Today we remember…
Everytime July 4th rolls around, it’s not only a reminder for me that it’s Independence Day but also the anniversary of the passing of one of the (in my opinion) most influential Honda personalities of our generation; Randy Gagan. I can’t believe it’s already been 4 years since his passing. Only seems like yesterday when I met him for the first time at Nisei Import Showoff. The guy was so friendly and always had a positive energy about him. He always answered any questions I had for him and offered his help to me even though we weren’t super tight. The guy was a class act and even 4 years since his passing, the two Hondas that he completed would still be very current and held in high regard even by today’s standards. They were just timeless works of art and his influence is still apparent today. I actually dug through some old photos that I had on my computer and found a couple shots of his DA at Nisei Showoff 2005. I didn’t really take pictures back then nor had any real interest in it. I had borrowed my mom’s camera I think and was just shooting pictures of cars that caught my eye. Randy’s DA of course was one of them. I liked the car so much that I seriously thought about selling my Accord back then and picking up the DA when I found out he was selling it…
Without the time stamp, you wouldn’t think that this was taken 5 years ago. The bay was on point…
Sadly, he passed on July 4th, 2006 and that year for Nisei Showoff, his closest friends brought out his unfinished EF project in memory of Randy. When they pushed his car in, I remember the whole show just being in complete silence. It was a powerful moment to see it and remember the man who never had a chance to complete his project…
I know there are plenty of you who never had a chance to meet him or speak to him, or just weren’t heavy in the Honda community then so I went and dug up his old features from Honda Tuning magazine. The first is of his right hand drive CR-X SiR and the second is of the DA6 from the pics above. Both awesome, timeless builds…
I can’t say enough about the guy…he believed in me when no one else did…
R.I.P. Randy “Questoyz” Gagan 11/23/1980 – 7/4/2006…we miss you man and we will never forget you…
Doin’ Work…
While I must admit that a big part of me likes how this site was way back in the beginning when I actually had no content and scrambled every night for something to write about, these days there are times when I am literally just to busy to update. I had a lot of fun back then when I had to create and write random ass stuff but as the site grew, so did the content. I no longer had to grab stuff from other sites or from forums and I kinda got the hang of how to operate a camera which helped me a great deal. As time went on, the audience grew as well and to a much larger spectrum. It wasn’t just my homies checking it out anymore and people from all over the world started to check it out. Daily updates became harder to pull off but hopefully the quality of the content has exceeded that of the quantity and you guys no longer care if I throw up random shit that may or may not have anything to do with cars. The sites growth has also opened up many doors for me and whether it has anything to do with me doing work at Super Street or not, I’d like to think that this site was directly involved in Jonathan Wong’s decision to use me. With gigs at both Honda Tuning and Super Street now, I can honestly say that I’ve never been happier working for these mags. They present challenges and cars that I have never even seen before. Writing may seem tedious for some but I geniunely enjoy it. If you guys come on here and one or two days out of the week this site goes updateless, trust me, it’s with good cause…my ass is working. I’m still writing about car stuff for you guys, you just don’t happen to see it until a month or so later. With that said, I just want to let you guys know that the latest issue of Super Street is out on newstands now and I put in a lot of work in it. I’m honored to be a major part of it and I think the features came out great…
It doesn’t really have any Honda content in it, I’m not gonna lie, but if you’re a fan of cars in general, it is definitely the issue to pick up. The cover car alone is worth the 6 bucks. I had a lot of fun putting the written portions of the features together and when Jonathan Wong joked and told me it was the “Joey” issue, I laughed it off and didn’t think that he would mention it in the contributors section of the mag…
Definitely cool to see my hard work recognized and appreciated. I gotta thank Mr. Wong and the rest of the Super Street staff for the opportunity. The dude pictured is definitely not me of course. They already have too many models in the mag. Haha… That and if it were truly the “Joey Issue”, I’m sure my wang would be on the cover. Go out and pick it up so they can make back the money they paid me to stay up all night and write that shit. Like Jay from JDMEGO said…“Support Print”…
First look at the “Championship Edition” Chronicles sticker…
Purple chrome vinyl finally came in today and I had a chance to finally put the “Championship Edition” stickers that many of you pre-ordered. I love how they came out…the purple chrome on gold chrome looks crazy and it’s probably gonna be one of the few times I cut them this way. If you still want one, grab them now…gold chrome is kinda scarce right now so once this first batch are gone it would take a couple weeks until I can get a hold of some more gold…Thanks to everyone for their continued support…
