Man…I am tired as shit still. Had a blast this weekend though I must say. Got the opportunity to see alot of old friends as well as meet many very cool new ones. That’s what I love about the Socal Honda community. I read somewhere on one of the forums where one guy said that this event showed him exactly how much he loves our community and it’s very true. Despite the fierce competition we are all still friends. This weekend had everything, good and bad….we even had a homie’s car catch on fire on the way to the event and I’ll tell you more about that later. I certainly hope this isn’t the last year especially with how smoothly everything went this year and all the memories that were made this past weekend.
Now let’s get down to the two topics that everyone is wondering about….Big Mike’s Prelude and Tony Khamly’s NSX. Did they make it? Definitely. Tony’s NSX definitely did not disappoint. With the string of bad luck trying to get this thing to Nisei the last two years, it was definitely comforting to finally see this thing finally make it. If this does happen to be the last Nisei, we are all glad that we could finish it off with this NSX there. It was probably the talk of the show and drew huge crowds throughout the day. The car demands attention. People were in awe just from hearing this thing run. I can’t even describe to you the feeling of hearing this thing scream. Tony’s NSX was basically 2 years in the making and I honestly thing that this year was the right year to bring it out. It made it’s mark. They say things happen for a reason and everything that has has brought this car to this point. I couldn’t be happier with the results.
Now let’s talk about Big Mike’s Prelude…I’ll start by saying this: I really didn’t take any pictures of it. Do I not like it? Fuck no. I’ve brought you guys 25 parts and almost 600 pictures documenting this build. If I didn’t believe in the guy I would have never offered to present it to the world. I know Big Mike and know that he is a perfectionist. Down to the last detail. I’ve already showed you pictures of it incomplete and I even told Big Mike at the show that when it’s finished up, I will come to take pictures of it complete. Does that mean the car isn’t complete? Well if you weren’t at the show then it should be clear to you now that it’s not. If you were there, think of it as “part 26” or whatever of his build. It’s not finished. He and I have had talks about this throughout the week because we realized that he was running out of time. Shit, it’s expected. Everybody knew that it was gonna cut it close. You think a guy like him, meticulous as he is, would honestly want to bring you something incomplete? Hell no. The only reason he brought it out was because there were so many people involved, so many friends, associates, etc. These guys worked so tirelessly to try to get this thing finished that it would be disrespectful to all of them to not bring the car out. Of course you want to come correct at Nisei but you have to give it up to everyone that was involved in this build. Rywire was coming down weekly to work on it, Bisi doing all kinds of stuff for it, Kinsler with their ITBs, all the friends that lost probably a week’s worth of sleep to get this thing going. Just so many people you know? Nevermind me. He didn’t owe me shit.
I know the first thing you guys are gonna say is the color. Yes, it’s not orange. It should have been clear all along that it wasn’t. How much of a tard do you think I am to just accidently leak it out? Haha..I know not everyone is gonna be a fan of the color. I’ll be honest, when I first saw it that shit threw me off too. I fell out of my chair and then I kinda just got up and started running for two days to nowhere just trying to grasp it. Hell, it’s not for everyone and that’s a given. It’s grown on me now of course. I honestly like the old color better but that wasn’t the route he was going for. He wanted you to look at this car and the color definitely makes you look. If you don’t like it that’s fine, but with all the work done besides the paint, you should be able to look past it. If the paint alone is gonna make you say that you don’t like the car, then well….this community just isn’t for you. It’s more than just paint. I’ve seen plenty of other cars that are heavy hitters in this community where the color choice was iffy to me and I still love the car. It’s hardwork that counts, not a shade on a color pallette.
