8 years. EIGHT years. That’s a long time. I sit here and try to reminisce on all the great times I’ve had in that span of time but so much has happened that I feel like I forget a lot of things as I get older. I guess if anything, these 8 years have been an interesting ride. I started out with absolutely no direction. Just merely some ideas floating around in my head without realizing that I wasn’t going to get very far without any actual skills. I didn’t know how to use a camera, still probably don’t but I can put a few sentences together and I guess my lack of skill in the photography department was overshadowed by my ability to tell a story. I feel like many of you stick around for the stories and when it is all said and done, when there is no more of The Chronicles or Stickydiljoe.com, I can be proud to say that I was able to tell you my story. The photos help but I think the words, the feelings, and the emotions conveyed in the short stories that I’ve put together will be the lasting legacy, if there is any, that this little place on the web has provided. I love what I do. Somewhere along the way, I figured it out. I taught myself how to create something that people care about and I am appreciative that so many people still stick around to celebrate with me every year…

I’d love to sit here and tell you that I don’t have any regrets but it wouldn’t be true. There are some things and certain situations which I think I could have handled better. There were some opportunities which I should have jumped on but didn’t. Life as it goes on, comes with mistakes. I’m a firm believer in understanding that everything is a test of will and patience so I wouldn’t take anything back. Everything that has happened, be it good or bad, has lead me to where I am now. 8 years into The Chronicles, 34 years into my life, I can honestly say that I am fulfilled…to a certain extent. I am still working towards things that every grown man would want, things that I want to be able to provide for the ones I care about, and obviously working towards a better life situation overall. I understand these things, I am cognizant of them but… I think I’ve made my mark in this industry. In this fun-filled, often competitive, community of ours, I’m at peace. No one is going to have something to say to me that I haven’t already heard a million times, and the people that don’t care for what I do can continue to care about what I do. I think I’ve taken everything that anyone can do on any given day, and put my own twist on it. I’ve marched to the beat of my own drum and I stay in my own lane. If I stopped doing all of this tomorrow, I wouldn’t look back…

I just wouldn’t stop yet, because, well, I’m having too much fun…

There wasn’t anything really different about The Chronicles Anniversary Meet this year. I think many people will tell you that it was pretty much like year 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2… Perhaps that is why people enjoy coming. Every year, around this time, we get together to just hang out and enjoy each other’s company. The cars are great obviously, but they almost serve as a byproduct to the people. It sounds cheesy, but it honestly is a gathering of car enthusiasts who just happen to bring their cars out with them. By late October, you’ve probably seen every new build coming out in 2016 and whatever is on the cusp of being finished likely won’t make a big impact until 2017. If it is supposed to be an impact build, it’ll probably debut at the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas. My events are more like a “year in review” type of event, where you just come to see what has been great about the year and just chill. Originally, I planned to have this event the weekend before the SEMA event because it was just easier for my Japanese friends who were coming to the U.S. to go to SEMA. It made sense to have it that particular weekend every year because it gave the Japanese guys something else to do while they were here. That way they could see a little bit of everything. You bookend those two events with the Autofashion VIP Festival the weekend of SEMA and you have a great 10-day span of car culture. The formula works, people seem to enjoy it, and I don’t like change, haha. There is a little part of me that always has a brief moment when I think about moving the event to another location just for a fresh change, but then I remember how great of a venue the Eibach Springs facility is and how much it means to most of us old Honda guys…

As usual, I didn’t have a whole lot of time to shoot…and it was fucking hot. If I could control the weather I would, but for whatever reason, during the end of October in an otherwise cool Fall season, it just gets blazing fucking hot in Corona, CA. Still, the show went on without a hitch and people spent the afternoon trying to stay cool, chatting with other car people, and enjoying some tacos from the taco guy. This year, I even had a guest in Sunmerry Bakery who offered ice-cold drinks for anyone who wanted one. It was a good time. I tried to shoot as much as I could but there was just too much going on and I had to make sure everything went smoothly. The photos I shot that day are all posted below. Right after Year 8, we all set off to Vegas for the SEMA Show and those photos are coming up next…

Thanks for reading and bearing with me for all these years. Those of you who are new, thank you for stopping by and I hope you stick around. Those of you who have been here since the beginning…wow, what can I say, 8 years. I feel like we’re all in a long-term relationship now, haha. Thank you for being supportive. You guys keep this crazy life of mine interesting and I’m glad you’re always around…

The night before Year 8, I actually went over to Mikey’s new shop to check out his Porsche 997, which had recently gone through an extensive rebuild in preparation for the 2016 SEMA Show….

