Positive momentum. That’s what we’re in the midst of right now. We’ve only had three Wekfest events up in Seattle thus far and we’re on an upward trajectory. I was having dinner with Ken from Wekfest earlier tonight and I was telling him about how the excitement for this tour stop almost rivals the energy of Japan when we first started doing the show overseas. I’ve never been much of the type to really be concerned with numbers but I’ve been quietly tracking the statistics and social media response (Instagram calls it “Impressions”) to gauge public response to anything related to Wekfest Seattle and the numbers have been HUGE. Do the numbers really matter in the end? No, not really. They don’t concern me really but it’s nice to have a baseline to build off of, you know? It’s just helpful for business. I don’t need numbers to tell me that things are going well because I can see it with my own two eyes. I’ve even had some friends of mine who are older than me and could be considered a part of the previous generation of car guys (previous to my old ass anyway) telling me that they were impressed by what they saw from the Seattle show—and I didn’t even know they were paying attention…
Again, positive momentum. I firmly believe that the quality of cars from this area and at this show will help to inspire/motivate car enthusiasts throughout the country. Personally, I’m just happy to see some of the older guys getting back into it again. I sometimes feel like they don’t like what they’re seeing from the current generation of car people so they’re just taking their proverbial ball and going home. Some come back, some won’t, but maybe more will find that feeling again after bearing witness to the level of quality that exists in the Pacific Northwest. Let’s just say I’m excited for things to come. How long can this vibe be sustainable? That’s hard to say, because we’re just three years in…but…we are most certainly on the right path. I worry about it sometimes because I was so stoked for Houston and its automotive community for so many years. Things were going well and there was such a good vibe there as well—And then it just fell-off, BIG TIME. They had a lot of things outside of their community that drastically reshaped what is going on out there but it seems to be in an odd place right now. I hope things change but it takes time as well. I don’t worry about the same type of situation happening in the Pacific Northwest because they have a lot of older car guys up there to lead the way. I think Houston was great because not only were the cars good, but the people there were great too, they were just younger. The surge in the Northwest came as a result of older car guys re-emerging and building that excitement again. And the community isn’t huge so everybody tends to know one another or at least know of each other. When word got out that some of these older cats were getting back into their projects, The Chronicles was there pretty regularly scouting cars, and Wekfest was coming, all these elements shifted the paradigm of the Northwest car community. The biggest momentum shifter came when Wekfest established Seattle as a yearly stop because it meant that the Canadians were coming. We don’t hear much from Canada but they have been HUGE in the growth of this show in that region. Though its technically another country, we can pretty much lump Vancouver into that community now. I don’t think they’d mind, either, lol…
This is Part 3 of 3 of this year’s coverage. Though I shot a ton of photos I also missed out on quite a bit of cars, especially when the show actually started. Some of these cars are so good that judging just takes so much longer than usual because we gotta spend so much time going over the little details. I think it’s become pretty apparent that I don’t do a whole lot of shooting indoors anymore during the show. It just gets so repetitive and there are so many people covering the event that way now. I’d rather capture the ins and out of the show, showing these cars in a more natural environment outside where the backdrop isn’t just the four walls of a convention hall. I do try to get some shots inside however, particularly when it comes to details I can’t show you while these cars are moving around outside. You’ll see some of that in this post as well as the roll-out photos…
HUGE thanks to everyone from Seattle and the surrounding areas for making this show so great. It’s such a pleasure being able to see these cars in person and being surprised by all the cool shit that Canada has to offer as well whenever they make their long drives down to Seattle for Wekfest. Thanks also to those that came from far away and flew in just for the show. We appreciate you spreading the word and sharing your images of the show to the rest of the world…
Here are the final set of photos from the 2019 Wekfest Seattle event. Enjoy…
Austin from Never Content’s newest FD RX-7 project wearing full FEED aero and Desmond Marquis Promada w/EVO decals…
Can’t get enough of Ronald’s Integra Type R so I kept snapping photos…
I did a terrible job of helping to guide Austin’s RX-7 up the driveway as he dragged the front-splitter the whole way up…
Joel Bello reminding everyone that sometimes all you need is a nice front lip and a good wheel/tire/ride height combo to make a Honda look great…
Infiniti Q70L looking so good seated nice and low on Leon Hardiritt Ordens…
