There isn’t much that needs to be said about Wekfest East this year that hasn’t already been said. I gave a lot of thoughts on this event in this specific area in my previous post here on the site and I think this most recent show in New Jersey was very telling. My thoughts remain consistent. I’ll recap what I said on social media last week which created a lot of discussion in the comments but for the sake of not sounding too redundant, let’s just hear me talk about it to the crowd at the show during the awards ceremony that weekend. This was right before we announced the Wekfest East “Car of the Festival” aka Best of Show. It’s also kind of a rare glimpse at an event where you actually get to hear me speak out loud, lol…

Thanks to @knowingyourroots_podcast for filming this:

Maybe after watching that video above would provide more context to the original Instagram caption I typed-up after the event;

“I don’t think the East Coast needs Wekfest anymore…”

“I said, as the crowd responds uproariously with boos. It might have been the only time I have ever been jeered for something I said that wasn’t one of my dumb jokes. But in reality, I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately. It just seems like the East has developed really good traction now with their own events like 7’s Day, all the great stuff PRIME NYC has been doing, and everything else there has created an environment that’s now saturated with car events. There are times when it feels like Wekfest isn’t needed, or perhaps even wanted there anymore…

I’d like to think we had an impact there though. Like we served as a catalyst to create something better. Maybe we helped spark something in people in the East which in the long-term curated something meaningful that lasts. Depending on who you ask, I suppose opinions would vary, but I’ll never say our time there was wasted or not worthwhile. I thoroughly enjoyed my time out there, met a lot of great people, and can honestly say our crew appreciated seeing everyone year after year…

We are at a crossroads now. The show needs renewed energy. So we are leaving—for now. As I said to the crowd at the end of the show, “change is never easy but ultimately necessary”. Something needs to change, and the first thing that needs to go is the venue where we’ve been able to make so many good memories. It’s time to get out of New Jersey and find a new home. Nothing affirmed my beliefs more than during our short lunch break when I was eating a slice of pizza and a small roach came crawling up the wall. The place is just not good for growth. So, we say goodbye with an uncertain future. Perhaps we will be back sooner than you think, or maybe we all need a break from one another before we can settle into a new home. I give thanks to all who came this past weekend and all who have come before in the decade-plus when we were in NJ…”

So we are off to the unknown for now. Where we are headed, no one knows just yet. I think eventually we will be back though, better than ever with renewed energy and perhaps more excitement from those who appreciated what Wekfest meant to that region…

Here are the photos from the final Wekfest East event in Edison, New Jersey…

The first photo I captured that morning was Richie Bautista and his S2000, sporting a new Voltex front bumper. He was there unusually early and was just there in the parking lot enjoying the humid New Jersey air…

This FL5 Civic Type R was wearing a pretty cool custom livery designed by EightEleven Design, which is a popular graphic designer based all the way in Germany…

Jay and his Mitsubishi Evo VIII on SSR Professor SP3 wheels from East Coast Legends car club…

The bright green Voltex Circuit Version III S2000 from Crown Speedlab showed-up with a new Labubu livery sitting on an imported Japanese tow truck which had its bed cut and widened to fit the widebody S2000…

Criadero Barbaos’ really clean A70 Supra on Work Meister S1…

Sonic Gray Pearl Civic Type R on new silver Volk CE28N-Plus…

A couple of modern-day Type R owners pulling-up to the show together…

Steven Tom’s Porsche 911 GT3 on Rays TE37 Saga S-Plus representing Crown Speedlab…

Richy’s E90 M3 with carbon front lip and Desmond Regamaster EVO…

Another of Barbaos’ Supra…

Imported JDM MKIV Supra from Legends…

Multi-time award-winning Lexus SC400 wearing BN Sports Aero and Work Meister wheels from Team EMOTION…

Multiple awards means multiple photos too…

Sometimes it’s more important to just get good photos instead of just focusing on subject matter…

Ferdi Rivera didn’t even decide to bring his Integra Type R out until the afternoon before the show but he was one of the first to show-up that morning…

