“Take a look at what I’ve done…AMAZING…”
I was really trying to toss up an update yesterday but I’ve been spending a chunk of my time planning out the Year.Three Chronicles Anniversary Meet. I actually just finished up the designs for the trophies that I will be presenting at the meet. It’ll take a couple days for them to be made but I’m pretty anxious to see how they come out. I know, I know, it’s not really a full on car show and I certainly do not want people thinking that it is. It’s just supposed to be a fun little meet where homies and other enthusiasts who are fans of this site can get together to have a good time. I just made a couple awards just for fun and thought that it would be a cool idea to give out some awards at the meet to some really nice builds. At the end of the day, they won’t mean anything and they really shouldn’t, but I like giving recognition to people who really deserve it, you know? And if you’re thinking that I’ll only be giving out the awards to the homies, you need to rethink that…I won’t be the only one judging the cars and I will actually have a lot of the really close friends of the site be the judges that day to help me decide on who should get the awards. It’ll be fun, I promise…and if you somehow end up going home with an award, shit, even better right?…
If you guys haven’t purchased a VIP spot yet for the meet, I suggest you do so as soon as possible. I know I’ve been mentioning it a lot but the spots are legitimately moving at a pretty fast rate. I mean, they are going faster than they did last year and those sold with the quickness. I know some of you are waiting on your friends or whatever but please try to get them to come through so they can get their spots with you before it’s too late. It’s been roughly a week since I announced the event and we are now at a little over 50% capacity. I anticipate some of the people that are close to the site reserving spots this week as well so they will take a chunk of the parking…If you want to reserve your spot, click the link below…
Year.Three Anniversary Meet Registration and VIP Spots HERE
What I was really trying to work on today for the site was a retrospective post on the Top Ten Hondas of 2010. I did the same thing during the middle of last year as well when I had an update on all the Hondas that were on the Top Ten list the previous year. I collected all the photos for it but I just didn’t get around to finish writing it up. If that gets done later today when I wake up, I will definitely post it up for you guys…
Anyways, the thread title was actually made for two reasons, both of which are totally unrelated to what I just spoke of above. I usually think of that line from Mr. Ozwald’s track “Amazin” when I’m taking a dump in the bathroom, or unleashing ground shaking boners, but today, the line popped up for two other very different reasons…
If you’re a true car enthusiasts, who is a fan of all different makes and models, I’m sure some of you guys have heard about some older Porsche owners running newer, Subaru STi engine swaps…well, someone took that idea and did the exact opposite…and the results are “interesting” to say the least. I was surfing the web a couple hours ago, and stumbled upon this Subaru/Porsche abomination…
Uhhh…Whhhaaaattt?! AMAZING….-ly bad….I don’t know why, but when I look at the front end of this Subaru-Porsche bastard child,….
…it instantly reminds me of the “beast” from the 80′s TV show “Beauty and the Beast”…Strange, yes…random, yes..and the show was equally as bad as that car you see above you. It did star Linda Hamilton though, who might possibly have been the first set of titties I had ever seen when I was a young lad, when she got down and dirty in the first Terminator movie, which was also from the 80′s….haha…I can’t say for certain, but it was definitely one of those “cover your eyes” moments that parents will try to get you to do when you’re a kid and watching R-rated movies…Also a random fact, I also believe that the guy that plays the “beast” is not actually that Subaru above, but the guy who later went on to play Hellboy in the Hellboy movies….Look at that, I’m kicking all kinds of knowledge today…
Oh actually, I found the scene that I was talking about…fucking old as shit…I mean, I was 2-years old when this came out and I probably saw this scene when I was like uhh…8? or some shit like that…anyways…titties sure looked different in the 80s, haha…I just like how 80s movies used the same music score throughout the entire duration of the film, no matter what situation it was. In this scene, the Terminator song is still used during the fornication but it’s been slowed down, you know, just to make it “classy”….Who knew that the Terminator would later go on to become the Governor of California and would be having extra-marital affairs with his housekeeper, also to this score, but probably sped up with more Arnold grunting. I imagine the whole ordeal would have sounded like this…
I applaud you if you sat through the entire thing because it’s fucking hilarious haha…
Video of Linda Hamilton I was referring to is here, if you really care to see it…you have to be 18 which I definitely wasn’t at that time…Maybe it’ll give you guys a better appreciation of the wonders of internet pRon in today’s technological age…Just imagine if you wanted to have a Fap-sesh in the 80s…there was no internet, there were no DVDs..if you wanted to fap, you probably had to like rewind the VHS tape in the VCR repeatedly because mainstream sex scenes like this last all but a minute. By the time you finished rewinding and fapping, it probably took you like a good 2 1/2 hours to nut…Also remember that most VCRs didn’t have remote controls back then…you do the math on that one…
Here’s a rear shot of the car…. People that will really think that you’re driving a Porsche – 0 ….People that will really think that you wasted your money doing whatever it is that resulted in this Suba-porsche-ru ST-Carrera-I – 1….I can appreciate the bodywork and the work that was put into this car, but why?…
Alright, onto something that’s more pleasing to the human eye…Do you guys remember a couple weeks back when I posted up this TL? Well the owner caught wind of it and emailed me to introduce himself. The car is located in Florida and is owned by Cass Farrell. He sent me a couple more photos of the car…He hasn’t really had anyone take some super hi-res shots of it yet but these photos will give you a good idea of what the car looks like front and back with the assorted silver pieces color-matched to the body…
Definitely a good looking daily driver…It’s a completely different car with the grille and other pieces color-matched…
A shot of the rear, also color-matched…
And a shot of the exhaust…. I told him to let me know when he gets better shots of the car…
That is all for now. I’m gonna try to finish up the first part of that retrospective write-up and get it up later in the afternoon…Remember to reserve your spots for the meet!!
Productivity…
I normally don’t get more than one or two things done on an average day because I’m too busy doing absolutely nothing, but yesterday was a pretty decent day. I was sent out on assignment to Gearspeed in Rancho Cucamonga for work, spent the majority of the day there, and then I headed over to the Bisimoto facility to check out DPK David’s tune. Bisi was tuning David’s K20 Civic coupe and dropping by Bisimoto Engineering also meant that Bisi was going to give me a first look at some of his latest projects…
So I woke up early Thursday morning and drove an hour from the Orange County area to Rancho Cucamonga, which is in the Inland Empire. I really didn’t have any idea what I was supposed to do out there, as Rodrez only told me to go out there to cover a tech story for Honda Tuning. Big Mike happened to be off work that day and was good friends with James over at Gearspeed so I asked him to come by and hang out while I shot whatever was going down over there. When I arrived at Gearspeed, they gave Big Mike and I a tour of their facility and then we walked over to a work station where I was greet to a pleasant surprise. The tech story I was sent out there to cover that day was actually a tear down and reassembly of a legit Spoon Sports K-series transmission from Japan…
I can’t really get into full details of what actually went down, you’ll have to wait until a future issue of Honda Tuning magazine for that, but here’s a quick shot of the Spoon tranny, assembled by Spoon, straight from one of their race cars…
It’s crazy to see what goes down at a place like Gearspeed because these guys that work there take apart transmissions and rebuild them like it’s a very simple job, when in reality, it is everything but. I mean, these guys can tear down a tranny, throw every single removable piece into a bin, machine-wash it, and put it all back together in about 30 minutes time. Shit was wild man, I’m telling you… Just to think about how intricate each Honda transmission is and how these guys know them like the back of their hands is mind boggling… The Spoon transmission was way more than I expected it to be because I honestly don’t have that much of a favorable view of Spoon Sports stuff, but honestly, I was impressed. They actually did some work on this transmission and didn’t just like, throw a different final drive in there and plaster a Spoon badge on it like every one of their other products. That shit was definitely a learning experience, and I have a ton of respect for guys that work on transmissions on a daily basis. These guys are very systematic and almost robotic in terms of their ability to work on these transmissions. Big props goes out to the guys over at Gearspeed for not only their skill, but also their hospitality. The facility itself is a trip too because it’s a gigantic warehouse filled to the brim with Honda transmissions and parts. The craziest thing about that facility is that they have a full gym next to their lunch area, and one of the offices even has a tanning bed inside of it…haha…I’m serious, you can’t even make that shit up…
I definitely stayed there longer than I expected to though. I got there around 11am and didn’t get out of there until almost 4pm in the afternoon. The time spent there was a productive one, so I can’t really complain…
After that Big Mike and I hopped into our cars and made our way down to the Bisimoto Engineering facility. DPK David’s tuning appointment was at 2pm so they were almost done by the time we got there. Luckily they still had one more final pull left on the dyno and I was able to witness it…
Here’s what it looked like when we pulled up. The coupe was still hooked up to the dyno, but Bisi was taking a little break to have a nice cold drink…
Bisi taking a moment to chat with Big Mike…
As for the tune….the numbers at that point were pretty decent but Bisi felt that there was quite a bit of restriction coming from the intake area…
He recommended to David that they take his filter off and mount a velocity stack to it for the final pull. David removed the filter he had on, mounted the velocity stack and aimed it upward to get maximum air flow…
Here’s a crappy video of the final run…
The filter did prove to be the issue as the final run yielded some pretty good results…
Final horsepower numbers can be seen above…
Both Bisi and David seemed to be pretty happy with the results. 218HP on a internally stock K20 Type-S motor tuned on a AEM EMS Series 2 is not too shabby… There isn’t anything else done to the motor but the basic intake, header, exhaust combination…
By the time they finished taking the car off the Dynapak, it was time to close up shop. The photo above is Bisi and DPK David after they came back from a test drive. David was all smiles because his motor has never run better…
While David and Bisi were busy finalizing the details of David’s tune, Big Mike asked me to take a new photo of his side project, which is a 1996 Honda Accord wagon. He recently put some Work Leadsleds on so he wanted to get a decent photo of it…
Big Mike claims he’s not gonna do anything crazy with this car but we’re all waiting for the day when he let’s us know that he’s doing a full Mil-spec harness and ITBs for it…just wait, it’ll happen…. Overall, the wagon is mint, The interior is like new and everything seems to be working very well mechanically. He’s always wanted a wagon and the perfect opportunity came up to purchase one….
That’s all for today. Make sure you guys click above at the top of the screen to pick up your Year.Three Chronicles Anniversary spots if you haven’t done so already. Spots are moving quickly so it’s a good idea if you jump on them now…
PURCHASE YOUR YEAR.THREE CHRONICLES ANNIVERSARY MEET PARKING SPOT HERE
Japanese Treats…
Got an early update for you guys since I have to be up early in the AM to head out to cover a tech story for work. If you guys are interested in coming to the 3-year Chronicles Anniversary Meet and haven’t taken the time to reserve your parking spots yet, please do so as soon as possible. The post directly before this one as well as the link at the very top of this page will lead you to a link where you can purchase your parking spot at the event. A chunk of the spots have be claimed already so I really suggest you guys get on that if you want to be a part of it…
Anyways, one of the Supertwinz, James Nguyen aka OldManJames, passed this link onto me yesterday and I thought it would be cool to post it up and show you guys some pics. It’s actually from an event that took place in Japan over a year ago but it contains a lot of cool EF Civic builds that you probably have never seen before. If you love Hondas, then chances are very high that you are probably a big fan of the EF chassis. EFs are basically classics now within our community and any time you can find a really clean, cool-looking build, you should definitely take some time to check it out. These photos are from the 2010 East Japan CR-X Meeting that took place in the Tochigi Prefecture. I won’t post all the photos but at the bottom of this post, I have included a link to the site so that you can view their coverage as well as the rest of the content on their site, known as “From JPN”. I just posted some of the EFs that stood out the most to me but there are definitely a lot more photos to be seen. The only CR-X you will probably recognize is the white one from North Latitude 36°. I posted a couple shots of it from an old Japanese Option magazine about a year ago and if you were a viewer from back then, you should be able to remember it. If not then you get to see it today so now you’re just sitting here wasting your time reading this sentence. Let’s just get to the photos…
Really liked the front half of this CR-X, sitting on front-staggered Sprint Hart CP-Rs…notice in the last shot how the wheel weight is mounted on the outside of the lip. Definitely a little odd but I guess whatever works, right?…Taillights are ca-ca but the enthusiasts from this site are both JDM and USDM fans so we are actually to blame for those lights…
Here’s the CR-X that I mentioned early from North Latitude 36°…Very cool looking EF with green TE37s, a red two-tone bay and weird turbo manifold set-up. Its strange in that it has the manifold and intercooler, yet it still has a regular intake….There’s actually another shot of the bay at a different angle that you can see here where you can see the custom radiator hard-lines and it seems to run up top across to the side. I almost think that this car is all motor using the top half of a turbo manifold and the intercooler is some sort of make-shift custom radiator or something because it looks like the cooling lines run directly to it….is it turbo or not? I’m not 100% sure, but it’s definitely interesting to look at and wonder…
Pretty wild fuel set-up…
Cool shot of it with some other CR-Xs in the distance…
I’m not 100% sure if this is from the same CR-X but I like the custom Defi cluster…
Also liked these two CR-Xs…loving the slightly more aggressive 16-inch Wedsport wheels on the front of the white one and the blue one is rolling on what I’m pretty sure are Black Racing wheels, a wheel that you definitely don’t see too often nowadays…
The rear looks like it’s an SSR Competition wheel…
Check out these scale models… the Mugen CR-X Pro is sick…
The Mugen CR-X Pro.2 aero seems to be the kit of choice for CR-X owners over there…
I’m sure someone else can elaborate as to what kit this is because I don’t really know…Note also the vented front fenders…
This isn’t a CR-X but it was also present at this particular event. There’s a full profile of it on their page so you can see all the full specs but at a glance, I can tell you that those are 14-inch SSR MK2 wheels, and the front lip and rear wing are Chargespeed pieces…
If you want to see more from this event, click below and it will take you there to their gallery…
FROM JPN – 2010 EAST JAPAN CR-X MEETING GALLERY
Okay, this isn’t EF-related but I saw this on their site and it’s definitely something you don’t see everyday…
In the U.S., this was known as the first gen. Acura Vigor that nobody gave a shit about AT ALL, but in Japan, the CC2 Honda Inspire was a chassis that people in Japan actually took a chance on. I know that when I was researching parts in Japan for my CB Accord back in the day, I use to always run into CC2 Inspire parts. Companies like Chargespeed made front lips and other stuff for it that actually made them look pretty decent. You can peep more photos of it in the attach links below…
CC2 HONDA INSPIRE AS SEEN ON THE FROM JPN SITE
Interesting right? If you guys want to see more, make sure to visit their site. They have all kinds of interesting older Honda builds including stuff like this Honda Civic Wagon…
Crazy….really dig those Hayashi Racing Streets on there…
Anyways, peep the site here…. FROM JPN – “WE ARE JDM & USDM ‘OTAKU’…”
Thanks for looking!….
