I think it was around 11:30 pm on the Friday night before my event when I finally knew that it was really going to be a special day. I’m not saying that it wasn’t going to be good or anything because I knew it would be but there are just moments that provide some reassurance that something was really going to be “special”. This year, I decided to do things a little differently… I organized my time correctly, had my priorities in order and actually got everything done early. If you know me, you know that I can procrastinate sometimes. It’s a terrible habit of mine that I’ve been working on my entire life but I really wanted to switch things up this time around because there were important people that I wanted to spend time with before the actual event took place. I had some friends come in from Japan early just to be a part of my event and I wanted to make sure that I had time to hang out with them. It’s not everyday that I see these people so for me, it was important that I be there, especially after the hospitality they showed me on my trip to Japan earlier this year. There was a ton of shit going on in the weeks leading up to my event but everything worked out. I knocked a majority of the work out by Tuesday of that week and I was able to have a bit of free time after.

Now, back to the “moment” when I finally realized that YEAR//FIVE was going to be special. We were eating dinner up in Studio City, CA with our Japanese friends when my buddy Mauricio pulled up in his latest purchase, an immaculately clean Civic hatchback. Mauricio has a ton of Hondas and collects them like they are his own personal treasures, but this Civic in particular was very special. The blue Civic that he pulled-up in was a build that has stood the test of time and was originally built by Chad Castelo and the late “JDM Jon” Tanji. Matt from ICB Motorsports had been in possession of the Civic over the past couple of years but Mauricio decided to contact him to see if he would be down to sell it to him. It was important for Mauricio to get the car and bring it back to Socal because Jon Tanji was a dear friend to him. For him, this Civic embodied what Tanji was all about and having it would be helpful in prolonging the memory of his friend. Matt agreed to sell it to him and Mauricio has been cruising around in it ever since. He pulled up to the spot where we were eating at just to hang out and he reminded us of how important it was for him to get the car. Seeing that love and appreciation was awesome. The Japanese friends of ours came out to look at the car and were highly impressed when we told them what the car meant and how long ago it was built. Everybody seemed to be happy to see the car again and to all be together that night. It was a good feeling. In the days and weeks leading up to that Saturday, everyone had been asking me if I was ready and prepared for the event. Honestly, I didn’t have an answer for them. I’ve always been the guy that just sort of takes in the moment when it happens and don’t ever try to prepare mentally and emotionally for it. After that night with the homies, I felt as ready as I could be…it was gonna be a good one…

I apologize for the lack of updates in the past week. I had all the photos fully-prepared to be uploaded onto the site only to realize that when I arrived to Las Vegas for my week-long SEMA stay, the hotel I booked lacked any sort of Wi-Fi connection. It was a real bummer because I hate going that long without providing any updates but luckily I was able to hope on the internet real quick during the actual SEMA show and give you guys an update of the situation. Today, we are back on track and moving forward with a ton of coverage. Now, onto my actual thoughts on the event itself…

YEAR//FIVE was the greatest event I’d ever put together. I started doing this after year two of The Chronicles and every year, it has been good, but there wasn’t anything incredibly remarkable about it. I never intended it to be a big event or anything but this year, it was fucking huge. I don’t have numbers for you because I don’t care to collect them but you can ask anyone and they’ll tell you that this was the biggest one yet. In my eyes…almost…too…big…Eh, I’ve never been one to shy away from success. I work very hard but I often walk into things with very little or no expectations. I think things just work out better that way. Success has come in many forms for me so it’s not like I didn’t think the meet would be successful…I just let it happen gradually. If it didn’t, oh well, I would still be happy that the site made it beyond year five. The event was never meant to be anything special that people looked forward to every year. It was just a year-end celebration for the friends and supporters of the site that cared to be there. It was meant to be a laid back gathering at a nice venue with good people. If you didn’t know or care about the site, you didn’t need to be there. I stopped answering questions long ago about what my event was because if you didn’t know about it, you didn’t know about The Chronicles, and as such, there was no reason for you to even show up. I always wanted to keep it small because I understand that what I do doesn’t cater to everyone. I do as I please, say what I want, and like what I like. If you’re cool with that, then come on out and chill for a bit. The cars have always been good year-to-year because I know some people who know some people who know how to build cars. I’ve spent the better part of 5 years now preaching quality and execution so you really shouldn’t expect anything less when you come to a gathering of mine. It sounds a little braggadocios when you read it but I know it to be true so I’m not gonna sit here and act like I don’t know what I’m talking about. The event was great and I just couldn’t have really asked for a whole lot more. Everyone was not only great about following directions and being on time, but people were so incredibly respectful and picked up after themselves. This was the first year I provided food for everyone that attended and we were very surprised to see how little trash there was throughout the venue. Crazy to think that with attendance at an all-time high and food being provided that there would be less trash. Thank you very much for being thoughtful and keeping our work to a minimum. Enthusiasts have always been great about being on time whenever I put on an anniversary meet and this year was no different. Nobody camped-out, nobody showed up too early and clogged up the streets, and roll-in was as smooth as it ever was. Again, that is all thanks to you guys for making that possible. I would personally like to extend my hand to each and every one of you who attended for making this a great event for myself. You do a great job of not only being supporters of The Chronicles, but also for being great people…

