Wekfest Florida 2016 Coverage… Part 1 of 2…


December is an interesting time for car shows. It’s the holiday season and everyone usually has their minds set on the idea that the car show season is over. Whenever people have asked me about where I’m heading to next around this time, I tell them Florida and they look at me with bewilderment before asking me why. I tell them I go for Wekfest and the most common response is, “oh, that hasn’t happened yet?” Well, no it hasn’t. I mean, yes it has. That’s confusing but at the time, no it has not happened yet, that’s why I’m going to the humid state of Florida; for Wekfest Florida. It always happens around this time, I think people just kinda forget. I think people still find it out that there is a Wekfest in Florida even though it’s been going on for some years now and it has a lot to do with the time of year that it happens in. For this year, DPK David, Tiffanie, and I were all flown out there to check out the event. David was going to help with the staging and judging, while Tiffanie shot the photos for the Wekfest website. I do my usual thing where I do coverage for myself and also handle the judging of the Honda/Acura categories. It is usually quick a painless because there aren’t too many Honda/Acuras at the show but I was a little busier this year because there seems to have been some growth down in Florida and more Honda/Acura guys are building their cars for the show. Man, that was a long ass sentence. Anyways, competition is getting tougher because more Honda/Acura guys are coming out now and I think that is a great thing. Honda/Acura is a staple in this community so the more the merrier. It brings better competition to the show and also a bigger crowd of enthusiasts…

The community down in Florida is starting to grow a lot more and we’re starting to see better builds overall, not just in the Honda/Acura classes. People are starting to grasp the idea again of how to assemble a really well thought out project car with quality parts selection. Many of the cars are catered towards more of the “stance” side of styling but that is to be expected with younger car enthusiasts. It’s the easiest thing to do and the quickest way to get any type of online exposure. Stance-heavy social media sites are abundant and people are on that constant chase for recognition so it makes sense to take the route because it is easy. I get it. If that is what you enjoy well then who is anyone to say otherwise, right? I enjoy them. Some are way beyond the scope of understanding but for the most part, I accept things as they are and try to embrace them while they are popular in our current state of automotive affairs. Shooting cars that are aggressively fitted with huge wheels is always fun because they honestly just look a little bizarre. Some in a very good way and some are just plain bad, but you take what you can get. On the other side of the spectrum, you have some really detailed car builds with all facets covered. I was happy to see guys like Will Tetro out there at Wekfest again with their cars. Guys like him have a great understanding of how to build cars and they provide great examples to today’s younger crowd of how to create a well-rounded build…

New Year’s is literally right around the corner so I’ll keep it short for you guys. I’m sure you’d like to see the photos and go through the captions. Enjoy and here is to an amazing 2017 to all of you guys…

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Slammed and static MX-5 Miata on aggressive Work Meister S1 in 15-inch format…

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Z32 300ZX on a set of white SSR Professor SP1…

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VIP-styled Nissan Sentra SE-R from Fortune Minds car club…

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DPK David meeting a fellow EJ1 Civic coupe owner, this one sporting Advan RG wheels and a BYS front lip…

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William Tetro, who won Best of Show honors in Florida a couple years back with his FD3S RX-7 build, arrived on the scene with a fresh new FC3S RX-7 project…

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It was pretty apparent right away that he showed up to take top honors again with this beautifully assembled widebody RX-7. Inside the hoodless engine bay was a twin-turbocharged GM LSx motor…

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Simply-styled Lexus IS with Work Wheels…

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Red DC2 Integra with a P1-Spec front lip and splitter set-up on 15-inch Volk TEs…

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Drag cars that double as show cars also made an appearance at Wekfest Florida ’16…

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Out of nowhere, as if it was transported from 2005, was this custom widebody Integra wearing Bomex aero, most of it molded to the body, and Volk GT-U wheels in gold. There’s a pretty awesome back story to this car and why it still exists but I’ll save it for Part 2…

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Thien Le’s freshly rebuilt K-swapped Honda CR-X build from Low-Weezy-Ana car club…

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Jade Motorsports club brought out this Kazama widebody RX-7 equipped with a GM LSx engine swap…

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Bagged Y34 M on WEDS Kranze Bazreia wheels…

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HKS GT-Supercharged Subaru BRZ  on bronze Volk Racing TE37…

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A different angle of the Kazama widebody FD…

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Sometimes Camaros show up to compete at Wekfest as well…

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Bagged Subaru WRX on Work Meister S1 3-piece…

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TE37 all the things…

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Thien putting the final touches on his CR-X before bringing it inside the venue…

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Flared Subaru WRX on concave Rotiform wheels…

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“Stance” and extremely aggressive wheel fitment is still an incredibly popular style of modding down in Florida. This Z33 was pretty well executed…

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Bagged and widened Z33 from Fortune Minds…

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BC Forged wheels tucked nicely under the fenders on Toyo Proxes R888…

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Turbo dumps on both sides of the front bumper on Tetro’s FC…

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I imagine it would be pretty difficult to mow down a crowd of people fully airred-down…

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RPS13 240SX owned by Tyler Ellul wearing D-MAX aero and Superstar Leon Hardiritt Ordens…

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Turbocharged DC5 RSX converted to RHD with Mugen front bumper and hood…

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On the passenger side window was this duct which had ducting tubes that had yet to be attached while it was outside the venue…

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Candy Mandarin FD RX-7 owned by Ricky Alduen from Disruptive brand on Advan Racing wheels…

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John Nguyen’s Acura Integra Type R with Mugen sideskirts, Mugen Gen II wing, and P1-Spec front lip and splitter…

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Under the hood of the ITR is a Jackson Racing Supercharged ITR motor with a 1320 Performance header…

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One side of the ITR hosted a pair of Desmond Regamaster EVO wheels and the other side a pair of black Mugen MF10s…

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Pulling up in a trailer was this turbocharged AP2 S2000 in a custom gold finish, flared with Circuit Garage flares and a J’s Racing (J’s-style) front bumper…

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Spoon Sports-themed Acura Integra GSR which has been repainted to give it that factory glossy black finish. Wheels are Mag Blue Volk TEs and brightly contrasting within are a pair of yellow Recaro Wildcat seats….

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The engine bay of the GSR has been smoothed over before being repainted and the engine bears a Spoon-themed color way with some Skunk2 components mixed in…

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R35 GTR running Varis Arising front fenders and Varis rear over fenders…

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The boosted S2000 off the trailer standing on custom refinished Work VS wheels…

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Highwaystar Doritos’ Honda S2000 with Circuit Garage flares and an ASM front bumper…

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One of my favorite builds to come out of Florida is Matt Hamilton’s HKS GT-Supercharged Honda S2000 featuring a Voltex front bumper, J’s Racing front fenders, ASM rear over fenders, ASM rear bumper, and J’s rear GT wing with custom titanium wing stands…

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…and we close-out Part 1 of the coverage with this shot of Highwaystar Doritos’ S2000…

That’s a wrap on this as well as 2016. Happy new year everyone!! Enjoy it and be safe out there!!…

Categories: CoverageTags: , , , ,

2 comments

  1. I know I recognize that widebody Integra but I just can’t place it – I’m really curious to read what you have on it in Part 2 and see if that jogs my memory at all. Happy New Year Joey, and thanks for another season of great content!

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