Amuse S2000 rips it…
Man, watching these old Best Motoring videos is cool and all but it’s also a sad reminder that some of these great tuning legends aren’t around anymore. I was checking out Vol. 32 and couldn’t help but notice Hideki Tanabe of the famed Powerhouse Amuse. As you all know (or not), Tanabe passed away sadly last year around September after battling an illness. The man created absolutely wonderful works of art and the Amuse S2000 is definitely one of his finest works. Many of us stateside probably only know it for the crazy widebody aero and aesthetics but this thing fucking rips!…oh man, just watching this quick video will give you an idea oh how fast and completely functional it was. It’s amazing…Now I can’t show you the whole video of course because I’m sure my ass would get into trouble for it but they actually have the J’s Racing S2000 in the same race and it gets pretty interesting. While most of the drivers assumed that the Amuse S2k would be all over the J’s car, The yellow J’s S2K actually held it’s own and with a 4.3 final drive, it was actually somewhat quicker than Tanabe’s car on the straights. Funny part of the video was that they were interviewing both the owner of J’s and Tanabe together and they were joking around that they hated eachother and both men kinda kept their mouths shut. It’s an interesting video and I highyl recommend you guys buy it or download it or something. Anyways, here is the Amuse car on it’s initial run…
We’re big in Japan…(literally)…
I’ve been meaning to post this for a couple weeks now but just never got around to it… So back during the month of Eibach, as you all know, Takeshi from Type_K Autosource in Japan came out to pay us a visit. He’s a big fan of the U.S. Honda community and makes the trek annually so this time around, I made it a point to actually meet up with him and hang out. The last time I ran into him was at Wek’Fest and it was very briefly outside of a supermarket. He’s picked up a bunch of Chronicles merchandise in the past so I really wanted to show him around a bit out here in Socal. He was also staying not too far away so it was very convenient to meet up. After Eibach, he stayed an extra week couple days or so because he usually stays out here for 2+weeks just in case he ends up purchasing a vehicle to bring back with him. All the paperwork and customs B.S. takes time so he had to leave the adequate amount of days just in case. Well he didn’t find the Civic he was looking for but he wanted to pick up some extra Chronicles stuff before he flew back so I met up with him at Midnight Garage. He seemed pretty happy to be over there to check things out, especially the Scions and whatever else was there. This was before Midnight Garage burned down so in hindsight, I’m almost glad that we met up there so he could see the place. When I showed up he was already there walking around snapping pictures and after delivering the merchandise, he gave me a big bag of japanese cookies and snacks that he brought over to give someone else. That dude unfortunately couldn’t meet up in time so I ended up getting the goodies. It was a bunch of like mini cookies, japanese crackers, and what looked like mini Pringles chips. Shit was good, I still have some here actually.
So anyway, what he did intend to give me when we met up was a Japanese magazine that he did some work in. He knows I work in the magazine industry and he even mentioned that he has a subscription to Honda Tuning; and they send it to him all the way in Japan. Pretty cool…Well this magazine he gave me was largely retro/restored and modified Japanese vans and vehicles similar to that but it also contained some Wek’Fest coverage that he had done while he was out here. I had no idea he even knew Ryan/Rywire but Takeshi actually flew out to Norcal and stayed at Ryan’s house! How that connection worked out I’ll never know because I never asked but he documented his trip in this Japanese mag and it was cool to see it…
It’s not an Option mag or anything I’m really familiar with so the cover kinda threw me off when he handed it to me…
…much to my surprise, he opened it up and showed me this full spread he did on Wek’Fest…
It had shots of cars that we’re all familiar with. The first couple pages had Phaze2 Arnel, Rywire, Anh, and Danny…Arnel is even mentioned as “Offset King”…haha…
Super Street cover boy, Anh Truong getting love in Japan…
The bottom portion of the page had DPK*David and his name is even printed…Look David you finally got into a mag!! Haha…
The next pages had even more pics…
Big Mike of course…
Chris Sakai and his Rando kit getting a mention…
I turned the page and there was even MORE coverage. The last page showed some of Takeshi’s adventures with Ryan and some of the Dumpedstars guys…
I kinda wish I knew what it all said because I’m sure it’s interesting, but my Japanese is pretty rough. By “pretty rough” I mean “I don’t understand shit”. It’s cool to look at the snaps though. They ended up with better coverage than what I had. Pretty cool to see cars that we’re all familiar with in a overseas magazine though, just shows how much of an impact the Honda community over here is making worldwide. If you guys think that what you do isn’t recognized or noticed…well just by looking at stuff like this, it’s very apparent that Hondas are still a force everywhere in the world.
