandise from these American websites. I too have sold many Chronicles products in the past to people in Japan and I must admit that it is still a really cool feeling whenever I see one of my decals on their cars. This site was never meant to reach the Japanese automotive culture but I’m glad that I have been able to make an impact in any way. I have met Tetsuya Yamaguchi in the past and always look forward to seeing him every time he makes his way out to America. Though he is an older gentleman, I thoroughly enjoy his enthusiasm and excitement any time he is at one of our automotive events. One of the first guys I met through this site, Takeshi Kobayashi from Type_K Autosource, is a person that I can honestly call a friend these days. Every year he comes out for a couple of weeks at a time and we all try to spend as much time with him when he is here and show him American hospitality. Takeshi is one of the main outlets for many Japanese enthusiasts out there when it comes to USDM parts and accessories. He’s made a business out of it and is often out here in America purchasing vehicles that customers have asked him to buy for them. I am very proud to see how we have all had a chance to meet and though we are all thousands and thousands of miles apart, in opposite ends of the world, we all have a common interest and have become friends because of it…

The USDM Jam 9.0 event is quite possibly the largest one to date. Tetsuya put together a great show and even guys like Adam and Ken from Wek’Sos as well as the guys from Kyoei USA managed to take a flight over there to support him. A chunk of the proceeds from the event also went to the Japan relief fund. Though it may seem like it is a thing of the past for us, the Japanese are still dealing with the major earthquake and tsunami that devastated their country. With the help of the automotive community and events like USDM Jam, the country is improving every day and recovering at a rapid rate. Some day I hope to make it out there as well, hopefully by next year I can say that I attended a USDM Jam event and can say that I stood in front of these cars and studied them thoroughly. For now, thanks to some of my friends in Japan, I can provide you some coverage from Tetsuya’s event…

The photos for this series of USDM Jam 9.0 coverage will be provided to you via the guys from Tactical Art as well as from another enthusiast by the name of Koji Karimata aka KaRy. I have personally met the guys from Tactical Art in the past and you should all know them by now because they are regular contributors to the site. The funny thing is, if it had not been for Mr. Koji Karimata’s photos from last year’s Hellaflush Japan event, I would have never known who or what Tactical Art was. It is because of his photos that I was able to discover these guys and I am honored to be able to use his photographs this week. Unlike the Import Alliance Spring Meet coverage last week, I will not be dividing the photos into different parts depending on who shot them. Instead, I will try to do my best to combine all the photos as one so that it all meshes together. I want this coverage to flow seamlessly and give you guys the feel of how it would have been like had you been there for yourself. One major thing that I am happy that Yasutaka Shimomukai and the Tactical Art guys have picked up is my style of coverage. They realized that I always cover the event from start to finish and their photos reflect that. When I say “start to finish” I don’t mean that they just cover the first car they see to the last. I mean that they cover the event from the start of their day to the end of the day when they go home. In that process, they also cover everything else that they see around them, which gives it more of a personal feel. It is a style of event coverage that I have always done since the very beginning and it’s very cool that Shimomukai was able to pick up on that. Karimata has done a great job of covering the vehicles at the event, but everything else surrounding the event is brought to you by Tactical Art…

With that said, let us get moving with the coverage. I want to say that there are roughly around 200 or so photos that I will be using, which I will divide into four parts. Today is part one and will cover mostly the stuff that happened that morning of USDM Jam 9.0. Tomorrow will be more Honda-intensive so if you are just here to see photos of cars, you may want to just look over these today and then come back tomorrow for the bulk of the Hondas. If you are a loyal fan of The Chronicles, then you are probably here to see and read about it all. I thank you for that because you appreciate the time I take into putting the event into words for all of you. Enjoy and thanks go out to Yasutaka Shimomukai, Atuki Tubouchi, Tactical Art, as well as Koji Karimata and Tetsuya Yamaguchi. Without you guys this coverage would not be possible. 

They probably won’t have the English proficiency to understand all my words so the only thing I can say to acknowledge their hard work is… “Arigatou gozaimasu” or ありがとうございます

USDM Jam 9.0…let’s go…

Yasutaka Shimomukai and the Tactical Art crew heading out from Osaka to Mie prefecture at around 5:48am (or around 1:48pm here in the U.S. PST)… It was a hazy morning but the sunlight was rising through the clouds….