DC2 Integra Type R from Vancouver rocking some J’s Racing aero components, concave bronze Volk TEs, and custom LED taillights…
Your friendly neighborhood drug dealer vibes with this W124 coupe slammed on body-matched Lorinsers…
Some modified nostalgia for the old school Z-car and AE86 lovers to enjoy…
E24 BMW 635csi coupe on custom-built BBS wheels with a custom pinstripe that says “BBS Motorsports” in Katakana…
This RA Celica Liftback looked fantastic on RS Watanabe wheels and also housed a Honda F20C engine swap…
Once I made my way inside the venue, I was finally able to get some photos of Terry’s engine bay which he recently completely reworked. You can see some of the progress photos from a few posts back HERE (Video HERE) for reference…
Terry’s engine bay has always been one of my favorites so when he came to him changing everything, I was honestly a little worried it might be too drastic of a change….and it was…but definitely not in a bad way. The Frontline Fabrication valve cover gives the B-series engine an entirely different appearance compared to the old but the new black fittings and dark accents present, I guess you can say, a more mature-look. He hasn’t gone away from the Jiffy-Tite quick release fittings, something that has become a bit of a staple-look for many Honda guys in the PNW over the years but even those are more subdued now and flow well with everything else in the engine bay…
When we were over at Terry’s house, his custom breather box hadn’t been finished yet so we only had a general idea of what it was going to look like based on Terry’s description of it. He originally wanted something pretty simple with just a box and the two breather filters coming out of it but his fabricator went a few steps beyond that and notched the box so that the hoses and fittings that run to the valve cover are actually streamlined into it…
A better look at the custom-made breather and how it sits tightly in this section of the engine bay…
One of the other things that Terry had his fabricator come up with was this junction box which connects to a full-sized battery which is mounted inside behind the bumper and fender. This too was supposed to be relatively simple but then the fabricator added his own personal touches to it and created this angular box for the battery terminals…
The Frontline billet valve cover already comes equipped with two baffled -12AN breather ports which made it easy for Terry to complete his breather set-up…
The fuel filter and fuel pressure regulator mounted to the firewall where the battery once stood, connected together with black -AN fittings and braided lines…
Terry switched over to a coil-on-plug ignition set-up around 2012 and actually has been running the same tune on an old AEM EMS for years now. The car still runs great and has no issues…
One more angle with a look at the Jenvey individual throttle bodies tucked under the Cusco carbon strut tower bar…
Tam Phan’s silver E30 BMW coupe airred-down on staggered BBS RS…
A couple more photos of the white Civic hatchback running a K-series swap and polished RBC intake manifold. The outside remains relatively simple with just a set of bronze Volk TE37 wheels…
One of the builds that I was looking forward to seeing was this Milano Red Integra Type R. If it looks familiar to you, it had a full Mugen kit before but the car has since switched owners and has been reworked a bit inside and out. Gone is the Mugen aero with just a carbon fiber Spoon Sports front lip attached to the OEM ITR front bumper. Bronze 16×8 Mugen MF10 wheels with blue anodized caps replace the previous set of 16×7 Mugen wheels and the OEM brakes have now been upgraded to Endless…
The same K-series engine resides in the engine bay with some new additions like a custom pie-cut intake pipe…
Tons of custom fabrication work inside this Kouki S14 drift car powered by a Toyota 1JZ-GTE VVTI engine. Even though I was running around I made sure to stop to look at the crazy amount of work spent on this car. Behind the front bumper is a custom crash bar as well and all the suspension pieces under the car are done in that brought fluorescent yellow hue. Crazy. I think this car used to have a full livery on it as well and now it looks so good with just paint…
Yoshi Shindo’s RPS13 240SX, just finished hours before the show, running a D-MAX Type 3 aero kit and Koguchi Power +50mm front fenders and rear over fenders…
Thomas Strom’s immaculately executed Acura Integra Type R with Mugen aero, Mugen wing, Honda Access headlight shrouds, Mugen MF10, and so much more…
Huy Hoang’s turbocharged 2.2L K20Z Mugen DC5 RSX Type-S really needs no introduction, as it has become one of the more notable builds from the Northwest. I’m glad to see him continue to bring this car out because it is a fine example of how to really “build” a car inside and out…and maybe, just maybe…some of you guys might be able to see this car outside of Washington sooner than later…
Mel Diego’s Mugen-themed EP3 Civic SI hatchback looks perfectly frozen in time…
Bill Master’s turbocharged EP3 Civic wearing OEM Civic Type R aero, bronze CEs, a shaved engine bay and K20A2 powerplant…
FEED-equipped JDM RHD Mazda RX-7 from Never Content…
Right next to it at Austin’s booth is his other FD, the one that people often recognize as the Never Content car…
John Zuberek’s BMW E30 M3 sitting perfectly on white 16×8 Volk TE37…
Wayne Denman traveled up north from Oregon to set-up the August Cascade booth at this year’s Wekfest with his now-tuned and running CR-X as his display vehicle…