No Mugen M7s this year as he finally committed to running a full set of bronze Mugen MF10 wheels with red caps…

Rawson was back again this year in his Chaser Tourer V on SSR Minervas. Unfortunately this was the only shot of it I got this year…

First time seeing the new 19-inch Mugen FR10 wheels made by BBS here stateside. I had previously only seen them on the Mugen demo cars at TAS and Osaka Auto Messe…

Arron Zhao’s FL5 Civic Type R wearing full Mugen aero with bronze MF10s, Endless brakes, and custom suede interior…

Jonathan Ortiz’s turbocharged Mugen DC5 RSX Type-S back once again to represent Team EMOTION and defend his Acura of the Festival award…

Tony Salcedo from EMOTION’s EK9 Type R with BackYard Special front bumper, Spoon hood, and green Rays Volk CE28 wheels…

The star of the show this year, and early favorite to win the big one, was EMOTION member Marvin Ma’s freshly-rebuilt S2000, now covered in Porsche Fjord Green. Entering this event, he had already won six-consecutive ‘Best of Shows’ at multiple events in that region…

This Civic was a little rough around the edges but it had a good combination of aero parts on it with the J’s lip, Chargespeed fenders, Live Sports wing and more. Unless it’s all rep stuff then maybe we gotta have a longer discussion about it but hey, the idea is there…

There’s a lot of things to like about Ortiz’s DC5 but the best feature is the undoubtedly the ride height…

Custom red E31 8-series BMW V12 coupe pancaked on BBS wheels…

ASM front bumper, ASM hood, ASM rear bumper, Amuse Legalo Face fenders, J’s Racing side skirts, ASM rear over fenders, Voltex wing, EVS mirrors, OEM hard top, and ADVAN RGs custom pinstriped to match the body…

Incredibly clean and restored Phoenix (Sunlight) Yellow imported EK9 Civic Type R with some Spoon brakes hiding behind the OEM Honda wheels…

Not gonna lie, I was so busy running around all day that I had no idea what Jonathan Ortiz was saying most of the time…

Lester was a pillar in the AE86 community in the East Coast but unfortunately passed away around 4 years ago. His parents continue his legacy by bringing out his AE86 to events every year and it’s always a pleasure to have them at our events…

The car remains unchanged over the years with his parents just keeping it in immaculate condition to help preserve his memory…

Ata’s uniquely executed Tamon Design widebody S2000 in an iridescent orange/purple paint, sitting on gold-face Volk Racing GT-C wheels…

Custom covers in the engine bay mixed with some ARC aluminum panels that surround a turbocharged F20C which is executed mostly in black with a contrasting blue valve cover…

K-swapped Civic sedan with a front splitter, DTM style rear wing, Sparco wheels, and a gutted/caged interior…

This Alpina B7 sedan pulled-up on HRE wheels with floating caps…

Koomal Poonai’s Integra Type R with the full Spoon Sports theme. After posting the photos from the last two years of Wekfest East recently, I noticed I took too many photos of his DC2 so this year he only gets this one not-so-great photo lol…

Much to my surprise, I spotted this authentic imported JDM Mugen RR arrive to the venue on a set of bronze Mugen MF10 wheels. I then realized not long after that I’ve seen this car on the West Coast before as it was once owned by Steve from HMO. I was supposed to shoot the car before it was shipped-off to it’s new owner but I never ended-up having the time to do it. I guess it only makes sense that I see it on the other side of the country now where I can get photos of it…

I didn’t ask what all these guys did for a living but they all pulled-up as a group with some very interesting Hondas including this VSM EK9, a VSM DB8 Type R, a pristine FD2 Type R, a fucking Honda N-Box, the Mugen RR, and more…

Then I found out they’re all the in medical field and it made a lot of sense. Driving an Mugen RR to work is crazy though, no matter where it is or what you do, lol…