I guess the Japanese don’t have the strict “no cell phones while driving” laws that we have in place here in California…Here he would have already been slapped with a $148 fine (or more)…

Nothing says USDM style like a combination of Wek’Sos and The Chronicles… Like I said earlier, it’s still really cool to see one of my decals that I put together here on my desk in my bedroom all the way in Japan…I guess I must be doing something right, haha…

A slammed 3-series BMW wagon that they encountered at a stop…

A view from a distance of the early morning roll-in area for USDM Jam 9.0… Tetsuya Yamaguchi was able to find quite a picturesque location for the ninth edition of his event…

One essential mod that every Japanese USDM fan must have is an American plate frame on their Japanese-issue license plates…you’ll see it throughout the coverage… Another trend that they have adopted right away is our “Hellaflush” or “stance” style. Though it is not universally popular over here, it is huge in Japan…It’s also one of the styles that we Americans originally adapted from the Japanese Shakotan/Kyusha style. Like I said, things have come full circle…we just happen to take the style and make it more retarded, haha…

Bike racks (unfortuantely) have also become quite popular within the Japanese USDM crowd. Here you see a Civic Ferio on JLine wheels with a bike rack and what looks to be some sort of skateboard ramp attached to it. At least the rack is being used in this case, haha…

This is Tactical Art’s new demo vehicle, a U.S. Acura RSX-inspired Honda Integra Type R (yes, DC5R) on 3-piece CCW LM5 wheels…It also has geniune U.S.-spec taillights and a lip kit from Extreme Dimensions… The exhaust is custom made by Tactical Art…Pretty neat if you consider how sought after a DC5R is here in the U.S. There they want their ITRs to look like RSXs…

Turbo EK Civic from Osaka JDM/Car Craft Boon on Barramundi Design custom forged wheels…

Quick shot of the bay. I think I have a better shot of the bay that I’ll post later on when we get to Karimata’s photos…

What looks to be a Hypnotic Teal Mica paint job on this DC2 on white-faced BBS RS wheels…

3rd generation CA Accord with a whole lot of negative camber and VIP dish wheels…You’ll see a couple of these at various Japanese car shows like USDM Jam but you’d be hard-pressed to see a modded one here in the U.S. these days…

As I said before, their love of the USDM style is not limited to just Hondas and imports…there are also quite a number of really clean, well-built lowriders in Japan…

Slammed Audi wagon with a Yakima Skybox…

Another shot of the Tactical Art DC5R…

American super celebrity Adam Luong from Wek’Sos fame giving Tactical Art the thumbs-up… I couldn’t be there so Adam made sure to wear a t-shirt with my initials on it…haha…

I really wanted to dig up more photos of this DB Integra on bronze TE37s but the only other shot I saw was the same as this with the driver side door open… If I had been there I’m sure I’d be studying this Integra inside and out, especially after I spotted the cage….

Kyoei USA, a VIP shop down here in Arizona, was out at USDM Jam and had a full booth with a Miata and Integra/RSX on hand…

The MX-5 Miata on CCWs in the Kyoei USA section…

One build that I really wanted to see more photos of was Kohei Saito’s Midori EK9 Civic Type R… You know things are different in Japan when you see someone convert a CTR to a U.S.-spec Civic DX as it would have possibly been modified here… I just love how they are just down to do something like that and make a car as sought after as a CTR into a U.S.-inspired DX…

This silver Integra on SSR Competitions, belonging to Takahiro Kato, was very well-done and also a great example of a build that could possibly have been built here or in Japan… According to Takeshi, Kato recently changed up his Integra from a prior “HF” or “Hellaflush” look…

I first found out about this Midori EK9 when Takeshi from Type_K posted about it. It’s actually a customer of his and I’ve posted up a better photo of it on The Chronicles Facebook page…

If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that Yasutaka fell on the ground while taking this photo but this is one of his favorite angles…haha..

Silverstone S2000 on white Work VS-XX wheels… note the non-fucked up fenders. Yet another example of a Japanese S2000 enthusiast pulling off better fitment than Americans…Cookie Monster chumped-up fenders have yet to become a hit there…

The European-contingency was also well represented at USDM Jam 9.0…

Loved this Honda Inspire/Saber to U.S. Acura TL-conversion on HRE wheels…

I have another shot that Karimata took with the hood popped that I will post later on…

HRE wheels are universally baller in any country….

