Stance Is Everything…. It's all about how it sits

When Mike Latter bought his 2001 Subaru Forrester he had no intentions of modifying it, however shortly after joining the Toronto Subaru Club he was bit with what we enthusiasts like to call the mod bug. After plenty of online research hours, wrench turning and visa bills later, Mike’s car is on it’s third revision and currently awaiting its fourth.

Like most Mike’s first round of modifications started off fairly conservative, he installed a set of RaceGear coil-overs and OZ Superturismo wheels and called it a day. Since modified Forrester’s are such a rarity in the GTA Mike’s Forrester quickly stood out and turned a lot of heads in the Summer of 2007.

With the mod bugs venom seeping into his veins via the compliments he was getting on his rides new look Mike began to modify his Forrester over the 2007/2008 winter months.

Once summer of 2008 rolled around Mike further improved upon his Subuaru’s suspension setup by adding a trio of Perrin suspension parts including: a 22mm rear sway bar, sway bar mounts and sway bar end links. Mike also got out his chop saw and welder to fabricate a set of heavy duty front and rear strut bars.

While the suspension was apart he improved braking performance by installing power slot rotors on all four corners.

Under the newly fitted WRX hood, Borla headers were mated to a custom vibrant exhaust system, while inside a GroupA Short shifter was added, along with a set of nex carbon bucket seats for summer use, and 2001 WRX seats for winter. He also took some time at this point to shave a few pounds of sound deadening weight.

When the summer of 2009 came around Mike was at it again installing a set of 19×8 OZ Ultra leggra wheels along with a set of cusco coil overs that allowed him to drop his car lower than his previous, RaceGear, setup would allow.

Near the end of the 09 season, after having some time to take in his cars new look, Mike decided that his wheel fitment left a little to be desired. Aiming to fill his wheel wells a little better Mike ordered a set of custom spacers, which required longer ARP studs, and open ended lug nuts.

Mike knew that a set of Work Lug nuts would be the perfect way to set off his new fitment so he placed his order. Unfortunately for Mike these lug nuts were back-ordered and as month, after month, went by Mike soon found himself in the middle of a snowstorm on summer tires.

This is when tragedy struck, one snowy November night in Burlington Ontario, in the form of a very stubborn pole. With a significantly damaged front end Mike was put in a position that none of us as car enthusiasts want to be in.

With time, love, dedication, and money invested into this vehicle it was heart breaking for Mike to see his Forrester now almost fit for the scrap yard. After much debate on what to do with his bent ride mike eventually pushed his emotions aside Mike and decided to rebuilt his prized possession.

After spending two days locked in his garage Mike was able to get his car back on the road with a new rat/hoodride inspired look.

Mike’s Forrester now wears it’s battle wounds with pride and while one day Mike plans to transfer his parts over to a clean chassis he currently loves his car now just as much as he did before the accident

Mike’s plan, once he gets a new chassis, is to continue to modify his car in a way that makes it unique and eye catching.

Personally I can’t wait to see what comes next, and with the dedication and passion Mike has shown so far the sky is the limit.

Here are a few more photos of Mike’s ride in its current winter and battle ready condition:

Volkswagen drivers are serious when it comes to stance. They have been doing it for a long time, and arguably do it the best. Therefore, anytime a pack of proper VW’s scrape down the street together, it’s a rolling lesson in stance 101. I hope that Northern Jersey and area residents have their pens and paper at the ready, because when Star Status is in town they put on a clinic wherever they go.

MKIII GTI – Ramon

The MKIII GTI is a popular platform among the VW crowd, and no VW crew would truly be complete without one. That’s why Star Status has this beautiful example in their fold. Ramon’s MKIII is heavily modified, but never looks over done which is proof of a keen eye to detail.

The body is set off by a JOM badge-less grill, vr6 chin spoiler, fk long turn signals, clear red hella tails, french headlights and chrome mirror caps.

Motor wise, the perpetually loved vr6 has been hopped up with a MarkIV headgasket, Autotech 262 cams, Schrick VGI intake manifold, Giac cam file chip, Secondary Air delete, and a Suitcase muffler delete. To help put all this new found power to the ground, a stage 1 clutch has also been installed.

Inside this dub, and behind a leather wrapped dash, sit a pair of r32 seats, which are complimented by matching leather wrapped door panels with Bentley diamond stitched inserts. The leather continues to flow over the A-pillars, glove box and center console. Finishing off the interior, a suede Bentley diamond stitched headliner was installed alongside a Weichers polished 4 point cage, should this car ever have the misfortune of ending up upside down.

The chances of this car rolling are, thankfully, pretty slim since it squats down in the weeds on a bagyard “bomber” air setup that tucks the 17×7.5 and 17×8 MAE crown jewels perfectly into the wheel wells

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Black MKIII Cabrio – Danny (Mouth)

The second Star Status car is Danny’s MKIII Cabrio, and it’s a serious bit of machinery. The boser hood hints that this car has a little bit of attitude, but I think few would expect that come spring time, underneath that hood and behind the badge-less grill an all black super charged 2.9L vr6 with a Shrick manifold, will sit in the red, shaved bay (which matches the red diamond stitched interior) for anyone ready for a little fun.

