It’s been a while since I have been out to Chicago. I missed last year’s Wekfest event out there because I was in Japan but I wanted to make sure I made the trip this year to see what was happening out there. It was pretty exciting to see the Wekfest event at a new venue, Navy Pier, and all signs pointed to it being a solid event with some good cars. Chicago is a big city but as a car community, I think it could still use some growth, judging from past experiences, so I was anxious to see some of the area’s best. We didn’t have a whole lot planned but Chicago has great food and some touristy things so the weekend flew by pretty quickly. Ginash from JDMChicago was hosting a Pre-Meet for us as well so it gave us some time to see more car-related things before the Wekfest event took place….

For whatever reason, the rain has been following us around at every stop of the Wekfest tour this year, even in Japan. I thought by now the Midwest would be a little warm but of course, it rained like crazy the morning of the show. Luckily, most of the cars had rolled into the venue by the time the storm passed through but I can’t imagine how shitty it was for the last group of guys to have their cars rained on moments before the show doors opened to the public. I’m thinking by now, being that Summer is approaching, the rain is going to stop but who knows. We got San Jose coming up next and then the epic Los Angeles show right after. I’m actually in the process of re-organizing my office right now so all these thoughts of how to move furniture around consumes me. That’s why I’m just talking about the weather today. I’ll give my thoughts on the show itself in Part 2, but all I got today is weather chit chat and the brilliant captions below, lol. Enjoy…

Back to cleaning my office and prepping new merchandise for the storefront… Talk to you later…

We kicked things off at a exclusive, private, Wekfest Pre-Meet the evening before the event hosted by Ginash and friends from JDMChicago, a local-area car blog and website. I met Ginash a couple years ago and he held a meet also at this same place so I don’t know how private and exclusive it was but I would be lying if I told you it didn’t give me warm feelings inside of self-importance. For that I thank Ginash and everyone else who showed-up to hang out…

One of the first cars that caught my eye in front of the local Chick-Fil-A was this red NSX wearing Marga Hills aero and a staggered set of white Volk TE37s…

It was good to catch up with some old friends and acquaintances on a chill evening in this private secret location which was also a K-Mart parking lot and very visible from the main street…

Ginash’s personal Imola Orange NA2 NSX on Advan Racing wheels….

Johnny Tsunami made the trek out to Chicago for the Wekfest event in his Spoon Sports-themed S2000 which many of you saw just recently at Wekfest Atlanta…

Just a few hours after that, we were already up bright and early to set-up for the show. The rain looked like it was on its way but for the most part, it stayed dry in the AM. One of the first cars I captured was this E92 BMW M3 coupe on Work Meister wheels…

The reigning Wekfest “Car of the Festival”/Best of Show winner, Jason Pham, made the trip out from Virginia to defend his crown with his RB-powered Nissan S15 Silvia…

AC Castro’s HCR32 Skyline on Work Wheels…

Red AP1 S2000 running Circuit Garage fender flares and OG Work VS wheels…

RPS13 240SX wearing an OEM JDM Type-X aero package…

From this angle you can see that the RB20-powered Skyline is running widened front fenders and rear blister fenders…

Another of the Vertex S15 draped in Midnight Purple paint from Team EMOTION…

…and a closer-look at the widened S2000…

Mike’s complete Varis Evo X…

Huge ARC front-mount intercooler lurking behind the Vertex front face of Pham’s S15…

Richy Contreras’ S30Z from Vaded Mob getting instruction from Wekfest staffer Toan Le…

Crazy to see this legit Mugen widebody CR-X powered by a King Motorsports-built B16B CTR engine…

Another of Contreras’ widened “Devil Z”…

Love that smoothed-out bumper-less rear-end on the S30…

Dave from Dark*Squad’s RPS13 crawling into the venue nice and low…

Dark*Squad A31 Nissan Cefiro looking very cool with big aero and wing…

Spoon Sports-themed DA Integra getting directions on where to go…

The Touge Factory guys always come through with great cars…

For this year’s Wekfest Chicago, they brought out their time attack Kouki S14, wearing a new livery than the last time I saw it…

…and their LS-powered Rocket Bunny S13 coupe, wearing a matching livery…

John from VIPstylecars directing this incredibly-wide S2000 into its designated spot…

CD Accord sedan running a front bumper that was undoubtedly meant for a CD Accord Wagon from Japan. Forget what brand it is, perhaps Insurance or something similar…

Mico’s “Geekylurv” EM1 Civic coupe from Ramblers car club…

Mikey’s EF track car from Ramblers utilizing a PCI rear wing and sides…

The TFWorks guys all set-up with the custom front splitter installed on the Kouki S14….

Pham’s Silvia with the front bumper dismounted, revealing titanium hardware underneath…

Here you can catch a glimpse of the Project Mu big brakes on this Varis Evolution X…

Castro’s Skyline GTS-T…

Luis’ super clean Datsun 510 Wagon on Work Equip 01…

Carb’d L-series engine in the cleaned-up engine bay…

This Subaru WRX looked relatively simple on the outside, just wearing an APR front splitter, big canards and widened front fenders…

…but the engine bay revealed so much more, with custom titanium piping throughout and a Process West intake manifold up top…

That’s a wrap for Part 1. I took multiple shots of a lot of the same cars but I promise there is more variety in Part 2, haha, I swear. Please come back. Thanks for looking!!…