Welcome back to the second portion of the 2014 Formula D Round 1 coverage. Yesterday we got to take a look at some of the drift cars in the paddock area as well as the vendor vehicles and today, we’ll head over to the other end of the venue where the car show took place. As with the past couple of years, Mark Arcenal and Fatlace were in charge of organizing the show portion so the layout remained virtually unchanged. Being that it was a Fatlace/Illest product, the cars that showed were relative to the current, more popular trends. His brand relates more to the youth of our car community and you really see that in the way the cars are executed. There are some older guys of course who just decided to bring their cars out for display but the bulk of it were the younger enthusiasts. “Stance” and wheel offset are the main elements of this show so it is appropriate that the show be called the “Offset Kings Showcase”. I know a lot of you guys are tired of the whole “stance movement” if you will but every now and then, you encounter some builds at these events that are pretty cool and aren’t just cars that are slammed on some wheels. The great thing about going to all these events in Socal is that you never know what you’ll encounter. I know a lot of you guys are still into the aggressive wheel fitment stuff as well so it will most certainly appeal to you…
I’ve divided the two portions of coverage so that they are almost completely separate from each other. The first part was all drift car content and vendor booth stuff but you won’t see any of that here today. This is strictly the car show photos from start to finish. Enjoy and thanks for looking…
If you missed the first part of my Formula DRIFT coverage, click the link below to check it out. There are some good shots in there so I think you won’t be disappointed…
Formula D RD 1: Streets of Long Beach 2014…The Paddock….
Here are the shots from the “Offset Kings Showcase”…
Phaze2 Mizzark’s BMW M5 on newly-installed Airrex suspension…
Yogi’s Vertex 3GS also on Airrex suspension seated on WED’S Sport wheels…
Phaze2 HeyMikeyyyy’s UCF20 LS on Rotiform wheels….
UCF30 LS with a ton of custom body work from Central Pine…
Vertex-kitted Zenki S14 slammed on black Work Emotion CR wheels…
This EF looked pretty interesting on super-rare Manaray Turbina S wheels…
This other EF next to it was rocking custom rebarreled Work Carving head 40s with the Mariachi center caps. Both EFs were running single Bride driver’s seats….
AP2 wearing a replica Amuse widebody kit and custom bronze step-lip Work Equip wheels….
“Floss Design” James’ personal Porsche 997.2 GT3 on gold center-lock BBS GT3 Cup wheels….
This cement grey Mercedes Benz wagon on HRE Vintage Series wheels actually belongs to “Rob The Crook” from Crooks & Castles clothing company…
Jin Ueno’s Aimgain LS400 from Kyoei USA…
This Kouki S14 really stood out in a sea of S13s and S14s with its custom fender work and bright gold Avant Garde wheels. Interesting touch with the G-string hanging from the rearview mirror, haha…
Autofactory Realize’s S13.4 coupe on Work VS-KF wheels. Always looks a little odd to see an S14 front end on an S13 but the Kouki face is square enough where it just kind of flows with the older S13 chassis…
One of my favorite builds from this showcase, believe it or not, was this really subtle 350Z. First off, I love Panasport wheels, especially the G7 C5C2 face. I think it is a classic wheel that a lot of people sleep on and it looks great in larger sizes like on this Z. What also makes this car look good is that it runs a meaty tire. I don’t know if it is the exact color but it looks like this Z has been repainted “Midnight Purple”, which was a rare but really sought-after color from the R34 Skyline GTRs. The subtle touches like the addition of Ganador Super Mirrors is what makes me like this car. It just looks good. Just my opinion but this thing would look perfect with the Version 1 VeilSide kit. The V1 kit was never popular but it just consists of add-on pieces which really compliment the lines of the Z. I haven’t seen it in years but it’d be a nice addition to this car. It’s not mine so I don’t know why anyone would care, haha, but I’m just saying, this is nicely done….
AG Forged wheels seem to be getting really popular lately. Seems like they just came out of nowhere and the wheels just started popping up on everyone’s cars….
Courtney Wingfield’s vinyl-wrapped BMW F30 328i on copper Rotiform wheels. Not sure if I remember what rear spoiler that is, I believe it is a Japanese Varis wing….
