I’ve had this long running inside joke within our clique that we’ve been on the best three-show run in Wekfest’s 10-year history. We like to joke around about things like they are related to sports in some way so this is like a “winning streak” for us if you want to look at it that way. In reality, I don’t think we’ve taken very many losses throughout the years because the shows have always been good, I think we can always just keep doing better. Ken has done a great job of constantly revamping and improving the branding of the show but we collectively have really tried to improve all aspects of the event series inside and out, and I think people are finally starting to see it real-time. Our current streak has been a good one, the three included are San Jose, Seattle, and Los Angeles. Each have been very different in their own ways and have all the subtle nuances to make them unique to themselves. San Jose was the home-base where Wekfest started, so that is still considered to be the “super bowl” of the series, Seattle is one of the newest additions and is as hot as it could be while still experiencing growth, and Los Angeles was a bit more of an experiment for us being that it was our first time away from Long Beach and the Queen Mary. Gone was that scenic backdrop against the waterfront and in its place now is the famed Los Angeles Convention Center, a place where many a great car show has occurred within the span of two decades…

Not too long after the Los Angeles show was the really tricky one, which was the annual show out East in Edison, New Jersey. From the beginning, I told the guys that if we could pull off this great three-show run, I’d be content with what we’d accomplished this year. That would be an incredible feat for us. Notice how I never included the East Coast stop to that conversation. Well…that’s because I never know what to expect from that event. It’s always been pretty good, never spectacular, but left over was much room for improvement. There’s just always something about that show that I can’t quite figure out. Mentality and personalities are very different from enthusiasts out there, not only in terms of the way they build their cars, but more so in their mentality about competition and constantly staying inside their own little bubble. I think the thing that bothers me the most about the crowd out there is that they just never bothered to look outside. There are a lot of really great car builds out there with many enthusiasts who have quite a bit of experience in what they do, but it never seems like they ever want to see what is going on outside of their region. They’re content with what they have and they feel like what they are doing is good enough to deserve all the attention in the world. The problem is they don’t always know what the world is like apart from what is going on directly in front of them. It is so incredibly important to have perspective and I think we could all do a little better for one another if we just bothered to see more, experience more, and understand from another perspective…

I’m not going to lie, it isn’t always fun chatting with some of the competitors out there. Some of these guys have won at smaller shows or events that don’t necessarily cater to the same demographic as us so they automatically think they should win an award at Wekfest. Their is a lot of pride out there. I appreciate that, but…there are limitations in that way of thinking. Some move with a very old school mentality, still building with very specific things in mind that have helped them win in the past. The past is the past. Things change. Styles change. People change. People evolve.

I don’t care about your carbon fiber-wrapped steering wheel.

I don’t care that you stitched the “Mugen” logo onto your stock seats that have been reupholstered.

If it’s done well, I respect it. I love that you have so much pride in it. It doesn’t give you clout though. It doesn’t automatically mean you should demand a win. I’ve always said that these awards should be a byproduct of the overall experience of putting these events together and sharing them with fellow enthusiasts. It shouldn’t be the end all be all. This is the only event I go to annually where I have people following me around throughout the day trying to tell me more about their cars. Again, I respect the hunger…but….BUT…I believe you are missing so much more that you could be absorbing and taking in from an event like this. Winning isn’t everything. Experience is the real win. Taking a loss and learning from it is more rewarding…

We spend so much time seeking awards (recognition and adulation) that we miss out on the rewards (understanding of effort)…

Anyways, I didn’t include the New Jersey stop in that “streak-talk” because I just never know what to expect. Last year was supposed to be the biggest show ever and it ended-up being a bit messy with the show literally too big and a stupid fight breaking out at the show between enthusiasts who happen to be former car club buddies that turned ugly. It was a mess. After the show ended that day, I felt like we just all breathed in a sigh of relief and tried to get out of there as soon as possible. I guess if we could pull off the show this year and make it better than it ever has been, then it would be a feat on its own and bigger than the current winning streak we had been on. Let’s face it. Wekfest East 2017 was a big “L”. We took that loss with a HUGE slice of humble pie. This year, we wanted to change things up and do it all very differently. There would be less cars this year, a bump up in quality overall, and instead of trying to inject that West Coast-feel that we’ve grown-up with out here into an East Coast event….we decided to embrace more of the East Coast and its deep roots in the automotive tuning culture.

