Today we are going to be taking a further look at some of the other cars at the show and at the end I’ll give you some more detailed shots of various engine bays with some details that I really liked. Enjoy and I hope all of you have enjoyed the Nisei Showoff 2011 coverage…Tomorrow will cover the end of the day and stuff like that and there won’t be as much car content….

Always been a fan of Linda’s Toyota Matrix from Team Praxis. I think this car often gets overlooked and doesn’t get enough credit simply because it’s not a very popular platform. It’s definitely a top quality build though and it’s nice to have seen it progress to this point…

Linda’s VIP Modular wheels…

TRD Supercharger and custom wire-tuck and harness via Rywire.com…

Jay’s TL on Work Varianza T1s…

Michael Johnson’s 1st gen. Acura TL…

Joey’s Scion tC on Jline wheels…

Robert’s Civic with a custom front end adapted from a Mugen-style RSX front bumper…

Jared checking out some wheels at the Infinit Wheels booth…

DPK David once again…

Kane Chan’s girl Annie’s DC2 Integra on white Advan RGs…

Another shot of Parnell’s DA…

1st gen. Toyota Celica…

Mark II Toyota Celica Supra….

It was cool to see all the old school Toyotas parked along this row with a brand new Lexus LF-A in the middle to show off all the different generations of Toyota sports cars…

Wald IS-F…

Dennis Kongvongsai’s Subaru STi representing Team Hybrid…

350Z also from Team Hybrid…good looking car but I do feel like vinyl roll calls along the side of the door are a bit tacky these days…

Really liked this Miata on SSR MK2 wheels with the original caps…The custom rag top over the cage was a really cool idea…

Always see this hatchback from GTS at every show. At Nisei he ended up placing in the Honda category as well I believe…

This EF is always in immaculate condition and was recently in Honda Tuning magazine a couple months ago…

Always been a fan of the Lexus RX chassis. I’ve never seen this one before but it was definitely a pleasant surprise… There was an EK next to this car that I really liked too but there was this hoard of people around it and I could’t wait very long for them to move out of the way for a photo since I had to go back and clean up…

Charles from 1-Up x Its JDM Yo!!!’s Honda S2000…

Andrew Lim’s gold Supra…

Andrew’s brother Jason’s IS300 and JonJon’s IS350…

Old school Skyline GT-R…

Jose Romo’s Audi A4…

Lowfat Pie attempting to sexually assault Jared in The Chronicles booth…

Gonna close it out today with some engine bays like I mentioned at the top…

Arn Reyes’ white on white on white engine bay in his DC2…

A couple more shots of Sheepey’s turbo set-up since I saw some photos over the weekend of a particular S2000 owner on the east coast who is basically copying Alex’s exact turbo set-up…You’re welcome for the shots… If you guys are wondering who it is…think of a S2K out there that looks almost identical to ATS Angel’s S2000…haha…

Mike Schietroma’s bay with a Spoon Sports valve cover signed by Ichishima Tatsuru…

Ryan Der’s new white valve cover and coil over plug set-up…I love the blue beauty washers that are used throughout the car, from the interior to the bay all the way to his ignition coils…

Chris Sakai’s wrinkle black-themed bay…

…his breather and catch can set-up…

…and his custom Trick Flow fuel set-up…Note the hardware and the spacers used for fuel pressure regulator position in relation to how the fuel filter is mounted…all very minor touches that add up to a great overall bay…

Custom teal powder-coated horns for Anh’s individual throttle bodies…

Closing it out today with a shot of ATS Angel’s matte black TE37s and blue Project Mu brakes…

That’ll be all for today. Back with the final installment of the Nisei Showoff 2011 coverage tomorrow…

Anyways, moving on with the photos…

One more look at the DPK and ATS Garage guys in the “Present” section of GENERATIONS…

I was overjoyed to see the SSR Super Mesh wheels back on Ejay’s Integra…Of all the different sets that he’s had, I always felt like these wheels were the perfect look suited for his DA…

A better look at Jeff Campbell’s DC2…Love the engine bay and all the purple/blue -aN fittings and hose ends. It’s crazy how unsuspecting this car looks with the hood down. When he pops the hood it’s a completely different car…

I never get tired of seeing Parnell’s DA…I’m happy to see that it has aged well and hasn’t gotten beat up like some other Hondas…

One of the cool things about having a smaller crowd at an event is that you can actually stand there and look at a car in detail without being interrupted by someone or have someone stand in front of you, blocking your view. That’s usually what happens whenever I’m around Mike G.’s hatch but at Nisei, I was able to get some pretty good shots of “Tank” under the hood…

The Plan:B Motorsports billet valve cover with custom coil-over-plug set-up…

I thought all the bullet-ends on the bolts, dipstick, and oil cap were a cool touch. Definitely adds character to the bay…

Custom shock tower bar from ASC Speed Metal with “TANK” welded onto the center of it…here you have a better look at the oil cap….

Here you can get a better look at all the bullet-ends that serve as bolt caps…Also note the cap over the distributor…

ICB Matt’s Civic…Never thought I’d see the day where a Chronicles sticker would be placed on the same windshield as a DOHC Garage sticker…

Jorge Hernandez’s Civic and a shot of his bay with the classic Abbey Road Company intake and induction box…

Kane Chan’s EJ1 coupe…

Royal Origin 350Z on VIP Modular wheels…

E36 BMW on VIP Modular wheels…

Meet the owner of this FG2 Civic, Alex, while I was walking around doing coverage. Dude was telling me how he moved down from Washington state and what not and his experiences being out in Cali…nice guy…

Saw this NSX on aggressive white TE37s for the first time at this year’s Nisei Showoff… The owner of this NSX was parked in the same ditch that Sheeps was parked in. That’s why it looks like his car is taking a hard turn and leaning hard on one side…In fact, you can see Sheep’s S2K in the background and it looks like they are tandem drifting…

Yellow S2000 decked out in (hopefully legit) ASM aero all around…Good looking S2000 with individual throttle bodies and all…

It was good to see Darren Wong’s EM1 out at Nisei since he was having some problems with his C.O.P. set-up during FF Battle 3…I talked to him for a little bit and he told me that he figured out what the issue was and the car was running pretty good…

It definitely wasn’t over crowded at any point in time during the day. Here you can see the scattered crowds and groups of people talking…

Anh’s ITR was a hit throughout the day…

VW on some rare 16-inch VIP Modular wheels…

The 2nd Gen. Lexus GS was probably the most popular of the VIP-themed rides at Nisei….I don’t want to say that they were “everywhere” but there was definitely a strong showing from them…

DPK David DJing with his homie at one of the ItsJDMYo!!! booths…

Ms. Tracy Linh was one of the models present in the ItsJDM Yo!!! section…

A couple cars representing ItsJDMYo!!! x 1-Up crew…

Andrew Lim’s gold Supra…

Peter and Theresa’s LS1-powered S14…

Enrique Rosario’s EG…Always good to see that guy because he’s always all-smiles…

Loi Song from Sportcar Motion taking a Facebook break in the shade…

I really wanted you guys to take a closer look at one of my favorite cars at Nisei Showoff 2011, which is this IS350 that belongs to Jonathan “JonJon” Usaha…It’s a great example of a well-rounded VIP build….