EJ1 coupe from Craft-A… These guys regularly track their cars but are also very into the US-style… All their cars are a little rough around the edges because they just beat the shit out of them at track events…

Rotiform wheels are starting to pop-up over in Japan and are beginning to become the new popular wheel there… Here is a set of Rotiform NUEs on a Volkswagen Bora…

There were also enthusiasts there who could give a shit less about “USDM-style” because they are rocking beautiful exotics like this Porsche 997….note the vanity plate as well… This thing is just sick looking…

Loving these new Volkswagen Beetles over the previous generations because the lines are much more aggressive…

Bug-eyed Integra sitting on aggressive BBS RS wheels…

Cream colored EG Civic on Barramundi wheels…

This Accord wagon would have been awesome if it weren’t rocking that interfooler in the front…

This guy was plenty comfortable enough with his sexuality to roll-up to USDM Jam in his pink Daihatsu on daisy wheels…

I know we are already about 40 photos in but the car coverage has not even begun yet. The stuff you’re seeing today is just from roll-in…

This is Tetsuya Yamaguchi’s personal ride, a USDM-inspired Integra with a U.S. 97-01 front end and newly-acquired 16-inch VIP Modular wheels. A better shot of this coming later on as well…

Slammed and cambered ridiculousness is apparently universal now… On that note, back tomorrow with much, much more from USDM Jam 9.0 in the land of the rising sun….

Thanks for looking…

There are so many sites that are out there these days providing photos and event coverage from our automotive community. It isn’t really a competition because we are all just presenting our own points of view but I do find it interesting that Joseph sent me his photos instead of keeping them for the site that he shoots for. Maybe he does plan on posting them up eventually, I don’t know, but I like a lot of the stuff that he captured so I decided to run them here on The Chronicles today. It was nice of him to send so many photos and they were mostly untouched too, so I took the liberty of cleaning them up and editing them for the site. He did take a couple photos of the same cars that the other guys did so I just left them out. The reason why I used photos from a couple different guys was so that I could give you guys variety. If you don’t see your car here in the coverage, it is unfortunate, but I did not take the photos. I knew it was coming but of course there were guys posting up on various social media sites as well as in the comments section asking why their cars weren’t posted here. When I take photos at events, I usually take photos of cars that I enjoy or things that I find unique and eye-catching. I don’t take a photo of every single car at an event and just post them up just to post them. That would be unnecessarily time-consuming and I would rather spend the time putting up the stuff that I would like to see at an event, you know what I mean? If you don’t see your car here, I could have either missed it at the event, or (to be perfectly frank) your car just didn’t peak my interests. Not everybody is going to like the same things. That’s why it is great that there are so many sites out there these days and so many people taking photos at events. It’s not to say that you’re doing something wrong, we just have varying tastes and that’s perfectly fine. If Joseph Dale, Eric Badis, or any of the other guest photographers I used this week didn’t get a photo of your car, it could also be for the same reasons as I stated. Just keep doing what you do and don’t be upset if you don’t see your car in some random person’s event coverage, haha. At the end of the day, it shouldn’t have any effect on how you should build your car…

With that said, let’s move on with today’s coverage of the IA Spring Atlanta meet…

If you missed the previous two posts, here are the links…

Import Alliance Spring 2012 Coverage…Part 1…

Import Alliance Spring 2012 Coverage…Part 2…

Now, courtesy of Joseph Dale, here is the concluding portion of our coverage…

J’s Racing flared S2000 that I’ve posted a couple times already in the previous two posts…

Lexus IS-F…

STi with a pretty large front mount intercooler on what looks to be white-faced CCWs…

Boosted Civic hatchback on some BBS RS wheels…Interesting hood graphic…

Joseph Dale’s personal car, a CB-body Mazda 626…

S2000 on some VIP-styled dish wheels representing Track.One…

One more shot of the IS350 that you saw many shots of in Eric Badis’ portion of the IA Spring coverage…

Good to see that someone finally got a shot of the engine bay of the IS…

This is the rear part of the flare that I’m not really that fond of. It’s interesting though and I understand why the owner kept a part of it black to flow with the rest of the rear lip…

4-door E36 BMW M3 slammed on some BBS wheels…

2GS from Team Solo on Leon Hardiritt Beils…

Shot of the interior…controller on the center console indicates that it is on a digital air ride system…

2JZ-GTE swapped IS300 on gold Work S1s…

I don’t have any shots of the interior of this Civic but I have seen photos of it floating around on Facebook and various other sites. I believe Joseph Dale has pics of it on the Southrn Fresh blog, but from another event…

It isn’t to everyone’s liking because it has a body kit on it, shaved moldings, and some larger Kinesis wheels on it but the engine bay is pretty sick…

A close-up of the sidewinder turbo manifold…

Another VIP-themed 2GS…

Spoon-themed Civic representing V2Lab…

After going through all the photos, this Miata is still my favorite build from this event…

