I am currently sitting on a kitchen counter top in Austin, Texas as I type out this concluding portion of the San Jose Wekfest coverage. It’s about 9PM Texas time and we just wrapped-up dinner at the AirBnb house we are staying at, just a couple days away from the last Wekfest show of 2021. It’s been a pretty wild year to say the least. It started out a bit slow, the months dragged on it seemed, but then by mid-summer, things just took-off. Things started to open back up, there seemed to be an endless amount of car meets going on every weekend, and indoor car shows officially resumed. In the past two months, we’ve done three Wekfest events that took us from Seattle, back home to Los Angeles, and to San Jose for the ‘Super Bowl’…

I’ve said it multiple times before, but man, it feels good to be back. After taking so much time off, I honestly didn’t know how it would feel to be back inside a convention hall doing big car shows again. Of the three shows we did, San Jose definitely felt like it had the energy that these shows had pre-pandemic. There was just this excitement in the air that I don’t think I’ve experienced in a very long time at this event. I think this is the closest experience we’ve had to the old Fort Mason Wekfest days in the early 2010s. Going into it, we all understood that that the quality of car builds would be high, but we really didn’t know what to expect when it came to foot traffic. It had just been so long since we’d had a show of this magnitude and with the pandemic, there was no telling how people would feel about attending an event this big. By mid-day, just looking at the show from above in our private office upstairs, we knew we had something special on our hands. Just seeing the sea of people flowing in and out of each aisle from above was pretty crazy. When we heard that the line to get in had wrapped around the building outside, we knew one thing for certain; we were back.

I thought there was a chance that it might have been just me or the rest of the crew being overly-excited or delusional in our excitement but after the show, I had a chance to chat with some of the other exhibitors and friends who were participating in the show that day. Some of these enthusiasts were even there at their first San Jose Wekfest ever. The ones that were regulars also said that there was something unique about this one. It just felt different. There was a level of enthusiasm that had been missing from the last few years. The first-timers said they had never experienced another Wekfest like it. Maybe we were all holed-up inside our houses for too long with little to do but I’d like to think that we were all correct in our assessment. It might have been one of the best shows we’ve ever planned and fully-executed. But the best part about it was that the time that was invested was appreciated and conveyed properly to a crowd that was hungry for quality automotive events to return. The job was done—for now. I think this was a good start and a great way to build upon a new sense of normalcy in the current state of the world…

Enjoy the rest of the photos and thank you to those who were there to witness the labors…

Adam Mao’s Chaser all cleaned-up and ready for the show, displayed prominently up front by the Wekfest display booth to show all in attendance what a “Car of the Festival” winning build looks like…

A better look at Carlo Uribe’s candy red Civic hatchback with J’s Racing front lip, Chargespeed front fenders, and bronze Volk TE37 Sonic wheels…

Carlo’s 700WHP turbocharged B-series set-up…

Big Steve’s Civic went through a major makeover for this year’s SEMA event, using a modified C-West front bumper, C-West sides which were also altered to fit Chargespeed wide front fenders, Advan TC4 wheels, and a full custom livery by Daley Visuals…

GReddy Performance built Honda Civic hatchback wearing a custom Motul USA livery running a JBlood front with added splitter, color-matched canards, PCI sides and more…

Phoenix Yellow Integra Type R wearing full Mugen aero, with the exception of the hood, along with modern King-produced Mugen M7 wheels…

Mikey Bitanga’s Integra GSR aka plusONEscarlet with a JDM ITR front end conversion, color-matched Spoon Sports front lip, Mugen Gen. II wing, Spoon Sports mirrors, and Regamaster EVO wheels…

K20 swap inside Bitanga’s resprayed engine bay featuring some quality components from Circuit Hero, Karcepts, RCrew, and Rywire…

The interior is stripped down to the basics with an AEM digital display providing engine vitals, a MOMO steering wheel with NSX horn button, K-Tuned shifter assembly and Recaro seats…

Dan Lee’s RWB 993 4S complete with 3-piece RWB wheels which you don’t see all that often…

Anthony Lezada’s NSX with 02+ front conversion, Downforce front bumper, and JP Design front lip. The front fenders have also been upgraded to Pride +25mm fenders to house 18×9.5-inch Work Meister L1 wheels in the front…

Pogi’s NA1 NSX which has an NA2 face conversion to run the Spoon Sports front bumper…

Riko’s 240Z featuring a IMSA GTU widebody kit and his signature gold paint…

3.1-liter stroked L28 engine featuring triple Mikuni/Solex carburetors

A view from above of the L28 featuring a custom self-branded “RIKO” valve cover…

Full Voltex widebody Subaru WRX STI looking fantastic in white with Racing Titanium Blue Advan GT wheels…

Bagged 10th generation Civic wrapped in orange vinyl, with a Voltex wing, tucking white Regamaster EVO II wheels…

I don’t know much about Mclaren Sennas, but this one was all carbon fiber bodied. That’s gotta be something special or something right? Lol…

This Mazda Miata looked super aggressive with huge bolt-on flares and deep-dish Work Meister S1 2-piece wheels…

I walked-up to get a closer look at it and realized it had a 13B Rotary engine swap with a custom turbo set-up which utilizes a water-to-air intercooler. Pretty fucking nutty. I did some more research and realized that the owner, Aaron Ngo, actually did all the work and fabrication himself. Nice job…