I actually asked Takeshi why he and his friends/customers liked the U.S. Honda scene so much and why they read the Chronicles… his response….
“…because you guys make Hondas cool…”
Enough said.
Goodbye Midnight Garage…
Ahhh it seems like only yesterday that we were all at the Midnight Garage grand opening having a blast with great food and amazing people…Anyone that follows The Chronicles and my adventures through life know that Midnight Garage and The Chronicles go hand-in-hand. It’s been a place for me to hang out whenever I have free time, and everyone that I know that has been apart of the Honda community has been by there at least once to chill. It was just a couple weeks ago that the east coast/midwest guys came out and stopped by to hang out. S2kjay’s car was just chilling out back and we were snapping pics of it…
Ahh how quickly things change…I’ve taken you guys on a guided tour of the place from the moment it has opened its doors to the public, the ridiculous situation when Ross’s xB was vandalized, the rebuild of the Phaze2 NSX, and now today, I come to you with sad news…the end of Midnight Garage…
I woke up this morning (okay, it was like 2pm) to a phone call from Ross. Normally when he calls me it’s not really too important, maybe he just wanted to grab lunch or something. I as usual had been up until the earlier hours of the morning (7-ish cuz I was updating this site), so I didn’t answer. I was gonna call the dude back in 20 minutes once I collected myself and woke up. I call back to see what’s up and Ross tells me the news…
I’d tell you what he told me but I think a picture would express it more appropriately…
This was the scene as I arrived…the whole street had been blocked off and traffic was being redirected so I had to pull into another lot and walk over…
What once looked like this when I rolled up to Midnight Garage…
…now looked like this…
It’s all gone. What we knew as Midnight Garage…no more. Just charred remains of what was once Ross’s everything…
My buddy Tony Lee had been passing by to get some stickers from Island Motorsports and saw smoke coming from the top of the building. He pulled up to the lot and noticed that the building next door’s rear door was turning brown…Apparently the owner of the shop next door had put something in his trashcan that wasn’t completely put out yet and the fire started up inside his shop and had somehow found an opening where the piping runs through both buildings and once the fire department pulled up, Midnight Garage just lit up and caught fire. Jimmy, who owns a metal fabrication shop a couple spots down, was close with Ross and wasn’t sure if anyone was inside so he went and tried to bust the doors down to no avail. The fire began to spread fast and luckily nobody was inside. Everyone had gone out to run errands not too long before that and the only part of the Midnight Garage family, Delilah the shop dog was still inside. We lost her. The shop dog that Ross and Sara so deeply loved…passed.
She had made her way to the bathroom to hide after the fire set off and she couldn’t handle the smoke inhalation. Firefighters took her out once the fire was out before Ross arrived back at the shop…
After the fire was completely out and the fire department was finishing up, we were finally able to take a look at the damage inside…
It didn’t look good at all…There was an Infiniti M35 that was inside as well and Ross had just left to go pick up some parts for the Universal Air system that he was gonna install this weekend…
I was speechless when I walked in…so much lost…it wasn’t even recognizable…From the outside, the M looked okay, we thought that there was just minor fire damage to the front end of it but once we got in there, that thing was toast…
All the tires and wheels that were inside had to be cleared out and was probably a major contributor in what made the fire so huge…
I kinda had a feeling it was gonna be unscathed even with the huge fire and I was right…
Underneath the burnt rubble against the shelf that had undoubtedly caught fire first, was my piece of shit Rota Slipstream wheel that I was intending to make into my Rotamaster Emo wheel…
Here’s a shot of the taillight on the M35 so you can get an idea of the extent of damages inside the shop…
The office was a bit better than the bay…mostly just smoke and water damage but it was just a mess. Surprisingly the most random things didn’t burn. The posters Ross had collected were just fine, as well as Tony’s NSX hood that he a bunch of import models sign and was keeping a memorabilia…
Here’s the ceiling of the office…the fire had begun to spread up there but firefighters were able to put it out. One of the guys that helps Ross out regularly had his custom kit for his xB sitting up on the ceiling area and it was so badly charred that he had wrapped itself around one of the metal ventilation tubes…
Since they were gonna board the place up and shut everything down, we had to empty out whatever was salvageable and move it to a storage unit. Surprisingly a lot of stuff in the office was straight…Laptop, computer, and all the important files and what not made it out fine…
Good thing Ross had great friends to come by and help out. Even Big Mike came down to lend a helping hand. By 10pm everything was almost out and a crew came by to begin boarding the shop up. The fire had started next door but Ross’s shop had so much more to burn and the fire hit Midnight Garage the hardest. It’s still unbelievable to look at the pictures now…