THE CHRONICLES 3-YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION FAQ
*NOTE – This page can always be found at the top right corner of this site.
It’s only a couple weeks away people and this section will cover basically everything you will need to know about the meet. I’ve had people texting me and emailing me left and right about the meet and have even gone and hit up the homies to get information but that won’t be necessary anymore because this will cover it…
What? – This event was organized to celebrate the upcoming 3-year anniversary of The Chronicles/Stickydiljoe.com
When? – This event, deemed “Year.Three” will take place on October 22nd, 2011 from 1pm – 6pm
Where? – The meet will take place at the Eibach Springs facility in Corona, California. The address is 264 Mariah Circle, Corona, CA 92879.
What is the parking set-up like? – The lay-out will basically be set up the exact same way that the annual Eibach Honda meet is. Being that it is at the same venue, this works out the best. The front portion of the meet will be the VIP area where people purchase parking spots to guarantee their spots up front. The rest of the meet, taking place along the sides and if necessary, the rear of the building, will be completely free to park. Those spots however, are first come first serve so if you show up late to park along the sides and rear and don’t like your spot, that’s unfortunate but there is nothing we can do to fix that situation.
Why do I have to pay for parking? – The beauty of this idea is that you don’t have to pay if you don’t want to, you just won’t be parked up front. The front is saved for supporters, friends, and family of The Chronicles and they have first priority to park so if you feel like you want to have your spot guaranteed and don’t have to deal with finding spots that aren’t in the front, purchase your spot in advance. Also, it wouldn’t be a totally bad idea to help support the meet and The Chronicles right? The funds will go towards the site and to pay for various things at the meet so you’re helping us help you. 
How much is VIP parking up front? – VIP parking up front will be $10 and you can purchase your parking spot at The Chronicles Official Storefront.
Is this event only for Hondas? – The Chronicles is a Honda-dedicated site, so for the most part, it is mainly catered to Hondas so it is “Honda-Preferred”. But I am also a fan of cars in general and I know there are also many people on this site that follow it closely who don’t own Hondas. If you purchase a VIP parking spot up front, you can bring a non-Honda, that’s fine.
How will the VIP parking work? – Much like Eibach, you will be asked to bring your receipt and confirmation that you indeed purchased a parking spot up front. The only difference is that when you purchase a spot for The Chronicles meet, your registration will also come with a special sticker denoting that you purchased a VIP spot. This will make roll-in easier and smooth out the parking process. I will have instructions as to where to place the sticker so that it is easily identified when you first arrive at the gates. Your name will also be placed on a list but the sticker and receipt will just make things that much easier.
What if I want to park with my crew/team/homies? – Then you better show up at the same time and roll-in at the same time. Many of you will have done shows and events before and this applies as usual. How much more time do you think it would take away from everyone if you held up the line or blocked spots just to wait for your friends/crew members to arrive? Normal event etiquette applies. If you are registering spots up front for your friends, make sure to include their names at the time or purchase or else they will not park inside with you.
What if my homie shows up late? – They are shit outta luck.
What if I don’t have to pay and I want to park in the front? – If that is your perogative, you will be turned away at the gate and will be asked to leave the event altogether. And if you attempt to sneak up to the front you will be ridiculed and humiliated amongst all your peers.
What if I lose my receipt or I lose my sticker for VIP spots? – Really? Are you 5 years old? Let’s use some common sense here and place these items in a safe place where you won’t lose them. Either that or you can put it in your car right away when you get these items so that you don’t lose them. Don’t make things more difficult than it has to be. If for whatever reason you didn’t receive your registration materials in the mail, we will have a list of paid attendees on hand but it will slow down the roll-in process. Please keep these items in a safe place where you remember to grab it.
What time should I show up for roll-in? – If you have a VIP spot, details will be sent to you to let you know when to arrive at the Eibach Springs facility.
Can I just crowd the front lot and clog up the street just to hang out before I’m supposed to park? – Umm, NO. If you decide to show up early and block the streets or make it a hassle for people to come in a park and what not, the streets will get over crowded and the police will come and shut us down. So please, DO NOT SHOW UP EARLY and crowd the streets outside of Eibach. If anything meet up with your friends earlier and go hang out at the Carl’s Jr. or somewhere away from the event until it is your designated time to arrive to park. Again, let’s not make things more difficult than it has to be.
Will there be music and entertainment? – Generally I ask you to entertain yourself while at an event but yes, there will be music provided by a DJ.
Will you be selling Chronicles merchandise at the event? – Yes, I will have Chronicles stickers and t-shirts at the event for sale at our booth. There will also be a handful of vendors personally selected by me to be at the event and they too will have merchandise available for purchase.
Will you be doing a special edition Chronicles stickers like you have all year for other major events? – Umm, I’m not entirely sure yet because there is a lot of organizing that needs to be done so I don’t know if I will have time to make a brand new sticker. If I do however, I will make an announcement about it and they will also be available for purchase at the meet.
If I am a vendor, how do I go about contacting you to have a booth at your event? – Unfortunately, I won’t be having any other vendors at the event because I want to make more room for parking. I want to be able to get people into the event so I will not be having any other vendors than the ones I have chosen.
Will you be having a raffle or giveaways at the event? – Possibly? Not sure yet…I haven’t figured out all the details on that stuff yet. But if I do, think of it as a pleasant surprise or whatever when you get to the meet.
If I can’t make the event and I have purchased a VIP spot, can I give it to someone else? – Hopefully that doesn’t happen but in the event that it does, yes you can, but please make sure you have that situated with me right ASAP because there will be a deadline for changes to the parking list.
When will the VIP parking spots be available for purchase? – Spots will be for sale by the time you read this. There will only be a little over 100 spots available and they are expected to go fast, so purchase as soon as possible. I will not respond to emails later on when you want to purchase a spot after they have sold out.
That should be about it, please don’t bomb my email with questions unless you have something really specific that you feel needs to be answered. I want this event to be as smooth as possible because I too want to enjoy the event. If everyone reads these questions and abides by the lay-out, then everything should be fine. Thank you. For anything that is pressing and needs to be addressed, please email me at stickydiljoe@yahoo.com
PURCHASE AND RESERVE YOUR SPOTS HERE
PURCHASE AND RESERVE YOUR SPOTS HERE
PURCHASE AND RESERVE YOUR SPOTS HERE
Pardon Me…
Don’t worry, I’m actually doing stuff for the site. As you can clearly see here, I can’t even go through some photos without my stupid cat climbing on my desk and blocking my view. Apparently she thinks my monitor is a window or something and just stares at it all day. Anyways, I just got back from the Rywire facilities so I will have the next installment of the Rywire ITR Build coming your way tomorrow. In the meantime, if you are on Facebook, become a fan of The Chronicles if you haven’t already and RSVP for the Year.Three Chronicles Anniversary Meet on October 22, 2011 so that I can have somewhat of a headcount of how many people I am expecting. I’m sure people won’t RSVP because they just don’t want to or don’t want to go near Facebook. It’s really up to you, but it would do me a huge favor if you let me know that you were coming. RSVP here below…
Year.Three… A Chronicles Anniversary Celebration (Official Facebook Event Page)
Stupid cat.
Reading is Fuel for the Soul…
Ahh, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t spend a couple moments out of my week to bombard you guys with some self-promotion…haha…In reality though, I love what I do and I hope you all appreciate the efforts that I put forth every month in your favorite import automotive magazine. Despite all this internet craziness with the blogs these days and car forums, and other social media sites, there still is no better feeling than looking in your mail box or going to your local convenience store and spotting the newest issue of Super Street, Honda Tuning, and Import Tuner. It’s just a cool feeling you know…I mean, it’s not like touching a hot girl’s titties or anything, but shit, you get the warm sensation inside of you (probably excitement) when you first flip through that new publication and I certainly hope you have an even better feeling when you take it up to the cash register to pay for it. That’s why I always say “SUPPORT PRINT”. We all work very hard on these magazines every single month to bring you what we feel is an amazing product. Every month I try to give you guys a good introduction to the latest issue as well as give you guys a bit of a preview of what’s inside….
With that said, I am proud to say that I can now put down “Import Tuner Magazine” on my list of publications that I have done work for. Charles Trieu, who was once a vital part of the Super Street magazine staff, has since moved onto become the head editor of Import Tuner and I guess he liked the work that I did previously, because he asked me to jump on board and do some work for IT. It’s a pretty cool feeling to say that I have written and shot for Super Street, Honda Tuning, and now Import Tuner. This month’s issue (on newstands now) marks my official debut over at Import Tuner and I’m proud to say that I am very happy with how my first two stories over at IT came out. I’ll fill you in on what exactly it is that I did further below…
On another note though, I was contacted by Jereon Willemsen (You know him from SPEEDHUNTERS) via Facebook early yesterday morning with a very pleasant surprise. He’s over in the Netherlands so it’s probably easier for him to get a hold of the mag but he let me know that The Chronicles is in the newest issue of Performance VW magazine as “The Site of The Month”. What I’m doing in a publication solely dedicated to Volkswagons is beyond me but apparently the editors over there found my site one day and enjoyed it so much that they decided give me that honor. It’s pretty crazy to think that not only is this a VW mag, but it’s also a publication that’s not even from the United States. It’s wild…I gotta say though, it is quite an honor for them to even mention me in their magazine. Jereon even sent me a couple photos of what the spread looks like…
They ran a couple of the photos from my event coverage on the page as you can see…. It’s so random but pretty amazing that they would give me that kind of recognition so I have to thank the guys over at Performance VW… They also emailed me too that same day that Jereon did and let me know that they were going to send me a copy of the magazine. If you’re from Performance VW and you’re reading this…thank you very much, I truly appreciate it….
Now, onto this month’s reading material…
If you haven’t already done so, make sure to pick up the October 2011 issue of Super Street magazine. Not only is it “The Stance” issue, which I’m sure many of you will love, it also marks the 15-year anniversary of Super Street magazine. They have a story inside with some of the more notable import models from the last 15 years and it’s a pretty good read. Also there are some pretty good shots in there so some of you guys can re-live your younger years and beat off to some classics…haha…it’s like reuniting with an old friend with your penis…
In this particular issue of SS, I shot Dennis Kongvongsai’s Subaru STi from Team Hybrid. I’m sure you guys have heard me mention his name a couple times in my coverage of events. I actually had never met the guy until that day I cruised down to San Diego to shoot his car but he is a pretty chill guy. The car looks good on those mag blue Volk RE30s and the car has a whole is a different look from most usual Subarus that you see on the road nowadays with some fucking Rotas on them and shit… The story is pretty good too where I talk about the current “state of stance” and sort of give some good insight on the whole “stance” movement…
While Super Street’s current issue deals with all style and wheel fitment, Honda Tuning this month has devoted an entire issue to all things race-related. Just like last year, Rodrez has put together “The Race Issue”. I’m sure there are those of you out there who have absolutely no idea about how to make a car go fast and only care about how your car looks but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t pick up this issue. It’s a very informative look at some of the top Honda/Acura race cars in our industry today. I did a story on a FG2 Civic race car from Segs Motorsports and even I managed to learn something during the process and I usually have zero ability to learn shit…
One of the coolest stories in this issue is about Tony Palo and Chris Miller, who today are at the top of their game in the drag racing world. They fill you in on their thoughts on drag racing and their rivalry in an interview from Rodrez himself. The cover features an Amuse widebody turbo S2000 and a K-swapped Civic hatchback, both owned by Ryan Novak. Also in the issue is a cool story about the Spoon Sports Civic Euro R democar…
My debut in Import Tuner magazine actually features a two stories, one of which I also did the photos for. Charles is always trying to feature Hondas so he hit me up to shoot a very clean Honda Civic that belongs to Brian Jacobe Arias from the AS1 crew…
Nothing crazy, just a very simple, street-spec Civic. I know there are a lot of you out there who aren’t into the track-themed builds these days or the cars with the crazy tucked bays and this is the Civic for you guys. There’s nothing trendy about this car and it’s a Civic that will probably be relevant in any era. Brian is also one of those very quiet, humble guys and he was super stoked when he found out that his car was going to be featured. He’s the type that actually appreciates stuff like this and doesn’t go out of his way to constantly ask for a feature or expect it, which is also VERY refreshing to see, especially considering how a lot of enthusiasts are these days….
