I enjoyed all of the events I attended this year but I am always up to check out new ones so if there is a local event that you think I should attend feel free to let me know via the comments or an email.

Parking Lot Pimpin’ 3

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I’m glad Puro reached out via the fanpage and let me know about this event because with Scrape By The Lake missing for 2011 I am not sure how I would have got my fix of hydraulics, candy paint, and daytons otherwise.

Initially the turnout for this show wasn’t huge but the parking lot began to really fill up as the day went on.

I also had the privilege of attending this show with my friends young nephew and it was really cool to see his reaction to cars he liked.

Vagkraft 2011

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Vagkfrat was the second event I attended at the Powerade Centre in 2011 and the first time I had attended Vagkraft since 2010.

The event brought out tons of VAG enthusiasts from all over Ontario and some as far as Montreal.

Additionally the autocross and dyno runs were a great addition to the normal show and shine.

Street Classics Pre ’55 2011

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After hanging around at Vagkraft for a few hours Steve and myself made our way over to Canadian Tire Etobicoke to check out the Street Classics Pre 1955 show, while there we also met up with Rob and the Performance Improvements crew.

This show was much smaller than the last pre-55 show I attended but that may have had something to do with the time we showed up.

Euro and classic in the same day, good day.

CSCS 2011: Round III

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The third round of CSCS 2011 was back in Cayuga and also returning for this event was the grey weather that plagued most of the previous years events.

Eventually things cleared up though and it was business as usual.

The Nextmod/Advance Power House Evo driven by Brian Wong set a new track record at this event opening the doors up for a new record to be set at the season finale.

This event was also the first time I came across those crazy British guys and their awesome Jaguar.

Importfest 2011

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For this years Importfest Basit contacted me early regarding how Stance Is Everything could be involved in the show and I really appreciate him for keeping me in the loop.

Having the opportunity to attend the show on set-up day really put into perspective how much work everyone puts in from organizers/exhibitors to competitors.

The real highlight of this event for me was the amount of positive feedback I got from locals who read the site, it is really encouraging.

Meeting Of The Mazdas

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Even though I posted the coverage of this event quite recently it happened the day right after Importfest.

The Toronto Mazda 3 / Toronto Protege tug of war never ended up happening so we will have to get that settled next year.

Battleground Show & Shine

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Taking place the same day as yet another Stretch & Poke! event the Battleground Performance show and shine had an impressive turnout with a few people doing the back and forth like myself.

I helped judge ‘Best Stance’ at this show as well and like Droptec, and Importfest before it judging for that class wasn’t easy here either.

Stretch & Poke: United We Stance

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United We Stance was the last Stretch & Poke! event of the year and it was a nice exclamation point to the end of their meet season.

Surprisingly a few cars made it out to this event that I had not see at any other in the year which was a nice surprise considering it was an event at the tail end of the season.

Nextmod BBQ 2011

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Peter, Rachel, and the rest of the Nextmod staff held their cards pretty close to their chests in regards to the date for the Nextmod BBQ this year.

Waiting until nearly the end of the season to host the event worked out well for them though as the turnout was massive since they didn’t have to compete with any other events.

And as always free food and drink.

Roadmates Cornroast

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If there is one event I regret showing up late to this year it is the Roadmates Cornroast. Keith (the owner of the car above) mentioned that a lot of cars had left by the time I showed up due to the weather and shortly after I arrived it did start to pour.

Bummer, but I did manage to snap a few photos before the skies opened up.

I will make up for my tardiness next year.

CSCS Finale

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CSCS went out on a high note this year with Shasha Anis setting a new track record with his 350z taking it back from Brian Wong who broke his previous record at the last CSCS event.

If you have not already check out the in car video of that record setting run.

INSANE skill.

Squeaky Clean

Matt (who owns this s2000) decided late in the year to create another show/meet that caters to the ‘stance movement’ in the GTA.

How this show series will pan out in comparison to his previously successful Tuners Against Street Racing show remains to be seen but he did manage to get a few clean cars out to attend the kick off show even though it was pretty darn cold.

Oktoberfest

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As I said in the original Oktoberfest post this event was the perfect send off for 2011.

Just a bunch of friends hanging out in some decent fall weather shooting the breeze and raising a little bit for those who were less fortunate.

My first Chop Shop! event but not my last.

That wraps up the event coverage recap for 2011.

Thanks everyone for following along and contributing in 2011 and Happy New Year.

Only three months until the active season starts to kick back into gear…

While I did my best to make it to most of the major local events (as well as some of the underexposed ones) it was pretty much impossible for me to attend them all, luckily a few people helped me out with great Guest Coverage again this year.

This post will be a chronological run through of the first twelve events I attended in 2011.

Performance World 2011

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God bless the people who take the time to get their car ready for Performance World every year and further bless those who actually drive to and from the show in the terrible weather.

Performance World 2011 was actually the last year the event would be called Performance World  with the show being re-branded as the ‘MegaSpeed Custom Car & Truck Show‘ for 2012.

I have approached the shows new organizers about some class sponsorship so I will keep you guys up to date with what is going on there.

Droptec Show & Shine 2011

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April sounds like spring right? Wrong.

This event was cold as hell but luckily Droptec has very loyal following of people willing to brave the cold for their annual show & shine.

Stretch & Poke 2011 #1

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The first Stretch & Poke! event of the year was highly anticipated with a lot of people (including myself) using it as a place to debut new setups.

The aggressive fitment crowd in Toronto really stepped their game up this year and S&P helped embrace that by holding an astounding 5 separate events.

Krown Lakeshore Show & Shine

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This event which took place the same day as the meet mentioned above and was held by a good friend of mine. The proceeds went to a chairty close to my heart (Sick Kids Foundation) so it was a must attend.

