To put it simply, this was by far the best Autocon event yet. I remember a couple years ago hearing about the Autocon event and I thought to myself; “Man, another car show? Do we really need anymore?” It was a small operation then. It was more of a small car show that coincided with a toy drive and no one really knew how big Autocon would eventually become. The events prior to the 2014 Los Angeles show was a work in progress. It started out in a parking garage and then moved on to other venues before eventually landing at the Pomona Fairplex. The two previous years were dreadfully hot and while it was a good time, there were some organizational issues that needed to be addressed. From viewing the early morning set-up and roll-in, it looked like things were as smooth as can be in 2014. I didn’t hear of any complaints and everyone seemed to be happy with how the show was laid out. I say that this year’s Autocon L.A. was by far the best yet because it happened at the right time and in the right venue. Since Wekfest moved its Norcal event to the summer, there wasn’t another event that kicked off the car show season until Autocon stepped up to the plate. People seemed genuinely excited to attend Autocon because it was the first major show of the year and allowed for many enthusiasts to debut their new or updated builds. All I saw in the weeks and months prior to Autocon were people prepping their cars for the show and I really hadn’t seen people talk about Autocon in that way in the years prior. It was a show that people looked forward to but it just seemed to mean more this time around…

What made this event so much fun was that we didn’t have to experience any of that summer heat that we had to in the years before. I remember temperatures being in the triple digits that last two years and I wasn’t really looking forward to standing out in the blazing sun for 6 hours. To alleviate that problem, Justin Fong and the Autocon staff decided to move the show to an early date and held it at the Pomona Fairplex, which was an indoor venue. For those of you who are new to our car community or weren’t around before 2007 or so, the Fairplex was a major venue back when the Import Showoff series was around. Showoff used to hold their “Showoff Classic” event at the Fairplex and it was probably the biggest show of the year, every year. I hadn’t been to the Fairplex in years and it doesn’t look like it has changed much at all. The weather was aided by a short storm that happened the night before Autocon so it kept temperatures low the day of. Throughout the day, I found myself reminiscing of the car shows of old and how much I missed how things were before. The Fairplex is a great venue and having Autocon there helped to give off that feel that it was like the car shows that many of us older enthusiasts remembered. I don’t want to say it felt nostalgic because it wasn’t even that long ago but the show just had a great vibe about it that day. I found myself just hanging out with friends throughout the afternoon and I wasn’t stressed out about having to capture everything that was going on. I did most of my coverage early in the morning so the rest of the day was just about experiencing what the event had to offer…

When it came to quality of cars, Autocon didn’t miss either. There were some really nice cars there and some of Southern California’s top tier import builds. Autocon always represents a younger crowd and the new generation and well, the cars reflected that. Liberty Walk and Rocket Bunny builds flooded the event floors but mixed in there were some new builds that I hadn’t seen before which was refreshing. I think that we have had way too many events out here in Cali the last few years and it had just made things incredibly saturated. I got tired of looking at the same cars all the time and honestly, I was more excited about going to events outside of California because I wanted to see something different. At Autocon, there was some cool stuff to see and I enjoyed the cars there. Of course you can’t like everything but for the most part, they delivered on the quality aspect of the show. Autocon is also big on models and their model lounges so they always deliver with the girls. Many of the popular import models were in attendance and I had Tony from It’s JDM Yo cover that side for me since I was busy drinking beers and relaxing, haha. Below is the first half of my coverage with a little bit of everything from the event. There is some cool stuff in there so make sure to go over it thoroughly…

Huge thanks to Justin Fong for inviting me to the event and having me as a media partner for Autocon. Congrats to him and the rest of the staff for putting on a great show and I look forward to their continued success in the future…

Enjoy…

AUTOCON LOS ANGELES 2014
PHOTOS BY STICKYDILJOE
MODEL COVERAGE BY TONY LEE FROM ITSJDMYO.COM

When I arrived at around 10 am, there were still some cars rolling into the venue so I decided to walk around with my camera while I waited to go in with Mikey, who was showing his LS400 at the Style Over Comfort booth…

James from Floss Design in his Porsche 997.2 GT3 on BBS Cup wheels…

LTMW’s freshly-painted Liberty Walk Ferrari 458 Italia. This is the same car that was previously grey…

One of the new builds that debuted was this Liberty Walk R35 GT-R on Floss Design BBS wheels. Love the teal hue of the paint and the brushed finish on the wheels….

Behind it was my favorite stateside Rocket Bunny BRZ/FR-S/86 build, also from LTMW…

Spotted this flared Skyline 2000GT that was waiting to go inside the venue. Really liked this shot because it shows the classic Skyline with the current (Skyline) R35 GT-R in the background…

It was good to see Michael Johnson and his VIP-styled Acura TL build again…

Autocon marked the first time I got to see Jay Borcena’s BMW E28 build. If you don’t know, Jay used to own the custom purple VIP TL on gold VIP Modular wheels….

Inside the venue, I immediately walked over to the Mackin Industries booth to look at Evasive Motorsports’ new Voltex S2000 build on bronze Volk Racing ZE40s. These are the first set in the U.S. and I’m happy to finally see these here after drooling over them at Tokyo Auto Salon earlier this year…

Y33 Q from 88Rotors on custom step-lipped Work Equip wheels and Aimgain front bumper/sideskirts. You can’t see the rear but I believe the rear is a Mode Parfume bumper…

ASM-themed Honda S2000 from Loi-Spec Garage….

