Alas, all good things must come to an end. Today, we look at the final, concluding, portion of my 2016 Wekfest South coverage. Houston is always great and I’m happy to head down there every year to check out the car community out there. I think I’ve given you guys more than enough to read on the Texas scene. The most important thing that you should really take from all the words is that you should really go down there and experience it for yourself. I can tell you many more great things about the Texas car community but you just have to see it. I honestly think you’ll come back with a much broader understanding of diversity in the car community and how important it is to see and meet great car enthusiasts. Honestly, if you have the opportunity and time, you should really try to go to as many different parts of the country as you can. It’s very easy to lump car enthusiasts together into something as simple as calling it a “community” but different parts of the country offer so many different things. The people are different, as is the mentality, depending on where you are. I think it is a great thing that there are so many people now traveling all over to experience car culture for themselves. In the last few years, I’ve noticed a lot of people devoting their time to traveling to different car events. If I had some part in motivating people to get out there, I would consider that one of my greatest accomplishments…

Today, all the photos you’ll be seeing are from the inside of the George R. Brown Convention Center. I spent most of my time shooting the outside where all the roll-in action was happening, but I did hang out inside to try to capture some of the cars that I might have missed during that morning. By the time I started shooting inside, there was only about an hour left before the show opened to the public. After that, I concentrated all my efforts into judging the Honda/Acura Classes for Wekfest. If you’re still looking for more photos, or perhaps I might have missed your car, make sure to head over to the official Wekfest Blog page where you can see continued coverage of the Wekfest South 2016 event. Enjoy…

Tricky Ricky’s EJ1 Civic coupe with a repainted, basically stock exterior lowered on 949Racing 6UL wheels with meaty Falken rubber…

The main attraction of Ricky’s coupe build is the engine bay. He’s really gone with the “less is more” approach with the cleanly shaven bay, a B16-swap with some polished bits, and notice how the cooling hoses have been re-routed under to hide them from view as they run to a tucked radiator under the core support…

A closer look at Amanda’s immaculate CR-X build and her B-series swap in the refreshed bay…

NA2 NSX from Square One crew with full Marga Hills aero…

Custom widebody BMW Z4 roadster from Square One sitting on re-barreled Work Equip wheels…

This E36 BMW was pretty interesting. The outside has been widened with sheet metal and the finish is a little rat rod-esque. The front bumper is gone and in its place is a custom-fabbed piece that almost looks like a football helmet while the stock headlights have been swapped over for what looks to be OEM E39 headlights…

 

Lexus IS with a custom widebody treatment bagged on red Work VS-XX…

Everybody loves a pristine Hakosuka Skyline on Wats, right?…

Yellow S2000 with Circuit Garage over-fenders and RFY (or RFY-style) front bumper…

This AP2 S2000 features Industry Garage flares and an ASM (or ASM-style) front bumper…

Thomas Pinai’s GS is one of the best builds the Wekfest tour has ever seen, and I’m not just saying that based on my own opinion. It has won multiple “Best of Show/Car of the Festival” awards in different stops of the nationwide tour and it is good to see his car back out at events again. He took some time off but recently added some new things to his car just to give it a refresher…

Not much has changed under the hood. Within is a Vortech-supercharged 1UZ-FE V8 engine with some carbon accents to give the engine bay a different look than the norm. You don’t see many VIP-styled builds pop their hoods often so it is nice to see some time devoted to making the engine bay something to look at, especially with a blower installed…

After talking with Thomas and others, I noticed that his custom vented fenders weren’t the biggest hit amongst other enthusiasts. I personally think the body line is a little odd in the way that it cuts to the very top corner of the fender but other than that, I dig it. Thomas knew he was taking a risk when he had these fenders made and I can’t knock the guy for being willing to try something different. When you’ve done everything you possibly can to a project, sometimes you have to step outside of your comfort zone a little bit and do something a little weird…

Thomas also took apart his Ganador Super Mirrors and had the bases overlayed in carbon fiber. This is also a little unconventional since you’re more likely to see the mirror itself in carbon more so than the bases themselves and it makes for yet another interesting trick from Thomas’ arsenal…

Thomas’ custom trunk enclosure set-up with subwoofers that can be hidden using matching panels so that the trunk can still be used for its original purpose…

Mode Parfume aero all the way around the 2GS sitting on rebuilt SSR GT3 wheels with Futura brakes front/back…

Liberty Walk E92 BMW M3 coupe planted to the pavement on Rotiform wheels…

Honda Civic DX featuring a Japanese Domestic Market Honda Domani front-end conversion, B18C Type R engine swap, and 15×7.5 Rays Gram Lights 57V wheels…

Bagged FG2 Civic SI coupe on custom copper-plated Work Meister S1 3-piece wheels…

Berlina Black S2000 looking good on Advan Racing RG wheels in their traditional gold finish with a legit Powerhouse Amuse front bumper….

