One-hour of sleep only sounds like a terrible idea after you first wake-up from what seems like more of a shitty nap than a full night’s rest. Still, as I said, spending quality time with friends is worth the sacrifice. I’m not gonna lie, my eyes were burning as I put my contact lenses back in place because of the sleep deprivation but I soon forgot when I arrived to the George R. Brown Center where Wekfest was taking place. My excitement to see all the cars quickly made me forget about any type of sleep and I found the energy to get through the entire day. Okay, I drank coffee and a Red Bull which helped but just seeing the cars and catching up with people was more than what I needed to energize me. The judging process is quite a bit of work but that is why I am out there so I take it seriously. As the competition level rises every year, the judging part of my job just gets more and more difficult. It is the type of difficult that is good and challenging so I fully embraced the role…

I gave you guys a long introduction yesterday so I’ll spare you a ton of reading today. Instead of creating a story for you guys detailing the early morning hours of Wekfest Texas, I’ve instead invested time into putting my thoughts into the captions in the photos below. I took a lot of shots and multiple shots of many of the cars because I really want to show them to you in detail. I understand that it is hard to look at some sites where they just have one shot of a car you really want to see so I really tried to capture the essence of many of these cars so that I can detail them for you. If you have the time, please go through the captions and read through them. Each tell a story of the car or the owner in some form or another. I wish I could remember every little detail about every car that I show you guys but there is just so much to absorb that it is often hard to remember everything. I tried my best and I hope you guys understand and respect that. However it works out, if you even get a little bit of a sense of what it was like to be at Wekfest Texas, than I think I’ve done a good job. Thanks and enjoy the photos, but most of all, enjoy the words today….

If you missed the first part of this coverage, please click the link below to read up on all of it now….

Wekfest Texas 2014 Coverage…Part 1…

Today we start with the morning of Wekfest TX….

The first car in the building that morning was Jay Calderon’s Integra from RCG. No one else was in the building at the time so I was able to get this overlapping images to mesh together to illustrate how the car came together after it was unloaded….

For those who weren’t in Texas that day and didn’t know the story, the guys from RCG had quite a trek from Arizona. During their journey, they ended up being locked up in a holding cell for 5 hours after they went through an inspection area entering the state and the car was actually left outside the entire time while they were being questioned. It wasn’t for anything serious and was more than a waste of time than anything, but they ultimately made it into Houston just fine and the car was unscathed. These guys have been all over the West Coast this year and every time they travel somewhere, they seem to have an interesting story to tell. The decision to Texas was an easy one for them though as they had to defend their two “Best of Show” awards from both Wekfest L.A. and San Jose. It only made sense for the car to be present in Texas for the enthusiasts in this region to see it in person….

Entering shortly after the RCG Integra was the Lafayettes from Tennessee. Seems like I’ve seen this car everywhere this year, including Wekfest New Jersey so it was good to see it once again down in Texas. If there are a dedicated few out there who really make a good showing and try to get out to as many events as possible, Bradley and his girl would be in that group. The two are very quiet, unassuming, and Bradley’s S2000 seems to be a direct opposite of them because of its aggressive appeal. There are a couple things that it needs to really complete the package and make it a true contender at these shows, but in 2014, this S2000 was certainly one of the more memorable builds….

I think people forget sometimes but this S2000 is a legit right-hand drive S2000 VGS from Japan. That whole idea just gets lost now because the carbon aero kit changes the entire look of the car. I still remember a couple years ago when people used to always tell me about this JDM RHD S2000 from Tennessee that I just had to see. Guess they have plenty more to say about it now, haha….

I took a walk outside after grabbing some breakfast and spotted the Mayday Garage guys making their way into the building….

Awesome to see a Hakosuka in Texas. This one came on the behalf of Mayday Garage and had a set of Volk TE37Vs on it…

John’s black NSX on Volk GT-Us…

Here you can get a good look at the massive bulge on the hood of Khiem’s RX-7. With the 2JZ-GTE swap in there, it needs this extra space to clear the motor….

John and David figuring out how to arrange their cars upon entering….

Really like the L.E.D. taillights on both their FDs from Japanese tuner “Car Shop Glow”….

Powerhouse Amuse Superleggera 350Z on 19-inch Volk TE37….

The guys from Team 5Star who are owners of some of the best Honda builds in this region. I still remember seeing their cars from my first Wekfest Texas a couple years ago and man has their builds steadily improved. They brought out a solid group last year but this year was unquestionably their best grouping to date…

Tom Syhachack’s bright red turbocharged S2000 draped in Spoon Sports aero….

The defending “Best Honda” award winner at Wekfest Texas 2013 making a return with some minor new additions. Nice to see the Mugen MF8 wheels on there to match the Mugen front and sides…

This S2000 with CR front lip and rear overfenders had a set of one of my all-time dream wheels on. GTR-faced Advan RG wheels are amazing and one of the first wheels that I remember from back in the day that had a concave face. White ones are pretty difficult to find, even on Yahoo! Auctions Japan. I almost bought a set in December and then decided not too because it wasn’t the smartest financial decision at the time…

Christian Santiago sold his Garage Kite aero kit soon after Wekfest Texas last year and I recently saw it on Ryan Lorenzo’s NSX down in Hawaii. For this year, he debuted his NSX with a brand new look wearing aero from Japanese tuning shop “Advance”. This is a much more streamlined kit compared to the aggressive Garage Kite kit. The Volk TE37 wheels also compliment the car nicely especially with the “Advance” logo on the spokes as you would see it on a TE37SL with its original decals….