Additionally little birdie informed me that by the time spring rolls around Danny’s current 3 piece OZ Pegasus 16×7.5″ wide wheels will be history in favor of a deeper and wider set of wheels. The new set of wheels should be the icing on the cake for this mean little Cabrio.

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UG MKV GTI – Sal

If Danny’s Cabrio wasn’t an indication that Star Status doesn’t believe that riding low always means riding slow, this GTI should be.

Sal’s GTI has been boosted up and beyond factory specs with a GT3071R turbo upgrade while the ride height’s been adjusted with a set of FK silverline plus coil overs.

With such a potent motor and suspension setup this car needed a pair of wheels to pull everything together and the HRE 449r 18×8’s do exactly that.

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The Star Status Black Rabbits

Star Status likes to double their fun, and does so by having two sets of identical body, identical color cars in their flock.

The first Star Status pair is a duo of black MKV GTI’s that drive home the point that often nothing looks cleaner, or meaner than a slammed, clean, black, car.

Furby

Furby’s rabbit keeps the mod list short but very sweet, this car has; B&G coils, Radinox lipped Th-line rims (17×8 and 17×8.5), blacked out headlights, and amber turn signals.

Each of Furby’s modifications compliment the one before it, and create an extremely clean enviable ride.

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Matt

Matt is from the same school of thought as Furby, and as such, his rabbit also has a tight list of well thought out modifications which play off one another to create a portrait of stance perfection.

This black beauty is hammered down onto polished Benz six slots with an air ride setup and has an cutout free oem votex rear, a badge-less grill, and projector headlights.

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The Star Status Yellow GTI’s

Yellow is a hard color to pull off correctly. It takes a certain type of finesse to modify a yellow car knowing that one misstep can cause an endless amount of big bird references to take flight.

With two yellow cars in their collective, it’s safe to say that Star Status knows how to keep things tasteful when it comes to dealing with yellow rides.

Before Star Status, I would have been hard pressed to post two modified yellow cars in one post, but the decision is basically made for me when the yellow cars look as clean and proper as these. If all yellow cars looked as clean as thisStance Is Everything would be 90% yellow cars.

Paige

The first Star Status GTI was featured in the Girls with hot rides Theme Tuesday and upon seeing it again I remembered just why I liked this car so much.

The female touch behind this build knew that the factory body needed a little bit of help, so a badge-less grill was installed, half of the door cups were shaved, and the hatch was smoothed out entirely.

Once the body was all squared away, a set of RH wheels were installed and an air ride kit brought the body down to ground level.

A lot of guys in the game could take lessons from Paige on what it takes to build a clean, slammed, ride.

Download high res – 382kb

Ahmet

Ahmet’s GTI starts out with the same Imola Yellow paint as Paige’s, and truly upholds the clean look that Star Status is known for. This GTI has an oem votex body kit (Super rare!) and smoked golf tails. Ahmet installed these taillights as something for slower cars to watch fade into the distance as his APR stage 3 plus turbo kit propels his car into the night.

Not about to leave the under hood area untouched, this car has received a flawless Star Status quality shaved engine bay as well. Inside a set of cloth r seats were installed.

Finally Ahmet’s car achieves it’s immaculate stance and fitment by sitting super low on Brown AC Schnitzer Type 1s at 17×8 upfront and 17×9s out back.

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MKIV – DTek

Another Star Status black beauty DTeks MKIV is a head turner. The paint on this car is so deep that it’s easy to overlook the shaved hood notch, bumper notch, side markers and hatch. But what’s not hard to miss is the crushed red velvet that covers the headliner and pillars. This deep red provides a perfect contrast to that flawless black paint.

Under hood the motor breathes better thanks to an intake, turbo inlet pipe, down pipe and exhaust. While an aftermarket chip has been added to remove the restrictive factory ECU settings for a final power push.

The UV airbags on H&R struts bring this Golfs fenders down closer to the polished lips of the 18×8 and 18×9.5 J line 5SL2 rims and if anyone says that black face chrome lip rims are played out the need to look at this car again. When done right this look is tough to beat.

Download high res – 240kb

MKV GTI – Dan

Last but not least in Star Status is Dan’s flawless red GTI. The body of this car has been fitted with euro R32 tails, and a no-cutout euro R32 rear bumper. Inside the engine bay, it packs an extra punch with a stage 2+ tune and bolt ons.

Inside this vw, the front and rear seats have been wrapped in black leather and alcantara to keep the occupants in place during high speed maneuvers, and since Star Status believes in the complete package, the door cards were also done to match.

Star Status is clearly a fan of air ride set ups, and this car is more of the same since it sports a bag over coil setup that allows the lips of these 17×8 and 17×9 polished faced RS rims to sit flush with the fenders when fully aired out.