I mean, everything material is obviously replaceable but it’s just the time and blood, sweat, tears that were invested. That’s just stuff you can never get back. Plus there’s so much paperwork and stuff to deal with now and re-building is going to be quite a journey. I honestly don’t know what Ross is going to do next. It’s a shitty circumstance to deal with and I wouldn’t wish anything like this upon anyone….it’s gonna be fucking brutal the next couple months. My heart really goes out to Ross…man, just when he was starting to do really well and grow, shit like this hits the fan and we’re back to square one…and to lose another dog…man I can’t even begin to imagine what that’s like…
All we can really do right now and sit and wait, and face whatever will come in the future head on….I’ll try to keep you guys up to date on what’s to come. I can’t really say if Ross will rebuild or not, I was with him the majority of the day and he and Sara were just kinda going through the motions. I don’t even think it has really hit them yet…
This is probably the least important of all that has happened but I told you guys about a bumper that I had been searching a long time for. I called it my “unicorn” not thinking I would ever find it. It was a JDM Cima GT front bumper that’s super rare because of the OEM optional lip that it came with. Believe me, that thing was rare…..one day while I was going through Yahoo Japan auctions, crazy enough, I found that shit. I was willing to pay whatever they were asking for and even managed to bring it over. It was sitting in Ross’s shop awaiting paint and fuck man…
…no more…where it was sitting in the shop I’m sure it was the first to burn. I don’t even know where the lip is at, probably melted onto the floor. Good thing the fogs were boxed up in the bathroom where it only saw some light smoke damage. I was able to save that and it’s sitting in my 4Runner now making the whole inside of the car smell like a smoke…I’m sure I’ll be able to find another one, just sucks that we all lost a little something in there. Tony had just picked up a rare Blitz kit for his GS300 the same time I got my bumper and now his sideskirts are toast.
At the end of the day of course all that stuff can be replaced…
I sent a text to Ross after I left…
“You have your life and those who think the world of you and care about you. That alone will give you the strength to get through anything.”
That’s all that really matters. Everything else is material and unimportant in the broader spectrum of life. Things can always be worse… It just sucks to have to deal with this stuff but we will all get through it…
That’s all I got for today…I’m exhausted…
Thanks to everyone that came out to help, I’m sure Ross appreciates you guys to no end.
Goodbye Midnight Garage and rest in peace to Delilah the puppy…
Well this is ANHteresting…
I sit here today, speaking to you proudly like a father with a newborn in his hands…oh man…it is going to be quite a month for Hondas in magazines. I mean, every month is great (obviously), because I and many others in the industry work our asses off month after month to bring you the best reading material on earth. We’re not slacking here, but this coming month…oh man..I can honestly say that I am excited about it. In Super Street, we have a dual cover feature with Ryan Der’s Civic and Anh Truong’s DC. Both of these guys are from ATS*Garage and couldn’t be happier sharing the cover with one another. Anh’s been following The Chronicles for a long time so it’s good to see him getting the spotlight. Not only has he followed my random ramblings here but I also had the pleasure of writing up his feature for Super Street. I also wrote Ryan’s of course, and it was cool to learn more about the build because other than running into it at events, I hadn’t really taken a close look at it. Both are deserving of the cover for Super Street’s annual “Honda Issue”. The magazine is completely loaded with Honda content so it’s definitely worth it to fork out the loot for it. I’m saying this purely as a fan of the magazine and Hondas in general. Super Street doesn’t pay me to say this stuff nor would I think that it would be in their budget for me to plug their shit, haha. It’s just a great issue. It also marks my debut as a feature photographer. Now I’ll be the first one to tell you that I am no pro and I don’t even consider myself to be a photographer. I just do that shit for fun. So when Jonathan Wong hit me up to go shoot Bisimoto’s Wagovan, I was kinda nervous about it. Well, after it’s all said and done, I’m still unsure on whether or not I’m happy with how the pics came out. I guess it’ll all depend on how it looks in the magazine. It either came out pretty decent or it’s an outstanding failure that will make you throw your copy of SS away. Either way, we already got your money so it’s okay…ha. Just check it out, if the pics are kinda whack, at least you can read the article on it. I’m not photographer but I like to think of myself as an okay writer. I mean, it’s been putting food on my table for the past 3 years so I must be doing something right…
