Back in high school I used to know a girl who had two older brothers who were big car guys. This was in ‘99 so the import scene was still very much in its infancy compared to what it is today. I guess you can say those were the most fun of times though because we didn’t know what was out there yet. Anyways, the brothers had some pretty nice cars, even the the sister had an Integra that was nice. I often saw it the parking lot at school. Before she could drive though, I would occasionally see her brothers come by to pick her up. One of them was named Lawrence and he had a Z32 with a crazy body kit on it—I’d never seen anything like it. Even the car itself had this wild orange/copper iridescent hue to it. The body kit was from a Japanese company named “VeilSide” and he was from a car club known as the 935draggers. These guys had some of the craziest cars I’d ever seen back then, like mind-blowing. It didn’t matter how they made their money then but to be able to acquire a VeilSide kit back when the word “JDM” had barely been coined was a feat in itself. Like how did they even get in contact with a Japanese company and import a whole body kit back in the late 90s? It must have been a fortune…
I think it was around that time when I knew I’d be a car guy for the rest of my life. Seeing cars like that made me feel a type of way. It was exciting to see cars styles in that fashion. During nights when I was on my PC with my 56k dial-up, I’d look up what VeilSide was and see their full online catalog of kits. They were all insane looking and definitely a specific style that is very much representative of that time period. It’s be considered “rice” to casuals these days. The only reason most people know of them now is because of Tokyo Drift and that often-copies RX7. I still remember every car I’ve encountered with VeilSide aero after those HS days. Their style was so unique that it created many core memories for me growing up…
At Nostalgic 2Days this year, I ran into the legendary VeilSide R-1 R32 drag car, still in its original olive drab color and aero, w/a set of beefy Goodyear slicks. All those nostalgic feelings rushed back over me. I felt like a kid again…
Thanks for looking!…
That is some very cool personal history related to golden era car scene. Would really be fun if you ever get a chance to talk to your friends again and somehow be able to share exactly how those cars looked in old photos.
Sometimes I think The Chronicles can really be the forefront for something very special with all the assessability you have to interesting cars and personalities. This little story you shared brought me back to the time you shared your own personal archive from old shows and when Terry (spriggan380) handed you his album of all those old photos for you to share with us in 2017.
It’s 2024 and The Chronicles has been around approaching two decades. Would you think about that!
Time to bring back some of this old import heat Joey! Think about all those old photos of such machines you are describing in this very post. Maybe even archiving some personal vhs videos from the og’s and creating a new “Pursuit of Function” type documentary but this time a culmination of the older late 90’s early 2000’s tuner and jdm scene.
I heard Veilside sold their drag racing R32 to someone in the states. Hope it isn’t true. That machines holds alot of Veilside’s old history right there.
Hope to see more bloggish posts like what you’ve been pumping out lately. They are giving life to this old website again.
Sad sometimes I feel the vlogs are drawing people more towards YT or even IG rather than this website anymore.. :\
I’ve noticed some other car blogs have been re-posting their old blog posts again as a look back at some of their most memorable and quality ones over the years.
Your post about Adobe Lightroom’s new AI noise reduction made some of us hopeful that you might repost old photos as “new and improved” just as a throwback to some of those nice cars we saw many years ago.
Anway, thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Exciting to see old companies like Veilside still around! Dig out some pics of those old machines or possibly pay them a visit in L.A. to try to get them exposed to American audiences again. Bomex had their time. Rocket Bunny has had their time. Imagine a Veilside revival. lol
More cool posts and happy belated Bday man! =)