Chris received a lot of support from his own team (Team JH Society) for this show along with the Krown Lakeshore team.

Props to Chris for successfully wearing the show organizer hat in 2011 and all the best for the 2012 show.

Fleetwood Country Cruize In

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While at Performance World Lyndsey picked up a flyer this show which took place close to her home town of Dorchester Ontario. From the looks of the flyer I figured the show would be ‘pretty big’ but I had no idea it would be the largest show I would attend in 2011.

Steve Plunkett’s personal collection of Cadillacs alone rivals that of a small car show.

Eventually I threw in the towel and put the camera way to just enjoy the show… and some kettle corn.

CSCS Opener 2011

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Most people will remember this event for the now (in)famous Subaru roll over but that unfortunate incident aside it was a great season kick off for CSCS.

The warm rain free forecast lead to a packed road course and drag strip as well as record setting attendance numbers.

Liam of Dorimoto had a great day drifitng and just so happens to be building a new drift car right now.

Stretch & Poke 2011 #2

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Stretch & Poke! continuing to embark down the ambitious goal of hosting five events in one season managed to rival the attendance of their first meet with this second showing.

They were also cross promoting Import Expo at this show as if I recall it was the weekend after.

Sic Ryde stole the show in my eyes for randomly showing up with trunk full of Popeyes chicken!

Niagara Truck & Tuner Expo

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A big shout out to Nine O Five Rides for allowing me to be a part of their first show in 2011. At this event I had a chance to catch up with Erik and Ty at this event as well as members of Southern Ontario’s minitruck community.

I also got a chance to hang out with Steve Wharton of e11even11 photography which is hard to do during the summer months due to his hectic shooting schedule.

Hopefully this event is back for 2012 and we can have a few more ‘lowest’ classes.

Too Fast Custom Car Show

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The Powerade Centre held host to a number of events this year the first being the Too Fast Custom Car Show put on by SLC Productions.

I had never been to an SLC show before so I didn’t really know what to expect but the Too Fast show turned out to have a decent line up of both cars and trucks.

Aidan, Sic, James, and Sam all had their vehicles entered in the show and if I recall all took home some hardware.

The 2011 Toronto Honda Indy

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If your a motorsport fan in the GTA chances are you have at least checked out one Honda Indy Toronto event.

While I didn’t attend on race day nor did I have a media pass I still made the most of the 25th Anniversary festivities. In addition to checking out the IZOD Indy light cars, Canadian Sport Compact Series cars, and the Ferrari Challenge cars I also got to see a few friends of mine put on a BMX demo for Jagger.

Thanks to Steve for hooking up the passes.

Street Classics July 9th 2011

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Not sure if the Indy being in town had anything to do with it but the turn out for the July 19th 2011 Street Classics event was amazing.

Classics, Drag cars, Supercharged Ford GTs, and a General Lee replica were just some of the cars that rounded out the attendance.

If you live near the Queensway Canadian Tire and still have not attended one of these events during the hot months do yourself a favor and swing by.

CSCS 2011 Round II

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CSCS made its way to Mosport in Bomanville this year and the great weather and loyal fans went along with it.

The venue switch brought out a few people north of the city who don’t make it out to Cayuga as well as those who would much rather rip the Mosport track a new one over the Cayuga track.

The drifters also competed on the same challenging downhill course that DMCC drivers competed on in 2010 which made things pretty interesting…

Going to end this one here as it is already pretty long but part two will arrive before the year is out!

After a quick stop off at home for a bite to eat and my camera gear I headed back out to Richmond Hill to meet up with Chris who introduced me to Leo.

Following a handshake and brief small talk Leo decided I had hung around long enough to meet Beast.

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Beast is Leo’s current rally car (replacing his previous now street car known as Bastard) and believe me as a fully prepped, sequential geared, monster of a an STI Beast certainly lives up to his name.

Beast and Leo make up two thirds of the combination that conquered the Tall Pines course in Bancroft  the previous weekend in a total time of 1:59:04.8.

The final piece to the winning puzzle was Leo’s co driver for the event Martin Brady whom I was informed is ‘proper big’ guy as they adjusted the harness to fit my much smaller frame.

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Once we left the shop it was Beast who took over introducing me to Leo, the real Leo, the one people call ‘Crazy’.

As Leo expertly piloted Beast around a few neighboring back roads it became very quickly aware that Leo knows how to drive the heck out of a car. After a few spirited corners and straights of his local test and tune areas Leo gave me a little bit of a crash (we didn’t actually crash) course on rally driving, rally cars, and rally courses.

This is when I realized that if Leo is ‘crazy’ about anything it is rally driving.

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Once back at the shop and Leo, myself, and a few others began chatting about all things automotive; Toronto’s stunt driving charge (and the automotive scene in general), Ferrari Testarossas (and other childhood poster cars), and of course his recent win, were all topics of discussion over bubble tea.

When talking with Leo it is impossible to not pick up on the passion behind his words he simply loves rally driving and is 100% dedicated to not only improving himself as a driver but also exposing the sport of rally driving to more automotive enthusiasts in the area such as myself.

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To continue to improve his skills Leo plans to attend more state side events next year (including the North American Rally Cup) as well as events here in Canada because for Leo there is no off season or down time, if he is not competing he is out surveying the next course, working on Beast, or networking his way further into the rally community.

In the midst of doing all of this Leo also manages to somehow be very active on both his blog (CrazyLeo.Net) and facebook page (facebook.com/crazyleonet) promoting himself and local rally events as much as possible.

Leo’s current side project is a plan to put on a  driving demo with ride-a-longs in a local quarry to introduce rally inside of the city  in the hopes that this exposure will entice them to attend a true rally event outside of the city.