The other story I did for Import Tuner was on this Lamborghini Giallo Orion Yellow widebody Amuse S2000…I personally have never seen or heard of this particular build before so when I first saw photos of it, I was pretty blown away. I mean, you see a couple Amuse S2Ks floating around these days but the thing that really impressed me about this car was the engine bay…that shit is CLEAN. You expect S2000s to always be supercharged these days with a half cluttered engine bay but this one is definitely not one of those. It’s turbocharged and the bay itself is completely shaved and tucked. I would go as far as to say that it’s probably one of the best S2000 engine bays I have ever seen. I’ll give props to Sheepey all day for having an AMAZING bay, with the crazy dump tube set-up and all, but you guys have to see the bay on this yellow S2000, it’s fucking clean. Both are very different cars but if you were to compare the engine bays…ehhh, it definitely makes things interesting. It’s not really a competition though but I’m just saying, people are going to compare… Also, there is some fucking money in this car…every aspect of this S2000 has been touched-upon; motor, aesthetics, custom audio….EVERYTHING. It’s a sick S2000 build….I would have gone a different route with the wheels but fuck it, it’s not my car…my opinion isn’t important, but seriously… If there were some bronze Volk CE28s on this car, I would spontaneously combust, haha…
***oh also, let me add this…ATS Ben brought it to my attention that the horsepower and torque numbers on this S2000 in the story are incorrect….that is not MY fault. It was an error on their part and there was a mix-up when they were doing the numbers for the Auto Select Skyline on the cover and this car…It is in no way a claim made by me or the owner of the car that it makes 800HP and 650lb-ft of torque. If that were the case with this S2000, I think the owner would either by Tony Stark aka Iron Man or Jesus…haha. Just don’t come complaining to me and thinking I’m an asshole for making up some wild numbers for this car…
Anyways, make sure to go pick up these magazines and give them a good thorough reading. It doesn’t even matter if you don’t have to shit at that particular moment, just sit on the fucking toilet and read the shit outta these magazines…SUPPORT PRINT ALWAYS!!…
Thanks also for supporting my ass…
This is cool, random…
It’s double update day!…haha….If you’re looking for Part 2 of the Rywire ITR Build, provided to you exclusively by The Chronicles, it is directly after this post. I wasn’t going to post this but it was so random and interesting that I thought I would post it up to show you guys. I’m sure you all have heard of Ludacris. For those that don’t, or those who are overseas viewers, Ludacris is a rapper/actor has seen quite a bit of success over the years. He’s basically a household name nowadays and probably has money come out the ass. Well, what’s cool about him is that he still seems to be a very humble dude. He’s got all kinds of cars and a nice house and all that, but you’d be very surprised to hear that he actually still drives around in one of his first cars, which is a 1993 Acura Legend. Yeah, read that again…haha…he still drives his Legend all the time. From time to time, I will go on my Twitter account to go see what’s going on with the people I follow as well as to see how my updates show up on my own Twitter account. Ludacris is actually one of the people I follow because he seems like he’s got a lot of interesting shit going on in his life… Today, he posted this…
Not only does he still drive his Acura Legend, it’s his favorite car to this day with over 231K on the odometer…haha, crazy…
I was curious as to what his Legend looked like, thinking that it would be all “Dubbed-out” on 26-inch wheels or something but I found a video interview of him when he was on the George Lopez show and they actually show a photo of it. It’s actually completely stock and unassuming, which probably helps him get around places without being noticed…Now I think the George Lopez show is fucking garbage and I wouldn’t watch it if it were the only thing on television, but I provided the video to show you guys Luda’s Legend…Feel free to click below to hear him talk about his Acura and how much he loves it…pretty interesting….
Ludacris still drives around in his 1993 Acura Legend…
Thanks for looking…
Video Time!!…
Man, it is hot as shit today… I’m actually putting together part 1 of the Rywire ITR Build-series and so far, it looks like we have a lot of good content coming your way. In the overall timeline of the build, part one will actually take place long before the introductory post when I posted up the chassis after Sunny from Franklin Autobody painted it. The first portion will cover how the Integra looked when Ryan first picked it up, the parts he collected to make it look like an ITR again, as well as the first mock-up photos of his engine set-up. I’m waiting on some stuff from Ryan before that’s completed though so today we will be taking a look at a really cool video that Rodrez put together…
Two posts or so back, I posted up some behind-the-scenes photos of a Honda Tuning magazine feature-shoot with Alex “Sheepey” Soto’s turbo S2000. That day we only did photos but the next day, Rodrez met up with Sheepey once again, this time at the Rywire facilities, and mounted some onboard cameras so that they could capture Sheeps having some fun in his car. Rodrez has jumped into the whole video-making thing head-on and his videos are getting better every time he posts a new one. Peep the video below and make sure you click the little “HD” button so you can watch Sheepey smash around on the streets in full HD…Stay tuned tomorrow for part 1 of the Rywire build…I’m dunzo for today…
Spontaneous Photographic Moments Captured By A Digital Camera…
Haven’t done one of these in awhile but when I saw this photo surface on NWP4Life, I had to post it up….If there’s anything that’s better than having an R35 GT-R, it’s having this Acura TL as well. I’ll be honest, I haven’t always been a fan of the latest model TL because I think it looks incredibly bulky, but the owner of this one addressed the issues that made the front end look so huge, which was the gigantic silver grill. I love the way this turned out and I couldn’t imagine the car look any better. Wheel fitment is also on point as well…I would rock this shit all day. With everything paint-matched, it looks a lot more like the previous generation TL, which was a great looking car out of the box. Enjoy it, appreciate it, and have a great weekend everyone…
Credit goes to whoever took the shot, there’s no mark so I have no idea…
2011 Motion Show Preview…
Make sure you guys stop by the 2011 Motion event today at the Long Beach Convention Center…I will have a booth right next to ItsJDMYo!!! as well as AutoFashion USA. Got some goodies for you like some limited edition Chronicles stickers as well as the official debut of the latest “HURT FEELINGS” t-shirts, now in grey with a new colorway for the lettering as well as a huge change in the design. I think they came out great but you guys will have to come out and look at them in person to judge for yourselves. These are a very limited run so I can’t guarantee that they will be available again later on and I will only have a select number of shirts available for each size… Come look for The Chronicles in the vendor area!…
Here are some crappy photos I shot today during roll-in for set-up. We set-up very quickly and I have to thank the homies and of course, my Maybelyn for waking up early to come help me set-up even though I promised her she didn’t have to do anything for the show this weekend. Anyways, check out these crap shots…This was before the majority of the car arrived so it looks empty but trust me, I walked around some other sections while I was saying what’s up to various people, and this show looks like it’s going to be one of the best ones of the year, for sure…
Motion show, Long Beach Convention Center 11am-6pm…be.there.
Pretty wild Supra that was sitting in the middle of the show floor while it waited to be staged…
You wanna know how Hondas have come back in a big way? Because Falken Tire is all about them these days. I haven’t seen so many Hondas represented by Falken Tire for as long as I’ve been in the industry….Above you see Angel’s S2000, Anh’s ITR, and Rywire’s NSX. They have a pretty cool set-up for the show today because they’ve managed to bring out one of every popular Honda chassis to their section. Many of them will be familiar faces that you guys have all come to know…
Always liked this FD3S RX-7 from TWCompetition….This pic is weird though because the car almost looks like a toy…
Alright, time to get some rest and then head out for Motion. Make sure to come by and show your support for The Chronicles!!!…
Nisei Showoff 2011 Coverage…Part 1…An Introduction…
“Honor the past…Appreciate the present…Build for the future…”
GENERATIONS
presented to you by The Chronicles…
I wanted to start off the coverage with a formal explanation of the line-up that I put together at Nisei Showoff 2011. I’ve been looking around online and some people were wondering what the whole “Generations” sticker was about that they saw on some cars there and if you follow the site regularly, then you already know why. For those that don’t and are just here to see the coverage now, allow me to explain. Ken Myoshi hit me up a couple weeks ago wanting to know if I had any ideas to throw at him for our collaboration that we were doing. I try to work with Ken and Showoff a lot because I appreciate what Ken Myoshi has done throughout the years for the entire import automotive community. It was the original import car show back in the early 90′s, long before Hot Import Nights, any of that NOPI garbage, Import Fest, Wekfest, Spocom, etc. It will always be THE original import car show event. I always make it a point to work with Ken because it’s an honor for me to do so. I’ve always been a heavy supporter of his Showoff events in the past and attended them whenever I could (and that was often). Having The Chronicles collaborate with Ken is something that I never imagined I would be able to do. No matter what I want to call it, this is a blog about Hondas. Simple as that. I didn’t think working with Showoff was possible because this site is not very significant in the broader scheme of the import automotive community. It was cool of Ken to ask because for whatever reason, he values my opinion and thinks that I can help him push his show. Last year, I collaborated with him with the “Top Ten Showoff” where I brought out a couple of Hondas that I throught were really nice and it worked out well. I had a booth, I sold some things, and the show overall was a success. Ken liked what I did and he asked me to help him out again this year…
For this year’s Nisei event, I had a very short amount of time to put something together because I’ve been busy taking care of other things, and just hadn’t had much time to contact Ken about what we should do. When I contacted Ken, we threw some ideas out at each other but nothing was really set in stone. I told him I’d reconnect with him on AOL Instant Messenger the very next day at around the same time, which was early in the a.m. around 1:30. The next day came and went and we didn’t get a chance to talk. This was a week before the event was set to take place…and I had nothing. Whenever I drive to May’s place to go spend time with her, I always spend those 35-40 minutes on the highway brainstorming ideas for the site. Some of my best ideas have come from those drives, many of them which I forget by the time I get home. On one of the night’s driving to her place, I came up with an idea….an idea to bring some of the best builds of year’s past (that were still around of course) and display them with some of what I feel are the best builds of our current generation with a couple of other cars that had yet to make a public appearance, which I would deem “The builds of the future”. Showoff is so enriched in history that it just made sense…I would call it “GENERATIONS”…it had a nice ring to it, so I went with it. I parked my 4Runner in my carport, ran up to my apartment, hopped on my computer and shot Tony from ItsJDMYo an email. I had somehow lost my contact info for Ken so I had no way of contacting him, and he wasn’t online at that moment, so I asked Tony to forward my idea to him. I was pretty excited by the idea but it almost seemed impossible to put together in less than a week’s time but if Ken liked the idea, I would push forward and do whatever it took to make it happen. Ken emailed me later that next day and told me that he felt that it was a great idea…and then it came time to execute…
The Chronicles and GENERATIONS represented on Big Mike’s Prelude passenger window…
What car was still around I thought, that people would appreciate seeing, that hadn’t been out at a car show like Showoff in a couple years…the first car that sprang to mind, within moments of thinking was Parnell’s 1993 Acura Integra. It was a beautiful build, timeless in every way, with all the right parts to make to relevant no matter what era it stood in. I didn’t know Parnell that well, we had met in passing, and I ran into him another time during a dinner with May and some friends at Fogo de Chau, and I almost didn’t recognize him. We became friends on Facebook after that, so my only means of contacting him was through a social media source. I am very good friends with Ejay though, who also had a DA like Parnell, so I knew I could always talk to Ejay if I had to. Ejay and Parnell are like brothers, if I had to have someone convince him to do it, Ejay was my man to do it. I hit Parnell up on Facebook and he quickly responded without hesitation that he was all for it. So the first guy was locked down….
