Hawaii is a pretty great place. I mean, I like hanging out and spending time there but it wouldn’t be a place I’d settle down in. I think I’m just more of the city-type where I like to be around Los Angeles where things are constantly evolving and changing. Hawaii is a great place in that you know that things don’t typically change very much there. That’s why it makes such a great vacation destination. You know exactly what you are getting when you go to Hawaii. It’s good vibes (except when you go to the club and people try to fight you, haha), great food, and amazing beach locale. Hawaii is what it is, Hawaii. I met some pretty great people out there during my journeys to Hawaii and Tiffanie and I even got to know each other out there last year, so I have very fond memories of Hawaii. If you’re the outdoorsy type, it’s perfect for you. You can hike and shit and do all kinds of laying out on the beach or whatever. Me? I’m more of a grinder where I like to work and be in a quiet work space. I don’t mind hiking, I’ve done it before, but I’m honestly just not the type to wake up early in the morning and go climb things. I own maybe 3 or 4 pairs of shoes and none of them are capable of sustaining a serious hike in a tropical island. That and I am terribly uncoordinated but let’s just talk about that some other time…
Anyways, before I go too far off into a tangent, Hawaii is…well…Hawaii. And there car shows are all what you would expect them to be if you’ve already gone to a few of them. Like the islands themselves, things don’t change very often with the car community out there and I think the enthusiasts out there are perfectly content with that. You’ll see a couple of new builds every now and then but a bulk of the shows are much the same. Things just don’t move very quickly there and I think the guys that really do have the fuel and fire to create aren’t motivated too because there isn’t much of a competitive nature out there in Hawaii. I hear from people that live there that a lot of enthusiasts will complain about certain people winning awards and what not but don’t really do a whole lot to try to compete, if you know what I mean. That’s not a knock on the community out there at all. I just think that is the mindset there. Things move slower and people build at their own pace. I kinda like that. Every year when I go back, it’s more like visiting old friends and seeing what they’ve been up to in the last 365 days. I enjoy this show because it is so relaxing. Judging only takes about an hour or so and the rest of the night, I can just chill and look at all the other cars I’m not responsible for judging. Food is always good there too so I can even sit down and eat in peace, unlike the other Wekfest events where I’m constantly on the move until the very end of the event. This year was pretty surprising because there were some new builds that I’d never seen before and I was highly impressed with the quality of cars on display. What was awesome about these new builds was that they weren’t necessarily new in the way where you’d build towards trends and for whatever was popular at the moment. They are new builds simply because I hadn’t seen them before and they were new to me. These builds, like the VW Bus you’ll see today, are just incredibly well-built cars that would be relevant in any generation. Quality is one of those things that will always stand the test of time, perfect for a place where it seems as if nothing ever changes and everything is frozen in time…
Enjoy the coverage below…
GaMu widebody Prius and a much wider stock-body Lambo…
The Murcielago is actually bagged on air suspension with a Nitrous Express kit hooked-up to the V12…
Lifted trucks are all the rage out on the island so the show hosted quite a few of them, as they do every year…
Darrell Delmundo’s Scion FR-S featuring a mixture of body panels from both the Version 2 and 3 Rocket Bunny kits…
Lexus 2GS with Volk Racing TE37SL wheels and front/rear Endless big brakes…
Lexus IS-F on Advan GT wheels with what looks to be a Wald Black Bison rear bumper, not entirely sure what sides those are however…
Another one of the lifted Tacoma…
Tiffanie ate fried Mochi Balls which are delicious but also apparently incredibly unhealthy…
AE86 Corolla with Levin front end conversion and Impulse Racing fender flares…
Some ducking fucks…
Datsun 620 pick-up truck in the staging area outside waiting for the rest of the OSIxHI guys to roll-in…
Side profile of the “Hachi Sumo”…
An FD3S RX-7 showed-up on 19-inch TEs…
Nice little VW Bug slammed with all the windows open to catch that island breeze…
RT83 Toyota Corona from OSIxHI owned by Tommy Dolormente…
Lance Harano’s multiple award-winning Toyota Corolla is always a welcome sight every year when we go back to Hawaii for Wekfest…
This 1st gen. Toyota Celica looked like it was frozen in time. Everything about it was period-perfect even down to the white vinyl interior…
I don’t think there are many guys out in Hawaii that can build a Toyota better than Lance Harano can…
A dead battery forced these guys from Section-D to give their friend a helping hand with a push into the venue…
BMW S 1000 RR in the most imaginary drag race ever with a stretched Ruckus with white walls…
Abanes Garage’s H2B drag EF Civic is one of the craziest builds I’ve ever seen, like, EVER…
Always good to see this Midori Green track-spec K-powered Civic ever year. The car is built just right and it doesn’t change very much year to year and doesn’t have to…
JR Orodonez’s Full Race turbocharged K-swapped Civic is one of those Honda builds that I had only seen in photos for many years prior but was able to see finally at Wekfest this year. It is one of those “throwback” type of builds for me as it takes me back to the days when I used to scour for Honda photos from the guys from Green Bottle Productions, Team Rice, and DOHC Research. I don’t think JR has really done anything to the car in quite some time but it is great to finally see it…
Hakosuka Skyline GT sedan with modern-day Volk Racing TE37SL…
The best build of the entire show this year had to have been this 21-window Volkswagen Bus on Rotiform wheels. This thing was damn-near perfect in execution inside and out. Not only was it immaculate throughout, it was also supercharged!….insane…
Color-matched interior with everything looking pretty pristine…
I really wish photos did it justice but it just doesn’t. The moment it cruised onto the lot, everyone stopped what they were doing to get a thorough look-through of the VW…
Damn-near PERFECT I swear…
If that wasn’t crazy enough, right after the VW showed-up, this full Varis/VRS BMW M4 coupe showed-up and my head nearly exploded. I geeked-out over this car so hard because I love Japanese tuning components on Euros, especially BMWs. There wasn’t a part on the exterior of this M4 that wasn’t Japanese. It was basically a catalog Japanese build executed just right on a BMW…
The Varis aero kit allows for a much more aggressive wheel all the way around so concave Volk TE37 wheels were the perfect choice. Not only that, the owner even added that red accent on the center cap for that little detail touch. It only gets better from there. Behing the spokes are Original Runduce big brakes which are parts that most people wouldn’t expect the famed Japanese tuning company to even produce for the BMW M4…
The huge swan neck rear wing protrudes way past the trunk of the BMW and just makes the M4 look even longer. This thing was crazy. I think the owner started getting weirded out because I kept going back to look at the car throughout the day. This shit is amazing…
On that note, I gotta step-out for a bit but the rest of the photos are finished. I just have to find the time to upload them here. Stay tuned and make sure to check out the ongoing Vlog series on YouTube, thanks!!…
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