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Ultimately Leo’s goal is to become the best rally driver he can be while bringing the Canadian sector of the sport along with him, and the fact that he was able to keep the Tall Pines trophy in Canada truly means a lot to Leo. The smile you see in the photos is genuine as he is rightfully proud of his accomplishments.

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I’ve had the opportunity to meet a handful of professionals in their respective fields (Hockey, Football, BMX, Skateboarding etc) over the years but I can’t think of many who are as genuine  and passionate as Leo.

He is simply one of those people lucky enough to live their dream.

Follow Leos Dream:

Blog: Crazyleo.net
Twitter:@CrazyLeoNet
Facebook: facebook.com/crazyleonet

Along with Hoda’s photo gallery there is one more thing I found: His Twitter account. I followed him. We started talking. And when I made plans to visit Japan to see family, I wasted no time asking Hoda if he was interested to meet in person, he nearly instantly responded “yes”.

Thursday, November 10 was the big day. Hoda met me and my girlfriend in front of the Kyoto train station and by foot we went to grab some lunch. You always hear about how nice Japanese people are and Hoda is no exception; he drove over an hour to meet me, was unbelievably friendly, and paid for the delicious, expensive sushi we had for lunch.

After lunch we hit the subway (and he also paid for my subway ticket) to head to the closest lot that he was able to drive his Odyssey into.

He has to park this far out because he can not clear the block out back

JDM Odyssey at last! I was only equipped with your average point-and-shoot camera, so my photos will never do justice, but believe me when I say it’s a jaw-dropper.

Oh, and this is his first car. FIRST CAR.

Hoda's lip is as deep as the I Like Em Dropped sticker is tall!

I walked around his car. Looked top to bottom. Couldn’t find any real flaws except for a few stone chips on the front. We hung out talking in the parking lot for a while and even after fifteen minutes I was still laughing at how ridiculously clean this Odyssey is.

Once I finally got to ride inside the car the ride quality was surprisingly good. Whenever the Odyssey tackled a few bad patches of road that resulted in some nasty sounds I’d look over to Hoda and he’d just give me a “that’s just how it is” shrug and a smile.

I had to catch a Tokyo-bound bullet train and was limited on time so we ended up pulling over on the street to take some photos.

Driving around The Odyssey gets a lot of looks. We had the windows down and at a red light a few ladies complimented the ride. I would have suggested picking them up — as it is a van after all — but he said he doesn’t ride with more than two passengers to spare the rear end the pain of bottoming out.

Hoda is a regular SIE reader and was excited to get some stickers.

The meet went great and I caught my train back to Tokyo on time despite bad traffic. Special thanks to Hoda for showing a stranger from Canada a good time. Next time I visit Japan hopefully I’ll make it out to Hoda’s hometown.

Until then…

Text and photos by: Josh Shohei

With my 3 I chose to upgrade all of my interior bulbs and some of my exterior bulbs to SK Performance LED units.

After the upgrade I now realize how inadequate (and yellow) the factory lighting Mazda shipped the car with actually is.

A view from the hatch facing forward of the 3 SK Performance LED units installed in my 2004 Mazda 3

A view from the front bumper facing backwards of the 3 SK Performance LED units installed in my 2004 Mazda 3

A photo to give you an idea of how far the light spreads

The LED package (two map lights, one dome, and one hatch) inside of my car is simply remarkable and now when I open my doors the car is bathed in incredibly bright, incredibly white light.

In the six or so months I have had these lights installed nearly everyone who has been in my car at night has commented on the brightness of the interior lighting (which makes selling stickers and shirts at night way easier).

In that time the light output has not dulled or changed color in the slightest.

The single hatch unit which illuminates the back of the car

The front lights in the factory locations

The LEDS I have on the exterior of the vehicle (projection reverse lights and license plate lights) are to the same high standard the interior lights are manufactured and even brighter. With my new plate lights  there is no way I could ever get pulled over for having an illegible license plate on even the darkest of country roads.

The projection reverse lights (which are exclusively designed by SK Performance) are really the crown jewel of the entire set-up though, they project a good 20 – 30 feet behind my car and are to the point where it is like having a set of HID headlights installed in my tail lamps.

Note how much projection there is on the floor from the plate lights

Product quality aside one of the main selling points of SK Performance is customer service, with SK Performance you are not dealing with a middle man who simply resells products available on Ebay. You are dealing with a long time GTA scene veteran who took the time to head to Vegas and meet with suppliers first hand at the AAPEX show to ensure that all of his kits are made to last.

Should a problem ever arise you deal with the owner personally who stands behind his products 100%.

This photo doesn't do these reverse lights justice, I have had people ask if I installed HIDS in my tails

The quality of these products combined with the owners exceptional customer service is why you can find Liberty VIP (Aidan’s IS300 and Yudi’s Y33).

Check out the entire line-up of SK Performance Lighting (including interior lighting, angel eyes, puddle lights, turn signals, license plate lights and HIDS) on the SK Performance LED Lighting facebook page.

Oh did I forget to mention SK rolls proper too?

Before I started this blog I spent a lot of time reading  SpeedHunters, Motormavens, The Chronicles, and Fatlace/Hella Flush, shortly after I started filing my RSS reader with blogs mentioned on those sites.

JDM ego came up pretty often on the last two so I subscribed to his RSS and was hooked instantly.

In addition to posting a plethora of awesome AWD builds (like his own) he also posts artwork, die casts, and occasionally BMX related memorabilia, furthermore he is a nice guy who’s always responded to any email I sent.

Recently I expressed an interest in the “Hella Bored Of Stance” license plate frame (the humor is not lost on me) and as luck would have it even though they are sold out he managed to dig one up for me along with some stickers.

