Welcome to the first part of The Chronicles’ Motion Auto Show 2012 Coverage… Before I begin, I’d like to mention first off that I didn’t take nearly as many photos as I did last year. The main reason behind that was because of the fact that I didn’t make it home to California until around 11:30am or so, after the show had already started. I had to take care of a couple of things back at home and I didn’t even get down to Long Beach for the show until around 2:30pm. When I got there I didn’t have a whole lot of time to take photos like I did last year so I apologize in advance if this coverage lacks the “depth” that my usual coverage entails. Add that with stopping to chat with people and seeing the usual friends, there just wasn’t nearly enough time to get everything I wanted. Last year, Motion gave me a booth space at their show so I was at the show from the moment they let competitors back into the building in the morning, until the hour after the show ended. That was more than enough time to get the cars, models, and whatever shenanigans was going on at the event…

As for my thoughts on the show itself, hmmm…I mean, I missed the first couple hours of the event but it seemed like foot traffic was way down from last year. It just didn’t seem as if they had as many spectators as they did in the past. There also weren’t as many cars as last year from what I saw. The main area by the stage last year was just packed with vehicles and major car crews like Auto Concept Elite had huge displays. This year the area was mostly empty with a few row of cars. Even Auto Concept didn’t have their usual display and just had a couple of cars on hand. The quality of the cars was still there but it just didn’t seem as “full” as it was in 2011. Overall the show was good though. From what I saw everybody seemed to have positive things to say about it and the only points they made were the same as I listed here. I want to say that it was slow because there are so many events coming up and people are saving up, but it wouldn’t be a fair assessment because Motion fell into the same block of time as in 2011, when they were just a week apart from the new Spocom show…

The models seem to be kind of lacking this year as well. Again, I didn’t get to the show until it was half way over, but it seemed like there weren’t as many “big names” as before. There was a lot more up and comers and some girls probably should just reconsider this whole modeling thing. That sounds like an asshole thing to say but after being a part of this import community for over a decade now, I’ve come to realize which girls have lasting power and which ones will quickly fade away. I applaud them for taking a chance and putting themselves out there though, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t see many of these girls a year from now. It takes a lot for these girls to put themselves out there wearing what they wear but it’s tough to really stand out in a crowd of so many would-be “import models”…

Another reason why I decided to come back early from DPK David’s bachelor party weekend in Vegas was so that I could make it back in time for Motion to see if I won the “Motion Media Award” that I was nominated for. It was an honor to be nominated and placed in a category where I was competing with Performance Auto Sound magazine and MotoIQ but in the end, I didn’t take the award home. MotoIQ ended up with the trophy but it was a good experience overall. It’s cool that I’m getting recognition for all the hard work I put into this site and the nomination means a ton. This is a one man show over here and I do everything from the writing, to the photos, to making and packing all the merchandise so I’ll gladly accept the nomination against a publication with a full staff as well as a website with multiple contributors. It was cool being on the stage for the awards too as I’ve never been able to look at the show from that point of view. One thing I was a little confused about was why they called Big Mike on stage and called him “Big Mike from The Chronicles”. Though Big Mike is a friend and a regular of the site, he is by no means a staff member or contributor to the site. I have no staff after all… I guess that’s my fault though for walking into the show at 2:30, haha…Makes more sense to have Big Mike go on stage since he had been there the whole day than me, who was nowhere to be found until the afternoon…

Alright, that’s all I really have to say about the event. It was a overall a good show and one of the shows to look forward to every year…

Kicking off the coverage with a shot of the car that everyone seemed to be talking about at the Motion Auto Show. Michael Mao’s NSX with his new custom re-barreled Mugen MF10 wheels by Wheelflip stunned many a showgoer when they spotted it. The bright gold finish was an instant eye-grabber and the first car that I went to go look at when I walked in…

The MF10s with the custom step-lipped set-up has also been a big topic on the internet as of late. Many like it and seem to be very fond of the look, while others completely despise it and are crying blasphemy at the idea of cutting the faces off a classic Mugen wheel. Either way, Mao’s NSX is getting quite a bit of attention, whether it be good or bad. I am a purist about certain things but I have come to embrace the idea of refinishing and re-barreling original Japanese wheels. I’ve done so myself actually with a set of classic Work Equips but a set-up like this was very surprising for me. I know the Wheelflip guys personally but hadn’t heard from them regarding this set-up. I think the craftsmanship itself came out great and the wheel itself looks good. I just don’t know how I feel about seeing a set of Mugen MF10s with a step-lip look. The finish sort of throws everything off because your eyes are already messing with you because you’re not used to seeing MF10s like this, and then the gold just presents sort of a “visual overload” feel. It’s cool that Mike was able to pull it off though because somebody was bound to do it eventually. His NSX is looking great these days with the new twin-turbo set-up but I think people were so busy looking at the wheels that they probably didn’t even notice…

I tried to get a good shot of the engine bay but I couldn’t reach over the rear hatch without me having the shakes and taking a horrible photo. I’m sure the car will be at Wekfest Long Beach in a couple weeks so I’ll be sure to get a shot of it there… For now, check out his custom dual exit exhaust set-up…You can spot one of the intercoolers behind the exhaust in this photo…

I love the look of the pie-cuts and the burned finish on the exhaust tip…

Parked in the same row as Mike’s NSX was Big Mike’s Prelude. He’s been doing a couple things here and there to freshen up his BB4 and the bay is looking wild as ever…

He’s always been recognized for having one of the cleanest engine bays in the Honda community but lately with the new additions, he’s geared his bay more for function than just simple visual appeal…

The first thing you probably noticed are the multiple wire harnesses protruding out from the Bisimoto header. These wires are attached to four individual O2 sensors…