Not too far away from that ASM build was this J’s Racing themed S2000 with custom V-mounted radiator and bronze SSR Professor SP1s…

Alex’s Falken Tire-sponsored Mugen Integra Type R on custom brushed Mugen MF10 wheels…

Allan Catap’s SW20 MR-2 Turbo with Kei Office front bumper, GReddy side skirts, and custom red Volk Racing TE37…

My good friend Jenn Q made the trip down from Norcal to be a part of Autocon’s model lounge…

Super Street cover model Janis True, who made the trip down from Seattle for Autocon LA…

Got to meet model Donnah Pham for the first time over the weekend when I met up with Super Street editor Sam Du and Jenn Q for dinner. Donnah is actually from Winnipeg, Canada and came down for the show as well as to shoot for Super Street….

Courtney Wingfield’s vinyl-wrapped BMW F30 328i…

I’m really liking Michael Mao’s new set-up for 2014. Love this car so much more on Volk TE37 wheels and the brick red wrap really gives the car a whole new look. Also adding to the new set-up are Downforce front fenders and RouteKS “Super Madonna” rear fenders, which wins the award for best name ever for a car part….

One of my favorites from Autocon was this S30Z Datsun. This is the same build from last year that features a old school HKS L28 turbo kit…

Another big debut for 2014 was Paul Garcia’s Liberty Walk R35 GT-R. This is the first Liberty Walk kit to hit the U.S. and was put together meticulously by Auto Explosion, R-Rydes, and Kato-san from Liberty Walk…

Garcia’s widebody GTR sits on new SSR Executor CV03 wheels with red caps and gunmetal faces…

Paul used to own the orange R-Rydes R35 prior to this build. A couple people thought that this was the orange car but this is indeed a completely different, newer R35. The 2012 and up models are specified as “DBA-R35” GTRs and this is the first with the Liberty Walk kit…

Super Street December 2013 cover model Noemii J…

Import Tuner January cover model Angelina Andrada…

Danielle Lo who has been in a bunch of different import magazines as well as starring on YouTube series “Roll Models”…

Custom sheet-metal widebody Toyota Prius with AG forged wheels and Aimgain aero…

The Hakosuka that you saw earlier outside….

This SR20DET-swapped Datsun 510 was pretty amazing. I always feel like Volk Racing GT-Ps were one of the more underrated wheels of all-time. I might be biased though because I used to own a set and loved them…

One of the best Integra builds that I think I’ve ever seen is Jay Calderon’s DC2, built by RC Garage, from Arizona. The level of detail on this thing is incredibly impressive. We first got a glimpse of this build at last year’s Wekfest San Jose event but it has seen considerable changes since then…

K20A2 swap with 60mm Kinsler individual throttle bodies. Gold-plating is a centerpiece to this build but it isn’t over done and gaudy. The horns of the ITBs are plated, along with the valve cover, Mugen strut bar, and even the Hasport motor mounts…

The theme is also carried over into the interior where the KTuned shifter box was taken apart and plated piece-by-piece. Even the seat rails and steering hub have been redone in gold….

Mugen Monoblock front brakes from an FD2 Civic Type R have been retro-fitted and mounted behind 17×8 Mugen MF10 wheels…

What’s crazy about this car being on display at Autocon was that it was completely drenched in rain water inside and out the night before the show. They trailered the car out from Arizona and during their drive, a storm hit California and the interior was covered in water. You’d never know but even during the show, the ICB seats were still wet, haha…. Props to RC and the gang for getting the car back into show condition after all that…

Phaze2 Mikeyyyy’s UCF20 LS400 on air ride with concave Rotiform wheels…

Ojay Bayang’s Avanzare-equipped Toyota Previa build on custom BBS wheels displayed at SOC’s booth…

Monster Energy model and Playboy Cybergirl, Ana Cheri, looked pretty incredible at Autocon L.A….

One more of Michael Johnson’s Acura TL from Team Praxis…

My first time seeing a Sarto Racing/Rocket Bunny E36 kit outside of Japan. I honestly think this car looks better than the actual Sarto E36 Cabriolet from Japan…

Another of Jay Borcena’s E28…

The Liberty Walk widebody R35 airred-out and pancaked on the floor. The owner of this LB-Works car also used to own the Laguna Seca Blue Liberty Walk E92 build. Money, apparently, is of no consequence to him, haha… Insert “MBN” here….

A close-up of the Floss Design BBS wheel and its brushed face/lip…

Everybody’s favorite old pervert Sterling. Where there is import models, you can be sure to find the staring eyes of this man. Also in this photo is another old pervert, “old ponytail guy” who I also regularly see at shows hovering around the models…

Ladies and gentlemen, I am pretty confident in saying that this is the face of pure evil… Hide your women, children, and import models…

Bo Wong’s multiple award-winning Toyota AE86 build from R-Rydes. Wong is one of my favorite people in the industry because he is always incredibly enthusiastic and nice to just about everyone. His AE86 appeared at Autocon with some new additions including custom front fenders and a new Run Free front bumper…

Under the hood, for those of you living in your proverbial caves, is a turbocharged Honda F20C swap…

Ken Kojima’s Vortech supercharged 350Z. Ken was a member of Phaze2 but we traded him to R-Rydes for cash considerations and a future 1st round pick of SSR wheels… (kidding)….We are all friends so it’s not unusual to see us showing with one another every now and then…

AP1 S2000 from R-Rydes with a complete Voltex aero kit and black Advan Racing wheels…

Matte red Porsche 996 Cabriolet from R-Rydes…

Always been a huge fan of this black Kraftwerks supercharged MX-5 Miata from Project G. Everything just flows really well throughout and the SSR MKII wheels are perfect on it…

This red MX-5 on SSR EX-C Fins is also equally as nice. Love what Project G does with these cars. The best feature about this one is custom rag top….

Well, I’m gonna cut it off here for now. It is a lot to take in so I’ll just save the rest of the photos for tomorrow in Part 2 of 2. Thanks for looking everyone….