A couple of these stickers are going to make it on my toolbox, laptop, and car but the rest might be waking their way into the next giveaway so if you see something you like stay tuned for that.

If you can’t wait and want something right away (and I don’t blame you) head over to the official JDM EGO store.

I had intentions of running the plate cover next season but I think my GF might have claimed it so perhaps I will just keep my ‘I Get Rad’ plate frame on a little bit longer… I do have two after all.

So with that in mind, David Yee of Richmond Hill has taken it upon himself to assemble custom engraved flip keys (made from existing parts) to sell in order to help aid Japan.

Recently he sent a set over some prototypes of the keys he is selling as fundraisers for me to check out, along with photos of some he made for a local car club.

The ones I received are fittingly engraved with ‘STANCE IS EVERYTHING’ and ‘I LIKE ‘EM DROPPED’ and are semi pre-production versions that were made before he started countersinking the bolts (which is how they will be sold).

The badges will be available in several colors.

The flip keys, which arrive with a dummy key blank, can be fitted for almost any vehicle that uses ‘regular’ car keys.

If the car does not use an immobilizer chip, it will be as simple as getting a key copy and having it cut and shaped to fit the holder, people with chip keys will only be able to use these as emergency door keys and not ones that will start the vehicle.

David has a sponsor for this project in the west end of Toronto who has volunteered to help him by getting key copies made at no extra cost to buyers.

Two versions will be available – one without a working key ($30) and one with a working key ($50). This is to allow people who simply want a small souvenir and contribute to be able to do so at a lower cost.

To keep costs down and fund raising dollars high David assembles all of these in house as a labor of love. If you want to help David in his quest to raise as much money for Japan as possible contact him at: dave_yee@hotmail.com

Anything we can do as people and enthusiasts is a big help so hats off to David for doing this.

As a show of support and Canadian brotherly love David sent me a shirt, lanyard, and a couple stickers from his latest line.  My wardrobe is mostly made up of BMX shirts and stuff from 80stees.com so getting some automotive apparel into the mix was long over due.

I received the  ‘All Time‘ shirt which is a design inspired by 10 Deep (one of David’s favorite brands). The subject matter of the shirt obviously suits me pretty well as I clearly like my cars low and when it arrived I was immediately impressed with the quality of shirt, print, and design.

It’s something that can easily work it’s way into my everyday wear and not just something for automotive events.

The lanyard he sent along with the shirt is also pretty slick. Not only does it pay homage to some of histories greatest wheel designs it also conveniently does a good job of matching the color I picked for the center of my Equips.

I’ve got a couple of lanyards kicking around the house and this one is the best looking in my collection so far and the only  one to have a nice quality clasp for the key ring.

You will definitely see this hanging out of my pocket at local events.

Dave and I have already been in early talks about collaboration for late 2011 which I am really looking forward to and he recently launched the IFEST clothing line which is the collaboration between him and the Import Fest brand.

Always good to see fellow Canadian enthusiasts doing big things!

If you want to check out Import Bibles latest designs head over to ImportBible.com.

This increased desire for a quality product has created a market that can sustain several made to order custom wheel manufacturers. The latest of this new breed of wheel manufacturer is Luxury Abstract who is poised to make a huge impact in luxury aftermarket accessories for 2011.

A New York based company Luxury Abstract is focused on becoming an industry leader in it’s field and thanks to their Canadian representative Aidan Borges I was able to correspond with the product designer and founder Agim Jones via email to get the low down on this new brand.

Are your wheels completely customizable when it comes to barrel size, face size, bolt pattern, width, and offset?

Yes, all Luxury Abstract wheels can be ordered in 18-22″ and in widths of 7-15″ (reverse) flat lips are available on all models while step lips are available in 19-21″.

Our wheels can be made in just about any pcd as well as offset and we work with the customer to determine the biggest lip size they can achieve while getting just enough brake clearance.

The Luxury Abstract Admiror with the special edition diamond stitch engraved face

This Admiror is a 3pc forged wheel available in 18"-22" in widths from 7"-15

Are all of your wheels going to be in limited runs or do you intend to have a few mass produced models?

All of our wheels will be made to order and each design will be available for a limited time before they are discontinued.

We will also have short run variations of specific models, and these short run variations will be more “love it or hate it” type of style.

If you hate a certain wheel initially but eventually change your mind, it may no longer be available. This is our way of rewarding enthusiasts who want something unique and were not scared to take the risk on it.

In the future, these wheels may become sought after and considered “cult classic’s” which is what we are aiming for.

The engraving is limited to 12 sets world wide

The wheels come in packaging unlike any other on the market

What manufacturing process do you use on your wheels, and what finishes are available?

Our wheels are three piece forged t-6061 aircraft grade aluminum which is lighter and stronger than typical cast wheels.

Each wheel face starts off as a rod of aluminum and then it is hit with millions of pounds of pressure to make it into a round disk.

This process pushes the crystal structure of the metal so compact and tight that it becomes much stronger than other manufacturing processes.

The faces, bolts, center caps, inner barrels, and lips can be painted, polished, machined, powder coated or chromed.

We will offer a few suggestions per wheel to make it easier on the buyer but if they have a recommendation, we can do it.

We use only the finest paints and can color match any factory color.

The Admiror's mounted

From a rear angle

What brands would you consider Luxury Abstract comparable to?

True luxury is not comparable since it is unique in its own way. It doesn’t look to directly copy what anyone else is doing.

Even though the prices and engine sizes may be be comparable between a Ferrari and a Lamborghini, you would never confuse one for the other since they both do their own thing in terms of styling.

That is the concept we have chosen to follow.