I’ve been a fan of this car ever since last year’s RPM show in Irvine and it’s good to see that his IS has continued to evolve…

Love the Weds Kranze Vishunu wheels and the custom neo-chrome Endless big brake calipers….

Junction Produce-themed interior…

Quick shot of ATS Garage member Chris Sakai’s front end and engine bay…

Gonna close it out today with a couple shots of this DC2, which is owned by Twee… This Integra has come a long way and is now wearing a newer Acura RSX Jade Green Metallic tone…

…and is also now K-powered. I thought the air intake was a little odd but overall, the bay is getting there…

A quick interior shot of her Integra…

That’s all for today, back tomorrow with more…

Yes, this is it, the final installment of the Nisei Showoff 2010 coverage. It’s been quite a week, filled with coverage from one of the best car shows today. I’m gonna wrap the coverage up today with just a couple more pictures for you guys. I’m actually putting this together as I type in a hotel in Northern California. I decided to take a break and go 6 hours up north to chill for a bit and soak in the nice weather up here. It is hot as shit right now and heat and I just aren’t a very good mix. I wanted to finish this off and not skip a day so even though I’m away, I’m still updating. It’s the least I can do considering how crazy the traffic to this site has been lately. Anyways, enough with that, here are the rest of the pics….

I absolutely love the new look of Salem’s TSX…the J’s Racing front is definitely different but it gives the TSX such a menacing look…

The whole car is basically a moving J’s Racing catalog for the TSX…The white on white kind of gives it a much more subtle look but there is so much more lurking within…

Yes, I’m sure you guys have had thoughts that maybe he should go slightly lower and I must agree. I think the lower stance would give the car a much better look. I’ve talked to Salem a bunch of times about it already. The only thing is that it is already corner-weighted and balanced for his specific set-up. If he were to lower it some more he would have to go back and redo everything and that isn’t exactly cheap…

As the day was drawing near the close of the event, we began to take everything down. The award ceremony was going to start soon so we wanted to make sure to get up there and see who won…

While I was putting some stuff away in Salem’s TSX, we spotted this copy of Assparade #25 in his trunk. I guess his “friend” worked at a place that distributes that stuff so he got ahold of some copies…

…he also had this copy of a Brazzers DVD and I was like, “fuck it”, let’s see if anybody wants to buy this shit…What’s better than pornstars? Pornstars that like it big of course, this has to sell…

I walked over to the Praxis guys and they had a group nervous laughter about it, like when you want to buy some porn but your homies are around and everyone is trying to act like they don’t beat…

Then I asked Yee, who came all the way down to visit, and he thought hard about it, HARD….but then he said that it would disgrace his people who are from the “Hmong-tains” as he calls it. They traditionally can’t not beat off to any person who isn’t Asia Carrera and/or “likes it big”. I say Asia Carrera because his people are still stuck in mid-90s era pRon…haha…man that’s fucked up…

So I shouted out to Freddie from Autofashion, who was at the booth next to us, and I was like… “Yo, you want a copy of Pornstars Like it Big??”…

He was like…”What? Nah man…I actually already got that copy right here!” I guess it was a popular DVD…What are the odds?…

Okay, so it was awards time. Antonio from Motor Mavens did his usual routine of announcing the awards and I actually walked back to go make sure my stuff was all there still and to finally go take some pictures of cars. This was actually a perfect time to go because the lighting wasn’t so harsh and most of the people there would be up in the trophy area already…

Saw this Evo there wearing Voltex armor…this thing is dying for a wing. It just looks incomplete with the Voltex aero and no wing…

Another shot of Sam’s Spoon front…

Art’s S2000…

A couple of IS sedans and a Supra from the ItsJDMYo area…

The Autofashion line-up…

Why not another shot of Sam’s wheels and brakes…

Alexisthemovie was helping Antonio get some quick shots for his own personal blog…

Really clean, traditionally done-up DC2…

Really nice Accord wagon I always see…Heard he was getting a swap done soon too and he asked for Rywire for all the details on a harness and what not. Can’t wait to see that when it’s done…

Nice hatch on M7s…

Phil Robles’ track Civic…

This Lotus on Work RSZ-R wheels was badass. He has gunmetal ones on this side and on the other side he has the same Work wheels in white…

ATS*Ferd with his hood back on…

Milton’s 350Z…

LOVE THIS THING!…Oh man, this had to be one of the best cars at the show…Everything thing about it man, I love it…

Gotta give props to some of these guys who have been doing this for longer than any of us can remember…

Billy’s IS300 right before he won his “Showoff Auto” award, which is about the equivalent of a “best of show”…

Danny from Norcal’s Laguna Seca Blue 4-door…

I know one of you guys mentioned in one of the comments that I didn’t take any pictures of Juan Lemus’ del Sol. Well unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to go over to his area to take a good shot, but I did catch the car leaving…

One final shot of that sick ass TL that was in the Autofashion booth…

By this time, everyone was walking back over to their respective areas as awards came to an end. One dude that ran back in total shock was Sam. He was so excited that he won that he was running around hugging everyone. Guy acted like he just won the fucking lottery…haha. Or he won the NBA Championship or something. It was cool as shit to see him so excited. I guess we have all been a part of the culture so long that we’ve almost become kind of numb to the idea of winning. Sure it’s cool to win, but Sam truly appreciated it and took it for everything it was. The dude had his car plowed by a Jeep not too long ago on the street, and then the night before Nisei, someone rear ends him. And he still came out to show support and even won an award. It’s awesome man, congrats Sam. You really did deserve it…

Sam with his Best ES/FG award…

Tony won once again as well. I think he won “Sports Car Showoff” or something to that extent. Rack up another one for Tony, he’s had a great year…

Big Mike didn’t even expect to win anything and he came back with a Best Honda award. If anyone has had a good year, it would have to be Big Mike. Not only did he win Best Honda at Nisei 2010, he also won Best Honda at Wek’Fest. Both very prestigous awards that are terribly hard to win and Big Mike pulled it off. That speaks volumes for his build and the execution of his Prelude. It truly is one of the best around and he totally deserves the best that comes to him…

After that, people began to roll out and some of us stuck around to shoot the shit for a bit. We weren’t in any real rush to get home so we just decided to let all the other cars go first. After I got home, I knocked the fuck out and missed the festivities at DPK David’s house and the birthday party for Armando Flores Jr….

That’s all folks. I just want to thank everyone that has continued to show support for this site and those of you who came by the booth to either purchase some goods, or even just to pass a kind word in my direction. I spoke to so many people that day and it’s good to hear that so many of you enjoy the site. If I didn’t get a picture of your car, don’t take offense or be angry, I just had so much to do that day that I definitely know I missed out on a lot of cars. I would personally like to thank Salem, Big Mike, Tony Khamly, Arnel, Jared, and Sam for being in my booth and helping represent The Chronicles and The Top Ten Hondas of year’s past and present. Also would like to thank May, Doug, Travis, Ejay, Jenny, and everyone else that helped run the booth that day and help me set up and tear down. You guys are amazing and I am honored to have you in my life. Alright, time to go enjoy my mini-vacation in Norcal. Hope you guys enjoyed the coverage, I’m out….PEACE.

