Pure chaos. I think that describes this past weekend the best. We all should have known it would all go down this way when our trip got off to a rough start that Friday morning. Myself and the rest of the Wekfest crew were originally set to fly out to the East Coast at 8:30 AM that morning. Thanks to a storm that was going through New Jersey, our flight ended-up being delayed for a few hours, and then another few hours, and ultimately resulted in a flight that didn’t take-off until nearly 6 hours later. Normally, we’d fly into New Jersey, drop off our shit at the hotel, and then head straight to New York City for the SNTRL x Wekfest “Pre-Game” cruise, which takes us through Times Square with a host of modified vehicles. It’s literally the event that makes this entire trip fun. The show is great but that’s expected whenever we hit any city on the tour. Each city has its distinct things that make it unique to each stop and Wekfest East is all about the NYC cruise. Thanks to the storm however, it didn’t happen…or didn’t happen as it should have. We didn’t even arrive in New Jersey until after 10 PM. The rental cars were all taken by that time which delayed us even further. We ended-up grabbing food in Jersey and didn’t even make it out to New York…

Things just got much crazier from then on. I mean, it was still a fun time filled with a lot of interesting moments but I think I’ll reserve that for the podcast we’ll be doing tomorrow. It’s much easier to hear the words straight from our mouths instead of reading about it. Because it’s that crazy. Let’s just say that a fight broke-out, people were angry about some other shit, the show was a mad house, and more…haha. Today, we’re gonna dive right into the photos. I have to leave for Seattle again in a few days so I’m trying to get these photos out to you as soon as I can. I just don’t like the idea of sitting on photos too long, especially these days when it seems like everyone is shooting event coverage. In Part 1, as per usual, we look at the cars from the early morning roll-in portion of the show. Wekfest East usually keeps me so busy that I don’t even have time to think about a camera, so all of my coverage is from the beginning of the day. I shot a lot though, I’m pretty sure. I couldn’t give you an exact number or tell you how many parts are coming because I really haven’t even gone through all the photos yet. I think I shot like 600 something so once I get rid of all the shitty photos I took, there are probably about four good ones, lol. Kidding of course, but please, come back for the rest. Enjoy and listen to the podcast when we get the damn thing hosted this week…

The first car I spotted early that morning was this Rocket Bunny FD RX-7 on Work Emotion CR2P wheels. Nothing over the top, no crazy graphics, just sitting nicely on the ground via Airlift Performance suspension…

Wekfest East ’17 marked the first time I saw an Aimgain widebody MX-5 here in the USA…

Instead of going with the Aimgain duckbill rear wing to complete the kit, the owner decided to switch things up by running a stylish rear wing from Kuhl Racing…

Bagged Subaru WRX STI in red sitting on concave Volk Racing TE37 wheels from RavSpec…

Nawshin Basher won the “Car of the Festival” award last year with his Mitsubishi Evo build but this year, decided to switch things up to show off his new project, this Acura NSX on Volk TEs…

Dave Tormey from Canibeat cruised out to New Jersey in his AP2 S2000 featuring an Amuse front bumper and OEM hard top…

Mike Fruehauf’s Milano Red EM1 Civic SI coupe which is regularly used on the circuit…

Kevin from Japan Parts Service’s R31 Skyline sedan…

Turbocharged 500+ horsepower EP3 Civic built by Showstoppers New Jersey…

Japanese Classics, an automotive importer out in the East, brought out a slew of nice cars brought over from Japan including this Y32 Nissan Gloria on WEDS Kranze LXZ wheels…

They also brought out this custom shark-nose GX81 Cresta Kaido Racer on SSR wheels…

Pretty cool to see one of these stateside since the style is never executed correctly out here. I guess the only way to represent the style truly is to bring one from the motherland…

The custom rear end of the Cresta highlighted by a single taillight with the rest of the rear smoothed and filled. Despite the shave job, the other taillight actually still functions and light peeks out through the “A” of the Advan logo when the brakes are used…

On their trailer was a custom Datsun truck and this 2JZ-GTE powered Nissan G50…

The Y32 owned by Brandon Jones also features a K-Break aero kit…

SSR MKII wheels on the R31 Skyline…

A look at the Skyline and the Cresta as they get set to roll into the venue…

Libert Walk Performance widebody BMW E93 M3 convertible on Work Wheels…

Unlike the West, you don’t see very many Liberty Walk widebody kits floating around at events. This isn’t nearly as common out there, especially on a convertible…

Another shot of Basher’s NSX. It’s a new project that he had to go out of state to pick-up and it looks like he’s already off to a pretty good start in the build process…

Drew Evans custom Liberty Walk G37 sedan is one of the best builds out on that side of the coast. It showed-up with a pretty solid chance of winning top honors, even with some new cars showing that weren’t in attendance last year…

One more of Fruehauf’s gutted EM1 Civic…

…as well as Tormey’s S2000, looking good on silver Volk TE37…

Kyle Frederick’s “Swiss Cheese” Civic track car which takes weight reduction to extreme levels…

Porsche 997 Turbo sitting on new Advan GT wheels made specifically for Porsches…

Artie Boboris’ beautifully assembled AE86 Corolla on newly released Work Equip 40 wheels. This Corolla looks extremely simply on the outside but under the hood is a turbocharged Honda F20C engine swap…

Good to finally see some guys running this great-looking wheel over here in the U.S….