Love the engine bay and tuck…

Widened IS300 with an L-Tuned front bumper…

Under the hood is a non-turbocharged VVTi 2JZ-GE motor that has been boosted…that notched area on the cylinder head is where an N/A 2JZ intake manifold would have gone… Also wondering why the car has seen so much body work but the bay is still grey…Overall a pretty cool build though, I can dig it…

800+ horsepower widebody Z32 300ZX convertible built by Russell Floyd…

I read on another site that this motor also has nitrous injection which makes the motor push out around 1200hp, pretty nuts…

The widened rear quarters and rear bumper are all one-piece…

Z34 370Z with a Powerhouse Amuse front bumper and Advan wheels…

Russ Antonio’s Route KS Zero Force widebody NSX on Volk Racing GT-S wheels from Jade Crew…

LOVE this yellow EG on BBS “Prima Donna”-inspired RS wheels… Looks perfect just the way it is with the Spoon mirrors and BYS front lip… Oh, and J’s Racing duct too…This car is on point…

Closer look at the BBS wheels… people that are picky about corner light/headlight fitment (me being one of them) will rejoice in the fact that this person’s fit just fine…Looks like the front fenders have been pulled slightly but I am happy to also see that the wheels still fit inside the wheel well, haha…

Tanner Norwood’s Miata on 15×9/9.5 Work Meister S1…

Matte black Evo 9 on Diamond Black Volk TE37SL…

Another Evo, this one with Advan RG-D wheels, Project Mu brakes, and some Tomei and ARC stuff under the hood…

Anthony Malesa’s MX-5 Miata on CCW LM20…

A couple more shots of the Q45 from the previous posts… Interesting to see a Y33 with dual exhausts…

KA9 RL with a Garage Answer lip kit. Could also be Skipper aero, not 100% sure…

White FG2 coupe on OZ wheels…

Not 100% sure what wheels are on this 370Z, if you know, feel free to comment…

Justin Semon’s track-spec EK Civic on Kosei K1…

His Civic was featured in Super Street magazine back in December of 2011 when it had a B18C-swap…since then, as you can see, some things have changed… You can check out his SS feature here…

One more shot of David Cordell’s Z34…

Really like this supercharged RSX with INGS N-Spec front fenders, rear over fenders, and Work XT-7 wheels…Also has a Mugen rear wing too…Cool, and most importantly, well-rounded build…

Stephen Burke’s Subaru STi on CCW wheels from Premium Garage Krew…

Moe Drennon’s Civic, also from Premium Garage Krew…

Nice tuck on this bay…

EG Mike’s engine bay…

E70 Corolla wagon with some random ass wheels that don’t fit in the front…

…with a KA24DE engine swap that has also been turbocharged…

Another good example of a nice, simple, trend-free Civic build. Has a good selection of parts, wheel fitment isn’t retarded, engine bay is very well done, and the owner is even down to have his Mugen gas cap stolen, haha. If you lived in Cali and tried to pump gas, you better put that Mugen cap in your pocket or something. If not, that shit is on Craigslist immediately.. He probably just popped it open for the photo though, I’m sure… Good build though, I approve (not that it should matter)…

Had to do a double take when I saw this photo because there is at least one other S2000 out here in the west with this exact same set-up…

Can’t say that I’m a huge fan of the Mugen EK4 front lip but it looks good on this Civic. Probably because he took the steps to do the EK4 SiR front and rear bumperss… Just how Mugen intended it to look… CCW LM5s would be considered the “rare” wheel compared to how many other sets of CCW Classics, LM16s, and LM20s were at this meet…man they love those wheels out there…

Mr. Dale sent me all these pics and they weren’t in any particular order so I am just assuming that this engine bay shot belongs to the Civic above it…I don’t know for sure but based on my 1 whole year of high school science class, I’ve used my deductive reasoning and taken into consideration that the Civic above has a Mugen lip so the owner must like Mugen products, hence the Mugen valve cover, and well…it’s a similar shade of white. If they are two different cars, just pretend that they are one in the same… I also spotted the orange Samco hoses to match the orange Mugen sock and the orange accents on the coilovers…I see what you did there…

Oh that’s all the photos. That’s a wrap on IA Spring 2012…Hope you guys enjoyed the coverage. If you don’t like the photos feel free to contact our guest photographers this week and complain to them and ask them why they didn’t take a picture of your car. Make sure to check out the SouthrnFresh website for all your Southern import automotive needs. Other than that, have a great weekend everybody…

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Tony’s Sorcery widebody NSX after he pulled it out from his garage after a couple years… The front bumper at that time had been broken from an accident on a trailer and it had to be repaired. Luckily he had it done just in time to roll into Nisei Showoff that morning…