Harvey Flores recently sold his DB8 Integra after owning it for what seems like forever, but the new owner did bring it out for it’s annual appearance at Wekfest San Jose…

The engine bay also looks very similar to how Harvey had it, with the exception of the Mugen air box being taken out…

Jorge Sandoval’s VSM Integra Type R with JDM ITR front conversion, Spoon Sports front lip, an added front splitter, Ganador mirrors, Voltex wing, and custom bronze WEDS TC05 wheels…

The engine bay has been resprayed but left unshaved to house a K20/K24 set-up…

Kelvin Bulda made his annual public appearance at Wekfest San Jose in his Civic build which he has had forever and ever now. It’s looking as good as ever on Mugen MF10 wheels, Spoon brakes, Air Walker front, Spoon mirrors, J’s Racing front fenders, and most importantly, the fender side molding piece which never seems to be able to stay on J’s fenders…

96-spec Integra Type R on a set of classic Racing Hart Type-C wheels…

Spoon Sports-themed DC2 Integra Type R with Japanese front face conversion…

Can never go wrong with a red NSX on white Regamaster EVO wheels. Such a classic combination, especially paired with Spoon Sports brakes…

Nice touch with the yellow Spoon Sports inspired valve covers and Motul Type ONE decal…

Kai Her’s Spoon Sports-themed AP2 S2000 on Almighty Grey Desmond Regamaster EVO II wheels. The Voltex wing, red Recaro seats, and Cusco cage are a good collection of parts for this build. I enjoyed it…

I had a couple of people online basically demanding that I go look at this TSX for some reason while I was at the show. Little did they know I already walked over and took a photo of it. It’s cool, I dig the Spoon Sports front, hood, and the blue Type ONE decals to match the wheels. Do I need people telling me to go look at it? No.. It kinda took away from the car but I thought it was super nice, lol…

Someone on YouTube was like “You walked right past it and didn’t even look at it” Okay, I mean, I don’t always film and take a picture of every car I see but its annoying when people assume I just ignore certain cars.

Taylor Uji’s LS400 from Karuma Unlimited sporting a set of 3-piece Work Equip Voggard wheels and custom BN Sports kit…

David Xiong’s Zenki S14 with Navan front, bagged sitting on Work Meister wheels…

Another photo of the RE FD with Kazama Auto widebody after it was situated inside and fully aired-out…

One of my favorite builds this year has to be Jun Imai’s Kaido House Datsun 510 Wagon. This car just looks so good with the custom paint and livery. I enjoy the way the car sits, how the engine bay set-up is not traditionally what you’d expect in a 510 and the parts selection is also just top-notch…

A GReddy Performance prepped KA24DE swap with custom turbo set-up and GReddy intake manifold. Love the use of traditional GReddy components in their blue trim and how it contrasts with the XRP hoses which are used throughout…

Work Equip 40 wheels, Yokohama tires, and Refresh 60 bolt-on flares…

I mainly took this photo of this black FK8 Civic Type R because I really like the Advan GT wheels with the red lettering on it. I don’t think I’ve seen that before. I dig it…

Over at the Function/Form display booth was the Darkside Racing Civic track car, looking even better than it did in Los Angeles with black Spoon SW388 wheels to give it a much more aggressive appearance…

The K20-swap inside the cleaned-up engine bay with a modified RBC intake manifold, Speed Factory oil breather set-up, Rywire engine harness, tucked radiator set-up and much more. I wish I would have taken a photo of the rear of the car so you guys could see the custom titanium center-exit exhaust which comes out of the rear bumper…

The interior is nice and simple, but very well thought-out, with a flocked dashboard, a digital display, Sparco steering wheel and a pair of Sparco seats…

Tony Pham’s supercharged NSX-T on BBS LM always a consistent and competitive build at the San Jose Wekfest events every year. Not too much has changed with this build, not that it’s necessary to add to the car, but he’s also been busy building…

…his AP2 S2000 track car which features a J’s Racing half-lip, front splitter, Mugen hard top, Voltex swan-neck wing, Voltex flares, and Volk TE37 wheels…

It’s always good to see older builds like Algier Redoloza Jr.’s Mitsubishi Evolution turn up at Wekfest events these days. He’s had this car for a very long time, likely as long as Wekfest has been around, so it’s a pleasure to see that he still is adding and changing things on the car to keep it current…

Looks like he’s added some RK Titanium pieces to his engine bay but it’s crazy that he still has an old Wek’Sos decal on his valve cover. Perhaps he doesn’t want to have to redo the whole cover since the adhesive would probably take the paint off of it…

Algier’s Desmond Regamaster EVO II wheels combined with Futura Design big brakes and Falken Azenis rubber…

The new longer face of Amir’s K-turbocharged NSX race car. If I remember correctly, the new Spoon front and rear bumpers actually make the NSX a combined 2-feet longer than the previous set-up…

Taj’s twin-turbo A80 Supra running Ridox aero and BBS E88 wheels…

I actually shot this after the show ended and Terry had already taken his grille off to load-up his car. I don’t know why his grille doesn’t stay on but he carefully placed it back on the front bumper just for this shot before removing it again, lol…

And with this final photo we bring this one to a close. Thanks for looking and thanks to all those who attended Wekfest San Jose!!…