Team Kosoku past and present…Parnell’s Mugen DA and Ejay’s DA…
The second guy I knew who might be down, was Kane Chan. He shows with all the other old school car crews at Showoff practically every year, so if I could piggyback off that, the whole “GENERATIONS” theme would make even more sense. Kane wasn’t sure what everyone in his crew wanted to do, so he said he would let me know after they had a meeting…so Kane was a “maybe”. I needed some help brainstorming ideas of who and what car to bring out, so I headed down to the Rywire facilities to meet up with Ryan, DPK David, and Big Mike. There we tossed around some names of who to ask…Mike G. was one of them, and a couple other names popped up, but we had no idea if those guys were even into cars anymore. Right next door to Ryan’s shop, if you didn’t know…was L*CON. Inside L*CON’s building was a smaller business, called Ballade Sports and was operated by Alex Doan, who has that full Spoon-themed black S2000 and a guy who has been a part of the Honda community for years, a guy we know as “Skinhead Mike”. Mike is the proprietor of Jon Tanji’s Civic hatchback. Jon passed away a couple years ago, and Mike has had his EG ever since. He occasionally takes it to work with him, and it has remained in its exact state since Jon had it…it was the perfect choice to bring to Nisei. We could honor not only the history with Jon’s Civic but also honor Jon Tanji, who many people these days don’t know of and to showcase his work. Big Mike talked to Skinhead, I talked to him for a bit, and while Mike was all for it and loved the idea, he had a personal matter to deal with and that was all I needed to hear. I’m not gonna make anyone do anything car-related if they have more pressing matters to attend to. When I first made the announcement regarding the appearance of Jon’s Civic, I kind of pulled the trigger on it too early by stating it would be there and that was my error. It should not reflect on Skinhead Mike or anyone else. I would have loved to have seen the car there, but it’s more important to me that he takes care of whatever he had to in his personal life. For those of you who expected the car to be there, I apologize, it was my mistake in jumping the gun and no one elses…
With little time left to get more of the Hondas from year’s past together, I hit up Matt from ICB Motorsport to see if he was coming out from Arizona for Nisei, and all of a sudden, everything fell into place. Literally out of nowhere, Matt single-handedly saved my vision…and he has no idea that he did…haha. Matt was bringing out 5 cars… one of them being perfect for the section, because it stood the test of time and has remained in perfect condition…no, it’s not the car that you’re thinking of if you’ve already seen other pics. It wasn’t the famous “blue EG”. It was Jorge Hernandez’s gold Civic hatchback. You don’t hear from him because he’s a man of few words, but his build is one that you will always remember. The other cars that were coming out with him were perfect for the “present” section of GENERATIONS. Mike had a very nice Spoon-themed EM1 build, and another guy, Jeff Campbell, had a blue DC2 that made a strong presence at Eibach this year. RC Chacon was set to debut his new 4-door EG Civic build, that no one had seen yet, and while it wasn’t finished, it was perfectly suited for the “future” section alongside Loi Song’s debuting red EG build. The fifth and final car, was either going to be Matt’s CRX Pro.2 on MF10Ls…or a build that he’s had in his collection for years now (since 2006), a blue EG that once belonged to famed-Honda head, Chad Castelo. Chad for whatever reason, has taken it upon himself to speak ill of me and my work to others who we have as mutual friends so it was interesting that Matt offered to bring it out to Nisei. Matt had no idea about this of course but I made it a point to ask him to bring out Chad’s car to display at Nisei. Chad has never spoken to me in person, nor does he even know me personally, but he’s taken it upon himself to say some unpleasant things about The Chronicles and the people associated with the site. I have always loved his cars. In fact, his 4-door EF build back in his Team Ziggy days was one of the builds that made me fall in love with Hondas to begin with. His EG was a landmark build as well and one of the reasons why I really wanted it there was because Jon Tanji was the main contributor in that build. When it came to custom engine bays and tucks, and what not, Chad’s Civic was one of those builds that you will always remember if you have been in this community for the last decade-plus. I have nothing bad to say about Chad and I’ve been nothing but respectful of his work throughout the years, that’s why I wanted his old car to be there at Nisei. It was a perfect fit, albeit an ironic one, for GENERATIONS. Matt told me that it was iffy getting Chad’s old car out there because it had been sitting in storage so long but I made it a point to make sure that it made the trip out….
The cars for the “present” section, were by far the easiest to get together. The Hondas from DPK, ATS Garage, along with Ejay’s DA, Salem’s TSX, and Big Mike’s Prelude, were perfect. They are at the top of their game and the builds are a great representation of the top builds today. I later got a call from Kane to inform me that his Civic coupe would indeed be parked with us and that rounded out the 22-car line-up perfectly. All that came together in just a couple days time, and when Ken saw the line-up at Nisei that Saturday morning, even he was impressed by what was accomplished in that short time…
GENERATIONS “Present” line-up….starting with DPK David, ATS Garage’s Ryan Der, Chris Sakai, Anh Truong, and Angel Ramos’ S2000 in the distance…
Now on to what I think was one of the most talked about topics that day at Nisei Showoff 2011…the foot traffic and overall attendance. It wasn’t busy by any means that day, and it didn’t have to be. I heard so many people complaining about how no one showed up and how there was barely anyone there at the show. There didn’t have to be an overwhelming crowd. When there are too many people, people complain. When there aren’t that many people,….people complain. You have to remember that Nisei Showoff hasn’t been that crazy busy in the last couple years because that’s not what it’s about. If you want it to be crazy busy, go to one of the newer shows like Spocom or something, where there are bitches flocking around everywhere and there is loud music and go-go dancers. That’s not what this show is about. Nisei Showoff has always been about tradition. Ken Myoshi isn’t stupid. He doesn’t do this show to make money. The Showoff franchise hasn’t been a cash-cow in years and Nisei Showoff is one of his last remaining events. Ken continues to do Nisei Showoff because it’s an important part of our automotive community’s history. Showoff is what started it all in the beginning and it’s one of the last remains of our rich past. Honestly, you could have 4 people show up at Nisei Showoff, and I wouldn’t give a shit. Why? Because I know those 4 people that walked into the show will have come for the cars and for the history. What other event can you go to where you will see cars from the old school crews like Bosozoku and Street Image Performance parked alongside the current generation of crews like DPK and ATS Garage? Only at Nisei Showoff. People who only complained about the foot traffic fail to see the significance of Nisei Showoff. You should come to appreciate the cars and the people from your community, and not whether or not someone is invading your personal space because there’s no where to walk. You know what I mean? Who cares if there wasn’t that much foot traffic? Are you selling something? Do you have money invested in this event? If your answer is no, then why worry about it? You should appreciate Nisei Showoff because Showoff is still around. The people you looked up to who were building the cars that you wanted to build went to Showoff events, and hopefully, one day, when your kids are into cars and building cars like the ones they watched you build, can say that they went to a Showoff event. You are a part of a bigger picture and if you think that Nisei Showoff was a failure because attendance was low, you’re not only selling the event short, you’re also selling yourself short. Appreciate what is around you. When you go to this show, take a step back and look at everything. There are people from the past uniting with the current crop of enthusiasts to share each other’s work. You shouldn’t have to worry about attendance because the guys that are there to see the cars at Nisei Showoff, are already there with their cars and they are parked right next to you…
Just a small glimpse at the GENERATIONS line-up…
People always joke around saying “oh I thought last year’s Nisei was the last one”, “every year is the last one”…that’s because it possibly could be. Ken continues to put this event on because the lot that it is held at every year is still available for him to use…one day it won’t be. The lot is owned privately and at any point in time, it will be torn down and there will be property built over it. Every year Ken calls to ask if the lot is available, and if it is, he will put the show on. It isn’t because he’s using the fact that it’s going to be the last show as a selling point for you to come. Next year, it may very well go into development. And someday, you may drive by that exact area and tell your kids or whomever, that it was the spot where one of the best import automotive shows was held all time and you miss the fact that there’s no more Nisei Showoff…
It’s sad to hear that I see some people on other sites complaining about media passes and how they weren’t “taken care of” properly. It’s that ridiculous sense of entitlement that exists these days that make kids think that the people at Showoff should roll out the red carpet for them. The Showoff events have made their mark in our industry. It doesn’t need some kid’s photos to make or break it. If you really appreciate what you do as a journalist, enthusiast, car head, or blogger, pay the $10 that it costs at the gate and walk your ass inside and take your photos. I walk into every event I go to not thinking about what I can do for the event. I cover events because it has helped me build my site and reputation into what it is today. That’s why my coverage is always very comprehensive, very detailed. I have total confidence in saying that nobody does event coverage better than I do because I don’t feel entitled to anything. Nobody owes me shit. I cover cars, and especially the people because I want people to be able to look back and remember the great times they had doing what they love. If you’re getting upset because you didn’t get a free pass, or didn’t get inside the event at a certain point in time because you think that event organizer needs to have you there, your site sucks and what you’re doing fucking sucks. There are thousands of people taking photos at events and covering what’s going on who don’t complain and just do it because they love it…
It’s a lot to read, but I hope you got through all of it…now we can move forward with the photos…
There was quite a bit of traffic on the way to downtown L.A. the morning of Nisei Showoff, so I got there a little later than expected. I don’t have very many photos early in the day because I was busy setting up the booth, as well as parking all the cars in our line-up the way I wanted them to be parked. The first part of the coverage today will cover my booth and the cars around it. My reasoning behind that is because I think what I put together at Nisei Showoff is important and you should see it and also because I stayed at my booth the majority of the early hours of the show….
A quick glimpse at the line-up… Ryan from Rywire was supposed to bring out his CR-X, but for the second straight year, his EF had what we call “The Nisei Curse”, and didn’t make it to the event…so he brought out his back-up, his white NSX on white Regamasters….not a bad back-up if you ask me…
While Ryan’s NSX was the book-end to the left side of The Chronicles booth, Big Mike’s Prelude served as the end on the right…
Our line-up was so big that day that we ended up taking up that whole side of the show. It was a lucky coincidence that my boy Billy’s IS300 ended up parking next to The Chronicles. Sportcar Motion’s red EG made it’s first official public appearance at Nisei Showoff and it was at the start of our 22-car line-up…
Northwest internet celebrity and retired Hmong gangster Yee Vang made the trip out from Washington to show his support at Nisei Showoff. Here he is with Big Mike in a rare photo of them together…
Jeff Campbell’s DC2 and Mike Schietroma’s EM1, both blue, both on Rega EVOs…
Ejay and Parnell’s DA Integras…They both dropped off their cars and quickly left to attend to family matters…
May usually brings out treats like cookies and what not for The Chronicles booth but she brought all kinds of fruits and juices to make drinks for everyone…
The ice cold fruit drinks were perfect being that the day ended-up hotter than anyone had imagined. The photo here is obscured because I took it through the mesh netting from our canopy…
Norman from AS1 probably saying something dirty to Fred Chapman from ATS…
DPK David and Ryan Der made sure to represent their sponsor, Falken Tire….
The two S2000s from our GENERATIONS line-up…
WheelFlip.com model Tina posing for a photo…
Danny from PlusOne was one of the guys that I should have asked to be a part of our line-up. I thought he would be with his crew so I didn’t even think to ask. It all worked out though because he ended up parked directly across from us…
Danny’s custom PlusOne Mugen MF10s sitting over his custom purple Spoon Sports calipers…
Chris Sakai showed up to Nisei Showoff with a set of Mag Blue TE37s and a couple of new touches under the hood…
Anh was on vacation so Fred Chapman brought his ITR out to Nisei…
Loved this slammed Radio Flyer that a loyal Chronicles reader brought by the booth…
Also across from The Chronicles booth was the WheelFlip.com booth… Alex had 3 different sets of M7s on display…
Nisei Showoff 2011 also marked the debut of the new Hershey brand DC2R bumper, seen here on Arn Reyes’ Integra… I’ve been following the build-up of this bumper since Alex Zhao started work on it and I have to admit that while I was sketchy about it in the beginning, it looks much better in person…
My only criticism is my disliking of the L.E.D. turn signals. Being that the original design is based off the GR-chassis Subaru STI, I felt that he should have left the OEM foglights intact…Still a novel idea either way though, and it’s definitely different…
DPK Jared and Big Mike spending a moment in the shade and having a drink…
Anh’s ITR proved to be one of the most looked-at builds in our line-up…
Arn not only debuted the Hershey bumper on his Integra, he also brought out his baby boy for the first time for everyone to see…Meet Anthony Reyes…
Little Anthony didn’t really appreciate the idea of someone picking him up…
Murdock and Sam Ip hanging out…Sam was a part of The Chronicles Nisei line-up last year. He had the white 8th gen. Civic SI sedan that he ended up wrecking later on in the year and now he’s building a black, all J’s Racing-themed, sedan…
My cousin Tim aka Timscribbles came out to Nisei to check out the rides…He’s a younger guy in our community but he’s a lover of all kinds of different automobiles and his blog shows all his adventures…
A couple of shots of Angel Ramos’ S2000….
