The question that I most often heard the week of SEMA in Las Vegas from various people was how my event went. I was happy to hear it because it meant that people cared and even during the busy SEMA event, people still took the time to ask how the site was doing and if I was happy with how the meet went…

Was Year.IV the biggest and best Chronicles anniversary event yet? Well, I wouldn’t really know how to answer that. I didn’t go into it with intentions to make it bigger and/or better than the year before. I had laid the groundwork for how I wanted these events to go the two previous years and I was happy with how everything went. I was content so I didn’t really have any notions to want to change anything. It didn’t matter to me if it was the biggest or if attendance numbers grew because what mattered to me was that the people that cared about the site and who have supported it over these last four years were there to celebrate with my friends and I. From the looks of it, I could probably guess that we had a better turn-out but again, it was of little consequence to me. Was it better? Well, that’s subjective but for me, it was “better” because the people I wanted to be there were there. I was humbled to see how many people showed up to support the site and what really made the event a great one for me was that our friends from Japan flew out from overseas to attend…

Throughout the year, I had heard from our friends from Tactical Art Japan that they were going to fly out to Year.IV. I didn’t know how serious they were about actually coming, so I didn’t think much of it. It would have been great if they had come out but it would have been dependent on when the event would take place in relation to SEMA 2012, which I knew they were set on attending. A couple months ago, I found out that I had to go to a wedding on the weekend that I hold the anniversary meets every year so I had the option of either doing it earlier or pushing it a week back. It ended up being perfect because there was one weekend prior to SEMA that was open so I decided to set it for Oct. 27th. This would not only give me an extra week to prepare but also give our Japanese friends a chance to come out to Year.IV without having to fly out again for SEMA because both events would end up being back-to-back. I was communicating with the Tactical Art guys the week leading up to my meet and they confirmed that they would be coming….and I was stoked about it. It was cool to see how excited these guys were to come be a part of the event and I let everyone know that they were going to be my special guests. What I did not anticipate was Takeshi Kobayashi from Type_K Autosource flying out as well. Though they are both from Japan, they are from two different regions so they had not met prior to Year.IV. I had no idea Takeshi was coming because he had already been out here in America so many times this year. I thought that he would have been tired of flying out here so many times, being away from his family, but he had never been to SEMA before so everything just kind of fell into place. Takeshi is the homie so it is always good to have him around to chill…

It didn’t end there either… during the week of Year.IV, I got a message from another Japanese friend of ours, Hiro Ueda from KC Trading Japan, and he too was coming out early before SEMA to hang out. This was great…I mean, I was honored to have three different parties from three different parts of Japan coming out to support The Chronicles with everyone else. Again, it didn’t matter how “big” the event got because the people that really mattered were there to celebrate four years of stickydiljoe.com…

Overall, I think everything went off without a hitch and everybody there had a great time. I really wanted this event to have more of a “get-together/party” type of feel where everyone could just get together and hang out. Having the cars there was just a perk and we could all enjoy each other’s company while having the opportunity to check out one another’s builds. Inside the Eibach facility, there was food for friends and family but I kept it small. It wasn’t really anything that was supposed to be “exclusive” but I did want to have a special gathering inside for the people who have been really hands-on and have contributed to the site greatly over the years…

I didn’t get a chance to really walk along the sides and rear of the venue but from the photos I saw so far, it looked like it was pretty busy back there. I was running around all day trying to make sure everything was organized while trying to get coverage up front so I just didn’t have enough time until the end to walk around. The coverage, like every year, is very random and a little lacking. I typically don’t do coverage until the end of the event because I’m trying to catch-up with everyone and there are always tons of cars that leave before I even have a chance to check out the cars. Ideally, it wouldn’t be that way because people would stick around but I don’t blame you guys for taking off early sometimes because this Socal weather can be a bit overwhelming. All I can really do is thank you guys now for coming and I hope that you continue to support the site…

Thank you to every single one of you who have been here to support The Chronicles these last four years. Like I said on the mic at the event, this site wouldn’t be what it is today without you guys and I’m blessed to have you all be a witness to our lives. Thanks to all of you who helped out that day as well because it was pretty busy in the morning and I’m happy that everything went so smoothly. I can’t forget to thank May as well because she has been such a huge help lately as I’ve become more busy with work. She’s always been there to contribute but she’s been a huge help lately and it goes without saying that she’s one of the main cogs that keeps this machine working…

Enjoy the coverage and I apologize if I missed getting a shot of your car. It’s tough trying to do everything all at once and the harsh sunlight that day made it difficult to get the shots I wanted. Even if you don’t see your car here, it doesn’t mean that you were overlooked. I appreciate everyone that was there and I really appreciate the fact that you guys got your cars ready for Year.IV….

Here are the awards that I had made for the event. They weren’t meant to be anything serious and Year.IV was definitely not a “car show” by any means. I just wanted to take the time to spotlight some of my favorite builds at the event and to show my appreciation for your guys’ hard work…

I’ve been giving my buddy Noel a lot of shit lately for having the most famous FR-S on Instagram but I’m honestly really proud of the guy for getting all the recognition he’s received lately. He’s got a good sense of style and his cars have always been representative of that…

One of the coolest things about having the Tactical Art guys there was how willing they were to interact with everyone there. I thought that their lack of English would hinder their communication with everyone at Year.IV but it certainly did not stop them from checking out every car and handing out stickers and merchandise to people. These guys were great and it was interesting to see how much of an active interest they took in the American car community….

