Alas, we are finally at the end of our 2012 Nisei Showoff coverage. I know it’s been a ton of photos and a lot to take in but I covered this event with intentions of giving you the viewer the next best possible experience next to actually being there physically. I mean, obviously I would have liked for you guys to have been there and if you weren’t, I honestly feel that you guys missed out. With that said however, I hope those of you who were only able to see the coverage got the feel that you were actually there at Nisei with us. As I’ve said this whole time, I think that this is one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. I doubt we will ever be able to get a collection of builds like this ever again and even if it were to be done again, I don’t think it would have that same feel, you know? It’s like a good movie. Even if it was successful enough to spawn a sequel, you’ll most likely always enjoy the first one more because it was new, fresh, different. Some of these guys are getting older and they just aren’t into doing events that often anymore or standing out in the heat for 8-10 hours for a show, so it was a rare chance to have them there. Others are either halfway through their rebuilds or just don’t have the time anymore because they have families and other priorities. I try my best to understand everybody’s situation and I am so grateful that these guys came together on this day to make this event happen. At times I was almost speechless just standing their in awe of some of these Honda builds that I have looked up to since I was young…
Today we are going to take a look at the end of the day. By this time it was probably 6pm or so and the sun was starting to set and it was finally starting to cool down. I made sure to be there by the stage to cover the awards ceremony because, well, to be perfectly frank, I expected our guys to win. I’m not trying to say that in a disrespectful or cock manner but when you bring out nearly 80 Hondas/Acuras built to the caliber that these guys are building them, it’s safe to say that some of them were going to take home some awards. I wasn’t able to get every single person that won who was a part of our group but I think we got the gist of it. Most of you guys should know who these owners of these cars are but I will try to link a photo to their car if you don’t know who they are or are new to the site…
I want to thank every single person that participated in the GENERATIONS line-up, everyone that came out to see this line-up, and everyone that has supported Import Showoff and The Chronicles throughout the years. I haven’t been around nearly as long as Ken Myoshi and Showoff but I think that it is important to remember where our roots came from and Ken has been one of the key players in the development of our great community. I also want to thank May especially for sitting in the heat and helping me run The Chronicles booth while I was walking around covering the event and those of you who helped her out in the process. I know Jared and his girlfriend spent some time at the booth helping out but I’m sure there were others that helped as well. Thanks to Mauricio for buying lunch and helping me get a moment to get out of the sun and the individuals who helped me set up in the morning and parked the cars in the correct order for me. The set-up process was basically pain-free and it couldn’t have gone any better. Even with about 80 Hondas, it only took us an hour or so to get everything set-up and that’s pretty good considering how we lag sometimes on random shit, haha…. Oh and I can’t forget to thank Ken Myoshi for continuing the tradition of Import Showoff. It was a great event for my personally and one I will never forget…
Enjoy the photos below and congratulations to all of the winners that day. You guys are all very deserving…
The GENERATIONS 2012 decals have been flying off the shelves these last couple of days so make sure to pick one up if you haven’t already. I think I shipped out like 45 orders this morning and more than half of them were GENERATIONS decals. Those of you who were in the line-up that want one for safe-keeping, please contact me and let me know…
GENERATIONS 2012 Limited Edition Decals Available Here….
Here are the links to the previous five parts if you missed them…
Nisei Showoff 2012: GENERATIONS Coverage… Part 1…
Nisei Showoff 2012: GENERATIONS Coverage… Part 2…
Nisei Showoff 2012: GENERATIONS Coverage… Part 3…
Nisei Showoff 2012: GENERATIONS Coverage… Part 4…
Nisei Showoff 2012: GENERATIONS Coverage… Part 5…
…and now, we have the finale… 6 of 6…
Ken Myoshi and Ms. Import Showoff Marissa Hiroko on stage ready to present the awards…
The Bandits family posted up by the stage, waiting for the ceremony to begin…
While the final results were being tallied, I walked around to get some more random shots from the event… Here are the Leung brothers over at the Wheelflip booth…
Oh before I get to the awards, I figured I should toss up this photo of Supertwinz John’s E-AT Civic that I previously thought I had forgotten to get a photo of. I was going through the photos I saved for Honda Tuning magazine and found out that I had left it out when I was editing the others. There were also a couple others that I unfortunately forgot to get photos of and I apologize for that. I was so busy running around everywhere trying to get shots of everyone’s cars that I just missed some of you guys. As for the Loi-Spec guys, you won’t see any of their cars in any parts of my coverage because they left pretty early and long before I even started shooting….