It is not our focus to compete directly with another brand or react to what another company does. Every move we make must make sense to our own identity. In doing so, we stay true to what we are about. By not jumping on certain trends, we may hurt ourselves in the short term but strengthen our following for the long term.

The presentation of our products, brand concept, culture, marketing, styling, patent pending engraving, products we offer other than wheels, particular scene we cater to (vip style/high end luxury), and the fact we only offer forged wheels means you can’t look at a single company and say we are copying their business model.

We highly respect those companies who have made it past a year as it is a really tough industry.

The Luxury Abstract Chaos

The pattern you see in the middle is embossed, inspired by New York City architecture

What is the price point of Luxury Abstract Wheels

A set of 18′s in silver finish will run around about $1100 per wheel, 19s $1200, 20′s $1300, 21′s $1400, 22′s $1500 per. The options chosen for finish and engraving will also effect the final price.

For a three piece forged wheel, some consider that under priced but we are enthusiasts who want to get the brand out there.

Limited edition runs as well as some of the thicker faced wheels we offer, are higher in price due to the added shop time and costs of materials used.

A closer look at the Chaos

A preview of the Luxury Abstract Stella-x

I’ve noticed a lot of the designs have etching and styling cues not commonly applied to wheels, where did you draw inspiration from for these touches?

Thanks.

My love for artwork and luxury were the concept behind the brand. Living in NYC, I am fortunate to have both all around me. Just roaming the streets of Manhattan gives me a ton of inspiration and ideas. From architecture to fashion, concepts of my designs come from the least likely sources. Sometimes, its a combination of a few ideas lumped together and tweaked a dozen times.

Engraving is something you would find on high end, personalized jewelry, wood furniture and watches. It is a detail that gives a refined look and commonly found in luxury products. In the VIP car scene, anything found on a super high end car will be embraced in the style.

Quilted stitched seats or “Diamond stitch” is extremely popular but that is not the sole reason for using that pattern as one of our trademarks. The quilted pattern, has been around luxury for centuries.

You can find it on statues, gates, luggage, fashion and in high end car interiors such as Bentley. If you really pay attention, the pattern is everywhere from your shoe laces to the support beam in the building.

The results of Agim's inspiration

The devil's in the details

With the amount of replica wheel manufacturers around today are you at all worried about others replicating your product?

With the engraving and details in our products, you should be able to tell an impostor from the real. Our wheels require longer shop time and on certain models, a thicker face. Both cost more money to create than a typical wheel.

A replica company will not go through all the trouble of getting all the details correct and would use inferior materials (as well as finishes) which can potentially put the buyer in danger if a wheel were to fail on them.

At the end of the day, if you are replicated, you are putting out something attractive enough to be copied. Although it would be horrible to have Luxury Abstract products replicated, I look forward to working hard to achieve that type of success to have people consider doing so.

It is a shame to the originators who spend the time and money to design and test their products. We do not support companies who are notorious for creating replicas.

One way to protect yourself would be in court. To do so, you need get patents on unique concepts or designs which we are in the process of doing with our quilted engraving on our wheels.

Luxury Abstract.

Soon this logo will be synonymous with superb quality

I’ve noticed Luxury Abstract is planning to expand past just wheels, what other products can we expect down the line?

We look to create parts that accentuate the look of our wheels. You can have the nicest shoes on the rack but if you don’t have the outfit to match, they just won’t look good.

You can expect exterior parts such as leather stitched door pillars, license plate frames as well as interior pieces, done in high quality stitching which exceeds OEM standards.

We offer real leather neck pads matched to any color and material leather and should be releasing a multiple lines of interior products which go with the theme of a particular wheel. Our upholstery guy Ben is a true artisan.

He’s been teaching interior classes for over a decade and has the straightest stitches that I ever seen. Offering the highest quality is what you can expect from an authentic Luxury Abstract item.

Down the road, we will offer body kits, custom fenders, grills, etc. for different luxury makes and models.

Diamond stiched head rests match the engraving on the Admiror wheel

Which of course again match the pillar covers

For more information on Luxury Abstract where should we go?

Our website is luxuryabstract.com and should be up and running shortly our blog Luxuryabstractblog.com is up and updated frequently.

You can also find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/luxuryabstract we can be emailed at sales@luxuryabstract.com.

Canadian inquiries can be done through borges.aidan@gmail.com

I would like to thank all my early supporters which include friends family and the bloggers.

Thanks Stance Is Everything for the opportunity to show case my brand.

Thank you Agim and all the best with the new venture!

And what makes it even more special and makes us feel a lot less guilty for wanting to partake, is when companies do these car washes for charity! (Plus our significant other can’t get as mad).

You’ve got to give it up for these women, giving back to society on so many levels. Who cares if they’re getting more soap on themselves than the car? They are fearless and courageous, and while other women might talk badly about them, they are the most confident business women around, having fun while making a living, and looking damn good while doing it.

Photos courtesy of Stefane Paye, William Lee, Peter Tsang Chung, Joits, Jer Digital, David Bay, SpeedHunters,and other various sources.

Written by Jeff Butler. Jeff has lots of blogs, two of which are Motor Models where vehicles and women come together, and Motoriginal the best automotive blog one could imagine (besides Stance is Everything of course).

Typically there isn’t a lot of guest blogging that goes on around here but I decided in this case it might be good to hear from an insurance insider exactly how we can go about insuring our modified cars and still get proper coverage. I know a lot of us are on the ‘they didn’t ask so I didn’t tell’ type of policy.

The post below is his answer to that question and he is going to be checking the comments to answer any further questions you might have.

Remember this is just advice don’t go changing your insurance without researching it first.

Hopefully this never happens to you...