Remember…The Chronicles…Nobody does it better!

]]> http://stickydiljoe.com/2010/08/19/nisei-showoff-2010-coverage-part-4/ Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:52:30 +0000 stickydiljoe http://stickydiljoe.com/2010/08/19/nisei-showoff-2010-coverage-part-4/

Alright, back with part 4 of the Showoff coverage. Thanks to you guys we’ve had 3 consecutive record-breaking days for hits. I can’t thank you guys enough for showing your support for The Chronicles. With that said, let’s take a look at one of my nifty banners from the show and then let’s move on to more pics. Today will consist of more randomness and a couple of cars. Tomorrow will consist of more cars because I actually had more time to take pics of cars as the majority of the crowd remaining was over in the stage area for trophies….

A 201×13 -1954684 offset VS-XX wheel that Ralph had on display…I stuck my head into the barrel and I could see China on the other end…

A pair of S2000s from AS1. The top one belongs to some guy that I don’t know the name of and the one below is Alexisthemovie’s…

Alex is always pulling off some ridiculous fitment on his S2000…

Nice EM2 from AS1…

Haven’t seen a clean Civic from Hybrid in awhile…Notice the two-tone bay and the modified shock towers…

Was this the Civic that Yee brought down? Not sure…but it’s got potential…

This candy apple red paint job looked crazy on this DC…hope he garages this thing…

Ralph brought out these two Accord wagons with his custom re-barreled M7s…

Another shot of 20×13 VS-XX…

Really nice S2000 from Hybrid. I think this car may have been overlooked by a lot of the people at the show because it was burried in their display with all kinds of signs and blockades and shit…

Emerson taking some shots for his site…

Billy’s IS…

Linda’s Matrix, which ended up taking home an award…

People’s shadows getting into my shot…

Big Mike’s bay…not the greatest picture…

Salem’s J’s Racing wing…

Probably the most random combination ever…

Salem…

The Chronicles booth was busy all day…

…even though it was filled with people I already know…

Tony looking for the next great upskirt shot…

Me taking a picture of myself behind Big Mike and Salem…bam, mind-fucked….Actually, it looks like I’m a concierge at a hotel here looking up a room reservation for the two of them, who apparently are cuban drug lords trying to escape the policia. Yeah, pictures are worth a 1000 words and that’s the direction I went in…yuuup…

I don’t know what happened here. Apparently I walked into my own picture…

Mugen bolts on a the Ruckus…

…and Bride seats…

Billy’s HKS T51R turbo…

Matty trying to wash down those shit crackers he just ate…I tried one of those things and they’re like circles of cardboard death…

Perverts with cameras…

Maureen having some fun towards the end of the show…

The sun was starting to come down and the awards were coming up…I’m gonna stop here for today and then finish it up tomorrow with the final set of pics from Nisei Showoff 2010. Thanks for looking everybody and stayed tuned…

Damn, I still have so many pictures to post from Nisei 2010. I had no idea I even took that many pictures. I have even taken the liberty of getting rid of a couple that I thought would be better off not used. Traffic has been amazing on this site lately and I couldn’t be happier with the feedback from the event. The pics above is actually Loi posing in front of this old crackhead white guy that was dancing to hip-hop provided by the Autofashion booth. Nobody had any idea how he got in there or why for that matter, but he was taking all the free shit from various booths and was just acting a fool by himself. He looked like he was on a good trip. He even took Yee’s water from him…

Here’s another cosplayer from some other cartoon I don’t give a shit about…I showed May this picture and she said it’s the guy from Bleach. I don’t know or care so I’ll have to take her word for it…

Today’s portion of the coverage will be based more on the Hondas. Around this time of the meet I actually took some time to walk around and take a more indepth look at the builds along with Big Mike and Tony…Here’s another quick shot of Salem’s TSX…

Tony’s NSX and his engine bay…the sun hit pretty hard at this time so the pictures have been processed slightly differently so that the light doesn’t take away from the detail of the cars…Hope you guys enjoy it this way…

Big Mike’s Prelude…

Jared’s S2…

Arnel’s hatch…

Another random shot of Sam’s RE30…

CR-X that looks like it makes huge power…

Kane’s timeless coupe…

Mr. JDM Wong of Super Street fame finally got the Nisei win that he has longed for…I believe he won the equivalent of a “Best JDM-themed vehicle” award…

TL with some crazy fitment in the Autofashion booth…

Loved the brake and wheel set-up on this GS…

Beautifully-done drag Civic…

Anthony from Infinit Wheels owns this clean Toyota Corona…

Kingdingaling’s bay…Fucking thing was spotless…

Jorge’s Civic…I believe he won the Best EG Civic award later that day…

A quick look at Auto Concept Elite’s display and their award-winning cars…

Levin from Infinit Wheels…

Abe’s bay…

Ejay’s, now with the H back in it after he blew it up last time…

ATS*Ferd’s…

DPK David…

ATS*Ron I think…

DPK JP…

One of my favorites of all time…Airbag Club aka Ryan Der’s EK…

Another personal favorite, Chris Sakai’s EK… I think I’ll be seeing this EK in the near future…Between Ryan and Chris, it’s a toss-up for best EK build of 2010…

A closer look at Anh’s Integra and his new system with red stitching and all…From a pure car show perspective, in terms of points and overall build, Anh’s Integra is basically untouchable at this point. He’s got all the facets covered except for custom paint. There isn’t anyone out right now that would even come close to being competiton for him…yeah, you heard it correctly. Just overall theme, build, parts, system, everything…you can’t touch him right now…

Jason’s wife Integra…I did a feature on this car not too long ago and now it looks completely different once again. Bay has been redone entirely and it looks great…

Sunny from Franklin Autobody in Norcal came down with the ATS guys and he brought out his bagged Insight…

I couldn’t get enough of ATS*Angel’s S2000…this thing is absolutely amazing! So aggressive with the custom widebody, the concave mag blue CE28Ns, and ITBs. Can’t forget the J’s Racing pieces either, and the beauty washers on the fender…Amazing…They said he drove all the way down from Norcal with on those ITBs with no issues…I love this car, no joke. He ended up winning the Best S2000 of the show too. Antonio said he didn’t know which S2000 it was when he announced the award but seriously, how can you not miss this car?…

As I walked over to snap a shot of ATS AJ’s Integra, I ran into none other than Gene Tjin. Nice to see that a guy who has built so many great cars of all makes and models and still come out to Nisei and appreciate a nice Honda build…

AJ’s bay…

Can’t forget about Darryl from DPK…I didn’t even know he was showing but I guess he decided to show up and whore his Mugen…

That’s all for today, hope you enjoyed the actual car side of the show…haha. Make sure to look below too because there’s another post below with a couple of larger desktop-sized images of some cars from Nisei. These were the pics that kind of stood-out to me while I was processing them and decided to post these up for you guys in appreciation of 2 consecutive record-breaking days of hits. We shattered the mark the first day and then followed it up with even more hits. Thank you everybody and enjoy the larger pictures in the post below…