Lowfat Pie with ekfour Tony Huynh’s daughter…Tony and family came back to Cali along with Steve Kwan (dagreenek) to hang and check out Nisei Showoff…
Tony from ItsJDMYo!!! rocking his old school 13Devils pit crew shirt…Tony and I used to be from that crew back in the day and I even had the banner on my car when my car was featured in Honda Tuning back in 2006…
I still miss Ryan Der’s kit on his EK but it’s looking slightly better with the black TEs back on it…
Again, Nisei was the debut of Sportcar Motion’s 330whp K24-powered Civic hatchback…this thing is a fucking beast…
RC Chacon also debuted his new 4-door EG sedan at Nisei, alongside Sportcar Motion’s red EG…You should remember RC from his previous build, which was the white hatchback with no hood, bright orange valve cover, and dump tubes exiting through the (non-existent) hood…The 4-door wasn’t anywhere near completion yet so he decided not to compete at Nisei, but it was cool to have the car out there nonetheless…
That’s all for today…gonna close it out today with another shot of Angel’s S2K….stay tuned for much more. I’ve actually gone through the majority of the photos already and we are looking at a 6-part series of Nisei 2011 Coverage. Make sure to come back tomorrow for part 2 and tell everyone out there that they will get the best, most comprehensive Nisei coverage only here on The Chronicles….
Today!…
I promised myself that I would get some sleep this year because last year I crashed super hard when I got home from Nisei. I set a goal to be in bed by 3:30am and it is now 3:28 am, just hours away from the 2011 Nisei Showoff event and I am pretty excited because this year, I am bringing you guys what might be might of the best collection of Honda builds ever. Just because of the pure history of some of these builds and how many of them were landmark builds in the West Coast Honda community. There are some Hondas that are appearing today that haven’t been at an event since 2005! If you can even grasp that. For you older guys it may not seem like that long ago, but if you really sit back and think about it, man, it has been almost 7 years. In my collaborative effort with Ken Myoshi from Showoff, I set out to have a collection of some of the best Hondas from the past, present, and near future, and this group that I have brought together couldn’t have been any better. Of course there were some cars that I really wanted out there but they just couldn’t make it, or the guys are long gone from the car scene. Either way, this line-up is going to be SICK….
I wanted to keep the roster a secret and debut it at the show, but since we are only a couple hours away anyhow, here is what is in store for Nisei 2011 at the “GENERATIONS” section, presented by none other than THE CHRONICLES…
In the great builds from the past section, we will have…
Parnell Navarro (DA Integra)
Mike G. (The TANK)
Kane Chan (EJ1 Civic coupe)
Jorge Hernandez (EG Civic hatchback)
Matthew Ye with two cars (one of them is a surprise…) (Mugen CRX Pro.2)
Timothy Valbuena (CB Accord)
In the great builds from the present section, we will have…
Chris Sakai (EK Civic)
Ryan Der (EK Civic)
Angel Ramos (S2000)
Anh Truong (DC2R)
David Andrade (EJ1 coupe)
Ryan “Rywire” Basseri (CR-X)
Alex “Sheepey” Soto (S2000)
Big Mike (Prelude)
Michael Schietroma (EM1 coupe)
Ejay Adriano (DA Integra)
Salem from Phaze2 (TSX)
Will Salazar from Circuit Hero (EG hatchback)
In the great builds to come who are making their official debuts at Nisei Showoff, we have…
Loi Song from Sportcar Motion (EG hatchback)
and a brand new build from RC Chacon (EG9) from Arizona…
I’m telling you, it’s gonna be quite a line-up…come by and check us out and see some great Hondas. If you don’t know these guys names, then you really need to come out and see what these builds are all about…
Almost time…
Knocking out all kinds of shit for Nisei tomorrow like making sure everyone knows what time to arrive for the “GENERATIONS” section at Nisei Showoff as well as cutting stickers for the event. I will have a booth there to sell goods like last year but I didn’t go crazy with the “Nisei Edition” colorway. Since I am doing a big section dedicated to some of the best builds of the past, present, and possibly future, it has a bit of a “classic” feel to it so I will be doing a Chronicles sticker in a classic “Battleship Grey” on black. I wasn’t too sure how it came out but after putting them together, they look really good. I’m really happy with them. Besides that I will also have the classic Chronicles chrome on black decal but with the newer artwork of the sticker that I used for this year’s Eibach meet. If you don’t know what it looks like, I have included a photo of the grey/black decal below and they both use the same artwork. Just sort of a remix on the classic style that has become probably the most popular Chronicles decal but with the same classic colorway. Be sure to check out the booth and the “GENERATIONS” section this Saturday at Nisei Showoff. I think you guys will be happy with the collection of cars that I’ve put together for you guys…
Spocom 2011 Coverage Part 2 should be coming later tonight…if not, uhh, Sunday or something…
Yeaaaahhhh Buddy!…
Oh. Man. So many great things happened this weekend…I took a fucking nap, ate some fried shit, watched some television, went to a car show, drank a beer, and then woke up to go shoot a car in Narnia…
Haha, in all honesty though, it was a pretty good weekend. I really did take a nap, but that was yesterday because I was so beat from sleeping only two hours the night before that. It was May’s younger brother’s birthday so we went to celebrate at Yardhouse, but of course it’s impossible to get a table for 15 people so we spent a majority of the night waiting to sit down and eat. DPK David and his future wife to be Jackie went along for the ride and David acted like the Mac and Cheese he ate was the greatest thing on Earth. Oh another cool thing was that May’s cousin was chilling at the bar with us while we were waiting for a table and then this drunk bitch just starts staring at him. This dude just spent like $5 on a Bruno Mars looking hat so he was all swagged out, and then starts chatting up the girl. This chick was so drunk, she left her purse behind to make a phone call and I almost robbed her ass. Normally I wouldn’t but we are all experiencing tough economic times and you just don’t leave your purse at a bar unattended. I’m kidding of course, I was waiting to see if he was going to swoop her up and take her home to do a little bit of the bang bang and we were all gonna go with them so I could raid her fridge and eat all her food. Well this chick like apparently has parents who own a place not too far from where we were at so they start holding hands and getting all chummy, then they get up and dude takes her to her parents place to bang her out…I swear, that’s exactly how it happened. Like DPK David said, he thought that shit like that “only happens int he movies”. It was the craziest thing I’ve seen in awhile. Strangest part about it is that she went to Yardhouse to drink by herself and then took some asian dude home with her. I think she was white or something so that accounts for like 180+ asian street cred points for May’s cousin. I didn’t believe in miracles until I saw that happen. Way to capitalize on Bruno Mars’ success…I was kinda worried because it sounded too good to be true so I was expecting him to call May to let us know that he woke up and his kidneys were missing but I guess it worked out for him. He showed up a couple hours after doing whatever he had to do and came back to chill.
Anyways, that was one of the reasons why I didn’t get much sleep yesterday. I was going to post up a bigger update today with either Spocom 2011 coverage or make that huge Nisei Showoff announcement I’ve been waiting to unveil but I’ve just been busy all day trying to finish up some work for Super Street. We have a shorter production cycle this month so shit just needs to be finished. I spent the majority of the night and early afternoon finishing up those photos and I’m updating now because this is the free time that I have between doing some more work, and taking a dump. The Spocom 2011 show was this past Saturday and I really didn’t go into it with any expectations and I’m glad I didn’t. Like every Spocom show, it’s usually more focused on the models and not the cars itself and that was definitely the case this year. The cars were lacking this year compared to year’s past, but that might be due to the fact that we have a 3 week block where we have back to back shows. Nisei is next week and following that is the new EMOTION show so that could be a reason why there weren’t too many cars in attendance at Spocom. Maybe like 30-40% of the cars there were “DUB-style” cars, meaning they were like big ass trucks on 26′s or domestics that were lowrider-themed. Some people may like that but me personally, I’ll pass. I go to the Spocom shows to look at imports because that originally was the target demographic but I guess things changed. They’re probably on that money-making tip so they didn’t really worry about what cars showed as long as they paid the registration fees. I got through the show quickly and then took off to get back to real life shit.
Since I’m not doing a big update today, I’ll save the major Nisei Showoff collaboration announcement tomorrow along with some Spocom coverage. Trust me, you will definitely want to go to Nisei to see what I have for you guys. It’s going to be pretty sick, if everything follows through… Oh if you were wondering what car I shot for Super Street on Sunday, it was a pretty sick Mazda Miata. I know, it sounds weird, but it’s definitely one of the coolest cars that I’ve ever shot for a mag. Just a lot of little cool touches made to the car and the overall style of the car flows very well. I’ve known the guy for quite some time now and the car has come a long way. After going through the photos today, I can honestly say that it was one of my favorite shoots. It was cool to shoot in a different location other than the city but there were some sketchy moments shooting in the canyons. Keep an eye out for that in a couple months…
I figured you guys would want something to look at other than words today so I’ve included one of my favorite photos from this past Saturday’s Spocom event in Anaheim. It’s one of those moments that makes me happy that I always have my camera on me. I don’t know the models name, I apologize if she sees this (I doubt she will), but for the sake of putting a name to a face, we shall call her “Titla McBoob”. While her humongous cans already make for an interesting photo, the best part of this shot is the creepy old man that’s standing next to her MAKING A JERK-OFF MOTION WITH HIS HAND while posing with her for the photo…haha, classic…Maybe he’s a big fan of gambling or something and he’s doing a “roll the dice” gesture…I don’t know, but I’m sure any time somebody is doing that in front of her chest, she’s not thinking that he’s tossing around some dice, if you know what I mean…If you think I’m making this up, you can clearly see the motion blur from his hand from moving it back and forth, haha. I have no idea who he is, but it looks like he’s spent a lot of time in the sun throughout his years. He could be Stan Lee, the creator of many of today’s favorite Marvel Comics characters, I don’t know, either way, this old sir looks incredible happy and perverted while taking part in this photo. Enjoy…Oh probably NSFW but I don’t know how lenient your boss is about girls with humongoloid tet-tets… Roll the dice old man!!
Back tomorrow with so much more…
Because Race Car….
We are all at the Super Street FF Battle 3 today! The dyno portion of the competition was yesterday and everything went very smoothly. I was a little surprised actually, haha. I can’t release the results of course but it was definitely a close competition. Today is the track portion of the event and there is a free meet for all makes and models as well. Come by and check it out….Autoclub Speedway in fontana! Be there!!
Quick Reminder…
If you’re looking for the latest installment of the Import Alliance 2011 Coverage (Part 7), it is directly below this post. Before you get to that though, I just want to remind everyone that this weekend is Super Street magazine’s FF Battle 3. There is going to be a meet open to all makes and models this Saturday from 10am-3pm and it is free, so please come out and chill with us and witness some of the best FF Hondas duke it out at the Autoclub Speedway…Tell your friends, acquaintances, people you don’t even like, etc. about it and get them to come out….the more the merrier…More info on FF BATTLE 3 HERE
Also another note, if you have ordered anything from the Chronicles Storefront recently, all orders are currently being completed and you will receive them shortly. Sorry for the delay, I’ve been traveling and doing all kind of stuff lately and haven’t had much time to complete orders. I’m working hard on getting all of it out to you guys so thank you for your patience, thanks! Keep an eye out in your mail boxes cuz your orders are on the way!
Now onto Part 7 below…
Import Alliance 2011 Coverage…Part 6…
Somebody jerked off in the parking lot….
