I’d like to offer a welcome to the many new viewers that have traveled over to these parts since the Import Alliance 2011 coverage started. One of the key reasons for me going out there was to show support for the import automotive community outside of the west coast. I’ve always kept up with the builds out there and though my content has always been predominantly of Hondas out here, I definitely have my eyes on other builds from the rest of the country and other parts of the world. Today marks part 3 of the coverage and it’s going to be more image-heavy so I’ll keep the introduction to a minimal. In part 1, I told you all about how the flight was and what traveling to Nashville was like for me. Part 2 I discussed the food and the people down south, and today I’m gonna give a quick word on the builds themselves and the cars as a whole out east/midwest/south…

I took a shit ton of photos…bordering at right around 700 photos. I’m still going through a bulk of them but you will notice that I took a lot of shots of the cars I liked at the event. There are a bunch of shots of certain cars from different angles because I didn’t want you guys to just see one photo of a particular build out there and just move on. By showing you guys different angles of the cars, you get a better idea of what the car is actually like. I also took a bunch of photos because I also went out there for work. In the print world, we try not to use repeat shots so if I run the photo on The Chronicles, you definitely won’t see them again in the magazines when they go to print. I figured it was better to take a ton of photos that end up not getting used than for me to not take enough and wished that I did. It’s one of the rare times I leave California to cover an event the size of Import Alliance so I went in with no regrets. I think I got a good sense of what the builds are like so if this trip ended up being the only time I ever went out there, I made it worthwhile, you know?

When it comes to coverage like this, you will and should only see the best builds that the event has to offer. There are guys who go to the events and just take photos of every every car in sight but then you as a reader have an incredibly hard time focusing on the good cars because you’re just filtering through the ones you don’t want to see. With an event like Import Alliance, it’s absolutely impossible to take a photo of every car because there are so many cars out there. There are areas of the event that I didn’t cover because I just didn’t get a chance to get to it. The cars you see here are what I feel represent IA the best because I feel these are some of the best builds that that portion of the country has to offer. No matter how you want to say it, being completely diplomatic or not, you as an enthusiast has to understand that the Import Alliance event is definitely more quantity than quality. If you feel that statement is made in error, than that is your opinion. There are many, many, MANY great builds out there, but there are also a fucking shit load of crappy ones. When you get so many people together, you’re obviously going to see some cars that aren’t favorable to your eyes. Different people like different things, it’s only natural…It’s okay to admit that there were shitty cars at Import Alliance. If you didn’t, you’re lying to yourself. For those of you who weren’t out there, let me tell you, there were some shit boxes out there…haha. I will be an asshole about it because I’ve never been one to sugarcoat anything…

The builds you see here are in my opinion, some of the best there or the most interesting. If I somehow missed your car and you don’t see it on The Chronicles, it’s probably because I just didn’t get a chance to see it. There is also a slight chance the photo came out shitty too because I’m not that great of a photographer and there were millions of burnt and over tanned people walking around in front of my shots. I may have just missed your car because you were parked on the track, where I didn’t venture out to, or I just didn’t see it at that particular moment. If you personally feel like you have a great build that I missed out on, then my bad…I just didn’t catch it. I walked about as much of the event as I could and I definitely didn’t go to certain areas. I’m just saying…if you don’t see it here, it doesn’t mean I thought your car was a shit box or it sucked, or whatever. My opinion shouldn’t really matter anyways so don’t be offended if in the following parts of the coverage, your car is absent.

The ones I did like, I went back every chance I could to get the cars at a different angle or to get a closer shot of certain details that I liked. There are still a lot of photos coming your way so please bear with me. I took about 700, say like, 50-75 of them went to publication, 100 of them went into the trash, so that still leaves like what…500 or so? We’re doing 45-50 shots a day in each portion of the coverage so you should already be able to add about how many parts are still coming….I wanted to be thorough and comprehensive…what can I say?…

Also, let’s not forget that Import Alliance is NOT a car show. It’s supposed to be a meet and gathering of enthusiasts. It’s people getting together to hang out and check out each other’s cars. Naturally, it begins to look like a show when it’s reached a level of success and you start to have vendors, and booth cars, and what not. With that, you begin to expect a certain level of build quality because it “looks” like a car show. It’s underlying goal is to have a place where enthusiasts can gather and enjoy the company of others. As long as the people running it don’t turn it into a cash cow and try to simply make money off other enthusiasts, then it’ll continue to be successful…