Back with more tomorrow. Still plenty more to come…and I mean PLENTY…

Also make sure to check out the store that’s been re-opened with the Nisei Edition Chronicles sticker as well as restocked shirts (now in 2XL)… The Chronicles Storefront

Larger Size (1400×933)

Larger Version (1400×933)

Larger Size (1400×933)

Larger Size (1400×933)

Larger Size (1400×933)

So happy I got that mesh screen/wall thing for our canopy. It actually helped out a lot with ventilation and provided more shade for us in the heat…

There were some pretty nice Ruckuses a couple booths down from us…

Bobby 8oate talking to Jared…

I handed the camera off to Doug for a little bit while I ran the booth, and he walked around and snapped some pics of this custom re-barreled BBS wheel…

…and the NOS models…

…where Natalia Marie apparently was talking about some dude’s junk…

I saw this crazy orange Corolla Levin while I was rolling up to the show and I’m glad Doug got a picture of it because I didn’t see it while I was walking around. I didn’t even know it had an F20C in it, this thing is bad ass…especially with those TE37Vs in all bronze…

After Doug came back, I asked him to help me watch the booth with Tony and Salem while we went out to grab some food…On our way out, we ran into Rywire and he came along as well…

We walked over to where the Nisei festivities were going on and ended up at The Frying Fish. It’s this hole in the wall spot where they make you sushi and place it on a conveyor-type system and the food just revolves around you…

I’m not really sure what Big Mike ordered but it was either spicy, sour, or hilarious…

After finishing our sushi, we walked next door to grab some cold drinks and ice cream…The guy working behind the counter apparently doesn’t like to tell you which flavor is good or want to help anyone at all because he was acting like a total bitch to Jared. The sad and funny part is that people who work at food establishments often treat Jared like that, it’s a gift and a curse…haha…

We walked outside and spotted this Samurai guy doing some slow motion tai chi dancing with this cosplay lady who was dressed like some cat lady from a cartoon I don’t give a shit about. The Japanese dad in the corner was looking at his wife and looked fearful for the future of civilization…

As I walked to another spot to grab some food for Tony, we ran into this creepy black dude with blue hair and nipples so erect he was possibly lactating and ready to feed. We overheard him telling the Japanese school girl that he was going to give her a “digi-gasm”, which is awkward and filled with rape…

When we got back to the show, we ran into the PGK guys from the east coast. Big Mike was saying what’s up to PGK Moe and looked at me when he realized that it was actually PGK Marqious. Awkward much?…

Loi came out to enjoy the show…

Big Mike chatting with Fred and some of the other ATS guys…

:|

Freddie counting down how many more seconds he gave David to speak to him about his GS he’s never gonna start building…

The Autofashion line-up…

Crazy ass fitment on this TL. I saw this thing rolling and it looked nuts…

Natalia Marie…

Ryan Ordinario’s EF…

David, Jackie, and a friend wondering how Arnel drives with no fan…

Sam’s mag blue RE30s and Spoon combo…I’m happy to see that these wheels are on there now and not the Mugen wheels. This flows much better with the car, especially for someone going with a full Spoon theme…

Junior came by to drop off some stuff and hang out in the shade for a bit…

Love this car, I’m starting to see it more and more now that he constantly shows with Tony and ItsJDMYo. No complaints here…

Norcal heads…

I’ve seen this 4-door a couple times before but I finally had the opportunity to take a closer look at it and I like it. The black Weds are a nice touch…

Phil Robles came out to show at Nisei which was kind of a surprise being that he is usually just a dedicated track guy and doesn’t normally do shows. I love this build and it has all the right combination of parts on it. It also helps that Phil is a super cool guy to talk to and always happy to be out at events…

This is Kingdingaling’s Civic… I think I only met him briefly when he picked up a shirt from me but I guess he’s a big fan of The Chronicles. I love the engine bay set-up on his car. It first caught my eye at Eibach and I couldn’t stop staring at it when I saw it at Nisei…

I wish I got to chance to hear this thing fire up. I can’t wait to stand in front of his car when he turns it on so that shit can blow in my face…

Abe from Infinit Wheels with his newly airbrushed hood…

ATS*Ferd’s Del Sol always looking fresh…

I actually have a bunch more, more indepth shots of the ATS cars but that will come later. For now here are some random snaps as I walked by…

ATS Anh’s DC…

Anh might be the only person out there that has a custom Chronicles sticker just for himself…haha. The guy loves teal…

He even has a touch of teal on his CE28Ns…

Soloman’s Accord…

Jason’s engine bay…this is random but he has the longest username on NWP…if you attempt to PM him your computer will explode…

Parnell’s DA…it’s rare to see this car out and about nowadays but you can always expect to see it at Import Showoff. I think he won Best DA 5 years in a row before the 2010 event…

Guys from 1320Racing…

Making sure the G35 has adequate tire pressure…

Hybrid hunny…

Gonna stop here for today with another shot of Sam’s Civic…I promise the pics get way better. I have so many to go through and the rest of it is mainly Honda stuff with more detail shots of engine bays and all that good shit…back tomorrow…

]]> http://stickydiljoe.com/2010/08/16/nisei-showoff-2010-coverage-part-1/ Tue, 17 Aug 2010 01:24:01 +0000 stickydiljoe http://stickydiljoe.com/2010/08/16/nisei-showoff-2010-coverage-part-1/ So the 2010 Nisei Showoff has wrapped-up and I must say, everything went quite smoothly. Considering all the work that went into getting everything together for the booth and what not, things on show day went off without a hitch. Ken Myoshi and I had planned to do a special Chronicles booth where we would spotlight some of the previous Top Ten Hondas from the past year and the homies and I got together and we pulled it off. The hardest part was getting the cars together. Some were non-commital, some didn’t know if their cars would be done in time, and some didn’t even have their cars anymore. I had two cars drop out the last minute because they just couldn’t get their cars running right in time and I didn’t want them to drive a far distance and put themselves at risk so I had to look for replacements. I had a number of guys in mind but again, they either weren’t ready or they just couldn’t make it down. Luckily I had some good friends pull through and come day of show, I think the line-up looked great. I was up until about 5:30 or so the night before the show cutting stickers and making sure everyone had their stuff so I ended up oversleeping until about 7:15am. I was supposed to be there from 6:30-7 but like usual, I was late…Ken was looking for me and asking some of my booth cars where I was at and I hauled ass to get down there. By the time I made it there, it was probably 8:30 or so and we began to set up. Here’s a pic of our line-up that I snapped right after we finished…

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…not the best picture in the world but I was occupied with other things. From left to right we have; Salem with his newly updated J’s Racing-themed TSX (2008 Top Ten Honda), Big Mike’s Prelude (2009 Top Ten Honda), Tony and his NSX (2009 Top Ten Honda), very special guest and very good friend of ours Jared and his S2000, Arnel’s Civic (2008-2009 Top Ten Honda), and Sam Ip’s Civic sedan from As1, who is well on his way to making the 2010 class of The Chronicles list. I had asked Sam to be a part of our line-up but he almost didn’t make the show. He was on PCH the night before and someone had actually rear-ended him. Unless you really walked around the car and looked at the rear bumper, you probably wouldn’t even have noticed it was damaged. We decided that he should come out regardless of the accident because he had worked so hard on getting it repaired after his other accident and it would be a shame if he let this minor accident prevent him from showing at Nisei…