You guys got to see plenty of photos of this 2.7L stroked Subaru WRX in the previous post. Here it is all cleaned-up and ready for the show…

Khaki-toned AP1 S2000 wearing a J’s Racing front bumper, front fenders w/carbon insert, and Circuit Garage rear flares…

More often than not, ride height plays a huge role in how a car looks overall and this S2000 was sitting just right on Advan Racing RGIII wheels. Love how the Stoptech big brakes fill in the wheel so well also…

“Best of Show” honors this year went to the RCG-built EM1 Civic SI coupe owned by Mike Schietroma. This coupe has made the rounds from SEMA in Las Vegas, Florida, to California, back to Arizona, and finally made an appearance in Texas. I kept getting approached by random people all day telling me how great the car looks in person as if it were my car, haha. I guess they just wanted to let me know that this car looks every bit as good as it does in photos…and well, it totally does. If anything, you should really try to appreciate it in person because photos honestly don’t tell the real story of this build…

The turbocharged K24-swapped engine bay of Mike’s EM1 featuring a center-fed intake manifold, Garrett GT35R turbocharger, JDL Auto Design turbo manifold, and more…

The EM1 SI is bagged utilizing a D2 Racing air suspension kit with floating tanks held up by custom hard lines for the air set-up…

Real deal RHD Toyota Aristo V300 Vertex Edition on Work XSA-04C wheels…

Another shot of the built Honda K-series powered SW20 MR-2 from Prospekts…

I am still currently trying to understand this new trend of having custom crash bars fabricated for show cars and owners choosing to showcase them without the front bumpers. I imagine it has to do with simply showcasing something custom made and also the benefits of having something lighter than the factory crash beam…

Turbocharged B-series Civic hatchback on front-staggered BBS LM…

DC5 RSX lowered on aggressively resized Work Rezax II…

I saw Benjamin Hobson’s ’87 Volkswagen GTI rolling-in outside and I knew I had to get a closer look at it. Admittedly, I don’t know too much about the intricacies of Euro builds but I can sit there and appreciate the level of detail dedicated to any make or model car. I really like the classic HRE wheels on the car with the Ferrari caps, and how it sits on the custom-painted green chassis with the added front fender detail…

2.0-liter 16-valve turbocharged engine cleanly installed in a completely shaved engine bay re-sprayed in a match green of the outside…

Nice gas cap treatment for the filler and rear louvers to give it that period-specific look. Just a terrific build all the way around. I believe Benjamin went home with second place “Best of Show” honors that day…

Dean’s Accord is an interesting one. I met him a while back when he had first completed this build and it was an Accord that had basically everything done to it by Dean himself. That means that he did all the custom bodywork and paint to the outside, as well as the trunk set-up, all in his home garage. The car looked a little peculiar before because it was a bright sparkly blue color and the car just looked a little out of place. Something was just a little off about it. He decided to take some time off and completely redo the car for Wekfest South 2016. He got rid of the blue and decided to go with a more traditional look that comes with building something “VIP-style”, black, and I think the car flows much better now that it is more subtle. The custom K-Break kit flows very well with the factory body lines and the only thing he was really missing was his rear bumper, which he didn’t complete in time for the show. It’s nice to see guys who make great progress with their cars as they continue to learn and understand more about overall style and execution. Hopefully next year the car will be fully completed…

G35 coupe with a lot of custom body work to give it a much wider, stout, appearance. The front bumper has also been extended to match the wideness of the front fenders which house deep-dish Work Meister M1 wheels…

 

Turbocharged Honda S2000 running various aero components from Voltex, J’s Racing, and Circuit Garage…