TRA Kyoto Pandem widebody R32 Skyline from WD Ultimate…

Nice meaty wheel set-up with the Toyo R888R and deep-dish Work Meister L1 wheels…

Mitsubishi Evolution X running Voltex aero throughout and a set of Victory Function front fenders…

Wild Rocket Bunny Z33 with custom red/satin red Work Meister S1 wheels. The 350Z also has carbon doors with a candy blue laid over them to match the body…

Drew Evans waiting for his opportunity to roll into the New Jersey Exposition Center for set-up…

Choi Durante’s chrome green vinyl-wrapped supercharged Civic coupe recently won “Best of Show” at Honda Day so I wanted to get a better look at its recent changes…

Powerhouse Amuse GT1 widebody Honda S2000 from PTuning. Probably one of the few legit Amuse widebody S2000s left in the country…

Doesn’t really look that “ruined” but to each their own…

I didn’t get a chance to ride in my buddy Joe Cheung’s LS this year since we missed the Times Square cruise prior to Wekfest but it’s still looking good, and I think is still very much for sale…

Kevin Beepat’s Acura Integra is coming together nicely with the P1-spec front lip, Mugen sides, rear valances, Mugen Gen. 1 wing, Ganador mirrors, and Mugen MF8 wheels…

NA1 NSX on Rays Gram Lights 57Extreme…

The most Subaru photo ever…

Garson Deep Racing Ryuji wheels on Joe’s LS430…

Newport-themed AP2 S2000 on custom Work Meister S1…

R32 Skyline GT sedean from Tough Club covered in glittery red…

CT9A Evolution widened with Voltex rear over fenders and Varis aero from 63Autobody…

Loved how this Accord Wagon looked sitting on these huge Volk Racing Evolution wheels. I dig the Jewel Eye headlight retrofit and how the intersection lights look smoked and moved further-up closer to the turn signal lamps which have also been smoked…

Honda Civic sedan with SiR bumpers, J’s Racing front fenders, and a host of JDM Honda Access parts….

Manpaul Singh’s track-themed AP2 Honda S2000 running a Voltex front bumper and rear wing…

Brian Cardoza’s B18B set-up in his Civic coupe. I started chatting with him and forgot to get a shot of the car itself…

Johne Santos’ SW20 MR-2 Turbo on Work Meister wheels…

The exterior looks pretty simple with just minor aesthetic enhancements…

…under the cowl however, reveals an even cleaner engine bay set-up with the 3S-GTE engine cleaned-up and tucked away with a hydro-dipped valve cover and turbo housing. I don’t see too many MR-2s anymore, let alone this clean, with this nice of an engine bay set-up. Very nice work…

I’ve long been a fan of this S2000, even before it was owned by its current owner. This stage of the build looks fantastic with the custom gray Regamaster EVO wheels and Spoon Sports front bumper…

Also cool to see the matching Honda Fit right next to it, with the same wheels in the same colorway, also running Spoon Sports brakes, Spoon Sports side mirrors and even seats…

Top1 rear diffuser, OEM hard-top and Car Shop Glow LED taillights…

FD3S RX-7 with Mazdaspeed GT-C front bumper hosting custom LED turn signal lights from PLUXE…

Pretty neat to see an old school B-Wave front bumper on this FC RX-7…

Another of the Pandem R32 Skyline…

TRA Kyoto Pandem Boss FD RX-7 from WD Ultimate…

Perhaps the rarest car in the building that day was this CP9A Mitsubishi Evolution 6 Tommi Mäkinen Edition on Volk Racing CE28N…

I dig like, 90% of this Rocket Bunny Z build, I just wish whoever made their vinyl graphics understood how to constrain proportions so that the logo looked correct. The GReddy logo on the intercooler also looks way too stretched, but now I’m just nit-picking. I guess if that’s the only thing I have to complain about it’s a solid car overall…

One of the cars that I’ve been anticipating to finally see in person was Nate’s Y50 Q45 build. This car has been all over the internet this year so I was anxious to see how it compared in real life…

I gotta say, it probably looks better. Definitely one of the top VIP builds here in the U.S. and the quality of work, along with the parts selection, custom red interior, and overall execution is top-notch. It may be a little too aggressive for some VIP purists but I think everyone can appreciate the (big) body of work…

Still much more to come as I continue to go through photos. Stay tuned for more in the coming days!… Thanks for looking as always…