A lot of time and effort went into putting this together and I honestly couldn’t be happier with the end result. The section looked to be a hit and we had heavy traffic all day with people buying Chronicles gear and checking out some of the best Honda builds in the country. I was busy manning the booth with May and the rest of the homies early on in the day so I really didn’t have a chance to walk around and take pictures, so the majority of the first part of the Nisei 2010 coverage will just be random stuff I caught and people shots, like I usually do. I didn’t go and look at most of the cars on the other side until later on in the day, so if I somehow missed you in the coverage, I apologize. I was busy throughout the day and just couldn’t capture everything that I wanted to…

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Initial set-up, we were basically finished with the tent and tables and all that, just had to make sure Arnel got there…

A look inside our canopy. May made Munkey Munch, cookie brownies, and cookies for people that wanted to stop by and say what’s up or buy stuff…

Jonathan Wong from Super Street came by to chat and I snapped a shot of his shirt. For the younger cats out there, you probably don’t know what those logos represent but they are actually old school car crews that have been around long before you even knew how to drive or were into modified imports. These guys have been “down since day one” and Jonathan got them altogether to represent at what might be the last Nisei Showoff at this location…

Here is some of their line-up that day. Advan RGs, Fins, RnRs, and other timeless mods that keep their builds frozen in time back to their era when Hondas were clean and simple…

Bill’s award-winning IS300 and the ItsJDMYo booth right across from us…

Salem’s brand new J’s Racing front bumper… This bumper and the rear J’s wing changes the entire look of this car. Can’t wait to see more of Salem’s TSX at the track. I’m proud of this guy, one of the few that actually come through on every modification that they plan and don’t really let obstacles prevent him from reaching his goal…

Big Mike rockin’ the new 2XL Chronicles shirts, which will go up in the store very soon…If you’re a bigger dude, better jump on these while they’re available. I actually sold quite a few at Nisei…

DPK David biked over to say what’s up…When I say “what’s up”, I mean he kinda sat there and talked on the phone…=P

Billy…

The finalized line-up minus Salem’s TSX. There was a bunch of people staring at it and I couldn’t get it in the shot…You can see AutoFashion right next to us in the distance…

Norman, who I owe a big thanks to for helping me get ahold of Sam so that he could rep in the Top Ten Showoff section…The drinking at 11am is something I wonder about though..haha…

DPK Slappy aka Andrew was out and about all day snapping pics for MayDay Garage. I think he said he took like 1400 pictures or something…crazy…

Spotted a couple USDM Jam guys from Japan taking pics of the cars. I didn’t see Tetsuya around so I guess only a couple of the Japanese heads flew out…

Jimmy from Team Praxis looking all angry and shit…

Rywire helping Arnel put his stickers on…

Sam’s FD2 conversion and Spoon Sports bumper…

Hmmm…

Happy to see my homies represent…

The yellow tape was a little ghetto but we didn’t take into account that we had nothing to keep the banner up…haha…

Aaron Bonk from Skunk2 came by to chat…He gave us more details on the Skunk2 Unmeet that’s happening next month. I’ll probably post something up about it soon for you guys that want to come by and hang out…

Arnel’s bay is always a hit…

Thanks to Doug for always being helpful and taking scandalous pictures of models…

Jared with his original rear NSX-spec Mugen M7s on both the front and back of his S2000…

Matty chatting…

Haze from AS1…

DPK David’s cousin Chris’ little boy…

Big Mike…

Salem’s J’s Racing Edition Personal wheel…

Matty and Billy…

Everyone came out to check out Nisei, even Norman from N1 Concepts…

West coast hood poppers…

Art’s track-prepped S2000…

Not sure what they were talking about but ATS*Junior thought it was hilarious…

Maureen Chen was a special guest of Tony’s ItsJDMYo booth and even helped present the trophies at the end of the day…

More of Arnel’s car, including his -AN fitting into a Rockstar can…haha…

AS1 Sam…

Big Mike talking to a rep from Inline4…perhaps working on something for next year…

Gonna stop here for today…the chick that belongs to this ass was pretty irritating. She was running around passing out flyers all day for Asianmodelpalooza or some shit. Everytime she walked by she would try to hand me one of those fuckin things…I told her like 8 times I already got one and she still insisted on giving me one…

Anyways, that’s it for today. I promise it gets better when I actually start walking around later in the day. That and we ran into some random cosplay people during lunch that you gotta see, well if you’re into weird shit like that…A lot more Honda coverage this time around too….stay tuned…

]]> http://stickydiljoe.com/2009/08/20/nisei-showoff-2009-coverage%e2%80%a6part-3%e2%80%a6/ Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:09:16 +0000 stickydiljoe http://stickydiljoe.com/2009/08/20/nisei-showoff-2009-coverage%e2%80%a6part-3%e2%80%a6/ Words – Joey Lee/Photos -  Joey Lee & Michael Cristi

Let’s knock this out shall we? It’s Thursday and there are still pics from Nisei. Hell, the Mega Matsuri show is on Saturday and I’m actually looking forward to it. It’ll be like Nisei without all the pressure to get things done because everyone is still set-up from the week before. No pressure, more laid back, other festivities going on,…it’s gonna be a good one I think.

Today is the final batch of pictures from Nisei Showoff 09…And probably my favorite. I say that because I love covering events, don’t get me wrong, but I also like capturing everything else that’s going on besides the cars. The candids and the random pics are usually the best because they really give people a grasp of what’s happening around the cars. There’s still some cars that I haven’t posted so I’ll get those up first, but make sure to look at the randoms after…Enjoy…

I stopped by the Project Car/Super Street booth to check out the two Hondas on display. The Suzuka Blue one of course is Jonathan Wong’s from Super Street and the red one belongs to Project Car magazine. I guess the CR-X is running now, judging from the ride height and all. I don’t know. It’s usually hammered to the floor when it was trailered in the past. Looking good though. I love the NE-Os on it…

While we’re on the topic of EFs, here’s a one that was running a pretty aggressive boost set-up. The intercooler looks like it’s trying to fight its way out of the bumper..ha…

I still remember this S2k back when it was yellow with blue/yellow Volk GTUs. This thing has been around for a minute now. Judging by the rock chips and what not on the front bumper, the owner actually drives this thing around, which is always pretty cool…

The first time I saw this Accord was back at the JTuned meet couple months ago. Then it had a set of BBS LMs on it and I honestly liked those better on this car. Gave it such a classy look. The fitment of the RG2s is really good though…

Nice S2k but I really don’t understand how it won an award over a couple others that were there. I like the theme of it but the wheel fitment is horrible. There’s aggressive wheel fitment and then there’s making your car look like a monster truck. Don’t really understand what happened but what do I know….=P

This Prelude belongs to Jed Peralta. He used to have a candy red CB Accord and he sold it to build this thing. Great wheel fitment and wheel choice…I offered to shoot his car awhile back just for fun but he kinda like didn’t seem to interested…Oh well guess my pics are good enough…haha…

I was looking forward to seeing this Accord at the show. I was watching his rebuild thread and after it got out of paint, I only saw like one picture of it from the NastIE Garage meet. It came out great. I’ve never seen this kit of a two-door CD before. I think with a different set of wheels, it would look alot better but it’s on the right track…

This is Jesse’s coupe from Cali Love. I always hear mixed things about this car but I like it. Personally not my style but the work speaks for itself. It’s a nice all around build. Interior is really nice too…Would look great with the front end all one color…

My car kinda sucks already but parking next to this thing certainly didn’t help. Shout-out to N1 Concepts…they’re really nice guys and always very courteous to our group…

I saw this EF awhile back at Norman from AS1′s garage when he was working on this thing. I heard it wasn’t gonna be ready for Nisei but I guess they ended up finishing it. I loved how it looked on the NR10s…The Fins are okay but now it looks a little too much like JDM Wong’s EF. The gold valve cover is a nice touch though. Doesn’t really flow with the rest of the car but I can understand why they did it…

One more shot of Travis’ Fit that I missed on the previous update…

…and another shot of these two guys that came down from Norcal. I didn’t really take pics of the white twin turbo hatch…why? Ehh..