Now of course, the Super Street Honda Issue is coming out and I am excited about it, but what makes this coming month EVEN BETTER, is that the new Honda Tuning that is coming out is also the shit. Not only is Rodrez doing an awesome job at the helm, but this coming issue will feature non-other then a very good buddy of mine and someone whose car has probably become quite familiar to you guys. The car I’m speaking of is the final Phaze2 car to make it into a mag and that is Tony Khamly’s Sorcery NSX. This completes our stable and I wouldn’t have it any other way than to close it out with the NSX. I had a chance to see the preview of the layouts last week at the Source Interlink office and it came out great. It’s got this whole central red/black look to the issue and it looks amazing. I was thoroughly impressed by it and I can’t wait for it to hit newstands. Rodrez himself said that he was gonna send some teaser shots over to me so I can get it up on the site here so you guys can get an early look at it. I’ll try to get that up for you guys this weekend.
So Super Street Honda Issue and Phaze2 NSX in Honda Tuning this coming month, pick that shit up and read for once in your life!! I lose sleep to make sure you guys have quality stuff to look and read through when you pick up your favorite automotive publications! Save the magazine industry and pick these up!
This shit is gonna be so great that I might even go buy some myself! Apparently they’re out in Norcal already but if you don’t see them, it’s probably because Anh bought every copy in existence up there…
Cop that shit!!!
Random Wednesdays…
No update yesterday because I spent the better part of my day re-arranging my room to accomodate my new desk. I’ve been needing a new one because the keyboard drawer on my old desk just kinda likes to collapse whenever it wants. Sometimes I’ll be typing and then that shit just collapses on me. Luckily thanks to you guys for purchasing all the Chronicles merchandise, I’ve finally made enough to get a new desk. Now I don’t have to stack two tv-dinner tables together and put a cutting board on top for me to cut stickers. Speaking of which, I know there are many of you who are awaiting orders, they will be going out in the next couple days once I finished it all up. I apologize for the delay but with work and barely finding time to fix my room, it has just been crazy hectic. I’m finishing them up now as I type and they will go out shortly. For the international guys, I know sometimes it may be hard to understand the translations from babelfish or whatever you’re using, but international orders need to inquire before orders can be placed. I’ve been getting a couple orders from overseas and I gotta hold them now until I get a response from the buyers…
Anyways, the pic above is from a photoshoot I did for Super Street. The Amuse S2000 pictured belongs to a guy by the name of Bobby Taylor. He’s a cool dude who actually takes this thing out and tracks it. It has all the gashes and chips to prove it too, haha. I’ve been working on the pictures the last couple nights as well so that’s why you haven’t heard much from here. Going a different direction with the processing this time around so we’ll see how it comes out…It’s always good to try new things…
Time for bed and then back to work. I’ll see if I can dig up some stuff for you guys. I’ve got some things laying around that I’ve been meaning to show you guys but there’s just been so many different things goin on lately…
R.I.P. Juan Lemus aka “del Slo SiR”
I had other stuff to bring you guys but I think today should be a time to have a moment of silence for one of our fellow enthusiasts. Juan Lemus aka “del Slo SiR” was involved in a car accident and tragically lost his life early Sunday morning of this past weekend. I didn’t know him personally but was familiar with his posts on NWP4Life and also share many mutual friends with him and I can’t even begin to imagine what they and his family are going through right now. It’s always a shame to lose someone within the community, especially consideirng all the lives they influenced and the smiles they put on other people’s faces everyday. It’s even harder to consider what his loved ones must endure losing someone special to them at such a young age. Over the years we’ve lost a couple of great people in this community and you never learn to accept the fact that someone is taken away from you so unexpectedly. What we can do however is pull together and give the friends and family of Juan Lemus strength to endure and remember the wonderful person that he was…
A moment of silence…
Rest in Peace… Juan Lemus “del Slo SiR” 12/12/1986 – 5/23/2010
Recovery day…
Well, Eibach 2010 went off without a hitch…It was definitely a great event and may possibly be the best Eibach yet. Between parking all the cars in the morning and running around doing coverage all day, I am beat. My body is feeling it right now and I’m gonna chill and do the processing of all these photos so I can get them up for you guys. Thanks to everybody that helped and especially to May, Tina, Noel, etc. who helped me man The Chronicles booth. It was an amazing day and plenty of Chronicles merchandise was sold. I was seeing the shirts everywhere throughout the day and I can’t thank you guys enough! We even managed to sell out of the large black tees so if you need one of those, unfortunately they’re all gone for now. I’ll bring them back during the next batch of new shirts. Man, what a day…so many people all over the place. Time to recover…be back later…Peace.