Let’s face it – keeping a car stock is boring. Any motor head out there knows that the first thing you have to do to a new car is mod it out. This may make the car more enjoyable to drive, but it could cause problems with your insurance companies. To be on the safe side, you have to make sure you cover your ground when you want insurance coverage. Here is a look at how you can fully insure your modified daily driver.

1 – Know Your Mods

Before you start looking for insurance for your car, you need to know what kinds of modifications you have. This is easy if you put them on yourself, but if they were from the previous owner, do an assessment of the car. The main things to think about are power upgrades, like turbo chargers, nitrous, superchargers, tunes, exhaust work, and the like. Suspension and body work should not affect the insurance and are therefore unnecessary to worry about.

2 – Find a Good Rate

Take some time to compare car insurance rates online to see where you could get the best deal for your vehicle. The car itself will be a factor in your rates, but so will your driving record and age. You can look around to see which companies have the best deals and explore your options from there. Bear in mind, however, that many companies will outright refuse to insure you, as they view any modifications at all as too much of a liability. Specialist insurers may be your only option, if you intend to use the car for other activities like racing or rally driving. When you start looking at quotes, make sure that you accurately quote the amount of miles you will put on the car in a year. (The average person will drive about 12,000 miles a year, but that number could be much higher if you have to commute to work or school a lot.) An accurate quote here will assure you the best policy possible.

Never, under any circumstances, consider buying insurance without disclosing the full extent of your modifications to your car. In the event of an accident, your insurance company can and will deny you coverage entirely if they discover that your car was modified, even if the modifications had nothing to do with the event. The absolute best policy is always to be honest, and accept that you may need to pay higher premiums as a result.

3 – Get the Policy

After you find the perfect policy for you, you can make your payments and sign your contracts like you would expect. Insuring a modified daily driver is more simplistic than you may think, as long as you know what you have and what you need. You can get your coverage as soon as you need it.

If you decide to modify your car after being insured for a while, you will still need to inform your insurance company. You may find that they will allow some modifications without altering your policy or premiums, but you must contact them and clear any plans you have before beginning work on the car. Always remember that you must disclose the full configuration of the car and what you intend to use it for, or you may lose your coverage.

When he’s not reading about the latest auto news, Miles Walker looks at auto insurance comparisons over at CarinsuranceComparison.Org. His latest article reviewed car insurance TX.

Hopefully you guys found that helpful, and comment below with any further questions.

Shortly after I started work on one wheel I found out that Work uses clear anodizing on their lips which meant I had to spend more time sanding at lower grits than I had hoped which made outsourcing the job an attractive alternative.

After some research I decided to go with local company Curbed because I had seen their work before in person on the company Scion and their name kept coming up when I asked locals who to consider.

After promising phone conversation with Mike Fu, the customer service representative at Curbed, we both agreed that a full refinish of my wheels would be best based on the photos I had emailed. Within two days of that conversation Mike was at my door picking up my wheels.

The wheels as I received them in typical weather worn condition

This was one of the worst wheels of the bunch before, note the blems on the face and the various scratches in the clear

Since Curbed uses automotive paint for all of their refinishing (instead of powder coating) it gave me the option of choosing Scion’s ‘Sizzling Crimson Mica’ paint code for my faces. While the faces were painted Mike also had the barrels painted flat black so that they all now matched.

During this time the bolts were also stripped of their original, now tarnished, coating and high polished along with the lips.

The wheels out in the sun after refinishing

When the wheels were nearing completion Mike came by to pick up my tires for mounting, soon after that my completed rims were delivered. The entire turn around time for the job from initial consultation to final delivery was just under four weeks and contacting Mike at any time to learn the status was a breeze.

The difference between my wheels before and after is night and day and overall I am very happy with the service I received from Curbed. Only one small portion of one of the more damaged lips retains any original damage.

Close up of the lips and bolt heads after polishing. That is dust you see on the lip

If you are looking to have any sort of work done to your wheels I would recommend contacting Curbed first to get a free consultation and estimate, you will find that his pricing is reasonable given the amount of labor that goes into refinishing wheels.

The pictures below further illustrate the transformation my wheels underwent.

Work Equip – Before Curbed

As you can see the clear anodizing was breaking down and the bolts were tarnished

Three out of four of my wheels looked like this with very dirty silver barrels

This was my one lone black barrel wheel

Between the black arrows is where I started experimenting with polishing techniques, and the red arrow is where I was tested the anodizing

Work Equip – After Curbed

The finished product inside my garage with some sunlight

This shot of a 9" wheel shows how much the Scion color varies depending on light

This shot shows just how reflective the high finish polish is

Outside in the sun, bright as ever. The wheels are also fairly dusty here

The inner barrel after refinishing

Close up, since I chose to keep the original hardware I have to live with some pitting

This part of the lip had the most damage with a significant curb impact and could not be fixed without distortion

My sole issue with entire job was that the labels were painted over instead of removed

While my wheels were getting refinished Aidan’s new Leon Harditt Bugels were also having some work done to them. The sides of his spokes showed some corrosion and embedded brake dust so the polished fronts where masked off and the sides were sanded down and refinished gloss black.

Leon Harditt Bugels – Before Curbed

In between Aidan's spokes had mild corrosion

One of the areas with brake dust deeply embedded

Masked for repaint

Leon Harditt Bugels – After Curbed

Faces removed and painted

Reassembled

These wheels have since been mounted

Contact Information:

Phone: 416-234-5110

Email: info@curbed.ca

Website: curbed.ca

If you have any more questions about my experience with Curbed feel free to ask in the comments.

Most times we never really get to know what happens to our wheels after we sell them or where they were before we got them. However sometimes in select cases one of the owners goes that extra mile to keep tabs on what happened to their rollers after they got sold.

When Zach emailed me last week asking to know a little more about the Work Ryver wheels on Dominics featured Focus my interest was peaked as I figured the likley hood of these wheels being his was farily slim.