I don’t even know what the insurance policy is like on one of these things or how to explain to your insurance provider that you own one of the most expensive and rare Civics ever made. Maybe it’s just insured as a 2008 Civic LX or something…

This is also crazy because not only is thing car not supposed to be here, it’s also incredibly dangerous to drive a Kei car on a U.S. road given the speed and size of the cars we have. It’s slammed on Spoon wheels though so I will refrain from saying anything else and you can just enjoy seeing something you don’t see often on SW388 wheels…

Pretty cool to se a Vogue Silver Metallic DB8 Integra Type R. Chuy said he’s seen more VSM Integra sedans in his lifetime than he has coupes but that’s mainly due to the fact that sedans are typically owned in Japan more by families and salarymen/women who purchase silver cars because they’re more lowkey and don’t stand-out. In Asian countries, you’ll notice a lot of white, black, and silver cars more than anything because they’re not supposed to stand-out or be vibrant. More VSM DB8s are around because a large portion of Honda enthusiasts are also very normal regular every day people that want to blend in with society while still wanting to occasionally rip VTEC after work and on weekends…

Harry Nguyen from EMOTION has been taking this Civic coupe on tour for the past year since pulling it of hiding in 2024. Believe it or not, this is actually his first show car which he started building back in 1996. Some of you reading this probably weren’t even born yet. The car has remained in pretty good condition, other than some minor things needing to be fixed due to age. He brings it out to show people what show cars were like back in the day and as a reminder of how long EMOTION has been around and relevant in North America…

A couple more of Ferdi Rivera’s Mugen-themed Honda Integra Type R. I always like to remind him that we’ve been doing Wekfest so long that when we first started coming to the East Coast, Ferdi didn’t even like me, lol. Now I buy his daughter birthday gifts every year and I get to eat at his house when I visit…

This is mostly a post dedicated to cars I enjoy seeing the most when I come to the East. Just in case I never go back, lol…

500+ horsepower on tap under the hood of this DC5. The bottom-side of the hood is starting to get a little bit of that toasty smores look…

I was trying to get more photos of Marvin’s S2000 inside to pair with the engine bay photos and also show-off his interior and trunk set-up, but he started talking to me and by the time he was done I forgot what I was doing…

Seems kinda random to just have these two engine bay photos but here they are…

Strafe Racing has been bugging me forever now for an Exceed front lip and sides but I didn’t get him the side skirts in time so he showed-up with a Cleib front lip. Either way, it looks good at this ride height, being one of the few on a full coilover set-up, and even if he had the Exceed front lip, it’d likely be destroyed cuz it hangs much lower than the Cleib lip…

94-97 front Integra with an Exceed V1 front lip, 4-lug CE28 wheels, Wilwood brakes, and a rare FEEL’S rear wing…

This might look like it was purposely positioned here for a photo to commemorate or last event here at the New Jersey Exposition Center but the R35 actually just ran out of gas and was stuck there. A truly ironic and telling end to our time here in Edison, New Jersey because we too (mentally) ran out of gas…

Nicholas Cruz went to Japan for the first-time ever this year and his Integra instantly looked better after he returned…

Really digging the new vinyl layout on Eddie Borges’ AP2 S2000…

Quick shot of Chris Panchoo’s CL9 TSX and he was staging with the Team SSB group…

Also thought this was a pretty good photo of Eddie’s S2000 and Andres’ EK4 SiR…

Tony’s B16B set-up is money with the TODA Racing individual throttle bodies, TODA header, and TODA internals…

The carbon box for the ITBS looks just as good because it has a custom intake pipe and everything but I can see why he’d want people to see the velocity stacks to showcase the individual throttles…

Willis Do’s ZN6 from EMOTION with the rarely seen SCREEN front lip…

Victor Colon from Team SSB showed-up this year with a new look. Gone was the Spoon-style lip, Desmond wheels, and yellow Recaro seats, now replaced by a full Mugen front bumper, silver Volk TEs, and traditional black ITR Recaro seats…