California love…
Damn, decided to bring some of the PG+K guys out to the real NWP (Northwood Pizza) so that they can experience it for themselves and say that they really ate at NWP and it became a full on intercontinental summit. It was pretty crazy the amount of people that showed up. We ended up having dinner with guys from Chicago, Louisiana, Tennessee, Atlanta, Texas, and Norcal. Shit was crazy. A bunch of Socal heads came out too including DPK David, Big Mike, even Rodrez stopped by. I was busy having dinner so I didn’t want to take too many pics but thanks for everyone for coming out. Sometimes the best things are the ones that are never planned and this dinner tonight proved exactly that. Eibach 2010 is gonna be serious!…
Pizza heaven…
DPK in the house…
Great night, thanks again….
Countdown begins…
While the Lakers are on a week long break, the majority of us Socal guys are getting ready for the big event this weekend that is Eibach. I’m supposed to meet up with some of the PGK guys today and chat with them for a bit so that’ll be interesting. Some of these guys have been out here since Monday so we gotta go show them some west coast love…
Just a couple other random things today…
More stickers were shipped out today with the Eibach Edition stuff having priority so if you haven’t received anything yet, keep an eye out for it because it is coming very soon to your mailbox…
Parking is gonna be interesting at Eibach so I suggest you VIP guys show up on time and in an orderly fashion or else the streets will be flooded again and the cops will be pissed off. We want to keep things as orderly as possible to make parking simple. The guys who aren’t VIP, please show up at your designated time. Don’t go showing up super early when the VIP guys are supposed to roll in because it will just create extra clutter and crowd the streets even more.
Also, make sure to bring your Eibach paypal receipts with you. YOU NEED TO HAVE CONFIRMATION. We’re not gonna let people go on the basis that their cousin bought their spot or some shit or “homies took care of it”. It doesn’t work that way and it’s just gonna be a bigger mess than it has to be. If you don’t have a printer, just go to your friend’s house or something. It’s 2010 folks, printers are readily available. If you don’t have paperwork, you will not get in. Plan and simple. We will be working hard to accomodate everyone but don’t make our jobs even harder than it has to be. The guys that are helping out aren’t paid employees, we’re there to help move things along because we are out there to have a good time and enjoy the event also. Please be considerate of others…
NWP4Life will also be there with brand new shirts with a new design, so be on the lookout for that. The booth will be on the rightside of the gate when you come inside and you’re facing the building. It should be easy to find because the vendors are usually in the same spot every year. I will also have Chronicles stuff for sale at the booth too so the guys that want to pick up some gear will have an opportunity to do so…
That’s about it for today, I gotta run around town and meet up with a lot of the out of town folks. Tomorrow more people will be coming in as well so it’ll be cool to see some of the guys again. Can’t believe it has already been so many months removed from Wek’Fest. Oh how time flys….
Today we remember…
It’s exactly a year ago today when we lost our friend Armando Flores Jr. 365 days later, I still find it hard to muster up the right words to say to truly do this man justice. I can’t sit here and tell you that he and I were very close or that we were the best of friends but the times I had with him, I will never forget. I have a connection with him in that we both share the same wonderful group of people that we both consider our dearest friends. I will never know Armando the way they knew him but for me, he continues to live everyday in their eyes. I have been fortunate enough to know these people and have them tell me the stories of this man who they cherished so deeply. Since his passing, I have had the great pleasure of meeting his father and simply talking to him and feeling his positive energy is a reminder of the influence his son left on everyone that cared about him. It warms my heart to see that he is living life through his son’s eyes and experiencing everything as if his son were still with us. If anything, I have only grown closer to my friends and realize that every moment we spend together is every bit as important and the best memories I have of them. Thank you Armando Flores Jr., for living your life the only way you knew how and leaving your best moments in the hearts and minds of the people you loved. Today we not only live life in your memory but we celebrate the life that you have lived…
A son, a brother, and a true friend to all…
May 11th, 2009, we will never forget.