Yasutaka Shimomukai from Tactical Art stopping for a photo-op in front of the backdrop that May had printed for the event…

Totally random but Phaze2 Salem took the time to actually make these giant McDonalds-style packaging just for Year.IV… He even went and bought McDonalds and filled up the boxes with fries and McNuggets…

McChronicles’ 100-piece Pollo Nuggets…

…and McChronicles’ XXXL fries…

Mike Mao’s NSX, which you can find on the cover of Super Street this month…

Shimomukai and Atuki Tubouti from Tactical Art… these guys showed up with a ton of Tactical Art shirts, lanyards, etc. from Japan that I’ll have available for you guys soon…

The Autofashion FR-S…Have to give a huge shout-out to Freddie, Kevin, and crew for stopping by on their way to SEMA to provide my meet with audio equipment and music for the day. These guys were on their way to Vegas to set-up for SEMA and still found time to stop by…

Phaze2 Mikeyyyy and Mizzark…forgot the other guy’s name, haha, sorry!…

Not sure how many people even noticed at this event but this S13 had Japanese Barramundi wheels on it… I had done a story on this car a couple months back and the owner, Steve Lam, emailed me a couple weeks before Year.IV asking if he could display his car at the event. He’s working on being the first U.S. distributor for Barramundi wheels and had his wheels expedited to America in time for Year.IV. Those of you who follow the site know what Barramundi wheels are by now but if not, you should Google “Barramundi Design” wheels and you’ll probably find all my previous posts on them…

Me (Stickydiljoe) and HeyMikeyyyy… I’m rocking my JDMYard tee that Yonas sent me from Australia…

Karl’s Spoon/ASM S2000 on bronze Volk TE37s…

The guys from It’s JDM Yo!!! were out to hang out and get photos…

ATS Garage and DPK had the front row of the Year.IV event…

Dougie, who has always been an immense help during the anniversary meets, along with Mikeyyyy and Mizzark…

I was overjoyed to finally see DPK Dee Rail aka Darryl’s K-swapped EM1 out again after being down for over a year….it’s been a long time waiting but definitely worth it…

The Andrades, DPK Jackie and David…Jackie always with the exaggerated tilt…

DPK David’s EJ1 coupe…

Happy to see my favorite baby all smiles at the event… Maddox aka Ox, son of Rodrez…

Mugen’d-out Integra that was at the venue before I even showed up…

ATS Mike Jones and ATS Philthy from Norcal enjoying some McChronicles…

My favorite EF of 2012…ATS Mike Jones’ creamy EF aka “Rusty”…

Nitty from Dude Blvd and a rare appearance by the one and only JDMEGO Jay…Good to see Jay because he’s always been a fan of The Chronicles and I’ve been following his work as long as I can remember…

It was a pleasure to host Marcus Cooke’s G35 sedan, which I recently shot for Super Street magazine… he has one of my favorite builds this year and he’s also one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in this community…

If you guys caught the feature in this months Super Street, you’ll know that Marcus shares his feature with this white G35, owned by Chris Ortez. Chris was once a Honda guy but now owns this very well-rounded G sedan build…

Fabrizzio Vilches’ G35 coupe from Team RareJDM…

The trigger on my camera was stuck and I was trying to fix it…the above image was completely random…I swear…

Jimmy Uria, aka The First SuicideBoy, brought his del Sol out for Year.IV on Mugen NR10Rs…

del Sol with Mag Blue TE37SLs and carbon kevlar hood…

While I was celebrating year four, Yonas from JDMYard was celebrating a decade of excellence. I decided to bring some of his shirts over to make available to all JDMYard fans over here in the states and they went like hot cakes…

Rom’s white Civic on 949Racing 6ULs making an appearance…

This guy was pulling his slammed Radio Flyer around all day trying to sell his Work Ewing wheels…

Kevin from Autofashion had to roll-out early to head to Las Vegas to set his car up at the 2012 SEMA show…

Clean black EK9 CTR on Mugen MF10….

Michael Johnson’s Acura TL posted-up at the Style Over Comfort booth… much love to Anh from SOC for printing my Nobori flags…

Another shot of Noel Barnum’s Scion FR-S on cream SSR mesh….

Big Mike’s Prelude on Regamaster EVOs with meaty Falken tires…

Another of Steve Lam’s S13 on Barramundi Design Eleven wheels… Really cool to finally see a set of these wheels in person. The only other set of Barramundi wheels in the U.S. are on a Civic Wagon from Team NSU….

Good to see Mike Trevino make the trek down from Norcal to show support at Year.IV… Mike and a couple of the other Bandits’ Hondas were shot for Honda Tuning magazine the very next day. How do I know? I was there bright and early with my eyes bleeding from lack of sleep to help out Rodrez with the shoot…

Danny Hernandez’s right-hand drive K-swapped Civic sedan reppin’ Bandits…

Adam Ivell from London (seen in the distance) also made the trip out to get some coverage of Year.IV….

That’s a wrap for today. So much more to come, so stay tuned!! We still got more Year.IV stuff, plus SEMA 2012, plus VIP Festival on the way!…