It honestly felt a little weird having two Wekfest events so close together this year. Due to the floods, as you all know, Texas was pushed back to December, wedged right in the middle of the month two weeks before the Florida event. With the holidays fast-approaching, everything all seemed a bit hectic but I’m always okay with traveling and seeing some car stuff. Los Angeles has been getting a little cold anyways so there were no complaints on our end to head down to Florida for some warmth. I don’t ever have very high expectations for the Florida event. That’s not a bad thing at all, I just…don’t. I go into Florida knowing what to expect most of the time and just have a good time. Anything new that I see is usually a pleasant surprise and it is always good to see the usual faces and cars. Of the entire tour, the Florida stop is definitely the most raw. The crowd seems to be a bit younger and due to the huge theft rate out there, the car community is a little bit less refined than you’d come to expect from other states that have a lot of automotive enthusiasts. I’ve spoken about this plenty of times but there is just this huge gap when it comes to the community down there, from what it once was to what it is now. You either have really, really nice cars that come to the show and rake up all the awards or you have those cars from guys/gals who are just getting started, cars which still need quite a bit of work and that attention to detail. It’s lacking in many cars out there. I think it comes from just seeing cars on the internet and on social media. You don’t really see the details or the cleanliness that comes from some of the better show cars in the country. Everyone thinks their cars are competitive just because they look good in photos, and that’s definitely not the right way of thinking. You can’t just vinyl-wrap a vehicle, put air and wheels on it and slap a “Sorry I broke your neck” decal on it and think you’re ‘killing it’. Everybody starts somewhere and you can tell that a lot of these cars are still at that stage of development where they think that what they are doing is the greatest thing ever without ever looking at anything outside of their city. There’s nothing wrong with that, I think we all just need to be patient if we want the Florida car community to thrive like it once did. If anything, this year was a good indication of things to come as the gap seems to be getting smaller and a lot of people are really putting together some really cool builds. I think things just take time to grow and well, it’s growing. We just have to let it be. Nonetheless, Florida is always entertaining and I look forward to going back every year. It was pretty interesting seeing almost half the competitors being first-timers. I don’t know if I have seen that in any other city. Either there are more people getting into cars out there or the older guys just aren’t coming back and have moved on. Who knows. I guess you can chalk it up to being so close to the holidays too and people just wanting to save money and spend time with their loved ones. Whatever the case may be, it was nice to meet the new faces and reconnect with the usual suspects…

Like the Texas event this year, I didn’t shoot at all this time inside the venue itself. I enjoy just shooting in the morning now and catching the cars coming into the show, so that’s all you’ll see this time around. By the time I got inside, it was already time to start working and judging the Honda/Acura Class of the event. Whatever free time I had I spent filming for the Vlog series, which is out now and shows some more cars inside the building that I didn’t catch while I was shooting photos. Check the YouTube channel here to watch that by clicking on the link you’re already reading…

Kicking things off bright and early in the morning with this Scion FR-S running Rocket Bunny over fenders and Enkei RS-05RR wheels…

Right behind that white FR-S was another, this one also wearing wide over fenders but sitting on black Forgestar wheels…

“Little Snokyo” was a shaved-ice serving RHD Daihatsu kei car on Fatlace wheels…

This FR-S was in the holiday spirit, arriving to the venue with a Christmas tree strapped to its roof…

Did you know that at the height of Joe Dumars’ NBA career, he was cruising around in a blue Nissan 300ZX? Well, now you know. The Z32 chassis was definitely one of the more slept-on vehicles as the import scene progressed through the years. Nice to see clean examples still popping up at car shows here and there…

JZA80 Supra on Volk TE37SL running what I remember was a Shine kit, which is a replica of a Ridox aero kit. Hopefully I’m not wrong, but I remember one of the judges mentioning it during the meetings…

Bagged Silverstone S2000 sitting on OZ wheels…

It’s exciting seeing so many R32 Skylines pop-up now all over the country with the new 25-year rule, but I’d be lying to you if I said that a part of me isn’t bummed out because a lot of people make them look horrible, but the above example is a great. I love how the Advan Racing TCII wheels look on there along with the rear spats, sideskirts, and ABflug front lip…

It doesn’t really get any better than a R34 Skyline V-Spec II Nur model, right? You don’t even really need to do anything to it but wheels and brakes which the owner already has…

Another shot of the simple AP1 S2000…

Not sure what kit this is on this particular R32 but the WEDS TC005 wheels look good with that deep hub and concave face…

I completely forgot to mention earlier that this Z32 also appears to be a legit RHD Fairlady Z…

Tyler Ellul’s Dmax RPS13, low and wide, as evidenced by the wear and tear on the front bumper…

Deep dish Leon Hardiritt Ordens front and rear with Dmax front fenders and rear over fenders…

SR20DET swap inside the gold engine bay of Tyler’s 240SX…

Custom widebody Acura TL featuring a custom front bumper and VIP Modular wheels from One Alliance car club…

This Nissan Quest from Fortune Minds went through an entire JDM Nissan El Grand conversion, minus the RHD conversion of course. The now-El Grand also wears a Nismo aero kit which is likely the first and only in the U.S….

Custom widebody Z33 on VIP Modular wheels. Nice rear arch and radius on the back half of the car…

Lexus 4GS from “Backyard Bippu”…

RPS13 240SX on Enkei RPF1 wheels wearing full JDM OEM Type-X aero…

One of my favorites from the Wekfest Florida event this year was this Sonic Titanium BNR32 Skyline GT-R on Enkei RS-05RR wheels in silver, hosting custom reupholstered interior and some rare goodies under the hood. Love the oil cooler placement behind the front grille along with the ARC front mount…

R33 Skyline GTS-T from Diverse Heroes running an RB26DETT engine swap and Enkei RS-05RR…

Don’t see very many VW Sciroccos these days, this first gen. model looked solid on OZ Racing wheels…

The Highwaystar crew…

Highwaystar Doritos’ S2000 running a Voltex front bumper and Circuit Garage over fenders…

Corolla wagon on SSR Formula Mesh wheels from Low Key Old Skool…

Pretty cool detail in the fender-mounted side mirrors…

Officer Dillard brought both his work vehicle and his play vehicle to the Wekfest Florida event. Always good to see this car every year we return to Florida…

Another look at Highwaystar Doritos’ S2000. Here you can see how aggressive his Work Meister S1 wheels are…

RJ’s NSX looked great repainted in the new NSX Nouvelle Blue Pearl color, especially with the Spoon Sports aero kit, Voltex wing, and custom Mugen MF10 wheels….

Wheelflip was actually responsible for creating this custom MF10L and refinishing it in black chrome…

Custom widebody Audi S4 from Heavy Hitters club…

K20/K24-powered Honda Civic from Hometeam Performance, sitting on black Sprint Hart CP wheels with matching Wilwood brakes…

The engine runs a set of Kinsler individual throttle bodies along with a custom cooling system set-up with a tucked radiator and all. From what I remember, this engine makes about 359whp, which is pretty wild for an N/A set-up….

One of the more heartwarming stories from the Wekfest Florida event this year was this turbocharged Civic coupe from Hometeam Performance. The car was actually put together as a tribute to a relative who had passed and it meant quite a bit to the owner to have the car there at the show…

The engine bay is nicely set-up, fully shaved, and resprayed, hosting a B-series turbo set-up with a big turbo up front and lots of contrasting purple anodized hardware. Clean job overall…

Gonna go ahead and stop here for today. Still one more set coming so stick around and check that out when it drops next… Thanks for looking!…