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HeyMikeyyyy’s Integra back when it was in its prime…

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Brian Nguyen’s Mugen-everything DC5 RSX…

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Nisei 2009 marked the official re-debut of Big Mike’s Prelude…the exterior wasn’t nearly as finished then so I just took a nice shot of the bay…Notice how his Bisimoto header is nice and shiny…

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HBK Jon’s Civic was a hit throughout 2009…

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Joey Abundiz’s EM1 coupe was one of the more unique builds of 2009…

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Not only was his bay a different color than the body, but he pulled off the paint splatter look very cleanly. It wasn’t for everyone but it was definitely different…

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Sid from Phaze2…

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Tony’s widebody NSX had to have been the biggest hit of the show that year. When this thing came roaring into the lot, everybody stopped to look at it…

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His NSX is still around and its one of the cars I miss seeing the most these days…he could easily put it back together and bring it out again but he probably just needs some motivation…

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Spotted this thing on the street on the way to grab some lunch back then…

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HBK James’ EK on CCWs…

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Bryan Leon’s RHD DA Integra on Sprint Hart CP-R…

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Alex Zhao’s S2000 was one of the more controversial builds back then…Not a whole lot of people liked his car because it was deemed too over the top in terms of wheel fitment. Pretty crazy to think back now and how ridiculous the whole wheel fitment thing has gotten since then. This would almost seem tame these days and Alex actually took the proper steps and got metal fender work done to house these wheels. Since then, he’s moved on from the S2000 and runs a pretty successful business called Wheelflip where they refinish and re-barrel wheels…

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Jared’s S2000 is one of those builds that are just utterly timeless. You can see now that aesthetically, his S2000 has remained the same even in 2012 and it sits just perfectly in any time period…

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Many of you probably recognize this Integra…it later went on to have quite an interesting makeover. You can take that however you want, haha…

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One of my favorite valve cover ideas of ’09…

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I really wish that I had a better shot of DPK Jimmy’s del Sol from that day but back in ’09 I didn’t know how to crouch down to take a picture, haha…

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Not sure why but I really liked this photo I took of JP’s Civic…

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Alex “Sheepey” Soto’s turbo Integra on RE30s… You recognize this car more as a full-blown drag car these days but back then it was just a street car that he cruised around in on weekends… I liked these wheels on his Integra the best back then and I was actually the one that found these for him online back when he still had some 15-inch Mugen wheels on his car… You can also spot Big Mike’s Prelude in the reflection on his front bumper…

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Alex reppin’ an old Chronicles decal faithfully…

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Parnell’s DA from Kosoku, back when it had the turbo kit…

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Arn Reye’s K-swapped bay…

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Arn’s interior…for whatever reason, I couldn’t get a clean shot of his car that day…

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Phaze2 Arnel’s Custom BBS RS wheels…

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Danny from PlusOne couldn’t get his car running at that time so that’s why you see rust on his brake rotor because it was pushed into the show…

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Son from Hasback’s engine bay…

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Okay, so that wraps it up for the Nisei ’09 coverage but below, I’ve also attached some photos from the Mega Matsuri event, which took place just a week after Nisei. It was also put together by Ken Myoshi and was a smaller event where people could like buy and sell car parts or something, I don’t remember, haha. Just enjoy the photos…

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Arnel was supposed to have these red caps in time for Nisei the week before but they weren’t ready in time so he showed them off at the Mega Matsuri event where he won an award for Best Wheel Fitment…

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The infamous…

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Bryan Leon’s DA at Mega Matsuri…

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Alex Zhao’s S2000 on HREs…

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Project Car magazine’s CR-X…

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Mega Matsuri 2009 marked the debut of Ejay Adriano’s H2B DA Integra…

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That’s a wrap for this week’s edition of Throwback Thursday…thanks for looking everybody…

Anyways, thanks to Eric Badis for providing the photos today. And for the rest of you guys, I know it’s a little different feel this week with people who are complete strangers to you providing photos for your enjoyment but after this month, things are going to pick up and pick up pretty quickly, and I’ll be back to taking photos of cars you’ve seen before and whatever the fuck I am eating at that moment…

…and now, more from IA Spring 2012, through the eyes and lens of Eric Badis…

Here’s the IS350 I was talking about… I’m not gonna lie, I dig this car a lot. The only thing I don’t really like is the back part of the rear fender flare but the rest of the car more than makes up for it. I guess this was taken in the morning on the way to the IA event…