Kane Chan’s B16B-powered EJ1 Civic coupe…
One final shot of Terry Suvinnarith aka Spriggan’s beautifully-executed engine bay…
JDM Wong from Super Street looking burnt-out and ready to go home…
Now, for the awards…
Bisi Ezerioha from Bisimoto Engineering took home the 2nd place trophy for the “EF Class” category…I’m sure you guys all know of his 700hp turbo Civic wagon by now, but click here if you’ve been living under a rock…
First place in the “EF Class” went to ATS*Jones and his newly-debuted EF Civic hatchback…
This car really came together in the last month or so and it was cool to see him take home a trophy that day…very deserving…
For the “EG Class”, Jorge Hernandez and his timeless Civic took home 2nd place honors…
While Jorge has never been much of a online personality in the Honda community, his Civic does plenty of talking for the both of them…
DAve Chik has a timeless build of his own and took home the 2nd place trophy in the overall “Acura Class”…. Here’s a shot of his DA from earlier in the coverage…
Edging DAve narrowly in the overall “Acura Class” category was Jeremy Duarte and his turbo DB8 from Bandits… Here’s a shot of his 4-door ITR…
Some members of the It’s JDM Yo Vanguard Collective looking on as awards were being presented…
Mike Trevino from Bandits won the 1st Place “EG Class” award for his orange K20 4-door EG…
Chivas Sotelo was surprised to win the 3rd Place trophy in the EK/FA Civic Class…
We weren’t and felt that he was deserving of the nod… If you’re wondering, Gerald’s Integra is jacked up in the background because he is from Vegas and had arranged to sell his wheels that day while he was in LA for the show. The buyer showed up and they decided to just do the sale there…
Danny Hernandez from Bandits and his son with their 2nd Place “EK/FA Civic Class” award… His rebuilt Civic was a drastic change from what we were used to seeing and the judges were pleased with the results…
Chivas won third, Danny second, and Ryan Der first place in the “EK/FA Class” category….
Linda from Praxis has been winning all year with her Toyota Matrix build so it was no surprise that she won top honors in the “Toyota/Scion Showoff” class at Nisei… I don’t need to link a photo of her car because it was the one and only Matrix you guys recognize…
Mike Mao is also another person that has been winning all year… again, it was no surprise that he took home top honors in the “Acura Showoff” class. While Showoff has always had a 1st-3rd place class for every make, the “Showoff” Class represents the best of the best in that class and the winners take home a 4-foot trophy…
Mike, as you all know, is the man responsible for this twin-turbo NSX…
Big Mike and his Prelude won in the “Honda Showoff” category while ATS member Chris Sakai won the “EK Civic Showoff”… Congrats to the two of them…
Mike G earned the “EG Civic Showoff” award… His Civic aka “Tank” needs no introduction…
The “Best Team Represent” award went to the ATS Garage/DPK collaboration, also known as “Miracle Whips”. I was told later that the whole GENERATIONS line-up could have won the award but the ATS/DPK guys didn’t put “GENERATIONS” on the scoring sheet and thus were separated from the group. I would have cared if I cared about winning awards but it matters more to these guys so it didn’t make much of a difference to me…
Geoffrey Pascual and his lady posing with his 1st Place “Honda Sport” class award… You don’t see much of him at shows these days because he’s more of a weekend track guy but his S2000 has been one of the best S2K builds for years now… Here it is if you’re unfamiliar with the Freshdrive S2K…
I’m sure it was an incredibly close competition between the two since they both have great Mugen-themed S2000 builds but DPK Jared ended up with the 2nd Place trophy in the “Honda Sports” category, narrowly behind Geoffrey’s white S2000…I personally don’t know how I would have been able to decide between the two, both are great in their own ways…