That’s all you really have to know about the type of shit that goes on at one of these post-IA parking lot parties at the La Quinta. Apparently, somebody thought it was hilarious to beat off in the parking lot in front of everyone…and that was just on the first night before the event even took place. Haha, whether it’s true or not, I’ll never know. I actually don’t want to know. If somebody decided that it was cool to whip that shit out and start attacking it like it owed him money, then be all means, have at it…but I don’t want to see or hear about it, haha. The fuck is wrong with people these days? Really…For the most part, the partying the first night was pretty uneventful. Hotel management asked the police to come by and shut it down and again, for the most part, people chilled after that. The second night was a bit different, and I’ll tell you more about it further down in this post. May actually really wanted to come to IA with me but since my whole trip was so poorly planned and airfare wasn’t exactly the cheapest, I thought it was best to just tread the IA waters with a couple of the guys, just to see how it was like. Plus I really wanted to get that “complete” experience you know. Figure out how everybody else does IA and see what they were raving about. When it came to Import Alliance, I couldn’t have been happier with the event. When it came to the parties and extra curricular stuff outside of the actual meet itself, I was less than impressed. It wasn’t like the dude jacking off in the parking lot or whatever turned me off from the whole thing, don’t get me wrong. I think it’s just because I’m a bit older now and I’m over the partying stage. From 21-25 or so, I did it all you know. What these guys were doing at the hotel is pretty much an equivalent to like the “college” experience, where you get drunk and go to frat parties or house parties and just act like complete assholes. It’s cool, I get it and again, more power to you but it’s just not for me anymore. Some of the stuff was humorous but the other stuff was just plain juvenile and childish…oh and also pretty dangerous. I think if we had brought the girls along with us for the trip, they wouldn’t be having more than 15 minutes of that shit. Not that they aren’t down, because these girls know how to party too but being in a crowd of what is probably 80-85% males who are drunk and acting retarded is not the best environment for women to be in. I really just wanted to get a sense of what things were like so we stuck it out and hung out with everyone to experience the parties at La Quinta…
If anything I feel bad for the manager of the hotel. We actually stood at the front desk and talked to her for awhile just to see what she had to say about it. She admitted that she knew what she was getting into with the whole Import Alliance thing since this was her third straight year hosting a majority of the crowd. The money is good. I don’t know how busy that part of Nashville gets but I doubt they have that significant of a crowd every weekend booking up all the rooms there. We asked her if there were other people staying there that weren’t apart of the IA crowd and she said that there indeed was. I ran into an older couple who were waiting for an elevator and some dude like blew one of those plastic trumpet-style horns right into her face and she was pretty upset about it. The manager said that when people book rooms that weekend, they are notified of the “conditions” and what goes on there so they have fair warning of what’s going on. So the people that chose to stay there, I don’t feel bad for, because they knew what was going on and less than a mile down the way, there was a hotel that’s nice and quiet and half the price (where I stayed). They could have easily stayed there but the manager said they opted to stay there anyway. What’s terrible is the amount of clean-up that goes into these type of events there at the hotel. One of the elevators broke after the first night so everyone was stuck riding one elevator where the lights were pulled out so people were crammed into one elevator and stood there in the pitch dark. Fire extinguishers were all fucked with, the parking lot was a mess, and the list just goes on…I can’t even imagine what the rooms looked like. But apparently it’s worth it to the La Quinta management because they continue to put up with it…
Anyways, let’s start the coverage, I’ll tell you more about the parties later on. We’re picking up around the time when Big Mike, DPK David, and I were walking on the other half of the lot right next to the main section. This section as I mentioned in Part 5, hosted some of the more uhh…”whatever” cars. There were some gems in there but you had to look for them. The rest of them were either incomplete or like, relics from the early 2000s style of imports. Halfway through my walk, I indeed found some gems. And these three cars were perhaps some of my favorites of the entire weekend. Nothing too crazy, but style doesn’t always have to come in brunches. You can build a nice, simple car, and it’ll send a bigger message than any crazy over the top project…
Love at first sight…man, you know how you go to a club where there are like tons of wack ass looking girls and you see one that’s decent-looking but in that moment, she’s incredibly hot? Well that’s called “hot by association”. When you come back to the real world she’s no longer that hot anymore but in that moment, she’s a 10/10. There were a ton of builds like that at IA. Not “great” by any means, but in that moment, it was one of the best builds there…these three cars…are by no means “hot by association”. These cars are the ones that you can appreciate at any event, in any state, on any coast. Very strong words, I know, but simplicity is the key…
FD3S, nothing crazy on the aero-side, just Volk TE37SLs without the red spoke decal and under the hood…
..GM LS1-swap…don’t really need much more after that. It’s a beast…
This was actually the first car I spotted out of the three. I went up to it and just stood and stared at it, then the owner, Kyle Smith, came up to me and asked me if I was StickyDilJoe…I said I was and he told me he was a big fan of the site, which I was kind of surprised by and said that he’s been following it for quite some time. I told him that I appreciated it and he was just a real quiet, humble type of dude. I told him how much I liked his car and how it made my day to see the three of them parked out there. The car is very straight to the point. It has an SR-swap, which he said looked terrible so he didn’t pop his hood, bronze TE37s, and a complete JDM OE 180SX Type X kit. I don’t know if many of you are familiar with this but the 180SX (or our 240SX hatchback) was in production in Japan up until 1998 when it ceased production. The Type X (and also a Type R model) was the last incarnation of the 180SX and had this front bumper, front lip, sideskirts, rear valance, and taillights. You want to talk about “JDM” style, it doesn’t get anymore “JDM” than this right here…and he doesn’t even have to wear a stupid ass t-shirt that says JDM on it…
The front end with the Type X front and what I call the “double Forest Whitaker” …you know, the lazy eyes…haha…so fucked up…
Late model 180SX JDM tails and rear add-on pieces…perfect wheel fitment too…
Kyle’s buddy was the owner of the black 180SX convert, which was featured in Modified Magazine awhile back…this one is probably the more refined one of the two but both are great looking S13s…
TE37s in what looks like “Formula Silver” finish…
Ever seen a Nissan with a NEXT! Miracle Cross Bar?…
The interior…note the APEX’i Power FC control unit, Bride door panels, floor mats, and gauges…very nice…
This photo came out kinda shitty cuz I had high hopes for it…
After stopping and chatting with those guys for awhile, we moved on to see what else we could find…
J32-swapped CR-X…I wish I could show you a close-up of the motor, it was so worn down and corroded…looked like the car that this motor came out of was submerged in water for a long time or something…still cool nonetheless…
This was cool…I think at that point CCWs were like a sharp pointy knife slowly digging into my rib cage but it look good on this hatch. Bay is decent, tucked but still needs a couple things here and there like a custom fuel set-up and some moving of certain items. Good looking car though…I have another shot of it from the second day of IA that I really liked but I’ll post that later on…
240SX drift car (I’m assuming) on a trailer…
I thought the wheels on this Civic were cool…even the smaller bolts along the lip were spikes as well….
Accord wagon and Civic from V Race Works…
Widebody S2000 from Illmotion…uhh, I’m sure there’s a joke or caption I could toss in here with the girl hold the pole and her hair waving around in the breeze but I’m just going to leave it alone…
Joe Maguschak once again…At this point a lot of people had left so I could finally get a shot of this car from a distance…
Really liked this shot of the firewall on his coupe…
I’ve always had a vested interest in this NSX because it resembles Phaze2 Tony’s NSX in many ways. Both were red at one point and both are rocking Sorcery aero, with this one being different because of the flip lights… I didn’t really expect it to be at the event but when it showed up I went over to take a closer look at it…
Great looking build overall, in many ways it’s much more refined than Tony’s. Tony’s NSX is more raw and just sounds really intimidating. This one is much more subdued, and everything is more streamlined. I really like the rear diffuser on it as well…
19-inch Work S1 2-Piece wheels…the true 3-piece has a different face with exposed bolts…
One of the rare VIP-themed rides at IA. This one is a Y33 Q45 with a Version Select kit and AME Shallen FX wheels…
…next to it was an even rarer sight…a VIP styled Acura RL…
Subaru STI on some aggressively sized Enkei RPF1….
Boosted single cam Civic…
C-West-kitted RX-7 getting worked on…
Honda Fit on some purple Mugen wheels…
Civic on some 949s…
The IS300 that I took a bunch of photos of outside moved into the paddocks towards the end of day one…
Supercharged RSX on Wedsport TC105N at the Hybrid Racing booth…
LS1-swapped G35 at the Chasebays booth. I didn’t take a shot of the rest of the car because it was like stock height and incomplete…
Matt Tucker’s EK9…Someone told me he had like 5000 friends on Facebook so I checked….this dude now has his own fan page…haha…Guys got more friends than Big Mike and HeyMikeyyyy. He’s like the Tila Tequila of Facebook…
K-swapped DC2 at the K-Tuned booth…
One of my favs again…Anthony Smith’s EG6…
PG+K Moe…
Zerolift booth with stock that on the west coast, would be the seized-property of the state of California…haha…
BonB from PG+K’s Civic as he was getting ready to take off to go eat at Tiger’s Pho spot…
Shot with my 10mm lens, that’s why it’s all crazy distorted looking. It’s actually just a normal Work S1 wheel used to hold Mike Zusin’s business cards…
Corvette at the Track.One booth…
Mike Burroughs and friends…If the name doesn’t sound familiar, you’ll probably remember one of his more recent builds, which was the rusted-out Bimmer that’s been posted all over the web. I guess his garage or something caught on fire and he’s been rebuilding that car, but he recently picked up this silver 2800CS coupe…
Every time I tried to get a good shot of it he was driving away so here’s a shot of him driving away…
S2000 on classic Work Equips…
Jordan McCord putting his hood back on as the day was coming to a close…
Thus ends the first day of Import Alliance 2011…can you believe we’re already at part 6 and it’s barely the close of the first day? Haha…there’s more to come but definitely not as many photos as day one. The second day was a smaller event so there weren’t as many cars and a lot of them were the same from the first day. There’s still a couple parts left but not as vast as the previous. So anyway, after the event came to a close, we hopped into our friend Arthur’s CR-V and headed back to the hotel. There we took a break, showered, and regrouped for the rest of the night. DPK David and I were at the other hotel down the way, but we changed and what not and walked back over to the La Quinta to see what was going down…
…and the party began…
This was what the La Quinta parking lot looked like when we got there. The whole lot front, side, and back were filled with cars and people. Even the Holiday Inn or whatever lot next door was filled with people. Guys and gals were drinking, hanging out by the pool, etc…You can see how close people were to the cars. To the left of this photo you can see Jay’s S2000…
For the most part everything was pretty chill. The Nashville Police cruised up just to see that everything was cool and it was… but it got crazier later on in the night…The further the night progressed, more drinking occurred, and more drunk ass people were walking around in the parking lot. At one point some drunken fool got right up in DPK David’s face all belligerent and said “Hey you got a cigarette or am I gonna have to slap a bitch?!” All crazy and shit. I mean, it doesn’t really matter who you are…if someone is going to be inches away from your face shouting drunken bullshit at you, the first reaction is obviously just to crack the dude in the face and be done with it. We weren’t drinking, but it doesn’t mean it’s cool to get in someone’s face and act like a punk bitch. David, is not one of those dudes that just lets things slide. In fact, when he gets angry, he’s almost down to do whatever it takes to fuck someone up…that’s just the type of guy he is. I was really close to putting the camera down and just locking down a nice rear naked choke until the dude passed out but I saw that David remained calm… We were in a different state, with younger people who were drunk, and didn’t want to ruin the “ambiance” of the La Quinta party so David got right back in the guy’s face and said “Why the fuck would I have a cigarette for you?” and then the dude gotta got the hint and backed off. DPK David said he thought that he was trying to call him a bitch at first but apparently the dude was already mad at some girl so that’s why he went off in grand fashion, too bad it was in the face of the wrong guy and it almost got him a good stomping. This is the same guy later on, that thought it was a funny idea to dance in front of a police car when the police were trying to get through the lot and then ran away like a little bitch when the cop got out of his patrol car….