Armando Flores Jr.
Rest in Peace.
Eibach week!!…
Let the mayhem begin!…oh man, so much to do this week with Eibach this weekend. Honestly I didn’t even expect it. Shit has been hectic the last couple months and Eibach kinda just creeped up on all of us. I’m pretty excited about this event as I’m sure all of you are as well. This might be the biggest and best of all time so be prepared to see some of the best Hondas in the country in one place at one time. Usually when events like this happen we got a lot of guys from all over coming out to visit so it’ll be good to meet new faces and get reacquainted with the old. I’m gonna try my best to capture even more pics of the people involved in the community and not just the cars. Hopefully everyone lets me know when they’re gonna be out here so I can adjust accordingly and make time to hang out with everyone. I’m pretty loaded up with actual work for the next day or so as well as cutting the rest of the stickers for everyone so if you don’t hear from me, just trust that I’m working hard and getting everything ready.
Also have to talk to Ken Myoshi this week about Nisei Import Showoff. He wanted to work on something special for The Chronicles for the event in August so we’ll see how that goes once I figure everything out….busy busy….but time for bed for a change. Been driving all over Socal this weekend…Happy Mother’s Day to all your mothers, and of course to mine….belated but it’s the thought that counts, not that I think you guys want me to get to know your mothers or anything. Time to knock the fuck out….
In the making…
Work in progress, everyone that ordered should be receiving their’s shortly!…
The finished products…
Red mirror chrome on black lettering…
Red mirror chrome on white lettering….
Also cleaned up the store a bit and added a few new functions… thechronicles.bigcartel.com
Eibach 2010 Limited Edition Chronicles stickers coming real soon!…
Just another quick update….I went outside today and at my front door was the red mirror chrome that I’ve been waiting to come in. The material looks awesome and cutting of the Eibach Edition Chronicles stickers will begin this weekend. If you haven’t got your’s yet make sure to grab them now, it’s all first come first serve basis like the Wek’Fest Edition ones and when they’re gone, they’re gone! Go to the store now if you’re interested in picking some up!!
Don’t mind the Kimbo sticker on the bottom, haha….
Update to The Chronicles Official Storefront…
The Chronicles Official storefront has been updated. There are a couple new items in the store so check it out and see if you like anything. Red mirror chrome vinyly should be in by tomorrow and I will begin cutting the Eibach Edition stickers as well as completing the other orders that have been placed since late last week. Thanks for the support guys, it means a lot that people rep this shit on their cars. You people are amazing…
Click on fapping Robocop to get to the store or simply look to your right for the link to it…. thanks again…
For those of you that didn’t notice, the post before this is news on the return of NWP4Life. If you guys have been waiting for news, it’s the next post below. Hopefully you guys know how to scroll down and shit…cool, laters….
Back for the first time…
Well it was a fairly quick transition and we’re still working out all the kinks but NWP4LIFE is now officially back. Thanks to Dustin for getting everything up and running again….
Allow Rodrez to re-introduce you to the forum…
“We’re back. Not at 100% yet, but we’re working on it. A big thank you to everyone that’s supported the site, thank you to Dustin for his hard work, and a huge middle finger to those that tried to bash the site through it’s short lived tough time. We’re back.”
A majority of the old data amd threads should resurface fairly soon so please try to take it easy with the thread creating and posting. If your thread is gone or you haven’t been able to find stuff, well it should be obvious to you by now that there’s a chance it’s getting moved over or it wasn’t carried over because other more important data had to be saved. There is still much that needs to be done but for now, head over there and enjoy the new place. I’m sure most of you have had withdrawals by now…
New Limited Edition Chronicles Stickers Available For Pre-Order Now!…
The red chrome is on order and should be in within days now. I want to make sure that everyone gets them and that I haven plenty of time to cut and ship them so I will be taking orders on them now. I may have quite a bit of actual work leading up to Eibach 2010 and taking the orders now will give me some time to adjust to demand. They will be similar to the traditional OG Chronicles stickers that you’re all used to but they will have a red chrome backing instead of the regular chrome. The Wek’Fest ones did amazing and even though I still get some requests for them, I won’t cut them anymore because they were only limited to that time period and made specifically for that show. This will be no different. After May16th, the Chronicles stickers in this particular color and finish will not be available anymore. Red chrome ain’t actually cheap either so I have no hesitation in not making them after the event, haha…Anyways, grab them now before it’s too late. First come, first serve people…you know the routine. Thanks for the support!!!