…that run to this AEM 4-Channel Wideband UEGO Controller. By having this set-up, precise individual cylinder tuning can be achieved and Big Mike can get the most out of his F20B motor…

S2000 with Mugen (or Mugen-style) hard top, BBS RS wheels and matching red BBS caps…

Armand Pranadi’s MR-2…now 863 days without the rest of his rear wing…

Forrest Wang’s S13.4 drift car on Work VS-KFs representing M7Japan…

Very nicely executed engine bay rocking a 2JZ-GTE swap…

Garret Nikolich’s S13.4, a twin of Forrest Wang’s S13, also with a S14 front end conversion and Work VS-KFs…

Jose Romo’s Audi A3…

EP Civic on BBS RS wheels…

Peter Vong’s new 1st generation Toyota Celica project car… I didn’t even know this was him and Theresa’s new build until I talked to them as I was getting ready to leave the Motion show…

They plan to repaint the car and do plenty more to it next year but for now, the only thing Peter has really done is swap in this F20C Honda S2000 motor with individual throttle bodies…

Legit, right-hand drive Datsun Bluebird on bronze Watanbe wheels…

Next up is my favorite build from the Motion Auto Show… this LS430 from Vegas has a completely custom made aero kit that was created by the owner at his own house! He used plywood to create the structure of the kit and then used sculpting clay to make the rest of it. Not only that, he also painted the car himself and did the interior on his own as well… You have to see his build thread to believe it. If you’ve never been on VIPStylecar.com, click this link HERE to check it out… I fucking love this car, completely unique in its own way and fully built by the owner. You have to respect that…

Custom brick-red interior…sorry if the red is really bright in this shot, I couldn’t capture the detail of it without using an overhead flash…

This shot of the door panel will give you a better idea of what the red looks like…Love the stitching on the inserts…

Trunk set-up in the LS430 is nice and simple…

20-inch Leon Hardiritt Ordens….a wheel much like the Volk TE37 that looks good on just about any vehicle…

Dennis Kiyan’s Infiniti M45 with a complete Seraph (Huntington Cruise) aero kit and WEDs Kranze Magiss wheels…

FD3S RX-7 drift car on ING’s wheels sitting in the Falken Tire section…

Justin Pawlak’s RX-7 slammed on bronze, concave, Volk TE37 wheels…

Also in the Falken Tire area was the Bisimoto Porsche. Ryan from Rywire was talking to me about this build recently and he and Bisi have done a ton of work to it recently to get it up and running…

Twin turbo Porsche 997 motor in the 70s chassis…

5Axis-built Scion FR-S on display…

I spotted this S13 a couple months ago at a meet and was happy to finally be able to get a closer look at it at the Motion event. I love the OEM Nissan 180SX Type-X aero and I’m sure many of you know how much I love Work Equips by now…

No 180SX conversion would be complete without an SR-swap… Very clean build. Feature-worthy if it hasn’t been in a magazine already… hit me up if you’re interested!…

CR-Z on teal BBS LMs and hammered on Airrex air suspension system…

VIP F50 Q45 with WEDs Maverick wheels…

I really liked this Y33 Q45 because this is what mine would have looked like if my JDM Cima Touring model front bumper didn’t get burned down in the Midnight Garage fires a couple years back… The bumper is unique because it has that OEM add-on lip to it that was exclusive to the Touring models. I think it looks great on the body itself without a kit and had my bumper actually made it out of the fire unscathed, I would have taken my Wald kit off and just rocked this Cima bumper… oh well, sad face…I didn’t even get shit for losing my bumper in the fire either, sucks… Good to see someone actually found another one and did it though because they are pretty hard to come by with that lip…Love the bronze/black finish on the wheels as well…

Brandon Burke’s S13 that you’ve seen on this site numerous times. I shot this thing for Super Street magazine earlier this year and it is still looking as good as ever. Nice to see that he hasn’t changed it or attempted to sell the car after his feature came out…

This custom widebody TSX is a regular here in the Socal show car circuit…

Linda’s TRD supercharged, VIP style, Toyota Matrix at the VIP Modular booth…

I was surprised to see Alex Doan’s S2000 at the show, seeing as how he was in Vegas with us for DPK David’s bachelor party…

Ka Wong’s AE86…still one of my favorite builds of all-time…

GM LSx-swapped RX-7 on SSR Professor SP1 wheels…

I was surprised to see Viet Nguyen’s FX at the Motion show since it had been a good while since I’ve seen it at any event. I didn’t even know it was still around honestly so I was happy to see that it is still in immaculate condition…

Viet’s engine bay on his FX… just a beautiful build all-around and probably one of the best import show cars ever…yes, ever, even back when it was silver and appeared on the cover of Turbo magazine…

Widebody Nissan R35 GTR from Auto Concept Elite…

E65 7-series BMW on Luxury Abstract Mador wheels… Pretty crazy looking with the concavity of the rear wheel on the long wheel base of the E65…

Interesting face design on these Luxury Abstract wheels… “abstract” is appropriate…

Slammed UCF21 LS400 on SSR Vienna Dish, reppin’ Liberty VIP car club…

CubanGS aka Chris’s 1GS also from Liberty VIP. I asked him why he was rocking an unpainted front bumper and he said that he just went to the show for fun and didn’t get a chance to finish the bumper in time. I believe he ended up taking home the “Best Stance” award at the end of the day… Not into the whole “demon camber” thing but he is just down to roll around everywhere like that…

Closing it out for today with this 2GS from Liberty…note the custom rear quarter panel work…

That’s all for today… check back tomorrow for part 2 of the Motion Auto Show 2012 coverage…