Let’s take the best parts of the culture out there to make it a better event overall without taking away from what they have come to know. Maybe them recognizing that we understand the nuances of their car community will help to open their eyes to look outside a little bit more. I’ll tell you guys more about what exactly was added/changed in Part 2. Today, we’re going to look at some of the photos from early that morning during roll-in. One thing that I can never get over is just how unimpressive the New Jersey Exposition Center is. Like, the inside of the building is not attractive at all. Not only is the layout a bit strange, but the aesthetic is even worse. The walls are gray and highlighted (if you can even call it that) with black curtains draped throughout. It’s like you walk inside and all of a sudden your life is black and white. It’s dreadful, but that’s just my personal opinion. I’ve been pushing for the guys to move this show out of this venue but finding adequate space and locale is difficult in the Tri-State area. There are two things…okay, three things, that save this place. The first being that it isn’t too far from New York so we can hop over to the other side at any time before and after the show, which is great, because let’s face it… There isn’t a whole lot to do in New Jersey. The second is the food inside the New Jersey Exposition Center isn’t too bad. It’s actually pretty good. It’s the only show I go to where I consistently see people eating and they even go back more than once for food. The third and probably the most important, is the massive parking lot outside. I don’t know why a convention center in this area needs such a huge parking lot because it looks like they only host book conventions and debuts for new shower curtain rods or some shit but it certainly makes for a really scenic roll-in. This lot is almost as good as the George R. Brown Center in Houston, Texas, and that roll-in area is fucking great for photos. This parking lot in the morning, just as the sun is setting, is pretty amazing for photos. The sun hits at just the right angle peeking over the building and through the trees at around 7 AM. The cars just end up looking so good with the light from the sun and the harsh shadows it creates.

As such, all my photos this year are taken outside of the show, strictly during roll-in, with some photos that I was able to capture after the show included as well, but those will be posted in the final installment of coverage. I’m still going through the photos now so I don’t even know how many parts it is. I don’t think it is that many, say, maybe three parts total? It’ll be good though. I’m really happy with where I am creatively right now and I think it shows in the photos and video. Lately I’ve been in a great space creatively and I’m having fun again doing all this crazy time-consuming stuff. I hope you guys enjoy it and notice the changes as well. There’s always room for improvement and I don’t ever want to get to the point where I just stop trying or wanting to be better.

Okay, so to start, I wanted to include some photos that I also captured while we were walking around exploring New York City. We spent an extra day out East this year and most of our time was hanging out in NYC, eating good foods and sweating our asses off in this humid ass weather. Everyone out there kept telling us that we went on the perfect weekend too because the weather was great. Trust me, my swamp ass wanted to tell me otherwise but I’ve been out there when the weather has been way worse so yes, I understand that it was damn near perfect for this season out there. I appreciate it all, the people, the weather, the food, experiences, everything. Thank you to everyone out there who chatted this year as well. Some of you seem real standoff-ish in the past but I actually had some good conversations with a lot of good people out there. Thank you for that…

There’s no way you go to NYC and don’t pass by One World Trade Center at least once. We even had tickets to the 9/11 Memorial but our flight was delayed and we ended-up missing our schedule time to go see it…

During one of our days out in New York, we stopped by one of the city’s most popular pizza spots, Lombardi’s, for a pie…. Above is the Pepperoni and Sausage…

…and this is the “BUDDY’S ‘CAKE BOSS’ SPECIAL”, which is topped with Arugala, Proscuitto, Romano, and Basil…

If you’re out at Lombardi’s on Spring Street, keep an eye out for the Chronicles decal plastered somewhere close…

We stopped by OVO to stare at things and not buy them. Very nice motif inside and out. I’m glad Drake is doing well…

We also stopped by the new Kith location to also stare at things. Some of us bought stuff, I just stared at books to get ideas for future books I’d like to do…

During one of the other days we were chillin’ in the city, we stopped by Brooklyn Bridge Park to watch a couple pick-up basketball games. Pretty nice aesthetic down by the basketball courts. We even saw Michael Rappaport who was doing some video promo work for the BIG3 basketball playoffs…

I don’t see very many dunks just in normal non-pro basketball games. But that probably has more to do with me not really watching ‘normal’ basketball since I was in P.E. class in high school…

Ken plays basketball pretty much every day, like in real life and not in video game-form, so of course he stole some kid’s basketball and started shooting hoops. Well, he didn’t steal it so much as asking politely and the kid said yes, but then a few hours later the kid came asking me for the basketball just purely based on the fact that I was the only other Asian person there and we all look the same. I think he thought I was lying to him and wanted to keep his ball but he eventually got it back when the other Asian reappeared…

Good form. I mean Justin on his phone while sports were happening.

Justin eventually got in on the fun and I forced him to take this three from way out just because the light was hitting the floor perfectly and I wanted to get a shot of it with the shadows and what not. The shot probably went in too. I don’t remember. Just kidding, it didn’t. It’s in the water somewhere…

Brooklyn Bridge which, though I love seeing, am glad I didn’t walk through this year in the heat…

David hasn’t been back in a few years so he was stoked to come back. He loves New York more than he loves his own home I think so he was incredibly excited to be back and to tell us how much he loves the city more than us…

We eventually made it back into the city where we looked at more street wear stuff and the high-end goods like LV…

Our friend John, who lives out there, was having a birthday dinner which David and others planned. It was nice to sit down for some delicious Cuban food…

We tried to get in on the SNTRL Times Square cruise but this year, while we were waiting in Times Square, the NYC cops came up to us and were gracious enough to let us know that it probably wasn’t going to be a good idea. That and they said they were going to probably have to hand out citations to all 75+ cars that were about to cruise through Times Square and cause a scene. We asked them how they knew it was us, and they said “well, we are the police. That and the shirts you were wearing were very obvious.” As it turns out, you shouldn’t wear shirts that say “Fast Cars, Fast Living” on them when trying to plan a secret car cruise through a busy city street, lol….

