One of the many things that I enjoy about being on the Wekfest tour is being able to see all that goes on behind-the-scenes at these events. I think one of the many reasons why I like covering these events is because of the “insider-look” aspect where I can show you guys/gals all the cars before they are set-up inside the convention center halls. Sure, it’s cool to see all the cars parked in order and cleaned-up for the public but I really like to capture photos of all the cars in their more “natural” environments, which is outside. I think everyone is able to get a better look at the cars when they are outside too because you really can only see so much when they are all set-up inside a building. Every year for the Wekfest event in New Jersey, I make sure to go early in the morning so I can see all the cars drive-in to the giant vacant lot within the New Jersey Exposition Center. The lot is really vast so it allows for some pretty cool photos. I don’t particularly like the venue itself because the Convention Center looks pretty dated and the black walls within don’t make for very good photos. I think Jersey is the stop on the tour where I take the most photos outside. In the coming days, you’re going to see a lot of coverage from me from the Wekfest East event, and because I like shooting outside so much, you’re going to be seeing a bulk of the shots from the early morning hours. I will have photos inside the building as well but I handed off the shooting duties to Tiffanie because I was busy working the show as a judge. She captured some great stuff but I seriously shot so much in the morning that the first two parts, maybe even three, are from the outside. As usual, the RavSpec guys showed-up first in the morning so the cars in this first post are mostly from their group. They tend to bring some of the better cars at Wekfest East every year anyway so I don’t think there will be any complaints as to why they are getting so much coverage…

I’m feeling a little under the weather lately so I’m gonna keep it short today. I’ll try to talk more about the event itself in the following posts to come. For now, enjoy the early morning photos from the 2016 Wekfest East event…

Wekfest East 2016

Photos & Words By StickyDilJoe

I didn’t see this Vertex GS at Wekfest East but I did spot it outside of our hotel early that morning before roll-in. I’ve seen it before but was wondering why they didn’t participate in the festivities…

One of the builds that I had been waiting to see in person was this RE Amemiya FD3S RX-7. It had popped-up on my social media feed and I was waiting to see if the car looked as good as it did in photos…

This particular RE kit is more popularly known as the “FD993S” kit because of the custom front end which utilizes Porsche 993 headlights instead of the traditional Mazda RX-7 pop-up headlights…

One of the custom pie-cut charge pipes of the 13B Rotary engine required cutting of one of the hood vents to clear…

The cool thing about this kit is the rear bumper which features a triangular cut-out for the custom exhaust system. Also note the custom taillights integrated into the rear bumper of the RE kit…

Another angle of the rear bumper and exhaust opening with three exhaust tips…

No buckets seats or custom steering wheel in this FD. Just a OEM Nardi-produced wheel and custom re-upholstered factory seats. Also note the carbon fiber door panels dash overlay and the A’PEXi Power FC unit…

A Rotary plush toy hangs on the rear-view mirror. Nice to see that there are still some RX-7s around these days that utilize the Rotary engine that the car was meant for…

Hopefully whoever signed this doesn’t mean what they wrote in a literal sense because that would be a shame…

Pravan’s Wald-equipped Lexus LS430…

One of my buddies told me that this Porsche actually caught on fire not too long ago at the NY Auto Show so they decided to let everyone know that it was required for this vehicle to have a fire extinguisher…

Kevin Iniguez’s CarbonSignal Automotive widebody “MoonBeam 370GT” G37 coupe bagged on Work Wheels….

Infiniti G35 coupe featuring a KuRookie front bumper and Rays Gram Lights 57Extreme wheels…

Rocket Bunny Version II Scion FR-S…

Work Emotion CR2P wheels with red center caps…

My buddy Marty Chen’s BMW M3 sedan on Advan Racing wheels which he regularly tracks on weekends…

Joe Cheung’s LS430 from Liberty VIP is a car that I’ve come to know quite well over the last two years as Joe has driven us around in it during the NYC Pre-Meet cruises….

Nawshin Basher’s Voltex Evolution won “Car of Festival”/Best of Show honors at the Wekfest Chicago event and was looking to repeat for the East Coast Wekfest show…

I actually just wrote the story for his Super Street feature that should be out in a couple of months…

Here’s a better look at his interior with all the custom Bride upholstery since I didn’t get very many good shots of it in Chicago…

Probably the first TRA Kyoto Rocket Bunny Boss kit on the East Coast belongs to this orange S14 on Rennen Motorsports MV20 wheels….

AMG W212 from Liberty VIP on Superstar Leon Hardiritt Ordens…

Kyle Crawford’s EF on bronze Volk Racing RE30 looking great as always…

R35 GTR looking really good on black Advan GT wheels…

Sammy Rodriguez’s Acura 1.6EL is pretty sick. The interior is fully-gutted, caged, and he has this nifty digital instrument display. Rare to see a 1.6EL built in this manner…

This gutted Evo didn’t have any crazy aero on it but it looked good nonetheless on aggressive Desmond wheels…

Audi Wagons can look so good just hammered to the ground on 3-piece forged wheels…

Another of the R35 GTR…

BMW Z3 M on Breyton wheels…

Not often do you see an Artisan Spirits Audi R8 out and about…

Basher’s Evolution driving into the venue for those that were wondering if the car actually ran or not…

Flared Subaru WRX STI on Volk Racing TE37V…

The RE FD heading into the New Jersey Exposition Center…

Sammy and his 1.6EL…

GTR yet again…

Johne’s SW20 Toyota MR-2…

Voltex-equipped AP2 S2000 from MP Built…

I thought this angle of the Rocket Bunny Boss S14 was pretty cool…

Fly Automotion’s chrome vinyl-wrapped S2000 on Rays wheels…

John Paul’s M&M Honda Hyper Widebody S2000….

It was nice to catch-up with Dave Tormey from Canibeat who just recently got married…

A newer Subaru WRX STI running fender flares and an APR rear wing…

If you guys watched the Vlogs on Wekfest East, you’ll most likely have seen this EK and all of its crazy hole cut-outs inside the cockpit…

Kyle Crawford was all smiles even though one of his turn signal lights was missing in action…

I think he also just recently destroyed his Chargespeed front lip as well on the way to Honda Day. Hopefully he finds another one because they are getting more and more difficult to find…

Faiz Rahman’s 2JZ-GTE powered widebody Lexus IS300…

Marc Ducrow’s Mugen-EVERYTHING ZF1 CR-Z…

Custom widebody Honda S2000 on CCW forged wheels….

Insanely aggressive ride height on this AP1 S2000…

Makes you wonder how he can even turn at this ride height. Nice touch with the Work VS-KF wheels in Burning Black…

That’s all for today. There are a ton of photos from this event so make sure to come back for more!…