One of the major reasons why I like this build is because of how well-rounded it is. The owner has paid attention to not only the exterior but also to the motor and interior. It’s rare for guys with these cars to really go all-out on them and this one is a great example…

This AP1 S2000 looks like its got quite a bit of work done to it as well… Immediately you’ll notice the Voltex wing, what looks to be a Spoon rear diffuser, Advan Racing wheels, just to name a few…

Nice rolling shot of the IS on the road…

Posted up next to an older IS, also on gold Work Meister S1…

Y33 Q45 with a Version Select kit and AME wheels. Nice to see that ridiculous oni-camber hasn’t hit the VIP market over on that side of the coast yet, haha…

2JZ-GTE-swapped Lexus IS300…

Infiniti G37 sedan on 2-piece Work Meister S1…

Russ Antonio’s JGTC-inspired widebody Acura NSX from JADE crew… Dude behind him was staring at the car so hard he ended up with a white streak in his hair like Rogue from X-Men, haha…

The aero is probably a little much for most enthusiasts but it definitely makes for a eye-catching show car…

A shot of the rear as it was cruising by… I want to say that Volk GT-S wheels were vastly underrated but I’d be lying because they just weren’t very popular due to them not being very attractive…

Loving this VIP-styled Acura RL… I remember getting a shot of it from the IA summer meet last year…

Not sure if his front tire is low on air or not but that shit is like, on some rubber band-type shit…He might be the only guy that ever curbed his wheel not being anywhere near a curb.. Not a bad looking car either..

Justin Semon’s  (aka “wEaK Squad ATL”) EK looking good on Kosei K1 wheels… I’m not usually a fan of these wheels but they work better on his hatch more than his older wheels, in my opinion anyways…

RSX on some CCW classics…

Acura TL also on some CCW Classics…

I absolutely love 370Zs…something about the lines of the car and how they sit on just suspension and wheels is very appealing…

Speaking of Z34s, here are a couple more shots of David Cordell’s from Hybrid Racing…

Here’s a shot of how it looked last year when I saw it in Nashville (click here)…huge difference now… I kind of preferred the bronze wheel set-up though because it had color-matched inserts on the spokes…

Love the new aero additions though regardless…

Turbocharged RSX on Volk Racing CE28s…

Black STi on silver-faced Work VS-XX wheels… Note the vanity plate…

I posted up some photos of this STi in yesterday’s post and here are a couple more since Eric took some better shots of it…

Front shot of the pig nose and Perrin intercooler…

I’m really liking the fact that people are able to running meaty tires with their aggressive wheels now…I think by 2013 it’ll be more common than the whole incredible-stretched tire look that has become so popular in the last two years…

Evo from Team EMOTION and the back half of Eric Badis’ TL…

Here is the only other shot…

IS and S2K not getting any attention because a Lexus LF-A was cruising by…

Also note the vanity plate on the S2… pretty clever… Meanwhile, people are still gawking at…

…this LF-A… This owner, however, didn’t really have anything clever in mind when coming up with his vanity plate…

I am really digging this FA5 sedan on Enkei NT03s…I posted up a shot of the rear of this car and thanks to having photos from various photographers, we get to see a shot of the front today…This Civic is on point… I don’t even like the U.S. front ends but it looks good with the FD2-inspired front lip…

No motion drifting…haha…

Another GD-chassis WRX STi, this one has some white Work Emotion XD-9s…

GR-body Subaru on all-white BBS LM…

A couple more of the neon yellow  S2000 on black Meisters…

Evo X on Enkei NT03…

A better angle of the STi on Emotion XD-9s… Nice and simple…oh and wingless too, which I prefer…

Here you can see Turner Field, where the Atlanta Braves play, in the background…

Just can’t get enough of this IS…though the hot pink under the hood is kind of random…

Check out how aggressive this thing looks from the rear… Random, but the guy to the left of the photo is apparently anticipating a major flood…

Man, people love their vanity plates out in Georgia… I know Jay from JDMEGO would appreciate that Voltex wing (also random)…

Acura TL on custom step-lipped Work Equips…

Custom orange S2000 with J’s Racing aero and Spoon Mooncraft hard top…

That pretty much wraps of Eric’s coverage of the meet..the rest of these shots are just random pics he took (while driving it looks like) of the IS and S2000 that he cruised with…

This one is probably the best of the bunch…Really liked this shot…

Pretty good shots either way considering he should have been paying attention to the road at high speeds, haha…

That’s all folks…I think I have one more coming but that will probably come after the Throwback Thursday post tomorrow… thanks for looking and thanks to Eric once again for providing the photos…