There’s more I could say about the event but there are two other parts coming so I should save it for another day. I should mention that my coverage of YEAR//FIVE is a bit lacking unfortunately. As with every year so far, it’s not easy doing coverage in between setting up the event, answering a bunch of questions, and making sure everything was running smoothly. That’s why I linked a couple of different posts covering my event from various people in the past few days. That way you could see what I potentially may have missed, which was quite a lot. In a perfect world, I’d be able to do it all and to get every car that was parked up front in the VIP area, but it just wasn’t possible. Today, we’re going to look at some photos that I was able to capture. It is just a very small sample of what was present at YEAR//FIVE and I hope you take the time to seek out other media outlets that were also able to document the day for me…

YEAR//FIVE had a little bit of everything…good music, great people, amazing builds, and even a proposal…yes, you read that correctly, a marriage proposal. It seems a little different to propose to someone at a car event but you have to take into consideration the very special relationship the two people involved had. They are both car nuts, who met at a car meet, so it is almost fitting that they begin their journey…at a car meet….

The man proposing, for the many of you who won’t be familiar, is Jay from JDMEGO. Jay has been a friend of mine for awhile now and he was one of my inspirations for originally starting my journey here with The Chronicles, long before I really knew who he was. Jay is a very private person that normally keeps to himself so I was surprised when he called me to ask me if it was okay for him to propose to his now fiancee, Karen, at YEAR//FIVE. I of course obliged and thought it would be awesome if he did it. They have been together forever now so a lot of people who know them will shout that it was “about time” but no one ever doubted the unconventional way in which he would do it. Jay thought it would be the perfect time to do it because all our friends were already there to share the moment with them. The plan was to call Karen up to the front where the booth was and Jay would already be down on one knee to propose. The reaction was absolutely priceless and I was so happy to be able to capture the moment on camera. We are all so incredibly happy for them and I wish them the best in their future…

The proposal just added to the amazing day and it’ll be a moment that I’ll probably remember for the rest of my life. Now onto some car photos…

Samson from Revision Audio Hawaii contacted me in the week’s leading up to the event to inform me that he wanted to be at YEAR//FIVE. It doesn’t sound that crazy, but I should mention that Samson actually lives in Hawaii. He’s out here a couple times a year for events and was planning on making the trip out to SEMA ’13. He said that he would be flying in from Hawaii that Saturday morning and would hop into his LS430 to head over to the event. His LS has been here in California for awhile now and would be returning to Hawaii the week after the SEMA show….

The reason that Samson was flying-in was to debut Revision Audio’s latest LS460 build at SEMA. Justin Kimura’s LS features a complete Aimgain GT aero kit, Leon Hardiritt Frieden wheels, and front/rear Futura big brakes….

Noel Barnum showed up to YEAR//FIVE with a completely new colorway. He recently had his Rocket Bunny FR-S wrapped in yellow just in time for the SEMA event that following week…

Over in the Barramundi Design Forged booth was Jonathan Wong’s EF Civic hatchback on 16-inch Barramundi Design Toman wheels…

Also in the BMD booth was Steven Lam’s SR20DET-swapped S13 coupe on staggered 17-inch Barramundi Design Elevens…

Jay from JDMEGO’s Scion FR-S with Tamon Designs aero kit and Work Emotion CR wheels. He recently added baller Project Mu big brakes and rare Cleib carbon rear diffuser…

Jay’s Voltex rear spoiler…

Ryan Hoegner aka Vtecvoodoo’s K-swapped Acura Integra Type R that recently made its way back to California from being prepped over at RC’s Garage in Arizona…

Baby Maddox got a quick nap in before spending the rest of his afternoon lounging in The Chronicles booth….