It’s hard to believe that this used to be the same black Porsche 997S that Mikey had before. There were big plans in the works over the past few months to bring this “Old&New Japan” slant-nose kit over to the U.S. to debut at SEMA and it turned out way better than most of us expected. From the renderings, the kit looked a little odd due to its lack of headlights and possibly lack of a rear bumper, but when it all came togeher everything looked great. The absence of any headlights gives the Porsche a very unique look and the rear is very streamlined and flows well with the rear over fenders. The Porsche was set to debut at the SEMA Show in the Toyo Tires booth so the car was kept under wraps until then. We tried to get the car to Year 8 but since it was a major debut, Toyo asked that the car be kept a secret until it arrived in Las Vegas…

Also debuting at the 2016 SEMA Show was Jaycray’s Lexus RC wearing a Rocket Bunny aero kit and brand new Work Meister L1 wheels. Inside the RC was a custom roll cage built by Street Factions and painted in a matching white…

Darren’s 991 Porsche next to the Old&New Japan Porsche 997. Both are on Rotiform wheels…

Meanwhile, back at the shop Yuta was busy applying some graphics to his recently re-spray painted Civic hatchback….

The had been sitting for a while now thanks to a blown head gasket but Yuta and Kristian put a new B-series engine in before adding a touch of the 90s to his car. The wing is a TRA Kyoto Pandem wing for an EG that was a gift from Freddie from Autofashion USA…

On the day of the show, I arrived at around 10:30 AM and the cars came soon after. I was busy making sure everything about the meet was going well so I didn’t get a chance to pull the camera out until the middle of the day…

One of the cars that I made sure to get photos of first was Jeremy Allgier’s freshly rebuilt Honda Prelude build. His car had been gone for over a year now but re-emerged as almost a completely new build. The entire BB4 shell had been thoroughly repainted inside and out with a set of concave Volk TEs fitted snuggly within the wheel wells…

Ever the Abbey Road Company-afficionado, Jeremy found every bit of rare ARC parts he could find and spared no expense in making them fit his H22A engine…

The engine bay has been cleaned-up, shaved, shock towers extended, and re-sprayed to match the exterior. This has got to be one of the best-looking Honda engine bays around currently…

This ARC exhaust manifold shield was originally manufactured for a Mitsubishi Evo 4G63 engine but Jeremy retrofitted the piece to fit over his Mugen header…

Polished ARC coolant reservoir with signature cap…

A different angle of the engine bay with its shaved and polished valve cover, along with the polished Golden Eagle intake manifold and polished ARC Induction Box/Arm…

Rear fog integrated in the rear bumper and interesting taillight covers on Jeremy’s Prelude…

Another build making its first public appearance was Chris Ortez’s JZA80 Supra “Limited Edition 15th Anniversary”. Chris, for those that aren’t familiar with his name, built a really nice Infiniti G35 sedan that I shot for Super Street a couple years back. He picked up this Supra and has been busy tinkering with it ever since. He parted out the G35 and has devoted all his time into transforming this Supra into his own vision. It is still very early in the making but so far, it looks great…

Inside the Supra are Recaro Tomcat seats with OEM rear seats refashioned in the same Recaro material…

Cody Chan’s Itasha-styled Civic DX track car that has seen a drastic transformation this year. He’s gone with an old school Buddy Club front bumper set-up with integrate Voltex canards, widened front fenders, and a B-series swap, which makes a huge difference for Cody when he tracks this thing since it was previously running the factory single-cam…

Sportcar Motion brought out its latest project, which is this K-powered AP2 S2000 rocking ASM aero…

Alex Zhao from Wheelflip’s supercharged Honda S2000 on Arcane wheels…

Mike Schietroma made another stop on his nationwide tour and brought his RCG-built EM1 Civic SI from Arizona out to Year8…

Everything is looking great as usual on Mike’s car. Just a few more photos to solidify it as one of the best builds of the entire 2016 season…

Kristian Wong’s D-series Integra build with JDM front end, R32 Skyline wheels up, and a matching livery to that of Yuta’s Civic…

The two wore matching liveries in hopes of bringing back that good ol’ 90s feeling when out on the track for the Super Street FF Battle event…

Salem hasn’t been working on his CL9 TSX lately because he’s been busy saving up to buy this immaculate Porsche 911. He’s always wanted one and when he found this specific 911 which only had 1 previous owner, he knew he had to have it. Some day, he hopes to return to Cuba with this Porsche and still own the newest car in the entire country…

Gabe Cruz’s AP2 Honda S2000 on his own custom-tailored Enkei NT03 wheels…

Two Japanese-imported RHD EF Civic sedans parked right up front next to the Autofashion USA booth…