If you felt letdown by the car then I’m sorry. Big Mike definitely didn’t want the car to be in pieces when he brought it out but that’s just how it worked out. It’s not for lack of trying. I feel bad for Big Mike if anything. The guy is meticulous that he was gonna get this thing tuned before the show. He always told himself that he would never trailer a car to the show but he felt it was necessary because it was the right thing to do with all the people that were involved. He wasn’t gonna no-show just because of something as silly as pride. Sometimes you just have to accept that you ran out of time. Shit happens. The fucking car in pieces still shits on most of the cars in this scene just based purely on details and intricacies. The exterior looked incomplete but the interior looked incredible and words can’t even describe how the bay looks. I’m hearing rumblings and talk on the net that Big Mike’s Prelude was a bit of a “letdown”. You only feel that way because I’ve already showed you all the details along the way. If we hadn’t been covering this build and you attempted to see all the little details in it your head would fucking explode. There’s so much more that was completed that hasn’t been covered and when Big Mike is finally ready, I’ll be more than happy to present the rest of it to you. Like I said, if you feel letdown by all of it then I’m sorry. I can’t say I’m completely happy with how it looked at Nisei and I’m sure Big Mike will be the first one to tell you that he’s not happy with it. Time is a motherfucker and it never waits for anyone. If he didn’t bring it out, everybody who had a hand in putting it together would have felt like their time was wasted. I’m sure he’d rather not let those people down. I feel bad for Big Mike. He tried his best. Everyone was sleeping about an hour a day this past week just to get this thing together. People were passed out and sleeping on the driveway from exhaustion.
If you were there and took the time to look at everything, thank you. The car not complete is still worth the look. Sure I didn’t really take pics of it but that’s because I was busy looking at it too. He pretty much filled me in on everything that he was doing but there were some things that i didn’t even expect. I’m very happy with how it came out and it’ll be even better now that he has all the time in the world to finish it correctly. I can’t wait to see the final product. If you have ever built anything on a deadline then you would understand. “Oh I would have just left it at home if it wasn’t finished.” Yeah and you’d be spitting on everyone that worked so tirelessly to help you get the car out there. When it’s all said and done, and the car is 100%, then we’ll talk about it being a dissapointment or not.
Now, on to HBK Jaypee’s Integra. Man I feel bad for the guy. Cars been down for over a year and when he finally get’s it running for Nisei, the car catches on fire on the way there. What a fucking shame. He had just got it running for the first time the night before. We were all there at Fast Autoworks watching him put the finishing touches on it. After I left, I heard it was started and running and it was all ready to go. The morning of on the way there, JP hits a section of the road that causes his car to bottom out. When it hit, the fuel line broke under the car and caused the car to lean out. This made one of the pistons tear ass through the block letting all the oil out of it and with it being hot, running an open header, and the fuel that was coming out of it, the car ignited. All the guys that were with him stopped and tried to put it out with whatever they had, bottled water, energy drinks, etc. I heard HBK Jon was in such shock that he was just staring with his jaw on the floor. Luckily, somebody who had a fire extinguisher on them pulled over to put the fire out. That guy saved this car from being burnt to the ground. There are pics of it when it was burning and I’ll try to get those from the Fast Autoworks guys. What a bummer though. All that work and such a freak accident ruined it all…Don’t know what he’s gonna do now but I feel for the guy. I hadn’t really told anybody this but the night before when I was at Fast Autoworks, I was taking pics of it and I even had a tripod on me but no matter what I was doing, all the shots I took of it were coming out blurry. It’s a little weird honestly. Maybe only one shot came out. Was it a bad omen or a sign? Who knows but it’s definitely strange….
That’s about it, I’m gonna get pictures up later today. I’m still trying to go through all of them. I ended up sleeping at 1:30am the day of Nisei, woke up at 5:30am then was at the show all day. After that, I went to our fallen friend Armando Flores Jr’s birthday party. Shit was tight, it was Michael Jackson-themed and everyone was all dressed up. I left around 1am and then we stuck in traffic for 2 hours because the 5 freeway was closed to one lane. By the time I got home and had everything situated, I didn’t get a chance to sleep until 5am. Then I woke up to go eat with Mikey and the Weksos guys who came down for the show. Somehow I ended up at Chase’s strip-club meet after that, etc. etc. tits, etc. To sum it up, I’m tired as fuck still and the top of my head is burnt to a a crisp. Pics up later today, count on it, check back for it. Do what you gotta do.