As you all should know by now, I made a post on The Chronicles Facebook page over the weekend asking if anyone was willing to let me see and use some of their photos from the IA Atlanta meet. The photos that I would end up selecting and using for the site would be posted up this week and the person(s) that shot the photos would receive some Chronicles gear for all their hard work. The response was great and I had people hitting me up on and off from that weekend on until as late as last night about using their photos. One thing I noticed about people’s photos from the meet was the varying perspectives of each photographer. I thought I would just get the same cars over and over again, just from different angles, but that was definitely not the case. If it were, it would have been easier to decide which photos to use because I would just pick what I thought were the best shots.  Turns out that everybody that sent me photos from the meet were looking at different cars so each photo set contained pics that represented that. It turns out that every set was different and each contained at least one or two cars that I wanted to show you guys. Instead of just picking one set of photos from one respective photographer, I’ve gone ahead and made the decision to post up 3 (possibly 4) different sets of photos from the meet. This will give you guys a very different look at the meet and you get to see the cars of IA Spring 2012 from their point-of-view. This works out best because you get to see more and the likelihood of missing out on something really nice is less of a possibility. Today we will be looking at two sets of photos from two different people; Shawn Dees and Jake Boger.

Jake didn’t take too many photos compared to others that responded because he spent the majority of the night leading up to the meet working on his car. He then made a 5 hour drive down to Atlanta to attend the meet. The fact that he even had the energy to take pictures that day is pretty remarkable, and I’m happy to be able to post up his shots today. Shawn also didn’t take too many photos but of the photos I saw, he got a good chunk of Honda coverage. He also got some nice shots of some of the cars driving on the street. We will look at Shawn’s photos first today, and then Jake’s immediately after…

Tomorrow I will post up the second batch of photos. Somebody actually submitted a link to some photos to me as well last night but I accidentally deleted the link and now I’m trying to get a hold of the guy again. If he gets back to me and his photos turn out to be good, I’ll try to get those up as well…

For now, let’s get on to some photos from the Import Alliance Spring Meet in Atlanta Georgia at Turner Field…I didn’t take any of the photos but I did clean them up a bit and edited them here and there before re-sizing them to fit the format of this site…

Thanks to everyone who participated and submitted photos, because of them, you get to see photos from the IA Spring event here on The Chronicles…

Oh, one more thing I should add is that I don’t know many of you out there so I won’t be able to identify who owns what car. If you see your car on here, give yourself a pat on the back, haha…

First up, Shawn Dee’s photos…. 

Chris Dornon’s S2000 on 5Zigen FN01R…

Loved this 370Z after I spotted it last year at the summer Import Alliance meet in Nashville…turns out that it belonged to David Cordell from Hybrid Racing…

S15 Silvia on Volk GT-Us…I believe this is the same one that I saw last year at IA but that one had gold GT-Us…it’s either the same one of there are just a bunch of silver S15s floating around in the south, haha…

Always liked the 09 and up front bumpers on the 8th gen. coupes…much better than the front ends before that. The older FG2 bumpers made the Civics look like mini-vacs…Meanwhile, it was probably hot as shit in Atlanta and that girl has a jacket on…

Sidewinder turbo set-up on this Civic with a shaved engine bay…I wish there was a photo of the rest of the car, haha…this thing looks pretty fucking serious…

One thing I’ve noticed since the past year is how much more popular the FG Civic coupes are outside of the west coast. We don’t see too many out here modded and out in the east, south, midwest, there seems to be more. They are all usually about the same style though; lowered, with the front lip on some aggressive wheels. Rare to really see any of them with motor work done or any crazy interior stuff…this white one above is clean. I always prefer the sedans to the coupes but this white one is very nice…

One of the reasons why I made the post to see more photos from the IA Spring Meet was because of this Miata right here. Of all the cars I’ve seen so far from various people that took pictures that day, this thing has to be my favorite build of the meet…

I love how the exterior is executed but the bay is the shit…I don’t even care for two-toned bays anymore but got damn, this thing is the business…Nice tuck, everything unnecessary eliminated from the bay, custom lines… it’s about as good as it gets…

Liking the Spoon-theme on this EG…not that I am that huge of a fan of Spoon stuff, I just like it when people aren’t mixing Mugen and Spoon stuff together…

Matte green Evo9 on gold faced CCW wheels…

Joseph Dale’s Mazda 626 from SOUTHRNFRESH…

I’ve been a fan of this IS350 for awhile now so I was happy to finally see more photos of it… The photo set you will see tomorrow has all kinds of photos of this thing…