Akachan Chea’s NSX is simply amazing in its cleanliness and collection of rare Japanese goods. Love the Volk Racing TEs in these particular specs, along with the Mugen front lip, and ultra rare Ganador Super Mirrors which cost him the price of a clean Honda Civic. And when I say “Honda Civic”, I mean the ENTIRE car. That’s how much those mirrors were…

He even had a child-sized Acura NSX complete with its own set of Mugen M7 wheels…

Kelley Orange’s Sorcery widebody NA2 NSX looked fantastic and took home an award in the Acura Class category…

Really clean Champ White Acura Integra Type R running a host of Mugen products throughout…

Okay…so I think I should mention that while I have been to Japan to study Osaka car culture and have been around many legit NO GOOD RACING members, I would personally never agree with someone stateside imitating any NGR car or bearing the NGR name if they aren’t directly associated with the group. It just isn’t something I would do personally. I understand that people want to pay homage to the group because they like the imagery and history of NGR. I get it. Do I like it? Ehhh, I can’t say I do. With that being said however, I admire Tiny Bui for going so full-out in trying to replicate the NGR “Shark” theme on his coupe. Bui has always had a pretty strong showing every year at the Wekfest Texas events and is always looking to do something new to his car to give it a different feel. This year, he decided to go with the “Shark” theme, which was probably lost on a lot of non-Honda enthusiasts who have absolutely no idea what NGR is. I think it is pretty close but I’m a real stickler for this type of stuff so I even mentioned to him that I wished he had done the “shark” graphic larger. Other than that, props to him for trying something different as an ode to the legendary car club from Osaka…

Not much has changed in the engine bay of his Civic. Still the same turbocharged K-series set-up he’s had in the past that produces a decent amount of power…

Junior Baca’s “Extreme Berry Yellow” DC5 RSX with a turbocharged K set-up in a cleaned-up engine bay with some Neo-chromed pieces…

Aimgain GT widebody Lexus LS460 owned by Johnel Vidad from Lucky…

Bagged AP2 S2000 on refinished Work Meister S1 wheels…

Bagged BB6 Prelude on classic Work Rezax wheels…

Mike Montgomery’s supercharged K24 Midori Green Civic hatchback…

Jorge Torres K-powered Mugen del Sol is looking as good as it ever has. He’s competed in the Wekfest South events pretty much every year but this year, the car finally looks in a clean, completed, state…

In the engine bay is a naturally-aspirated K24 swap with a huge Golden Eagle intake manifold. The firewall has been shaved clean and the booster has also been deleted to give that area a much more sleek appeal…

Custom-made double-vented front fenders with 4-lug Diamond Black Volk Racing CE28 wheels. Behind the spokes are Spoon Sports brake calipers mounts to Project Mu rotors…

Rob’s silver 99-00 Civic with color-matched First Molding Flugel Plate. Custom front fender flares allow for a wider Volk CE wheel up front…

Eddie from 5Star’s Phoenix Yellow Integra Type R with EDM front face…

Factory Type R B18C with a lightly cleaned-up engine bay…

16-inch Mugen MF10 wheels in silver with Spoon Sports brakes…

Black Desmond wheels look great on this K-powered Civic from Team 5Star…

Phi Nguyen’s Spoon Sports-themed AP2 S2000 from 5Star…

Iridescent purple GM LSx-powered S14 240SX…

Bagged E36 BMW M3 coupe with rear blister fenders and custom front fenders…

Nice to see that there is more than one Prelude at any car show these days. This BB6 featured AG wheels and a classic GReddy front spoiler…

This DC5 caught my attention when it first rolled-into the venue mostly because of the Team Dynamics wheel set-up. The front features a 15-inch wheel with a thick Mickey Thompson ET Street S/S tire…

The Mickey Thompson rubber is necessary because of the Precision turbocharger set-up and massive Magnus intake manifold…

And we finally conclude the 2016 Wekfest South coverage with a shot of Rami Qasem’s turbocharged ASM-equipped AP2 S2000. I didn’t even recognize the car at first because I know it more in its dark blue hue. Always good to see this car and the people from Low-Weezy-Ana…

That’s a wrap on that one. The Chronicles Year 8 Anniversary Meet is coming up in a few weeks, time to get prepped for that. I’m out for now folks, thanks for looking!!!….