Chances were a bit better than usual though because as Zach pointed out Ryvers in that bolt pattern, width, and offset are pretty rare. Since there was no harm in asking I shot Dom an email asking where he got the wheels and to all of our surprise they were the set Zach had imported.

Here is the picture story of how it all went down:

Zach imported these wheels about 3 years ago after waiting 8 months for them

Shortly after arrival he test fit them on his Accord

Things looked good so he mounted them up

The end result was a clean car on a unique set of wheels

Being a rare wheel I'm pretty sure he had the only set for miles

Sadly the car was involved in a head on and written off, but the wheels survived

He sold the wheels to a friend who refinished them in Carmel brown

His friend rocked them on his XB for a few weeks but they were just a bit too aggressive for what he was after

Try as he might to get them to work out he had to put them up for sale on zylvia.net

Which kind of sucks because they looked great on the XB

Dan originally rocked them black face with polished lips

Before ordering new lips and refinishing them to what they are now

The wheels (and car) are now in the hands of Dom's friend James

The craziest thing to me is that the wheels ended up in the hands of two BMX riders who found out on a blog run by a rider, its a festivus Stance Is Everything miracle!

I feel ashamed to admit that this facility is only 40 minutes from my house and it’s taken me this long to go check it out. For some reason I had always assumed it was a private, but after doing some research online I learned it was open to the public so I made arrangements to check out both the shop and the showroom.

The Legendary Motorcar Company started from humble beginnings 25 years ago as a shop that specialized mostly in Shelby restorations.

Since then the company has expanded to the point where they are pushing the limits of the 55,000 square foot building they moved into in 2002.

A shot of the Legendary Motorcar Facility taken from the LMC website

The LMC headquarters is simply beautiful inside and out. The 100 car show room is essentially the tip of the iceberg because behind the staff only doors LMC has a fully equipped shop that’s ready to handle any level of restoration: basic maintenance, detailing, body work, custom fabrication and race preparation, can and is all done on site day in day out.

Essentially the first view I got of LMC

Shortly after I arrived at LMC, and had a chance to take a quick peek around the showroom, Bill DeBlois whom I had spoken with via email, came down from the second level (where even more cars were stored) to give me a tour of the shop facility.

I wasn’t permitted to take photos of the shop but take my word for it when I say therein lay some of the most impressive automotive work I have ever seen in person, at any capacity.

Body work? Flawless detail work? More of the same. Custom Fabrication and restoration? Mind BLOWING.

Every build I saw, no matter what level of completion, or what type of build it was, was done with the exceptional eye to detail that’s missing from a lot of other shops today.

When Bill informed me that the entire staff at LMC was in around the 20-30 number I was flabbergasted. Legendary Motorcar clearly runs on the hard work of a relatively small group of very talented and dedicated people.

More from the show room a little further down

After noticing my jaw was scratching the incredibly clean shop floor Bill lead me back to the showroom and showed me where the set of Dream Car Garage, a local enthusiast show, was located which was in the back corner of the incredibly packed show room.

Once our guided tour was over he let Lyndsey and I wander around and take as many photos as we wanted, below are those pictures with a special look at a very impressive car at the end.

The dream car garage set at LMC

LMC really is a car enthusiasts dream facility

Vintage models

I wonder what the market for cars like this 31 Auburn 8-98C in the GTA is?

Really liked the hood ornament on this car

The rim being an actually rim for old spares is cool

An all original Bentley Mark VI that is probably worth more than my house

The flying B is nice but I think I still have to give it to the Auburn above

Though Stanleys have rad hook ornaments as well

First Steamer I have ever seen in person, would have loved to see it run

Roadsters

51 XK120's look awesome

One of many 427 Shelbys at the facility

Ford

Prestine GT350 Mustang

This was Big Daddy Don Garlits personal Ford Deluxe

Trio of Mustangs and a Shelby hiding in the corner

Mustangs or Sardines? I wouldn't want to park these

Chevy

Never seen a Yeoman before but I liked what I saw

Superclean interior that showed no signs of the air ride setup

Polished 502 under the hood

I loved this vintage Corvette race car

Be sure to check out the race history of this car on legendarymotorcar.com

This Chevelle SS, though unfinished, looked great

Should look beautiful on the street when it's done

Mopar

1948 Plymouth Woody Wagon

Lyndsey was a huge fan of this teal 69 Charger

And I thought the only bright Charger I liked was Orange

Like most of the cars at LMC this was also flawless

A 69 Dodge Super bee

and a 69 numbers matching Charger Daytona

Beautiful road runner

With duster graphics in tact

The Super Cuda

Since I’ve started this blog I have been lucky enough to see a number of beautifully built machines at shows all over the GTA, and obviously at SEMA in Vegas.

While I’m sure I am going to come across quite a few more awesome cars I think this one might stay as number 1 on my list for some time.

You probably already figured out I love this car

I’m not sure that there is anything else I could ask for in a car.

This car handles awesome thanks the the updated suspension setup, looks awesome because of the classic styling, and performs like a beast thanks to the twin turbo V-10 Viper motor under the hood.

The twin turbo viper V10 in it's new carbon fiber home

This Cuda embodies everything LMC is great at. The car is an absolute beauty to look at from every angle, from the paint to interior, the interior to the engine bay, and the engine bay to exterior, everything is terrific.

Beautiful from every angle

Based on the work done to the motor the LMC shop estimates that this car puts down around 1500 hp.

I say around not because they have not dynoed it but because the dyno in the shop ‘only’ goes up to 800hp and this Super Cuda maxed it out without breaking a sweat.