The 6-Foot “Best of Show” award went to the FCB-built Integra Type R from ATS Garage, owned by Anh Truong. I think this was a great moment because Hondas often get overlooked these days for the “Best of Show” category. You see more high-caliber cars winning at other shows these days and if there was a Honda/Acura representative deserving of the honor at any import car show, it would be this ITR. It has everything, motor work, custom engine bay, high quality parts selection, great execution, custom audio and interior, you name it, this build has it. I don’t know how the whole judging system works at every show but all those elements sound like a best of show build to me so it’s strange to see these builds always stuck only in the Honda/Acura class when they should be competing with the other makes and models for top honors. Congrats to Fred Chapman, Anh Truong, and the ATS Garage family for winning top honors at such a prestigious event that has always been known for top quality custom automobiles… You should know this ITR by now, but if you don’t this was Nisei Showoff 2012’s Best of Show…
With the awards coming to a close, it was time for everyone to pack up and leave… Here is Jason Haradon getting set to take off in his white DA Integra…
Chris Sakai’s EK next to his “EK Showoff” award…
All the awards that the ATSxDPK group won at Nisei Showoff that day…
Andy Hope’s daily EF Civic on CST Precedeo wheels with Andy in the distance getting his CR-X ready to take home…
A family photo with their awards… The only guy I missed photographing with his award earlier was DPK JP, who won the 1st Place Honda Class award, not to be mistaken for the Honda Showoff award, which went to Big Mike…
May had already helped clean up everything at the booth so I took the time to walk around and get some final shots before everyone departed…
Thought this was a cool shot of Parnell’s interior…
The famed Mugen FG360 steering wheel…
Snapped this shot of Enrique Rosario as he was taking off…
Parnell’s DA seeing its last bit of sunlight before it goes back to storage inside his garage…
Roy and RC have very similar 4-doors so they wanted me to get some shots of them together…
From the front…
Really liked this shot of the two together, both sporting Mugen front lips…
Salem and his TSX….
ATS*Jones’ EF… after he ate dinner with us later that night, he and his cousin actually drove straight home to Norcal…
Chris Dunbar’s Subaru STi from TWCompetition, which won the “Custom Showoff” award, second place behind the overall Best of Show… This thing is fucking badass and if you get a chance to see it in person, make sure to take some time to study it…
Viet Nguyen’s custom FX, also from TWCompetition, also a consistent award winner every year…
Ejay Adriano’s DA Integra standing alone after the other three DAs took off… I didn’t expect him to show up with M7s on his Integra but it is a very good look for him…
Ryan Der heading home to get cleaned-up before grabbing dinner with all of us…
Random shot of Ejay, always with his mouth open…
I never get tired of seeing Jorge’s EG so I made sure to get another shot of it for myself…
After that, I loaded up the car, said my goodbyes to everyone and thanked everyone for coming out and bearing the heat, and took off to go home for a much needed shower. On the way out of the venue, I snapped this photo of the Auto Talent R35 GTR….
That was pretty much a wrap on Nisei and GENERATIONS that day. I didn’t bring my camera out to dinner because I was so beat-up from the whole day, but DPK David was able to capture this group shot of us at dinner down in Long Beach at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles later that night….
It’s hard to be able to have all the Norcal guys down here so even though we were all tired, we wanted to meet up to break bread (waffles) with one another… Good times…
That’s it everybody. That’s the end of part 6 of 6 of our Nisei Coverage. Hopefully you guys got a good feel of how everything went that day. Thanks for looking!…
This is the best site in the world to me. I live in Ohio, and I know there’s no better place in the world then Cali for the Honda scene. And you post up the the greatest pics, along with great words. Haha makes me feel like I attend every show/meet out there. I even know most of the guys name when I see a pic of their rides! Keep up the great work!!
This was an awesome show! That DA on M7s is flawless
Thanks Joe for the great pics, like Tony says it’s like I be there
HAHA! JP’s facial expression in the group pic.
Thank you Joey for putting on such a great event. Like you said, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am glad i was there to be apart of it. Keep up the awesome work
Great coverage and great photos! Thanks for the kind words….
that family lifestile you guys that you guys at ATS/DPK have is so awesome…sickest whips with a tight family…keep it up!
And yes…ATS-AHN itr is the boss!!!