At one point, the hotel management told the police to shut it down and so the police attempted to do so…Before that however, there was racing on the freeway on ramp next to the parking lot and everyone was drinking and watching….even the police. DPK David walked over to the officer and asked what he thought of all the racing that was going on and the police told us that he loves drag racing so he didn’t have a problem with it… Go ahead and re-read that last sentence, I’ll wait…
Okay, he said that he was cool with people racing on the highway. This was when the Civic coupe was running down a street bike. The officer was even telling us that he knew the street bike was going to lose. David then told him that if this was going on out in Cali, people would be getting shot at by the police and shit would get shut down immediately. Realistically, you can barely even drive a lowered car out here and not get fucked with by the police, let alone drinking in public and racing on the freeway…or even beating off in the parking lot…shit is definitely different out there… The cop was just like “we’re the nicer folks” (compared to the cops out west) and that they are more chill and just let things slide unless hotel management says something to them, since it was there property. I can dig it though, I don’t know how much shit the cops have to deal with on a everyday basis but that part of Nashville seems so quiet without IA being there that they probably don’t have much shit to do normally. I mean, during rush hour traffic there was a total of like 6 cars on the highway, the other cars were people arriving from whatever state they were coming from for Import Alliance. It’s just slow there so I don’t blame the cops for enjoying some illegal street racing and letting kids drink publicly and make asses of themselves…
Eventually when more Nashville PD showed up, people retreated to their rooms. It took awhile for that to happen though because kids were busy trying to put stickers on the police cars as they drove by, dance and act like assholes in front of the police, and do that stupid fucking planking thing everywhere. One dude even got arrested for trying to plank on top of a police car. I’m pretty happy that these kids weren’t on psychedelics or cocaine and shit cuz who knows what they would be doing if they were on some mind-altering shit…haha. We actually listened though and went back up to Rywire Ryan’s room to watch the mayhem ensue from above…
This is a shot from the balcony before the police started rolling up from each side. This shot is kind of deceiving because you don’t see the rest of the people that are spread out throughout the rest of the parking lot…
Ryan looking shocked as people raced back and forth on the highway. There was actually a race happening on the highway at one point, and on the other side of the highway, there was a police car pulling over some random person for speeding…how ironic…The officer that we spoke too even admitted that they love pulling people over for just having a taillight out or something stupid and minor like that. Apparently it’s okay if you want to race people on the freeway and drive like a fucking maniac….as long as all your taillights are functioning…
Here’s a shot from above when one of the police cars started circling the lot and had the lights on, in an effort to get people to go to their hotel rooms. It’s funny to see that when the police shows up, a bigger crowd forms…that’s some shit that you will never see here because police would have riot gear on and would be busy firing rubber bullets at people…haha…
One a majority of the people went back inside, that’s when the mayhem inside the hotel started. The majority of the people went to their rooms to hang out on the balconies. There they heckled people and hurled GLASS beer bottles at people that remained in the parking lot. One of the bottles even went as far as to hit one of the 350Zs in the lot. If you cherish your car, don’t ever bring it to the La Quinta because there is a highly possible chance that some shit will fly at it… Not really sure how people came up with the notion that it was cool to throw glass bottles at people, 3-4 stories up, but at these La Quinta parties, anything goes. Some guy actually tried to be a tough guy and was taunting others into throwing bottles at him so that he could go kick their ass. That proved to be a stupid ass idea of course, and the guy left his cell phone on the ground as he tough guy-walked his way upstairs looking for someone. We were just in the balcony staring at the dudes cell phone sitting on the parking lot floor before one of the PG+K guys ran down there to grab it…
The shit that was going on was just absurd. People than ran around in the hotel damaging hotel property, taking fire extinguishers and spraying them, etc. I looked at the ice machine on the floor where Ryan and Big Mike were staying and that shit was fucked up. Then people started setting off their car alarms randomly because they thought it was cool…
Here are Arthur, Chris, DPK David, Rywire, and Big Mike watching everything go down from the balcony…If pictures had sounds, you would probably hear someone banging on the door at this point. Zach “Rogue” Poland was screaming at me from another balcony to open the door for him so he could come hang out with him but he was so drunk that I just told him that he was an unpleasant drunk and we didn’t like him, and told him to go away…haha…We met up with him later on though when he told us that someone stole his beer cooler. We all actually watched this happen but we just thought the people that rolled his cooler away were his friends. I just thought it was weird how his friends looked like the limp-wristed dudes from 30 Seconds to Mars…
Over on the balcony next to us was Mexican Zac Efron aka Frankstar, aka Bolt Dudes aka Downstairs Frank. We call him “Downstairs Frank” because someone at the show really asked him why he was selling stickers that said “Downstairs” (when it actually says Downstar Inc.) on them, in which I replied “because that’s where your nuts go”….anyways, he was yelling at us from his balcony and wanted us to go over to that room because Ben Torres aka B.L.T. was just fucked up out of his mind…I really didn’t know what he had been drinking the whole night, but the fact that there was someone fucked up and passed out meant that it would make for good photos… Now to truly grasp what Ben had been doing with his free time the whole night, I had to turn to PG+K member Stephen Burke, who recently uploaded these photos of Ben…
Oh Ben, drinking Crown Royal like it was a liter of nice cold Coca Cola…
Here is Ben partying it up in the Elevator with people whom I’ve taken the liberty of protecting the identities of, just because I don’t know if Ben had did anything to them in his inebriated state…
So we know the culprit was a bottle of Crown Royal and probably like 6 30-packs of Bud Light…Now throughout my years of drinking, I’ve always known one rule to be true….“Beer before liquor, makes you sicker…Liquor before beer, you’re in the clear…” I had seen Ben walking around with a couple of beers throughout the night, so when I saw him downing a bottle of Crown, we all had a pretty good idea that he was going to be fucked…
Hi Ben. The first thing that came to mind when I walked into the bathroom was why he was sitting in a tub of water. Not even a full tub, just a little bit of water, like enough to just soak the backside of his body, making it easier for someone to take his kidneys out and sell them on the black market. His friends told me that they wanted to cool him down…I don’t know how laying him in a little bit of water was going to really cool him down, but I stopped asking questions…The other thing you should be asking yourself, is are those Durex condoms photoshopped into the photo, or are they actually there? Haha…
Frank was in the bathroom and was all smiles, so I asked him how many times he planned on having sex with Ben and that above, was his response. I reminded him that sodomy with a passed out male was still date rape and highly illegal…but Frank replied with “Come on homie, they’re street racing and drinking outside like everything is fair game…Bankhead shawty CAW CAW!!”….He’s from Cali so why he always reps Bankhead and makes bird sounds, I’ll never know…. He then wanted to know if I wanted to photograph the events that followed and then I threw up in the tub where Ben laid, and then I ran for my life…I found the officer that we watched the races with downstairs and told him what was about to happen in the bathroom of room 267, and he said “I got next”….
Good thing they got condoms to protect themselves…
All in all, the whole night was pretty fucking ridiculous. In Nashville, from pure observation…you’re allowed to street race, drink in public, violate private hotel property, and hurl glass bottles at unsuspecting people…oh but you can’t plank on top of a police car because that is wrong. The parties remained inside until the police left and then someone thought it was a good idea to pull the fire alarm inside the hotel, which called for an evacuation, that then allowed everyone to once again drink and party in the parking lot of the La Quinta. Was it a cool experience? Ehhh…Would I do it again? Probably not…I think next time I’d rather just prefer to have a quiet night and go explore downtown Nashville or something. As exciting as it is to hear that someone got impaled by a bottle of Corona, it’s not worth losing sleep over and putting yourself in danger just to have “a blast”…
We didn’t really want to deal with all the bullshit that was going on at the hotel anymore so we just headed over to the Waffle House down the street to kill some time before we called it a night…
When we got to the Waffle House, we were greet with trail of puke that was trickling down the sloped parking lot and that was definitely the first thing we wanted to see before we ate…I ordered the biscuits with country gravy because that is certainly the thing that resembled vomit the least…that is called sarcasm…but yes, I did eat that and it was fucking delicious…
The people that worked there were super generous and asked us about Import Alliance and what it was all about. I told him that there was a guy named Ben Torres in the hotel getting sodomized by a guy that sells nuts and he smiled…Then he went on to talk about how great his Corolla FX16 was for what seemed like 4 hours before we finally managed to escape and go back to the rooms to get some rest…
That will draw a close to today’s coverage. Hope you enjoyed it…Everything I said was factual about the parties at La Quinta, except for the raping of B.L.T. I don’t really know what happened because I left. It could have totally happened though. If a man can jack off publicly in a parking lot thinking that it was entertainment for the masses, anything is possible at the La Quinta IA parties…
Back with more tomorrow…haha…thanks for looking….
BRB…
If you guys haven’t figured it out or just don’t know, I am in Nashville, Tenn. It is hot as fuck out here, I’ll be right back…
Summer days…
Got a couple new photos for you guys today…I had some spare time during the day after I finished up a story for Super Street magazine so I decided to head down to the Rywire facilities to see what was going on. Big Mike had also hit me up earlier on in the day and wanted to know if I wanted to hang out so we just met up at Rywire. There’s been a couple of ongoing projects at the shop so I picked up the camera and snapped some photos for you guys. These aren’t like customer cars or anything, just a couple of friends who asked Ryan if they could use his shop space to work on their cars since he had some extra room down there.
Supertwinz John from AEM has his red EA hatchback there while his other project, a white EA, is up in Norcal in preparation for paint. This red one is supposed to be a tad more tame than his white one and this one is supposed to be his weekend track car. He’s going all out on his white one and I’ll update you guys on that build once it comes back from Franklin Autobody. The other car currently there getting worked on is an EM1 coupe owned by DPK Darryl or D-Rail, who works over at JHPUSA. His car has been down for awhile and he’s torn it apart to get a K-swap and tuck…
Here’s a shot of John’s EA…As you can see, the B-series barely fits in there and clearance is at a minimum, especially since the half-radiator is going to have to sit off to the side…
A shot of John’s Kinsler individual throttle bodies…These will eventually go into his other white EA Civic. He just has these on this motor now to see how things look as far as fitment goes…
I thought this was pretty cool, it’s easier to see in the second photo but that anodized gold fitting is actually a fuel line quick disconnect. You don’t really see these used that often and it’s definitely a cool touch…
John’s 15×8 949 wheels just came in recently and are sitting at the shop in boxes. Those will probably go on as the car gets closer to completion but for now, he has a set of Mugen CF48 wheels on and lurking behind the hideous face are Wilwood brakes…I don’t care what you say, those wheels may be classics but they are ugly as fuck. They look like old fan clutches from like, a small block Chevy from the 80′s…
Ryan’s CR-X was sitting on some filthy ass Kosei K1 wheels because he participated in a small track event at Buttonwillow last weekend. The car is pretty dirty but at least you know it’s being used. It ran very well at the track too and did a 2:04.584 when it was driven by Ryan’s friend Charlie…
Ryan and Big Mike going over some details on Darryl’s Civic Si…At the rate this rebuild is going, it should be done right around 2015, and he will be the only Honda left on the road because cars will have the ability to fly by then if you follow the timeline from Back to the Future Part II…
You guys already know whose car this is…not much to report here, just some minor touch-ups that need to be completed…
This Post Is Useless Without Pictures….
Sorry for the lack of an update yesterday. I usually try to toss something up on a Monday because I’m sure you guys are all expecting something at the beginning of the week. If you follow this site for more than a couple months or so, then you know that I usually always try to post up something during the start of the week. I was actually out the whole day yesterday because I had to shoot down to north county San Diego to meet up with a guy to shoot his car for Super Street. It would have been much easier if my phone was working but it took a shit the day before so I ended up having to borrow my sister’s phone throughout the day to make sure that the guy didn’t get lost and/or if he was going to arrive late for the shoot. I dropped my phone and broke it a couple months ago and got a replacement through my insurance but the phone they sent me apparently was a refurb unit so it didn’t last very long and just quit working altogether. Anyways, I decided to have the guy meet up with me down at Autofashion USA because it’s a well-known spot and if you’re a SD resident who is into car shit, then you probably know about Freddie’s shop. I had IMed Freddie on AOL Instant Messenger to inform him that I was coming down and the first thing he said to me was “hey asshole, why didn’t you take any pictures of my HKS Ruckus from Wekfest?” I told him that I didn’t even know about it because I was busy running around Wekest the whole day and just totally overlooked anything Ruckus-related that day. He said he was just joking and I’m sure he was lying, haha, but he said it was cool for me to head down…
I haven’t driven down to San Diego for a shoot in a long ass time but since it was a Monday, it just made more sense for me to head down there to shoot instead of having the guy whose car I was shooting head up here to LA because of all the traffic. That and he would probably be unfamiliar with the area and it would just be difficult to shoot the car in the short amount of time that we had. So I get all my shit ready and take the hour and a half drive down to Autofashion. I get there and say what’s up to Freddie and check out the shop, being as I hadn’t been there in quite some time. I see his Ruckus with the HKS livery and it’s pretty nice. The whole HKS theme is very vivid and pops and it works for the Ruckus. Definitely something different for Ruckus guys, you know? Of course I didn’t think to take my camera out at that moment to take a picture of it to show you all so it essentially makes this entire post useless without pics; hence the title of the post…
I don’t want to keep describing things to you guys without anything for you to look at because it would just be generally boring so I hopped on Photoshop and drew some pictures. This should better help you visualize what I’m telling you better and make your Tuesday slightly more exciting…
Here is what I came up with for his Ruckus, it’s definitely not a very good drawing and absolutely nothing close to what it actually looks like….But it’s as close as it’s going to get to anything HKS or Ruckus-related for today…
Not too bad right? Haha…In real life I think the seat is wrapped in Recaro or Bride material and the frame is purple. This rendering probably looks more like my boy Billy’s HKS IS300 more than the actual Ruckus from Autofashion but just based on pure memory, that’s the only HKS livery I now…
Alright, moving on… So I was just hanging out at the shop for about 20 minutes and then the guy whose car I was supposed to shoot (Dennis from Hybrid) arrives. The only form of communication that Dennis and I have had the whole time was limited to text messages so it was my first time talking to him in person. Really chill dude who was about the same age as me and since we both grew up in San Diego, we were able to talk about all kinds of random shit like high school, people we knew, etc… When he arrived, it was still pretty sunny out so we hung out at the shop while we waited for the sun to go down…
Here’s a rendering of us hanging out. Freddie is smoking a cigarette like usual and me saying something funny and getting zero reaction from him…
About another 40 minutes go by and I decide to go take a stab at shooting the car. I told Freddie that I would come back to shoot the Ruckus but I guess he ended up having to leave and had no way of contacting me since my phone was busted…
Here’s a little preview shot from the shoot for Super Street. Overall I think it went well. White cars are usually really easy to shoot so I came home and was very please with how the photos came out. Right after the shoot, I drove all the way back up to the OC to make some food and got right to work on processing the pics. That’s about all for today, now I gotta get back to knocking some stuff out before I head out of town again this weekend…Thanks for looking…
August 2011 Honda Tuning Preview…
Just a quick video for you guys today… Check it out, it’s pretty short so it won’t take much of your time. Just a clip of some shots from the upcoming issue of Honda Tuning magazine. It’s a stacked issue and has something for every Honda lover…peep it…
-Cover car: Real SiR/H2B conversion/K series intake mani
-NSX R GT replica complete with ITB’s….SICK!