Neon yellow Honda S2000 on Work Meister S1s with matching bolts…definitely unique but if you drove that out here in the west coast, you wouldn’t make it down the street without getting pulled over, haha…

I personally don’t like BBS mesh wheels on 96-00 Civics but I can dig this build…just imagine if it had some white TE37s or something, oh man…it would just change the whole look of the car…

Engine bay isn’t too bad…

The blue and white theme also carries over into the interior…

If you compare this bay to the one above, this one has a slightly neater tuck because the valve cover ground has been re-located, the throttle cable runs under, and the spark plug wires have also been moved to the other side of the distributor, giving it an overall cleaner look…

Tim Shultz from Hybrid Racing’s EK… he’s always making little changes to this car and his current set-up looks great… I know he had Regamaster Evo Brites on here for awhile but imagine an Almight Grey set with that engine bay tone…would be a sick look!…

Tim’s bay…

Always good to see Matt Tucker’s EK9… Also happy to see him wearing his Top Ten Hondas of 2011 sticker proudly…

Rachel Laughlin’s Integra that she put together with Ben BLT Torres… glad to see them out and about so she’s not complaining about something on Facebook, haha…

EG Mike from Premium Garage Krew…I got a chance to ride in this thing last year at the summer IA event and it was a blast…hot as fucking hell that day but it was a blast…

Clean S2000 also from PG+K on some CCW LM20s…

Thank you once again goes out to Shawn Dees for those photos, but that concludes his set. Now with from a different point-of-view, here are photos from the meet courtesy of Jake Boger…

Another shot of the neon yellow S2000 on Meisters, this perhaps from earlier on in the day when he was pulling up…

This EG looked pretty clean…just wish the angle on it wasn’t so aggressive so I could see the whole car. Wheels look like old WEDSport TC-05s…

Another Civic, this one with a K-swap…Again, I wish I could see the rest of the car but I too love using the fish-eye lens sometimes so I get it, haha…

I liked this Dc after seeing it last year at IA…again, I am not a huge fan of the two-tone bays thing but the teal bay looks pretty good on this car. It helps to set it apart from the other million white Integras out there….the 949Racing wheels looked good on there too, mainly because he didn’t try to fuck his shit up and run an overly aggressive size…

Another shot of Joseph Dale’s Mazda 626…pretty rare to see these cars nowadays, especially in good condition. Props to him for maintaining such an old, oddball of a car…

This Datsun pick-up truck was very well done…just wish I had more photos of it to show you guys…

Every good event coverage photographer knows that you have to get a shot of the crowd…good job Jake Boger…

Vorsteiner (perhaps Vorsteiner-style, don’t quote me on it) front bumper, lip, and hood on this E46 Bimmer…

Another sick MX-5 Miata…People can talk all they want about how they are girl’s cars but man, when done right, these cars can look really aggressive…I can’t say I’d ever be down to own one but I love seeing these cars built correctly…

Justin Butera’s Civic on BBS wheels…

Nice attempt at a complete JDM ITR conversion with Regamaster Evos…

Looking good on white BBS wheels with red caps and gold bolts…

Honda CR-Z with some aggressive Work Meister S1 wheels…Meisters are turning into the new TE37s…they seem to be everywhere this year…

CD Accord on what might be either older Work Rezax wheels or Riverside Stitch wheels…

RSX with a Mugen front bumper and black Volk RE30s…

Acura NSX on Enkei RP03 wheels…Not that common of a wheel but it looks good in this staggered sizing, especially the rears…

Yellow USDM ITR on Stark wheels…

Matt Tucker’s EK9 once again…

Simple EK on Spoon SW388 wheels and Spoon brakes…

Custom orange S2000 from EMOTION with a complete J’s Racing aero kit with flares and all…

Civic hatchback on aggressively-sized BBS wheels…

BMW M3 convertible on 3-piece Work Meister S1…

Tim Shultz once again…

…another of his bay…

A rare unmolested EK9 Civic Type R…

NB-chassis MX-5 Miata on CCW wheels…

IA Atlanta even played host to a Lexus LF-A…

Diamond black Volk Racing TE37s on Spoon Monoblock brakes…

Enkei NT03 wheels on this FA5 sedan…

Bronze Mugen MF8s…

PG+K Moe’s Honda Tuning magazine featured Civic…very happy to see he now has a windshield molding…

Pig nose WRX STi on gold TEs…

Gonna wrap it up here for today… I hope you guys enjoyed Shawn and Jake’s photos from the IA Spring Meet…back tomorrow with another set from a completely new perspective… Thanks for looking…