Rendering of what it will look like…
Bid ol’ tiddies…
Oh forgot about some smaller announcements…
All sticker and merchandise orders have been packaged and sent out as of today. So if you guys haven’t received yours yet, it’s definitely coming. I’m all caught up on orders as of yesterday afternoon. If you happen to order late last night or early this morning, your’s will go out with the next upcoming batch. Shirts are still available too but certain sizes are starting to get a bit scarce so if you want a shirt, don’t hesitate and jump on that when you get the chance….
I’m sure most of you remember the Wek’Fest Edition Chronicles stickers. They were a custom black lettering on teal background and were only available for a limited time leading up to the actual Wek’Fest 2010 event. I’m gonna get into the habit of doing custom-themed stickers for all the major events of the year. Wek’Fest had the limited teal versions and I’m happy to announce now that Eibach Meet 2010 limited edition Chronicles stickers will also be available. By “limited edition”, I mean that they are different from the normal black and chrome and will be cut in special colors depending on the major event of the year. For the Eibach event, I will be cutting the original style Chronicles stickers in a very limited red chrome. This will be the first time that the OG Chronicles stickers have come in any color other than the original chrome/black.If you’re at all interested in those, keep an eye out at the storefront for those. Should have them up in a week or so. Just waiting on the red chrome to come in. Thanks everybody for your support which helps keep this site going and food in my mouth…I’m very grateful to everyone who has contributed in one way or another.
The annual Eibach Honda meet is actually not too far away. Damn, this year is moving by fast….
Happy Birthday DPK David…
There’s actually gonna be two updates today. There was a non-Honda meet this past weekend over at the Cerritos Auto Square and I’ll post that up for you guys who want to see car stuff. The first update will be, as the title states, for DPK David’ birthday part on Saturday…It was good times all around and it only seems like yesterday when we celebrated his bday at the park. Man, this year has flown by super quick. Guess with everything that’s been going on lately, time is just flying by…
Anyways, it was good times, bunch of food, music, David DJ’d for a bit, generally just hung out and drank…oh and ate cookies… These pics are mostly for the homies so if you guys aren’t into it, just cruise back later for the car stuff….
Some have the borders and shit on it cuz it came from my camera, the other ones are just from a point and shoot…Not like anyone is gonna jack the pics and shit so oh well…
I don’t know why we had to take a group pic in the most crowded part of the house with a car in front of us but yeah…group shot of the homies…
Apparently this is what goes on at parties nowadays, nobody talks to eachother and shit…
Cookies and beer…
Big Mike and Rywire havin a good time…
Ryan hawkin some girls…
Big Mike, Sheepey, and Rywire…
They’ve never heard of this car before… =P
David providing reasons why his stickers are crooked as shit…
Failed first group pic…
That’s most of it. Be back later today with meet coverage…
San Francisco Japan Town Cherry Blossom Festival Car Show…
Good lord, that’s a long ass title for a car show…hope that isn’t posted on a flyer or something somewhere. Anyways, I wasn’t actually there but the JSJ Brothers guys always come through on the event coverage for all things Norcal. Peep the album, there are some pretty crazy cars that showed up. Only events like these have Civics and other Hondas mixed with Bimmers and Lamborghinis…shits crazy…
That black RSX with the neo-chrome finish supercharger and valve cover is bananas!!
Check out their coverage here…
Photo Source: JSJBrothers.com
NWP4LIFE forum downtime…
For those of you who have been trying to get on NWP for the last couple hours or so, don’t worry, the site is still alive and well. It’s just going through some database maintanence and what not. It was actually supposed to occur during the middle of the week but I guess it’s been busy so they’re working on it now. This is also why the forum has been a tad bit slow the last day or so. I saw a lot of people posting on there wondering why it’s been kinda lagging. It should be back up and running hopefully by the morning to afternoon but we will have to wait and see. Just don’t panic and think that it got hacked or taken down or whatever, these maintanence things happen from time to time…