-supercharged K series Integra
-An EP?! it’s true, and it’s dope
-Puerto Rico is making a name for itself, check out 2 prime examples
-Canadian race-bred S2000
-stealthy black on black coupe
-An Insight with touches of VIP personality?! Yup
Plus
-Coverage from Import Alliance, Eibach, CR-Z cat eliminator install and so much more. BUY YOUR COPY and help support print
Another Random Look Back…SD and some other Socal guys from 2005-06…
It’s cool to look back at old pictures and see how things were in the past. I’m sure I would have way more photos to show you guys had my computer not crashed a couple years ago and I lost the majority of my pics from early to mid-2000s. It also kinda sucks how we lost everything from the original NWP4Life forums as well because there were threads upon threads of old pics from events that were posted up on there. Luckily there is still a very small amount of content from Honda-Tech that still works. I don’t ever go on Honda-Tech anymore because I think it’s a shit hole and there’s never anything good on there anymore but I was looking through the web last night for some older photos and came upon a couple threads from the mid-2000s where the photos were actually still working. The old image servers that people use to use like “we-todd” no longer exist so all the images were lost. Stuff like Photobucket sometimes still works, but after all these years, the people that have accounts there have probably uploaded recent photos and simply deleted the old ones they took. The only threads that I found still working on Honda-Tech were from my homie Jeremy. I have no idea why the photos still work because they are pretty old, but I’m happy that they do because there were some pretty good ones. Jeremy doesn’t really seem to be all the into Hondas anymore and we hardly hear from him, but he was pretty active in those days and took a lot of pictures. His Photobucket probably still works because he hasn’t used it in ages and has moved on to Flickr, but I downloaded the photos that he posted and re-uploaded them just in case they get removed from the host…
The following aren’t posted in any particular order, but they are mostly from old San Diego events like Extreme Autofest (When it was a legit import show) and other Socal events like Chinatown Showoff. The Hondas you’re gonna see are from San Diego and names who you should be familiar with because they are still active today…well, most of them anyway. Thanks to Jeremy for taking these photos back in 05-06 because now we can all take a look at some of the best Hondas from that time…
Some group shots to start off…This was from Extreme Autofest in San Diego around 05, maybe 2006…. The pink Hummer in the background of the first photo was used in one of Britney Spears music videos back then and it was a big deal to absolutely nobody…
This is Mike G’s “Tank” as you all know in one of it’s earlier incarnations. He re-introduced this car to the world last year and it looks completely different now…
Loi Song from Sportcar Motion’s old turbo drag Civic…He sold this awhile back but it currently resides in Dubai as one of the fastest Hondas out there…I remember hanging out at Sportcar Motion back in the day and always seeing this car…
…as well as this CTR. This was actually one of the first legit Civic Type Rs that I had ever seen in person and sat inside. If you don’t know, this CTR actually belongs to Morgan Jade now and looks dramatically different…
Gil from Circuit Hero’s old ITR on Mugen MF10L…Back then there was no Circuit Hero yet and no one had any idea that he would move on to build this bad boy… which was a totally different ITR by the way…
Ryan Ordinario’s EF Civic and one of Leon Casino’s CR-Xs… Leon’s CR-X still looks exactly the same today in 2011…
One of my favorite ITRs of all-time that once belonged to Jeremy or if you know him from back then as “ekay_jeremy”…I remember cruising up to NWP meets with him back then and his car was one of the main reasons why I fell in love with GAB wheels and why they are still one of my favorite sets of wheels ever…
Noel Hina’s del Sol…he isn’t as active as he used to be since he’s gotten older and has a family and what not but he’s currently building an FD2-inspired Civic Si sedan…
This is Rodrez’s old Civic hatchback on Work RS Deltas…I think this is one of the few photos around that ever showed him on these wheels. One of my favorite Civic builds EVER… you have to remember that this photo was taken back in 2005…
I don’t even remember ever seeing this photo but this was from the same Extreme Autofest event as the pics you’ve been looking at. This was around the time when I first got the car back from paint and had just started working on my Accord. I remember because my bay was still cluttered with shit and I still had cruise control and all that shit in the bay. This might have actually been the first show I did with the Accord as well. I didn’t even have my grey interior swap yet and was still rocking the tan interior with stock seats….
Here is another shot of Gil’s ITR but from the Extreme Autofest event a year later. By 2006, I had actually gotten to know some of the guys and was parked with all of them alongside Freddie and AutoFashion… Note the Circuit Hero sticker, by now the company was starting to take off…
Rodrez’s Civic in 2006 on SSR Type X…
Mike G’s DC2 Integra after Tank went into hibernation…He later sold this car to one of the guys over at Pro Street where it became a drag car… He actually still has the white Mugen RNRs and they are currently on his Honda Fit aka “Casper”…
Noel, Loi, and Rodrez posing for a photo behind this breezy and Mike G’s Integra… I remember seeing this chick later on in the year at a Hot Import Nights event doing the exact same pose…
Here’s my Accord from the ’06 show…By this time I already had my Bride Brix II seats in, my grey interior, and added my Sigma front lip since I kept breaking the other one. The car was sitting a little high in this photo because it was one of my early attempts to mess around with “aggressive” wheels. I bought those Advan RG from Zilvia.net for like $700 and since they were 16×8 +35, I was worried they were too aggressive and had some worries “stretching” a 205 on an 8-wide wheel…Haha, those were the days. Just to see how the whole low offset movement has changed throughout the years and the crazy shit people are running nowadays….I can’t believe I was worried about fitting that wheel and ran a 205/50 on it…
This next batch was from a smaller South Coast Honda show. I think Adam from AM7 was working there at the time and put this event together…
Bronze TE37s are probably one of my favorite sets on Rodrez’s EG. These and the grey-faced Work RSZ-Rs were absolutely perfect…
Adam’s K-power Civic on neon green Sprint Hart CP…
Reza’s Integra, which he still has, on Enkei J-Speed wheels…The car later moved on to various track set-ups before now returning to street car form in 2011…
Noel’s Del Sol on MF10L…
Opi’s boosted Civic…He sold the car and eventually moved onto Nissans, I think…He used to be one of the guys I always saw at shows and I really liked his build because it also had a full audio set-up in the rear with TVs and everything…
JP’s hatchback in 2006…Remember yesterday when I was talking about how I liked the car back when it first debuted without all the copper-plated parts? Well here it is back when he first brought the car out…
Jeremy, Leon Casino, and Reza having some fun with this wild Integra with Lambo doors…
Reza, Noel, Mike G, Tom and some others fucking around… I really wish I had gone to this show back then. I don’t even remember what I was doing that day, I just remember going online and seeing these pics and was regretting the fact that I didn’t go…
Mike G’s Civic and Jeremy’s ITR in what was one of the more memorable shots that floated around online throughout the years…
The last set was from the 2005 Nisei Showoff event…Just a couple photos here, some of the other ones don’t load up anymore from the original Honda-Tech thread…
For some of you younger guys, you may not recognize this EK because it looks dramatically different now. This Civic belongs to Chris Sakai from ATS Garage and you probably recognize it more looking like this these days…yup, it’s the exact same Civic… Crazy right?…
Parnell’s DA which he also still has today. One of these days I’m gonna go pay him a visit and shoot some updated photos of this Integra…. The last time I saw it, it looked exactly the same as it did here in 2005…
Adam’s K-swapped EG…
This CR-X and DA both belonged to Randy Gagan, who tragically passed away just a year after this event took place. It was one of the first times I met Randy in person and his builds have always been an inspiration, even today. He was doing some stuff back then that no one ever thought of doing to Honda engine bays back in ’05…a true trend setter and a dear friend…
I don’t know what ever happened to this EP but it was actualy the first car I wrote a story on when I first started writing for Honda Tuning magazine. The guy who built this car is a baller of epic proportions nowadays and you know him as Kenneth Li from Weksos and Wekfest fame….Dude rolls around in a kitted-up Bimmer these days but he once upon a time cared about Hondas! Haha…
That’s pretty much it. It’s always good to take a look back at old photos. DPK David actually has a huge collection of pics throughout the years so when I have some free time, I’ll head over to his house and see if he’s got anything good to post up. Thanks for looking and I hope you guys enjoy taking a trip down memory lane…
A Random Look Back…Spocom 2008…
So I was looking through my external hard drive for something and I came across these random photos dating all the way back to June 22, 2008, which (If I remember correctly) was the second installment of the Spocom show. It’s crazy to think that it’s already been over 3 years since that event took place. Back then things were very different…HeyMikeyyyy still had his Integra, Arnel was barely starting to get really crazy with his red hatchback, and the overall vibe was just…different. Nowadays we have all grown up a bit and many of us are much closer than we were back then. It’s crazy that I even have photos from this show because I didn’t even own a camera at the time and really had no idea how to even use it. I think I might have even paid to come to this show, which is a rare thing these days… I only have a couple photos from the show because again, I had absolutely no idea how to work a camera then. The Chronicles didn’t even exist until about 5 months after these photos were taken. Excuse the crapiness of the shots…I just thought it’d be cool to take a look back…
Mikeyyyy’s Integra… This was not too long after his Honda Tuning shoot and when he starting rocking the JLine wheels. You should all be very familiar with him by now and know that he sold this car awhile back and is still fucking around with his Scion xB….
Arnel’s Civic of course, these were much tamer times and long before the aggressive BBS wheels were even attempted on this vehicle. At that time, his Work Equip wheels are already super aggressive and people had no idea he would even attempted to go wider….I think this was also not too long after the car was stolen and recovered as well, crazy…. Some people loved his car at this stage and will always remember it exactly how you see it in this photo…
Look at his engine bay back then…nothing crazy at all, even his valve cover was looking pretty rough…He of course later on went with the multi-colored, harlequin engine bay and eventually ended at this state….
JP’s Civic was a huge hit back then, especially after he did all the custom copper plating throughout the car. I’ll always remember it before the copper though because it was my favorite stage of the car because it looked much more raw and unrefined when he first brought it out…This car is still around but not that active anymore…
Salem’s TSX long before his J’s front bumper and rear wing…I don’t even think the J’s front was even conjured up yet. It was just very simple back then…Today he’s all about tracking the car now and prepping his TSX for this year’s FF Battle…
Jon from Hasback’s old hatchback. This Civic was really popular back in 2008…The red and battleship grey engine bay was a hit back then but many of you probably remember it more after he painted it purple and had a teal, tucked bay. He later sold the car and I think it’s still floating around in Arizona somewhere with the exact same set-up with the Work S1 wheels and Laker sticker he later put on…I don’t even think he fucks with Hondas anymore. Last time I talked to him it was at the Wekfest LA event but it was really brief so I don’t really know what the guy is up to these days….
That’s pretty much it. All the other pics I took that day at the show came out fuckin crappy and blurry as fuck, almost as if I was running while I was taking the pictures…
Announcement Time….Super Street 2011 FF Battle Event…
Well, it’s that time of the year again to officially announce Super Street magazine’s 2011 FF Battle, brought to you by General Tire. I’ve been a witness to this event the last two years and I must say, this year’s FF Battle looks to be the best one yet. The concept is simple; bring together a group of some of the best streetable front-wheel drive Hondas in the country, throw them onto AAA Autoclub Speedway’s track, and let them battle it out time attack-style for FF-supremacy. What’s different about this year is that all Hondas are required to be naturally-aspirated to even out the field of competitors. Since a huge portion of the Autoclub Speedway track is power-friendly, in the past, the high-horsepower vehicle has dominated. This year, it will be based more on driving and tuning of a naturally-aspirated Honda motor. Even though a turbocharged Honda ran last year, the rest of the pack was still pretty close by time-wise. With it being all motor this time around, it should make the competition even more closely matched and competitive. On top of that new rule change, there will also be a much bigger list of competitors this year. There’s also more of a variety of Hondas/Acuras this time around so it won’t be just Civics running out there. No matter what, it will be a very interesting competition…
The 2011 FF Battle will be from July 27-30, with the first few days reserved exclusively for competitors, employees of Super Street and invitees, but the 30th will be the portion of the event that will be open to the general public. I’m posting this up as an official invite to all of you who want to come out to Autoclub Speedway on the 30th for the final day of racing and for the free meet that is taking place there. Come out and celebrate the spirit of competition and watch some of the best FF Hondas do battle on the track. The meet is free of course and open to everyone that wants to participate. There will be plenty of parking available and Autoclub Speedway does not charge an entrance fee to attend the event. Yes, it’s summer and it’ll be a bit warm but hey, why not bring a cold drink out to the track and hang out with your friends and check out some Honda racing…
Before I go, I’ve attached the flyer to the 2011 FF Battle event with some details about the event. If you could do me a favor, please post this up on your favorite social networking sites, on your favorites forums, etc. and spread the word about the event. The competition-side of it is always cool but we are trying to get this meet to be bigger and better than ever, with more attendance from enthusiasts and the general public. Tell your friends, your family, your step-dad, whoever…help The Chronicles spread the word about the event. I’ve attached a link to the original flyer in a larger format so if you’re going to hotlink the image, link the larger one please. Thank you and see you guys out there for the 2011 FF Battle!!