Mugen-themed CL9 Acura TSX with Mugen rear wing and all. Love how this generation TSX looks in blue….

Acura Integra Type R with a Special Projects P1 lip/splitter and bronze Volk Racing SE37K…

Nothing like seeing a twin-turbo VQ-powered S30Z to kick start the morning….

K-swapped Civic from 5Star that debuted last year at WFTX.

While I was talking to Fernando from Team 5Star earlier that morning, he mentioned that they still had one more car to unload for the show. They usually bring a lot of cars so I didn’t think anything of it. I was walking back and forth getting photos and then I spotted this EK in the distance, I was thinking to myself, “Is that a Mugen EK4 kit?” Sure enough, I walked over to see for myself and not only was it a Mugen EK4 kit, it turned out to be the most complete one that I have ever seen in person. You see a lot of Civics with the front lip, sometimes you see them with the sideskirts, sometimes not, but it is incredibly rare to see one with the rear lip, hatch wing, and mid-wing. This was ON POINT, like straight out of the Mugen catalog from the ’90s. I don’t think average Honda guys would understand it because of how much of a “’90s look” that it has but true Honda guys know how rare this is to see in complete form….

The greatest thing about seeing this build is that NO ONE expected to see it. In a day when build threads are popular and social media reigns supreme, it is very hard to keep any new build a secret. I guess it only happens in Texas but no one other than the 5Star guys knew about this car. Amazing feeling when you see a car like this pop up and you don’t have any prior knowledge of it or any predetermined expectations of how it is “supposed to look”….

Now, if you’re just casually looking at these photos, I doubt you’re reading the captions anyway but it is more than just a Civic with a kit bolted on. It is actually a right-hand drive converted Civic with JDM EK4 front and rear bumpers. The aero kit just isn’t complete without the OEM EK4 bumpers, trust me. The body has also been resprayed in an OEM Lexus color. It has a bit of a shift to it that you kinda need to see in person…

Now, for me personally, if I was putting something together that was so era-specific (period correct), I wouldn’t have done such a drastic job of shaving the entire engine bay, but I get it. They were doing a K20 engine swap anyways so it wasn’t going to be exactly era-correct so why not go a little crazy with the bay to contrast the traditional aesthetic of the exterior. It works but it kind of catches you off guard at first. Like you’re already mind-fucked by seeing a complete Mugen EK4-look and then they pop the hood and you’re like “What the fuck is going on here?”. Visual overload to the max, but in a great way….

Peeking into the back, I noticed that it even had the rare, super original, Mugen carbon fuel cell cover. The car doesn’t actually have a fuel system set-up like this but it is just another rare Mugen piece to add to the package. Behind it is a NEXT! Miracle X bar… Everything else is just as you would expect to see in a finely built, resto-modded, show car. If you talk to them the rarest part of the car isn’t anything even Mugen-related. It is actually a brand new OEM Honda right-hand drive wiper cowl cover. They enlisted the help of Matt from ICB and he actually came through and got them this piece and had it air-mailed from Japan in time for the show. Talk about attention-to-detail…

Acura NSX from Team 16niss with a rare Do-Luck kit and Advan Racing wheels….

The owner, Mike, cruising into the venue. The car doesn’t have an exhaust yet so it was rumbling pretty loudly as it drove in….

Tom’s Car Shop Glow L.E.D. tails on his S2000…

Dante’s C-West CR-Z with Top Secret turbo kit…

He decided to bring his ZF1 out to WFTX ’14 on a set of custom rebarreled, refinished Mugen MF10 wheels…

Clay Hundley’s Porsche 911 from Team 16niss looked stunning on Bugatti BBS wheels…

MK4 VW Golf from 16niss….

The rear of Christian Santiago’s NSX featuring a custom center-exit exhaust and Taitex rear diffuser. Also make note of the BackYard Special rear wing…

Some cleaner shots of Tomsiik’s turbo S2000. Love the new look with the Spoon Sports aero but he already told me that he had planned to switch it up again next year….

The rear looks great with the vented over fenders and Car Shop Glow tails. Weird to see the exhaust openings on the rear diffuser as his turbo has a dump pipe which exits through the center of the hood…

Bradley’s S2000 all set-up at the Wekfest booth and ready for the show…

Meanwhile, Jay and RC were busying polishing up the gold pieces in the engine bay of the Integra….

NSX with Taitec aero from Team Apokalypse on 5-spoke Work Ewing wheels….

Custom widebody Lexus IS with Aimgain GT aero, also from Apokalypse….

Giovanni’s Super Futura Lexus LS430 was consistently amazing as usual…

Bagged 280Z with bolt-on fender flares and Avant Garde wheels…

E36 BMW M coupe also rocking some bolt-on flares….

A better look at the Z. Love the bronze lip and flat face color combo on the AG wheels. Perfect contrast to the gloss black body…

Shutting it down for Part 2 with a shot of these twin NSXs both on matching Mugen wheels. One side had Mugen M7s, albeit in different sizes, while the other side had matching bronze MF10s. Best part is that both are owned by the same person. As I said on my post on Instagram, the only thing better than an NSX on Mugen wheels is having TWO of them. Really cool that one is an NA2 NSX with the bigger Mugen wheels while the NA1 has the smaller, more traditional sizing. Simple but very well thought-out…. Another sight that you would only see in Texas….

Much more to come. Stay tuned and have a great weekend!!!…