Now, on with the coverage…

Clean DC2 on Regas at the Track.One booth…

Track-spec EK from Papaya Motorsports…

One of the best reasons for traveling out to a part of the country that I have never been to is seeing things I’ve never seen before. I had heard about this car before and I’ve seen an JDM Accord wagon in photos but this was the first time I’ve actually seen one in person. Definitely cool to look at it up close. I like how the front bumper and lip are different from the sedan Euro-R and how the rear end looks. I almost think the wheels hurt this car though because the aggressive sizing of the rear makes the whole wagon looked really raked. The front is pretty aggressive as it is and has a nice concave face already so it would have looked perfectly fine if it was non-staggered. Just imagine if it had a nice set of Volk CEs or TE37s on it…or maybe even a NSX-spec Regamaster EVO or something…still cool nonetheless though…

This Civic pulled up with the wagon and it also caught my eye…

The kevlar hood and front Spoon Sports lip is cool but I thought the most interesting touch was rocking four drag (Exospeeds?) wheels as regular driving wheels…Not sure how sturdy those wheels would be driving around on the streets but it’s a cool look…

S15 Silvia on Volk GT-Us from the La Quinta hotel…

TSX, Supermade S14, and Tiger’s boosted EP3 at the CCW area…

Really liked this Mugen-kitted Accord on CCWs…

Don’t know shit about street bikes but the wide ass rear tire on it was cool…Didn’t make much of a difference in terms of contact patch though from just looking at it… 😛

Side view of the JDM Accord wagon…

J’s Racing-themed S2000 with Chris Drnek’s EF…

I really like Chris’ EF, nice, simple, and has a timeless feel to it…I know his name because he recently added me on Facebook, otherwise he would still be “the guy with the green EF on Mugen wheels”…

Turbocharged RSX on Volk CE28s…isn’t it crazy how you almost expect every engine bay to be tucked now and feel a little strange when you see one that isn’t?…

Danny Dang’s boost single cam at the Track.One booth…

Big Mike rocking his Big Mike Eefect tee…

K-swapped EK on CCWs possibly owned by arm crossing guy in the background…

VIP-styled GS rolling through…

Another EK on CCWs…

Two-toned bays are slowly dying out here but they are still really popular out there. I really liked this boosted DC2 with the gold bay….on CCWs…

I know you’re noticing a shitload of cars on CCWs but this particular area was where the CCW booth was so there was a large group of vehicles rolling on their wheels…

The Supermade “Instant Gentleman” aero kit is probably one of the best kits every made for the S14 chassis. The lines are just so simple and elegant and not wild and bulky like many other kits made for the car…This is also on a set of CCWs…

CCWs on a meaty tire…

Slammed Prelude on either Fittipaldi or Borbet wheels (I think…)…

Seen It! stickers were everywhere at IA…

Another stanced-out Prelude, this one on Zauber wheels running a really aggressive stretch in the rear…Tucked, sparkly gray engine bay is a nice touch…

White on white boosted S2000…I have a couple other shots of this car that will come later…

If a Champ White EK9 had a liver, this is what it would look like if it had Jaundice….haha…Yellow errrr-thang…If you don’t know what “Jaundice” is, you should probably look it up, especially if you were at the La Quinta drinking 85 Bud Lights in one hour…

I love CTRs, I just don’t know how I feel about the yellow Rega EVOs….I’m a man of contrast so I like offsetting colors. The whole yellow on yellow look is definitely different, but I’m still uncertain about the look…

Orange J’s Racing-equipped S2000…

Yes, fuck…it’s Dut’s old CTR…somebody was bound to ask. The owner probably hates this car because all people ever do is ask if it was Dut’s car and there wasn’t even anything done to the car that made it as noteworthy as it was when he had it…

Harlequin VW Golf…

A couple more quick shots of Joe’s Civic coupe…I have other shots of it coming later but at this point in time, there were all kinds of people swarming the car so I couldn’t get a good shot of the whole thing…

First time I’ve ever seen a three-toned Honda…The owner went a little over the top trying to match the Takata green and red of the Bride seats…I feel like it takes away from the entire build itself because you’re so distracted by all the colors. He’s got some good mods on there too but it’s hard to focus on them…

That’s all for today. Hope you guys enjoyed the photos. Back with more tomorrow and I promise, less CCW…I know it really seems like every car had them but it was just that particular section because of the CCW booth…still love the wheels though. Anyways, stay tuned…