Ahh, now for the random stuff. Sometimes I’d rather just stand around and take pics of stuff going on so here it is…

Ron and Celine from Team Supastar actually got married the day of the show so their cars were obviously absent, but it didn’t stop them from showing up and having a walk-through of the show. I wouldn’t ever do this because I think my marriage would not last more than a day if I went to a carshow on the day of my wedding. That and my girl would probably punch me in the neck if I even mentioned it. I’d also be a grumpy fuck because I would hate life wearing a full suit in that kind of heat. Did I mention that if I get married and my friends went to a car show instead of my wedding I would fuck their souls in the afterlife? Oh yeah, I would definitely find a way…Congrats though Ron and Celine. Drinks all around…

I didn’t get any shots of Norman from AS1 doing anything creepy or awkward this time around but here he is sitting with the rest of the AS1 guys…

I was walking around and then I ran into DC5 Jared. Here he is showing me which hand he likes to use the most…

Oh here’s another shot of David’s that I missed…

Some DPK love…

I was trying to figure out who this Hmong woman was who was leaning on Reggie’s DC2…

…turns out that it was actually BonB from the east coast. Even he knew that the best shit is out here so he flew out to come see us…haha…That’s probably the same face he made when he saw that picture of Nashville posted in front of his bathroom mirror with his penis tucked away…Fuckin’ sicko…

I was taking this picture of Tony’s wheel and then headed back to our tent to hang out…

Then Tina watched Thomas from Camp1320 yack all over himself and fall on the ground. I think this was her reaction when he was in his yoga pose throwing up…

Not really sure what happened but it was definitely memorable meeting him for the first time and then seeing him vomit. I feel like I know him already. Well at least I know what he ate that day anyway…haha. I actually saw him the next day at Chase’s Deja Vu meet and he was back to normal. You really had to be there to see him in action…haha, let’s just say that he went on a fucking rager…I liked this pic so much that I actually turned it into a wallpaper for you guys…if you want the artsy hi-res version CLICK HERE...

No this isn’t a black and white image, he’s just that pale. Even in like Socal sun and heat, the kid looks like a ghost…haha…

HBK Gabe. That way when he searches for himself on Google again he can at least find a picture of himself…

AS1 Nancy enjoying the show…

Awards were coming up soon so everyone started to clean up and put their hoods back on…Here’s Sid being useful with his one good arm…

DC5 Brian and TJ aka Silentdancer aka “I’ll join your AIM chatroom even though I’m at a club”…

Steve aka “dagreenek” from Washington not very happy with Brian having his arm around him…

Arnel rocking the Honda Tuning sticker because that’s what magazine cover guys do…haha. Congrats all around for Arnel and his Sept. 2009 Honda Tuning cover spread…

Here’s a good shot of Tony’s custom L-Con fabbed center-exit exhaust…He’s also probably the only guy left with an original Import Showoff plate frame…

All the cool guys are rockin it…;)

…See? If you rep The Chronicles, you win awards…

…Sheepey took the Integra/RSX Showoff award…

…Brian took 2nd Place Acura Class…

…and Tony won 1st Place Acura Class…Congrats to all the homies for winning big. Each car was totally deserving…

Oh almost forgot to point out Arnel’s new gold center caps…

After the awards, everyone was just shooting the shit and getting ready to go home…

We ended up being the last ones at the event because the tow company that was supposed to come pick up Tuan’s coupe brought out the wrong truck. We weren’t gonna throw this thing on a non-flatbed so we waited until they came back with one…

Arnel’s EG of course is in the latest issue of Honda Tuning mag but next month will feature another Phaze2 car; Sid’s DA…It was shot a couple months back and you’ll be able to see it in all it’s glory in the Nov. issue…Hopefully Sid’s arm will be healed by then so he can flip the pages haha…

I walked by to take a look at Big Mike’s engine bay one more time while we were cleaning up. This was probably the only time I got to talk to him because he was so busy throughout the day answering questions and talking to everyone…

Alot of helping hands available to help PlusOne Danny load up his coupe…

Tina happy to go home…

Norcal Tweem1 and his life partner qwkdb8 dropped by to give me the finger. Steve swears I was mad dogging him at Eibach this year but now I know what he looks like so I can mad dog the right guy next year. I always thought he was asian for some reason…haha…

We kinda just stuck around and shot the shit for awhile after everyone left. We still had to wait for the tow trucks to come grab Tuan’s coupe and Big Mike’s Prelude. Man I had to piss so bad that I actually went into one of those porto-pottys. Standing inside one of those things after it had been sitting in the heat all day was not the business…haha. Can’t believe someone actually took a shit in there too…gross…

I try not to post pics of my car on this site but some of you had been asking for updates on it so here it is…Nothing really new, just lowered it some more and finally put my curtains in…I just took these while we were waiting since I had nothing else to do…

That about wraps it up…I went back to Mikey’s after and then headed to our late friend Armando’s birthday party. It was pretty cool cuz it was Michael Jackson themed and a bunch of people were dressed up. I left around 1:30am or so and then got stuck in traffic for 2 hours because the 5 freeway was closed to just one single lane. Shit was fucked. I literally was parked on the freeway. I just went to sleep on the 5 and didn’t get home until 3:30am or whatever. You gotta love L.A I guess…haha. Thanks for looking…

If you wanna check out our cars, make sure to come out to Mega Matsuri this Saturday. It might actually be the last time you see HeyMikeyyyy’s car in Socal. He recently sold it but the auto transport has kinda been lagging so he might bring it out to the show…come by and say what’s up….

Ahh back for more…

The only shots I took of Big Mike’s car are of his bay. I know the outside wasn’t really completed yet so we’ll reserve pics of that later on when he gets everything the way he wants it to be… The bay is amazing to see though. The etched valve cover was something that I didn’t even expect….