Just a few weeks before, the CR-X was on full display with the fancy JUN valve cover and all down in San Jose for Wekfest…
Awesome to see the SpeedFactory Racing Civic drag car, a Northwest-native and also one of the fastest Hondas in the world, on full display at Wekfest Seattle. It’s always good to have a good mix of show cars and race cars that can also double as show cars at a Wekfest event…
The Higgins Built Civic hatchback made its debut at Wekfest San Jose and then the car was loaded-up and taken up to Seattle to be displayed at the show. After Seattle, he then drove the car all the way down to Southern California for the Spocom event down here and kept the car here until Wekfest Los Angeles this weekend. Talk about dedication…
Luckily the car is on a trailer so it doesn’t get too dirty or driven too far in-between events. Once the car gets more dialed-in and the show season is over, Higgins plans to actually drive this thing on the track and see how it does…
Jeff Diaz’s NA1 NSX on a rare set of Work RSZ-R wheels with an Advance half bumper…
If you thought Ronald’s ITR looked great on the outside, wait until you see what’s inside the engine bay. I remember when I first met him he hadn’t done anything to the engine bay of his Integra yet and he never even popped his hood, but seeing the results now, I’d say it was worth the wait…
The engine bay isn’t too overly smoothed down or shaved clean with most of the OEM holes still in place. At the center is a K-series swap with some ARC goodies and some one-off custom titanium…
Custom pie-cut titanium intake pipe fabricated by Mikey Andrada…
Through the Rigid 3-point strut bar you’ll find a custom one-off titanium header also crafted by Andrada…
SBS Performance ported RBC intake manifold up top, paired with a modified and repainted valve cover which attaches to an oil breather system…
Tucked radiator with -AN fittings and hoses…
Volk CE28N in its original white finish wrapped with Toyo Proxes R888 tucked under a modified J’s Racing wide fender…
Inside the convention we get a better look at Mike Andrada’s Civic coupe wearing a color-matched Mode Parfume x Exceed front lip. He’s able to run a beefier tire now with the addition of J’s Racing front fenders which are 15mm wider than stock…
His Civic looks great from the outside but all the good stuff is happening inside the engine bay with a turbocharged K-swap featuring some great custom fab work by Andrada which he does all in his own garage…
It looks like he’s upgraded turbochargers this year and added this custom turbo inlet pipe which pulls air-in from the cut-out section of his hood…
On the other side we get a close look at the titanium turbo manifold he fabricated for turbo set-up…
The oil breather box mounted to the battery-side of the firewall, held on by titanium hardware which is a great touch…
Overhead view of Andrada’s turbocharged K and bay…
One more just because it looks spectacular…
I didn’t revisit my camera again until after the show ended. The roll-out portion of the show is one of the best of all the stops we have on the nationwide tour. One of the first to exit the building was Jason’s super clean 1993 Civic hatchback with a simple BackYard Special front lip, J’s intake duct, and bronze Mugen MF10…
Chris Rafanan’s supercharged S2000 angling-out nice and low, clearing the Amuse front bumper…
Rocket Bunny R35 GTR that I missed in the morning and didn’t see until after the show ended…
Gerard from SERIAL NINE greeting a friend and heading back to Vancouver in his JZS161 Aristo…
JJ Dubec’s NSX is the first in North America to wear the Liberty Walk widebody kit. The wheel faces are also a product of Dubec’s imagination and the spokes purposely angle in this direction to represent a sawblade-like effect…
Adrian and his turbocharged EM1 Civic SI cruising-out onto the street looking good with C-West aero…
Another build which I really wish I had some more time to check out was this clean Onevia with mistmatched Advan/Rays wheels….
I think Terry was just happy to finally get his Integra home so he could sleep for about four days after wrecking his body trying to finish this thing in time for the show…
Nicely done Civic hatchback in silver running a Mugen SS front lip and Sergeant rear lip/diffuser…
I’m not going to lie, I used to be sponsored by SSR Wheels some years ago so I always try to get photos of builds on SSR wheels as a ‘thank you’ of sorts for them to use on their social media outlets…
One of the best-looking cars at this year’s Wekfest was the ATTKD BNR34 Skyline GT-R…
I guess it doesn’t hurt that it was a fully-built democar by ATTKD and raced at Tsukuba…
I doubt the guys from ATTKD Japan never thought they’d see their creation driving under a sunset in Seattle, Washington when they first envisioned this project…
Crowhouse face never looked better…
Jeremiah Whipple and his timeless yellow Civic hatchback. His previous set-ups were a bit too aggressive perhaps but now the car is just right (to me anyway)…
And we end the coverage with the same car we kicked-it off with….
Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did capturing it. Thanks for looking…
Great coverage! Alot of beautiful cars and a nice read. I watched your Vlog 2019 #24 and I saw what I think is bmw e24e? A black one. Do you happen to know who owns it or where I can find more info/photos on it? It’s at 16:57 in the video. Anyhow, keep up the good work!