Got a major announcement coming your way next week regarding the 3-year Chronicles Anniversary Celebration…if you’re a fan of The Chronicles, then you won’t want to miss out on it…

Anyways, for this weekend I thought I’d pass along this photos that were unpublished from the September 2011 issue of Super Street magazine. I had the opportunity to shoot and do the story for this 1971 Toyota Corolla Deluxe a couple months back before the summer started. It’s a very special shoot for me because the people directly involved were not only people that I knew, but the owner of the car is actually a friend of mine. I know, I know, the whole cliche’ of “it’s all about who you know in the industry” immediately jumps into your mind but allow me to explain. I shot Henry Mendez’s ’71 Corolla not because he was a friend of mine, but because of the fact that the car holds a very special meaning in his heart. Our friend Armando Flores Jr. passed away a little over 2 years ago and this Corolla is a rolling dedication to his memory. Henry had always told Mando that he would bring the Corolla around again after he had lost interest in it but Armando never had the opportunity to see it again. Henry is a man of his word and promised him that he would bring the car back out someday and after Flores passed away tragically, he decided to revive the Corolla in his memory. The story explains it all and I’ve attached a link to the original article in Super Street below. While I will never be as close to Armando Flores Jr. as Henry and some of my other friends were, I felt that it was a heart-warming story that had to be told to the world. Often times this whole car “scene” is so deeply entrenched in competition that we take the people in our lives for granted. This is one of those stories that reminds us that the people that we consider our friends are an essential part of our lives and well-being. To me, this story is special because it focuses on the human condition and our ability to devote ourselves to something that is bigger than any material thing. Armando was an amazing friend and person, so it was an incredibly untimely and unexpected event when he was taken away from us. Everyone that knew him dealt with his passing in different ways, and for Henry Mendez, bringing this car back to life was his way of dealing. To him, this was the appropriate way to honor his life. Cars were always a huge part of Armando’s life, so Henry committed himself to a hobby they shared together because he knew how important it was to his friend…

So many times you open the page of a magazine and you get a quick rundown of the parts on the car and a small introduction to the owner. I love to tell a story and it’s a greater feeling when I can tell you a story that means something, you know? It’s very important to remember the people that inspire us everyday. As I stated in the story, the car isn’t the greatest thing ever built, nor is it 100% pristine showroom condition…that’s okay though, because no one ever tried to make you believe that the car was anything more than it was. It’s what the car meant to Henry, and what it meant to Armando. Hopefully I did a good enough job translating that to you guys, who took the time out of your day to read it. Another moment that I thought was important was that Armando’s father was there. I’ve had the chance to spend some time with Armando Flores Sr. and he’s definitely unique in his own right, and every bit as much of a car guy as his son was. One of the things that I admire about Armando Sr. the most was his ability to understand everything that was important to his son, and continue to basically live his life through his son’s eyes. He knew his son was into photography, so he picked up a camera and learned to use it…he knew how important his friends were to him, so he took the time to get to know his friends and they became his friends…he knew how his son had a fascination with Hondas and cars in general, so he hopped in his son’s S2000 and is slowly continuing on with the build and continues to drive the car often. There’s no better way to honor the life of someone, than to live it through their eyes and to see things from a point-of-view other than your own. I have enormous amounts of respect for that and it warms my heart every time I think about it. For him to be at the shoot and be able to be in a photograph with Henry was a big thing for me. We have all lost somebody at one point or another, but I hope no matter what, we have all been able to look back and remember them, and appreciate what they meant to us and smile. I hope that by doing this story, it will be forever be a standing memory of Armando Flores Jr. and I really honestly hope that every time Henry looks at this particular story, he can remember the great times he had with his friend…

With that said, here are some extra shots from the September 2011 issue of Super Street magazine. For the original story and photos, please click below…

“A LIFE REMEMBERED” -Super Street Sept. 2011

At the end, I’ve also attached a 1080P sized desktop wallpaper for you guys…

Larger Version (1400×933)

Larger Version (1400×933)

Larger Version (1400×933)

Larger Version (1400×933)

Larger Version (1400×933)

Larger Version (1400×933)

Larger Version (1400×933)

Henry Mendez and Armando Flores Sr….. Larger Version (1400×933)

This was actually a group shot of all of us that I took just for personal use and just for us so it was never submitted to Super Street mag, I just thought it was a cool shot…(hence the different border and marking)…. Larger Version (1400×933)

Widescreen desktop shot bonus….

Widescreen Version (1920×1080)

Thanks for looking…