Everytime a breeze rolled by I’d tell myself that I was gonna go take pics but then as soon as me and some of the homies started walking around it got scorching hot again so I kinda just went back and took some pics in our area haha…

So I just decided to get all our cars first and then set out to go get everything else…

HBK Jon…

Tuan from FASTautoworks…

Some black guy’s car…

I tried getting pics of this car at this year’s Eibach event but there were just too many people around it. I love this thing. So much creativity in the bay and the custom Starks are a nice touch…

Phaze2 DA…stay away from this guy. He’s driving with one arm and shit…

Our group…

Parnell’s DA…

FLOSS’ EK…

Freeway’s DA…

AlexisthefreshoutofthepaintshopwithsomeHREs.com

DC5 Jared and his super glossy S2K…

Nancy’s S2000…

DOODS! Travis and his Fit and I thought I’d throw in Ross’s xB in there cuz he was the guy that stayed up all those nights painting Tony’s NSX…

I was kinda thinking that this car would end up being the same color that Big Mike picked but it turns out that they’re not even close…

Loving this valve cover idea…came out perfect.

Next up is the DPK guys…

DPK Jimmy…

JP from DPK…haven’t seen this car in a while…still looks great…

My boy Sheepey…always down to rep the site and even took off his signature “SHEEPEY BUILT” sticker to rock mine…

Rywire in deep thought standing next to Mike…

And of course this is DPK David’s coupe. This car has been gone for like 6 years now or some shit…haha.

Before we stop today, I thought I’d show you guys some pics of Arn from Abunai Racing’s DC. I was really looking forward to seeing this car after following his build on NWP. It sure didn’t disappoint…

What can I say?…Amazing.

Be back for Part 3 tomorrow. I swear…well barring some more Charter internet bullshit…So yeah, more will come tomorrow…

FINALLY! Haha…fuck, I was busy going through so many pics and then woke up this morning to some sketchy ass internet connection. By the time everything was working I had to go take some pics of a friends car so never had a chance to get this up. I didn’t realize how many people came on this site the past two days until I glanced at the stats this morning. Guess you guys really want your Nisei pics. Before I begin, let me give a big thanks to Antonio Alvendia from Motormavens for giving me, The Chronicles, and the whole Hot Stuff International crew a big shout-out during the awards ceremony at Nisei. It means alot to be recognized in this industry. Also means alot that so many of you were reppin The Chronicles stickers on your cars. Thank you so much. Now, on with the coverage…

Oh before I begin, PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO VIEW THIS ON YOUR PHONE. It is very pic-intensive and I guarantee you that it will brick your phone…haha. Of course I would want it to be phone-friendly but I don’t want to sacrifice image-quality for faster loading times so please try to view this from a computer with a good connection…Anyways…

So all of my Friday afternoon before the event was basically me installing things on my car and cleaning stuff up here and there. I was so busy running around that I didn’t even get to eat the whole day. Luckily before I came back up from SD that morning I had a chance to stop by and grab a burrito. Little did I know that it was my last meal of the day. After I finished up I had to stop by Midnight Garage to check on Tony’s NSX to see if everything was gonna be ready by showtime. We all have been trying to get this thing out to Nisei for the past two years so I made sure to go check on it the night before the show. I definitely wasn’t looking forward to another year without this thing at the show. I’ll be honest I was a bit skeptical about whether this car was gonna make it or not by when I arrived at the shop, I was pleasantly surprised…

Ross was busy wetsanding the NSX and everything looked to be going good…

The bumper looked great with the vents filled and super glossy…

I talked to Ross for a little bit and he told me that everything was good to go. Once it was wetsanded, cleaned, etc., it’ll definitely be ready for tomorrow. He wasn’t lying. I found out later that not only did he finish this car by about 2am, he even found the time to reinstall the supercharger on his xB and cleaned it up for the show. Shit paid off because he ended up winning an award too…this guy seriously does his best work at night…

After I left there, I met up with Mikey at Fast Autoworks because I was staying over at his place that night. I got to Fast around 10 or so I think and they were working on their cars as well…

Little did I know that this would be the last time I saw HBK Jaypee’s DC. If you read my previous post you’ll know that this car actually caught on fire on the way to Nisei and is pretty much dunzo. Don’t know what his plan is now but it’s a shame he worked so hard on it and he never made it. I mean, the car has been down for over a year and it was only a couple miles away from Nisei before it caught fire…

We stayed there for a pretty long time and the guys over at Fast even helped me lower my car some more. I was gonna do it before I went over there but I just ran out of time. Thanks to Kevin, JP, and Jon for helping out. Actually it was just Kevin and JP. Jon just stood there, laughed a lot, and smoked cigarettes…haha. We ended up leaving at around 1am and didn’t get to Mikey’s until like 1:35 or so. I went to sleep for a couple hours and then woke up to go to Nisei…

Roll-in went pretty smoothly. We were still waiting for everyone to show up so we hung out for a little bit before checking in.

I stood around and ate cookies that May had made and then Tony finally decided to show up. If you’ve never heard this thing run then you’re definitely missing out. Just the tone of the exhaust itself was enough to break necks…

Salem talked to Tony a little bit before dropping his car off inside and taking off. He had to get rest and was gonna be busy preparing for Armando’s birthday party…

Once everyone got situated, we lined up and headed inside to get parked…

Tony’s NSX of course…

Some of the cars that were in our line-up…You can see Yee aka yeeTalksonthephonetoomuch and Steve aka dagreenek in the pics above. They came down from Washington to check out Nisei and I had a chance to hang out with these two. Very nice guys. Well Steve was cool. I met Yee and then that dude walked off and was on the phone for like 3 hours while we were all eating dinner the next day….

Nice Tera Patrick tee…haha. Anyways, I didn’t stick around too long after that. We were getting hungry so we took off to go get food at Curry House. Also had a chance to see the festivities with it being Nisei Week and all…

Not really sure what was going on here….Originally I thought I was hallucinating again cuz it was so hot but yup, that’s definitely a japanese dude rocking a man purse. The green dog/rabbit? Totally normal…

Bricks of meat…

On the way back after eating, we saw this thing cruise by…Once I got back to the show, I grabbed the camera to start snapping pics. Again, I am no pro photographer so kiss my ass if you don’t like my pics haha…

Everybody kept calling this thing a turbo all day long…

The bay and wheel shot are of Danny from PlusOne’s coupe. I didn’t get a chance to get a whole shot of the entire car because the car was drawing a big crowd all day. Very nice build, he even ended up taking the EK Showoff award…

Look at this cool guy….I was talking to Sid about how much it must smell under that cast haha…fucking gross…$5 and a free Chronicles sticker to anyone who’s down to just stick their nose in his cast and just inhale for a solid minute…*yack*

Speaking of cool guys that smell, you’re all familiar with Brian’s DC5….

…He recently got his A/C lines tucked and had his mil-spec harness from Rywire installed. The bay is so much cleaner now. I’m gonna try to take some more pics of this car soon to show you guys all the new stuff that’s been done to it…

I’m gonna stop right here for now. So many more pics to come. This is probably like a 3rd or a 4th of the pics. I’m really shitty with fractions because I was busy going through puberty back then and was kinda distracted when they were teaching that shit those days but yeah….definitely more pics to come…

Now let’s get down to the two topics that everyone is wondering about….Big Mike’s Prelude and Tony Khamly’s NSX. Did they make it? Definitely. Tony’s NSX definitely did not disappoint. With the string of bad luck trying to get this thing to Nisei the last two years, it was definitely comforting to finally see this thing finally make it. If this does happen to be the last Nisei, we are all glad that we could finish it off with this NSX there. It was probably the talk of the show and drew huge crowds throughout the day. The car demands attention. People were in awe just from hearing this thing run. I can’t even describe to you the feeling of hearing this thing scream. Tony’s NSX was basically 2 years in the making and I honestly thing that this year was the right year to bring it out. It made it’s mark. They say things happen for a reason and everything that has has brought this car to this point. I couldn’t be happier with the results.