MV Wraps’ Lexus GS…
Suzuka Blue AP2 S2000 with CR front lip and Rays Victrix Brainer wheels… Classic wheel face that has been used by a couple different Japanese wheel companies but the Rays wheel definitely has one of the most random and coolest names ever, haha…
NB-chassis MX-5 Miata on some really aggressive Work Equip 03 wheels in silver….
High on my list of “Cars I Would Never Own” would be a Fiat Abarth but when I saw this Abarth at Formula D, I was impressed. Very nicely styled and the colorway on the AG wheels is a great touch….
Hachi-Roku from “Unaffliated” on some polished old school Advan Racing wheels. The question here is; If you rock a sticker that says “Unaffliated”, doesn’t that mean that you are now affliated with being “Unaffliated”…hmmm…
These silver Volk Racing CE28s looked pretty good on this FA5 Civic SI from Project Zero… Nice touch with the Mugen rear spoiler…
Supermade S14 from Project Zero…
This purple and black AE86 looks really good on Work Equip 01s. This combo is just a classic look, especially with the aero and all. When you look at it, it screams traditional Japanese street drift style. Nice job…
Another one of my favorites from the event was this Subaru Wagon on bronze Volk TE37V. You rarely ever see these things modded here in America and this one is a good example of the type of potential that these cars have. The bronze on red is a classic look and to top it off, I think this was a girl’s build, which is really cool…
Ultraman85’s stock-body UCF20 LS400 on WED’S Kranze Cerberus II….
Ayeeejayyy’s LS400, this one a Zenki model, on WED’s Kranze Cerberus I…
Jon Tran’s Hyundai Genesis coupe bagged on VIP Modular wheels, representing Low ‘N Slow crew…
Armand Pranadi’s TRD widebody MR-2 with Blitz Technospeed Z1 wheels with the barrels flipped inside-out. Posted in front of it is a center-lock Desmond Regamaster EVO…
I don’t know what it is, but I absolutely love Volk TE37s on the second gen. Lexus GS chassis, especially with the concave 18-inch face…
…TEs look just about perfect on anything though so it’s hard to go wrong with this wheel…
Z33 from WC on white Work VS-XX wheels…
“E60daddy’s” matte-white vinyl wrapped BMW 5-Series….
Not sure how I feel about Justin Kimura’s Aimgain LS460 on these Luxury Abstract wheels. It looked so good with the Leon Hardiritt Friedens on it….
Aimgain Cygnus 2GS on Fabulous Profound wheels…
People were going crazy over this Scion FR-S from Street Factions. I think it was the fact that it was not on air and was riding this low that made everyone crazy… Interesting what people go crazy over these days. *Shrug* Nice job pulling it off though, it definitely can’t be easy driving this thing around…
Keychain’s Accord sedan…Version 2. He actually had an Accord project going for a couple years until he unfortunately wrecked the car in traffic last year. He then bought an IS300 and started tinkering with that but needed a daily driver. His commute isn’t exactly close so he decided to pick up another Accord to finish what he started with the first car. In a short couple of months, he re-emerged with this….
Vinh Luong’s Subaru WRX STI from Royal Origin on 3-piece Work Meister S1…
Angelo Calderon’s 350Z also representing Royal Origin….
Volkswagen Bus on display at the Fatlace booth…
…and one more of the flared AE86 since it looked pretty good…
Meeting of the minds between Kevin from Autofashion, Phaze2 Mizzark, Yogi, HeyMikeyyyy, and John Liwanag from VIPStylecars.com….
Gene Tjin and his baby boy Jude. I love watching people from the industry grow-up and progress in life. It’s a beautiful thing…
With the sun bearing down and more cars to see, I decided to hop on the golf cart so we cruise around the show without having to lug around my camera bag…
Eventually car show browsing lead to Island’s where we ate and hung out in the shade for a couple hours. After lunch, there was a whole lot of inactivity and there wasn’t a whole lot left to take photos of….
I spent the rest of the day walking around and shooting people with my Fuji Instax camera, which is like a Polaroid-type camera that produces instant photos. It’s actually pretty fun and the photos came out great. I’ll try to upload them one of these days. My photo scanner is actually in the mail now so it might be sooner than later. Thanks for looking everyone and I hope you enjoyed my coverage of the Formula D Long Beach event…
Damn the coverage is on point for sure! Good stuff my man