Tony Jackson from Eibach Springs’ track-prepped Civic…

DPK Jared’s incredibly well-built and timeless Honda S2000 with Amuse front bumper, authentic Mugen hard top, and Mugen M7s…

Rom Figueroa, the newest member of the DPK family, brought his Civic out with a variety of new parts including 15×8 Volk TE37s and Wilwood brake kit. The car is sitting a little high right now but the ride height will be readjusted once the fenders are pulled a bit to fit the meaty Yokohama Advan rubber…

DPK David’s K20-swapped EJ1 coupe on front-staggered Volk TE37…

DPK Chuy’s JDM Honda Integra Type R with individual throttle bodies and Spoon SW388 wheels…

As mentioned in the beginning of our tale, Mauricio is quite the private Honda collector, this is his pristine Civic hatchback build on 15-inch Mugen RnRs. The motor in this Civic is completely stock and he intends to keep it that way considering that he bought the car with only like, 70k miles on it or so….

He also brought out Chad Castelo’s old Civic that he recently purchased from ICB Matt. This build has really stood the test of time and Matt had done an incredible job of keeping the car in nearly the exact condition that Chad and JDM Jon had it in. For those that don’t know, this Civic has remained the same for almost a decade now, engine bay and all with the A-Sport individual throttle bodies…

Karl’s S2000 which has recently been repainted Porsche Maritime Blue sitting on white Volk CE28s up front and TE37SL in the rear…

Chris Ratawessnant’s BB6 Prelude build…

Even though S2Kjay lives out here in Cali now, we only get to see his S2000 a couple times a year. Here it is in its latest incarnation on CCW wheels…

Eden Mao’s freshly assembled Honda S2000 that he finished right in time for YEAR//FIVE…

Eden’s brother, Michael Mao, brought out his Super Street-featured Acura NSX one more time before it begins its transformation for 2014…

Mark Sutakajana’s DB8 Integra track/street/show build…

Sam Ip recently parted-out his FA5 Civic Si build and bought himself an NA2 Acura NSX…must. be. nice. He’s already started to mod it and got the paperwork to drive the car just in time to bring it out to my event. The wheels are mismatched right now but should be redone very soon…

YEAR//FIVE marked the debut of Yuta’s newest Civic sedan build. He wrecked his other 4-door Civic awhile back and recently purchased a new shell to transfer all his parts over to. The car is still very raw with an unpainted 5Zigen FRP hood but he’s making steady improvements to it over time. You don’t see his Civic or other cars at very many events because he’s not much of a show car guy normally. He usually saves his cars just for himself and to thrash on at the track. I was happy to see him bring his Civic out because I’ve always liked the way he styles his cars. Yuta is still very traditional Japanese and it shows in how his cars are executed. They have a very raw, very Japanese, look to them reminiscent of Honda street/track cars that you’d find overseas…

His Civic features 5-lug 17-inch Panasport G7 C5C2 wheels up front and white 4-lug 16-inch Volk Racing TE37s in the rear. The whole 5-lug/4-lug combo is also a very Japanese way of modding Hondas…

Yuta’s carbon C-West rear spoiler…

The rear of his Civic features a modified Bomex EK rear bumper that has been trimmed. Just a really cool build overall. Can’t wait to see what else he plans to do with it…

Another Honda that you don’t see often because he doesn’t attend very many events is Sean Lucas’ circuit-prepped EM1 Civic coupe. Sean, for those unaware, is the man behind the Narita Dogfight blog. No, Narita Dogfight is not about actual dog fighting, as many have asked me before… It is a site dedicated to Japanese tuning car lifestyle and Sean is a regular overseas in Japan…

Sean’s EM1 also has the 5-lug/4-lug set-up with 16-inch OEM R32 Skyline GTR wheels up front (which is a popular wheel for Honda enthusiasts to use in Japan) and 15-inch Volk TE37s in the rear. His front fenders have also been spaced to clear the 16×8 GTR wheels. Rear bumper is also cut…

Cody Chan’s Itasha-styled Civic hatchback with Work Meister S1 in the rear and Ray’s Gram Lights wheels up front. I’ve known Cody for a long time now and have also shot his Mazda Miata in the past for Super Street magazine…. Love how he went a different route with this car and made it unique and eye-catching at the same time. It’s been cool to see his growth in this hobby over the years as I remember his Miata back when it was basically stock. Glad he made it out to the event as I don’t get to see this Civic very often either…

Well that’s a wrap for today. Got a lot more coming tomorrow and a ton of coverage to still go through in the coming weeks. Thanks for looking….