Jonathan Wong found some free time to bring out his Rocket Bunny EF Civic to hang out and shoot some photos for Drivingline Magazine…

Amir Bentatou’s NA1 NSX track build on Exceed SSD coilovers and concave Volk Racing TE37 wheels…

Adam Elghriany brought his real deal RHD Phoenix Yellow Civic Type R all the way out to California from New Jersey to hang out. Always good to see guys making the long haul out to Cali to see what our region has to offer. Hopefully he had a good time…

Mark Sutakajana has been a long time supporter of The Chronicles. Good to see his DB8 Integra on JRZ suspension again as well as his new Civic project right next to it…

Der dusted off his E30 M3 Bimmer to cruise out to Corona. He even did an oil change before just so it has some fresh fluids in its system…

I don’t see Chuy very often even though he shares a shop space with me. He’s always busy working but still manages to find the time to come out to all the major events out here…

Tony Nguyen’s DC5 RSX build is one of the cars I’ve been waiting to see in person. It’s very simple on the outside but the engine bay has seen some drastic work…

The engine bay has been shaved clean and the K20 has been completely worked over with a turbo kit draped in gold. Anything that isn’t plated has either been recoated, cleaned thoroughly, or shine brightly with a bluish burnt hue on various pie-cut sections of the custom manifold and dump pipe. It is one of those engine bays that is way over the top and really has to be seen in person to really be appreciated. Nice work…

A closer look at the cuts and bends on the Full Race manifold…

Johnny Fame is another guy that made the tasking drive out from another state to visit Socal for the Year8 event. His caged and K-swapped Civic with 275-wide tires front and back comes by way of Texas…

A look under the hood of the turbocharged K-swap. Interesting to use a silicone hose to connect the turbo to the charge pipe…

Matt from M’s JDM Motors and his beautifully done EF build leaving the event a bit early to attend to some things…

Southside Auto Customs EF3 Civic on SSR MKII…

These two EH Civic look frozen in time, one with a simple K-swap and the other with an B-series ITR motor…

The white one in particular looked like it was something straight out of 2005. Love the stock white body on a set of silver Mugen RnR with a beefy tire…

Speaking of frozen in time, you can never go wrong with a Midori Green Civic on Spoon SW388…

Carlos Palafox’s Pepper White Civic looking exceptional with a Mugen SS front lip and 15-inch Mugen M7…

Gray Integra on Mag Blue Volk TEs, Wings West front lip, and Mugen Gen. 1 rear wing…

The many Integras from Loi-Spec Garage…

RHD EF Civic on SSR Dori Dori…

RHD Civic SI coupe from NVUS sitting on rebarreled Regamaster EVO…

J32 V6-swapped EBP EM1 Civic SI on 16-inch Regamaster EVO with a really meaty tire…

Darryl’s K20 supercharged EM1 Mugen Civic SI on 17-inch Volk Racing TE…

Another shot of Cody Chan’s Civic with the classic Buddy Club front…

Somehow I always seem to manage to forget to snap a shot of Downstar Frank’s Civic exterior but always take a photo of his engine bay. I think I’m always about to shoot it and then Frank starts talking to me and I just forget altogether…

This Apex Blue S2000 CR looked great on bronze Mugen MF10…

The #chewlife Rocket Bunny NSX build front and center…

Gary from Auto Factory Realize was nice enough to bring his Toyota 2JZ-powered S13 drift car out for display. If you guys remember, I met him last year during the 2nd Final Bout event in Wisconsin…

Gary’s custom helmet…

Kristian’s Integra parked in front of the Koyorad booth…

Side profile of Carlos’ Mugen-themed Civic…

A side profile of the ITR-powered Civic on RnRs…

Variety is the spice of life, as they say…

D-Max aero and a rare Koguchi Power rear wing on Gary’s PS13…

Really wish I had more time to snap photos of all the great cars that day…

Subtlety and a great selection of parts always works well with any build…

I don’t know how Cody gets away with driving this thing around without getting all kinds of attention…

Jimmy Uria’s slammed Mercedes 280SE…

Chuy’s PY ITR…

Jeremy Allgier’s Prelude ended the day winning “The Chronicles Award”…. Just, simply, a beautiful, well-rounded build…

One parting shot of Darryl’s blown EM1…

Huge thanks to Tiffanie Marie and friends for helping out with The Chronicles booth. I couldn’t have put on this event without her help and these girls were seriously just baking in the sun all day trying to help distribute merchandise to everyone…

On that note, I apologize for not having the adequate time to capture all the great cars at the event, but I do appreciate all the support over the years. Thanks for looking as always…