Well, here it is, your first look at the brand new Acura Integra Protoype which is set to be completed and available in 2022. This was a pretty cool private event that I was invited to, courtesy of Hondapro Jason, so thanks to him for the assist. I know everyone has their own opinions and feelings about it, or how the car should look rather. It’s a polarizing to
If you guys are tired of seeing this car, I swear, this is the last time I’ll probably have photos of it. And then it’s gonna go back into hiding for another 20 years. Or maybe things will fall into place and I’ll restore it and make it Cobalt Blue again before letting it rot in the corner of my shop, lol. Whatever the case may be…. this year’s Wekfest Los Angeles event was a very special one. Not only because of the circumstances that led to me bringing LJ Garcia’s iconic Civic to the show, but also because it was our first time back in-doors in California in a very, VERY, long time…
Things have been so hectic lately that I didn’t even originally plan to go to SEMA this year. Everything seems to have been jampacked into one month but there was a small part of me that worried I’d miss out on any potential work opportunities so I booked my trip a day before the show began! I stayed-up all night working, packed, and then flew straight to Vegas on no sleep to spend the day there seeing all the much anticipated builds. The show seemed much more condensed this year, due to the world being in a bit of a strange place currently, but it all worked out because I was able to make one single episode out of the footage I was able to capture over my three days there.
I was really trying to get this post up before I left for SEMA so I could just press the “Publish” button while I was in Vegas but I just simply ran out of time. The night before I left, I actually didn’t even get a chance to sleep. There was so much going on over the weekend that I didn’t even pack my suitcase until 4AM Tuesday morning—and my flight was at 9AM, lol. It’s been a crazy month, I swear. It went from being a 2-year layoff to everything happening all at once. Two Wekfest events, Japanese Classic Car Show, SEMA, all in the span of about four weeks time! And next month I have another Wekfest event in San Jose plus Super Lap Battle…
It feels so good to be back on the road again. With all that has happened the last two years, I couldn’t have been happier to hop back onto a plane to go see some new things in another city. To be honest, it almost felt normal. Getting to the airport and feeling that intensity from the hustle of everyone on the move felt a little intimidating at first, but then that old familiarity came back. I was busy again, but like, a satisfying busy. Where you lay your head on your pillow at night and you feel accomplished. Boy did I need that…
Well, this is it!! All the build-up and all the time invested into getting LJ Garcia’s old FEEL’S widebody Civic ‘more together’ for the Wekfest Los Angeles event is here! I couldn’t have picked a better time to do this because this particular Wekfest event is a special one. Not only is it the first big indoor car show to happen in the last year, it also lands on the anniversary date of The Chronicles. I started this journey 13 years ago and what better way to celebrate that special day than by presenting the world with an icon.
After the great response I got from shooting LJ Garcia’s old FEEL’S Widebody Civic for Meguiar’s, I decided that it would be a really cool idea to try to bring it out for an appearance at Wekfest Los Angeles. I had no idea it would garner such a huge public response from the automotive community so what better way to celebrate that than by giving everyone the opportunity to see the Civic themselves? It’s so crazy that this Civic is still mostly complete on the outside and I was even able to source some more of the original pieces for it. Follow along as I prep the car for it’s one -time only, first-ever appearance in the 2020s. I don’t know what will happen to the car after, but I feel great knowing I contributed to helping it come back together, even for a little bit.
Boy does it feel good to be back on the road again! It seems like forever ago since we’ve traveled for Wekfest but the show series is back now to close-out 2021. This was an interesting one because we go back-to-back for Seattle and Los Angeles for the first-time. We made sure to find some time to relax and just hang-out however, before the madness begins. Like my other visits to the Pacific Northwest, I make a traditional visit over to my friend Terry’s house where they were prepping their cars for the show. There’s plenty to see in this one, enjoy!
Let me start-off by saying that I am so glad I decided to take on this project for Meguiar’s. When I was first approached about this concept by RJ De Vera, I honestly didn’t know if I wanted to do it or not. He’d never know because I acted so confidently about it but I was very close to saying no. I was going through some personal stuff at the time and wasn’t really motivated to do anything. All my insecurities were boiling over when I was asked to take on such a huge project for such a well-known company. Meguiar’s has literally been around for over 100 years. To produce something that would not be ‘good enough’ in their eyes is mortifying. I didn’t know if I had it in me. But, I told myself that I’d take on new challenges this year and really see how far I could extend myself creatively. I think it was around 2017 when I had a bit of an epiphany. One day I was working next to my-then significant other, I turned to her, and proclaimed that if I’m not producing my best work moving forward, I would stop doing The Chronicles. If I’m not creating and bettering my previous work every year, there’s really no point in me doing this anymore. Because at that point I would know that I wasn’t having fun anymore. It meant that I didn’t have it in me to challenge myself…
I never thought I’d see the day but I’ve been waiting almost two decades to see this car again…
For my final installment for the Meguiar’s “Portrait of an Icon” series, I knew I had to do something big, so I sought out an important Honda from a bygone era to tell not only its story, but to add to mine.
To me, this was the perfect way to cap off a series of creative work covering five different decades. A true pleasure it was to be able to photograph a car that first inspired me to collect automotive tuning magazines as a youth.