So we had a cruise alright, a cruise back to the hotel where we went to sleep quietly and early enough to wake-up to set-up the show the following morning…

I woke up late.

The early morning presented me with Kevin Legaspi’s HR31 Skyline sedan complete with Speed Star Racing livery and MKII wheels…

Y32 Gloria from Japanese Cars LLC rollin’ to the staging area with the rest of the group…

These guys always bring out a pretty cool array of imported Japanese vehicles, including this two-car rig…

Brandon Jones’ Y32 Gloria with radiused wheel wells, flared, sitting on WEDS Kranze LXZ…

A better look at the custom body work from the side…

Y31 Gloria with a more traditional 90s-era VIP aero kit on two-piece Work Meister S1 wheels…

This Y32 looked great with an original Wise Sports kit that has been modified up front to make room for the front-mounted intercooler…

I’m always impressed with the variety of cars that these guys bring to the show, not so much the variety in makes and models, but variety in styles executed on similar platforms…

Red AP1 S2000 running a Spoon Sports Super Taikyu front end and Spoon Sports hood representing Crown Speedlab…

From this angle you can see that the Spoon-look is all tied-together with the addition of a Spoon Sports Mooncraft hard-top…

Nawshin Basher kept his award-winning Mitsubishi EVO at home and instead brought out his two Honda builds he’s currently putting together. Here is his AP2 S2000 with Voltex front, wing, and bronze Volk TEs…

…and next to it was his NA1 NSX, also on Volk TEs, also both running Spoon Sports mirrors…

Had to get one more shot of this collective before they set-up inside…

Kevin aka “fatmankev” and his HR31 Skyline sedan…

Stock-bodied JZA80 Supra Turbo running Weld wheels with a beefy Mickey Thompson tire set-up looking great against that rising sun…

Marty Chen and his new S2000 weekend track toy…

Not too far away was Marty’s old S2000, now under the care of his friend who recently added green Volk ZE40s to it…

I really liked how this Evolution looked with Varis aero and Almighty Grey Regamaster EVO wheels…

Upon closer inspection I noticed that the Evo on EVOs was actually right-hand drive Evolution VII. You don’t see many of these floating around anywhere in the U.S….

Roland Sookdeo’s E39 BMW M5  bagged on Congress Forged wheels…

I don’t know if they planned this when they rolled-up but this 2013 TL also on Congress Forged wheels lined-up perfectly for this shot…

Friendly reminder that I love the BYS front lip for the AP1 S2000…

I suck for forgetting to get a photo of the actual car but thank you so much for the support…

One car that really impressed me early that morning was this SW20 MR-2. It’s hard to tell from just looking but the owner actually has a very GReddy-centric theme going here with the GReddy big brake kit behind the Volk TE37 Saga wheels and the aero kit it wears is indeed an original GReddy Gracer kit…

Inside the cockpit, which is one of the better looking dashboards Toyota ever did during that period next to the A80 Supra, was a MOMO steering wheel, Cusco cage, and Cusco seats…

The MR-2 also hosted a carbon fiber, double vented hatch and rear wing with carbon risers…

Not too far away from it was another mid-engine rear wheel drive vehicle on Volk TEs, this one just slightly more expensive than the MR-2 Turbo… Just slightly…

Caught this E92 BMW M3 passing through looking good on TE37 Ultra…

Nawshin has many cars and many friends to help drive them, as seen here with Joe Cheung cruising around in his NSX…

It’s always great to see a legendary build in person, even if I’ve seen it a few times before. I just appreciate car builds that are still alive and well, long after they reached notoriety, won plenty of awards, and been in many magazines. This is Chris Rios’ turbocharged Mugen Integra which has looked exactly the same for over a decade now….

This is also the same Integra that graced the cover of the 10th anniversary Import Tuner magazine. Chris hardly ever drive its these days but it still fires right up and he decided to display the car with the rest of his brothers from Team EMOTION…

Mugen front, sides, Gen. II wing, MF10 wheels, and the built B-series engine makes a shit ton of power. It’s also right-hand drive…

Mugen FG360 steering wheel on the right side complete with center pad, Cusco cage, and somewhere hidden behind the wheel in this shot is a boost gauge…

Chris Rios’ Mugen Integra, Harry Nguyen’s 2IS, and reigning champ Jason Pham and his Vertex S15, all three from EMOTION crew…

Pham made the drive up to New Jersey to defend his “Best of Show/Car of the Festival” title, after winning it twice this year at two other stops on the tour…

Spoiler alert, he won his third title at the end of the day, making him the only three-time Car of the Festival winner…

Kiet Hong’s Mugen-themed DC5 RSX is still looking great after all these years. I still remember seeing this car when they brought it out to California years and years ago when it was a metallic magenta color…

A host of gauges within the right-hand drive interior, along with a Mugen steering wheel, and Carbing cage…

There’s even a spare Mugen MF10 in the trunk to tie everything together, as you’d expect from the guys from EMOTION because they are some of the best to ever do it out on that side of the country.

That’s Part 1. Thanks for looking and trust that there is still more to come…