Now let’s talk about Big Mike’s Prelude…I’ll start by saying this: I really didn’t take any pictures of it. Do I not like it? Fuck no. I’ve brought you guys 25 parts and almost 600 pictures documenting this build. If I didn’t believe in the guy I would have never offered to present it to the world. I know Big Mike and know that he is a perfectionist. Down to the last detail. I’ve already showed you pictures of it incomplete and I even told Big Mike at the show that when it’s finished up, I will come to take pictures of it complete. Does that mean the car isn’t complete? Well if you weren’t at the show then it should be clear to you now that it’s not. If you were there, think of it as “part 26″ or whatever of his build. It’s not finished. He and I have had talks about this throughout the week because we realized that he was running out of time. Shit, it’s expected. Everybody knew that it was gonna cut it close. You think a guy like him, meticulous as he is, would honestly want to bring you something incomplete? Hell no. The only reason he brought it out was because there were so many people involved, so many friends, associates, etc. These guys worked so tirelessly to try to get this thing finished that it would be disrespectful to all of them to not bring the car out. Of course you want to come correct at Nisei but you have to give it up to everyone that was involved in this build. Rywire was coming down weekly to work on it, Bisi doing all kinds of stuff for it, Kinsler with their ITBs, all the friends that lost probably a week’s worth of sleep to get this thing going. Just so many people you know? Nevermind me. He didn’t owe me shit.

I know the first thing you guys are gonna say is the color. Yes, it’s not orange. It should have been clear all along that it wasn’t. How much of a tard do you think I am to just accidently leak it out? Haha..I know not everyone is gonna be a fan of the color. I’ll be honest, when I first saw it that shit threw me off too. I fell out of my chair and then I kinda just got up and started running for two days to nowhere just trying to grasp it. Hell, it’s not for everyone and that’s a given. It’s grown on me now of course. I honestly like the old color better but that wasn’t the route he was going for. He wanted you to look at this car and the color definitely makes you look. If you don’t like it that’s fine, but with all the work done besides the paint, you should be able to look past it. If the paint alone is gonna make you say that you don’t like the car, then well….this community just isn’t for you. It’s more than just paint. I’ve seen plenty of other cars that are heavy hitters in this community where the color choice was iffy to me and I still love the car. It’s hardwork that counts, not a shade on a color pallette.

If you felt letdown by the car then I’m sorry. Big Mike definitely didn’t want the car to be in pieces when he brought it out but that’s just how it worked out. It’s not for lack of trying. I feel bad for Big Mike if anything. The guy is meticulous that he was gonna get this thing tuned before the show. He always told himself that he would never trailer a car to the show but he felt it was necessary because it was the right thing to do with all the people that were involved. He wasn’t gonna no-show just because of something as silly as pride. Sometimes you just have to accept that you ran out of time. Shit happens. The fucking car in pieces still shits on most of the cars in this scene just based purely on details and intricacies. The exterior looked incomplete but the interior looked incredible and words can’t even describe how the bay looks. I’m hearing rumblings and talk on the net that Big Mike’s Prelude was a bit of a “letdown”. You only feel that way because I’ve already showed you all the details along the way. If we hadn’t been covering this build and you attempted to see all the little details in it your head would fucking explode. There’s so much more that was completed that hasn’t been covered and when Big Mike is finally ready, I’ll be more than happy to present the rest of it to you. Like I said, if you feel letdown by all of it then I’m sorry. I can’t say I’m completely happy with how it looked at Nisei and I’m sure Big Mike will be the first one to tell you that he’s not happy with it. Time is a motherfucker and it never waits for anyone. If he didn’t bring it out, everybody who had a hand in putting it together would have felt like their time was wasted. I’m sure he’d rather not let those people down. I feel bad for Big Mike. He tried his best. Everyone was sleeping about an hour a day this past week just to get this thing together. People were passed out and sleeping on the driveway from exhaustion.

If you were there and took the time to look at everything, thank you. The car not complete is still worth the look. Sure I didn’t really take pics of it but that’s because I was busy looking at it too. He pretty much filled me in on everything that he was doing but there were some things that i didn’t even expect. I’m very happy with how it came out and it’ll be even better now that he has all the time in the world to finish it correctly. I can’t wait to see the final product. If you have ever built anything on a deadline then you would understand. “Oh I would have just left it at home if it wasn’t finished.” Yeah and you’d be spitting on everyone that worked so tirelessly to help you get the car out there. When it’s all said and done, and the car is 100%, then we’ll talk about it being a dissapointment or not.

Now, on to HBK Jaypee’s Integra. Man I feel bad for the guy. Cars been down for over a year and when he finally get’s it running for Nisei, the car catches on fire on the way there. What a fucking shame. He had just got it running for the first time the night before. We were all there at Fast Autoworks watching him put the finishing touches on it. After I left, I heard it was started and running and it was all ready to go. The morning of on the way there, JP hits a section of the road that causes his car to bottom out. When it hit, the fuel line broke under the car and caused the car to lean out. This made one of the pistons tear ass through the block letting all the oil out of it and with it being hot, running an open header, and the fuel that was coming out of it, the car ignited. All the guys that were with him stopped and tried to put it out with whatever they had, bottled water, energy drinks, etc. I heard HBK Jon was in such shock that he was just staring with his jaw on the floor. Luckily, somebody who had a fire extinguisher on them pulled over to put the fire out. That guy saved this car from being burnt to the ground. There are pics of it when it was burning and I’ll try to get those from the Fast Autoworks guys. What a bummer though. All that work and such a freak accident ruined it all…Don’t know what he’s gonna do now but I feel for the guy. I hadn’t really told anybody this but the night before when I was at Fast Autoworks, I was taking pics of it and I even had a tripod on me but no matter what I was doing, all the shots I took of it were coming out blurry. It’s a little weird honestly. Maybe only one shot came out. Was it a bad omen or a sign? Who knows but it’s definitely strange….

That’s about it, I’m gonna get pictures up later today. I’m still trying to go through all of them. I ended up sleeping at 1:30am the day of Nisei, woke up at 5:30am then was at the show all day. After that, I went to our fallen friend Armando Flores Jr’s birthday party. Shit was tight, it was Michael Jackson-themed and everyone was all dressed up. I left around 1am and then we stuck in traffic for 2 hours because the 5 freeway was closed to one lane. By the time I got home and had everything situated, I didn’t get a chance to sleep until 5am. Then I woke up to go eat with Mikey and the Weksos guys who came down for the show. Somehow I ended up at Chase’s strip-club meet after that, etc. etc. tits, etc. To sum it up, I’m tired as fuck still and the top of my head is burnt to a a crisp. Pics up later today, count on it, check back for it. Do what you gotta do.