You can definitely see where some of the design cues are taken with this livery. There’s a little bit of Osaka Kanjozoku in there, mixed with elements from classic liveries of the past. Ultimately the Bride gradation will always be cool, but the only thing that would honestly make this better is if the owner had Bride seats inside to match…

Andres took some time off to become a dad but he’s back now with some mild changes to his Civic and a whole ass baby to carry around the show. For the final Wekfest East show, he pulled-out a JDM Mozcraft front lip and a beefy set of Falken tires on his TEs…

The B18C inside the engine bay of his EK4 SiR features a Mugen air intake, Spoon Sports cooling hoses, Spoon strut bar, Spoon oil cap, Spoon wires, Spoon carbon kevlar wire cover, Koyo radiator, and some factory A/C….

One of my favorites from this year’s show was Mike from EMOTION’s full FD2-converted Civic SI. This entire chassis was stripped and repainted blue inside and out with the roof cut-off as well to add a lightweight carbon fiber version…

I always say it’s hard to make an FA/FD Civic engine bay look good but Mike tried his absolutely hardest by cleaning it up and adding a MercRacing 1900 Supercharger. A custom titanium intake arm is attached to the massive blower with an oil breather set-up added as well…

Moises from Team SSB showed-out this year in his full J’s Racing-themed DC5. The now Championship White chassis not only hosts full J’s aero, but he also added his own unique touch to it by molding in an INGS+1 rear flare…

The J’s Racing theme ties into the engine bay as well, which during the repaint was fully shaved smooth. Exceptional work throughout…

Eventually everyone in Team EMOTION mustered enough energy to go outside and push the R35 GTR inside…

As usual, I didn’t get much time to get photos during the actual show itself but I did attempt to shoot right after the show during the roll-out.

Over the years I think I’ve taken a good amount of photos of Shyam’s Integra Type R. I like that it never changes much but is always consistent. Since this might be the last one, I had to make sure to get at least one more…

Never been a huge fan of ADVAN RG wheels on the S2000 platform but when they’re the GTR-face versions, its a given that they’ll look good on just about any car. Look at the concavity of that face…

The Ortiz father/son duo exiting the building for the final time…

Didn’t get a chance to chat with Nicholas Cruz much this year but I’m glad to see his car evolving…

The molded INGS flare actually adds a lot to the lines of the DC5 without it being too exaagerated…

For those that don’t know much about Chuy-lore, he’s not only one of the most diehard Integra guys you’ll ever meet, he also loves telling people that he is a Suzuki Samurai guy and knows everything there is to know about these things. So when this Honda K-swapped one built by Luis Carrero from SSB was just chillin’ in the parking lot, David and Chuy decided to hop-in to check it out. I don’t know shit about these things but I do know that this one has a K inside and the Samurai has been converted to rear-wheel drive…

Kinda hoped that they unloaded the Voltex Circuit S2000 off the trailer but I fully understood the assignment that the tow rig itself was the display…

Lu’s Nighthawk Black Pearl Integra Type R loaded-up with the family and making its way over to chill for a bit after the show…

A couple of FL5s grouped together for a photo-op…

Somehow I always manage to catch this Integra outside at the end of the show for photos…

Brian Cardoza is in the midst of redoing his EK9 at the moment but it didn’t stop him from bringing at a car to the show. As it turns out, he’s always had this E36 BMW M3 tucked away…

I guess it’s only appropriate I leave this series with some more photos of Tony Salcedo’s EK9. A car that I get a good amount of inspiration from. Some day I’d like to get a set of TODA Racing ITBs to attach to my Mugen air intake. Kinda the end-game of my set-up but I guess I should probably get the car stateside first before I do anything else to it…

And with that, I guess we come to the conclusion of the Wekfest East series. Hopefully there’s a full reboot coming in the future. Until then, I just want to say thank you to everyone who showed-up over the years to support this event! I’m glad I was able to experience this with everyone and to have met so many interesting, cool, enthusiasts over the years. I suppose it’s not ‘goodbye’ but ‘see you later’…