Push the pedal down and hold on tight

The final result of what LMC has created here is ’70 a Plymouth Barracuda that can take a Ferrari Enzo to school on a high speed ring and rip off it’s own windshield molding on the way to breaking the 200mph speed barrier.

CF trunk lip, CF diffuser

This car has it all, look, stance, attention to detail, and performance.

I want it.

Ya I took a lot of pictures of this car but can you blame me?

Lots of grip, lots of stop

One last shot of the engine bay... perfect

Huge thanks to Bill and Legendary Motorcar Company for letting me visit the shop and get shutter happy in the show room.

Like last year I’m watching the 2010 Scottsdale Barrett Jackson Auction re air on Speed TV and looking over my Google Analytics stats to see how things went in 2010.

Regardless of what the stats have to say 2010 was a great year for Stance Is Everything. This time last year I was on verge of cracking 75,000 page views total and now that’s easily a monthly number.

Page views aside I’ve made lots of new contacts in the automotive world, got to go to SEMA, and have made ‘e-friends’ with enthusiasts around the world. I really couldn’t be happier with how 2010 went.

I have no idea what 2011 holds but I’m excited to see what happens.

Top Winter Wednesday of 2010

Winter Wednesdays is a bit of a sleeper category, only being active about half the year, but it does really well regardless.

It’s popularity probably has to do with the fact that a lot of people are stuck struggling with winter every year and seeing other low obsessed car folk battle the same conditions helps the winter seem slightly shorter.

In 2010 the most popular Winter Wednesday was the kick off post ‘ A new winter begins‘.

VW owners are certainly not afraid of the snow

Second:Rock with it
Third:‘Tis the season

Barrett Jackson Update: A 2008 Shelby GT500 KR just went for $95,000

Top Theme Tuesday of 2010

I have to admit I didn’t see this Theme Tuesday as being the most popular of 2010.

My bets were placed on ‘Girls With Hot Rides Part 2‘ but that one came in second to ‘Clean Civic EG Hatches‘ which was actually posted in 2009, I guess this is your way of subtly suggesting I do another?

I guess people just love a good, clean, Civic

Second:Girls Hot Rides Part 2
Third: MKIII Supras

Barrett Jackson update: A 1954 Kaiser Darrin just went for $200,000

Top WTF Friday of 2010

I had a feeling this post about the pothole situation in Bulgaria would take the cake in the WTF Friday category.

The size of these potholes and the damages they cause is simply absurd. Bulgarian car enthusiasts hats off you you, I don’t know how you guys do it with these craters to contend with.

Bulgaria

Second: The Silver Shadow
Third: The engine it fell out

Barrett Jackson update: A 2008 Shelby GT500 KR just went for $95,000

Top Event Coverage of 2010

This was another statistic I was a little surprised about. Part one of the August 22nd CSCS coverage manged to edge out all the other coverage, including SEMA, to rest at the top of the page view mountain in the event coverage category.

Chris from CSCS will be stoked.

A face only a mother (or other drifters) could love

Second: Import Fest 2010 Pt. 2
Third: Stretch & Poke 3 – Sayonara Summer

Barrett Jackson update: A 1965 Cobra CSX 600 went for $80,000

Top SEMA Event Coverage

A new category for 2010, which I will hopefully be able to continue for years to come, is the SEMA sub category of Event Coverage.

Part one took the cake this year.

So cool to see this car in person after reading about it for so long

SecondSEMA Event Coverage: Part 3
ThirdSEMA Event Coverage: Part 4

Barrett Jackson update: A 1964 Ford Fairlane with a 427 (class N Super Stock recreation) went for $62, 000

Top Readers Rides post of 2010

The most viewed post in the readers rides category was Facebook fans part 3.

Facebook is a monster in all other aspects of the internet so this makes perfect sense.

I know I say this a lot but thanks again for uploading

Second:Facebook fans part 2
Third:Facebook fans part 1

Barrett Jackson update: A 1970 ‘Hemi Superbird (resto-mod) just went for $125, 000

Top Featured Photographer of 2010

Two thousand and ten was a bit of a slow year featured photographer wise but the quality was there.

This years most viewed photographer was Edwin Tan (Dougboy) who is now an official photographer over at Stance Nation.

I've seen this photo re-posted a few times now

Congrats Edwin.

Second Matt Berenz

Barrett Jackson update: A 1970 ‘Hemi Superbird (resto-mod) just went for $125, 000

Top SEMA Show Stopper

Another new one for this year was the SEMA Showstopper category. The top SEMA Showstopper for 2010 was the ‘‘ Slammed Box’ post which was the four pictures of Gold Members clean Scion.

Totally makes sense since this car was sick enough to be featured on Hella Flush.

Boo ya

Second: Gold Mines
Third: The Syborg

Barrett Jackson update: A fuel injected 57 Corvette just went for $177,00

Top Featured Ride of 2010

With no disrespect to the owners of the other awesome cars I featured in 2010 I was rooting for this one to come out on top and I’m glad it did.

This was the first ‘in house’ feature that was done for the site (with help from Elle Marie Photography) and even though the shoot had to be rescheduled a few times, done in two parts, and the editing took longer than expected due to a move Aidan never once complained.

In fact since I’ve met him Aidan has been nothing but super supportive in the growth of this website.

Expect to see more of this car in 2011 as I know he has already purchased a few parts over the winter.

Aidan's 2010 look

Second: Cungs G35
Third:Sam’s 350Z

Barrett Jackson update: A 1993 Chevy Custom (‘Boyds Hauler‘ with LT-1) owned by Eddie Van Halen just went for 39,000

Thanks again for hanging out in 2010, 2011 should be great.

I am going to keep bringing you guys the automotive hobby through the eyes of a guy who loves stance.

(Maybe I’ll even give the site a small visual refresh )