With these wheels sitting so perfectly in the wells, you just know that a lot of time and measurements went into this final stance.

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I’m no fortune teller but I can see Star Status making waves in the euro tuning scene for years to come. The nine cars you see above are just a few of the cars in the crew.

I’m very happy to have been able to showcase some of their amazing lineup of cars here on Stance Is Everything, and look forward to posting more.

Thanks to Daniel Berenson for being the liaison between myself and Star Status and for splitting photo duty with his friends Ahmet Baran and D Tek.

If you would like to see more of their work photo work their flickr accounts are:
flickr.com/photos/ahmetthejerk
flickr.com/photos/dbson
flickr.com/photos/dtek

Del Sols have always stuck out as interesting little cars, they tease with the look of a mid engine sports coupe while their underpinnings are actually hinged on the ever popular Civic chassis. As a successor to the much loved and ever popular Honda CRX Del Sols never seemed to catch on quite the same, however for every 10 people who look over the Del Sol there is one individual who is willing to put some time and money into this light and nimble chassis, Erich Hachey is one of those individuals.

I first spotted Eric’s car at Scrape By The Lake 2009, I am pretty sure it was the only Del Sol at the show and it looked pretty nice sitting in the grass in front of the hotel. The second time I saw Eric’s car was at Importfest and even though there were 7 other Del Sols at the show Eric’s is the only one I noticed.

While it was fairly obvious that Eric’s Del Sol had some work done to it, it was  not until I joined Pas Nation and Eric contacted my directly that I got to know just how much work he has put into his car.

Eric, a Hamilton native, has been into the turner scene for about eight years shortly after getting his liscense and first car (an 89 Civic) at age 17.  Like many car enthusiasts he has owned quite a few cars since his first and they have all received a few modifications. His current daily, a 2005 turbo Jetta, for example has about 10 grand worth of money into it just to get from point a to point b.

Off all the cars he has had Eric decided to turn his Del Sol into his show piece and while he didn’t have any pictures of the car in progress to make this a full feature he did have a few pictures and a lot of info to share about the final product.

Right out of the gate Eric was not happy with the factory performance of the Del Sol and therefore swapped the factory motor in favor of a 99 Integra GSR motor with a plethora of bolt on modifications including an AEM intake, AEM fuel rail, AEM cam gears, and venom throttle body, a Fluidyne race rad keeps everything cool while a clutch master stage 2 clutch helps put the power to the ground. Finally a DC sports Header and 2.5″ exhaust was then installed to let everyone know when Eric feels like getting well acquainted with the speed limits here in Ontario.

To balance out show and go Eric spent a great deal of time and care shaving the emblems, wing, antenna, rear license plate and third brake light off of the body. He also sourced out and modified a Buddy Club Body kit and mixed 1950 Ford green with HOK flake to create the unique mint green color his Honda now wears.

Eric knew that the stock stereo wouldn’t cut it on the show scene so he replaced the stock deck 7″ pioneer head unit, the stock speakers with Zapco components, and added some thump in the trunk with 2 OZ audio subs and installed some 2 Kenwood amps and a capacitor to power it all. As a final I.C.E. touch and a throw back to his 80s roots a 15″ tv was added with a classic Nintendo Entertainment system.

While the interior of the car was out for the I.C.E. install the door panels were replaced with custom fiber glass versions and the seats were wrapped in black leather and alligator skin. For the icing on the cake interior wise Eric replaced the factory shift knob with a Coors light beer tap.

Last but not least around here the stance was brought down via Nuespeed springs and Koni shocks while the rolling stock is 17 MSR wheels painted black.

While the Del Sol might not be a popular platform among the stance crowd I think that Eric’s unique sense of style and tasteful modifications help remind us that this platform does have a lot of potential and in the right hands (and not these hands) can become something worth taking a second look at.

Thanks to Eric for contacting me regarding the mini feature and being the first featured ride of 09.

Addiction is a funny thing, it drains wallets, consumes time, and changes lives immensely. While most addictions are negative this is not always the case, some addictions are nothing put positive. Chris Savard is an addict, but his vice of choice isn’t snorted, injected, or swallowed, no, the only way his addiction can be quenched is via long nights, hard work, and dedication. Chris Savard is addicted to the build.

Originally from Peterborough Ontario, but currently living in Australia attaining his masters, Chris has been building cars since he got his first fox body Mustang at the age young age of 15. Since then he has owned and worked on over 30 foxes.

Having owned 30 of the same car in such a short period of time is impressive alone, but when you factor in the fact that he has also bought, built, and sold 10 e36s BMWs and 3  Ford SVT Lightnings in that same time period one begins to wonder if Chris ever sleeps and if his projects are fueled by profit gained from other peoples addictions. Chris used this mystery to his advantage and took on the ‘Infamous’ nick name that was eventually bestowed to him. Chris is now getting ready to show the car world just what a true car nut can achieve with his own two hands.

Chris’ currently daily driver of three years (a near record for him) is a Silver 2000 Ford SVT Lighting which he purchased in Chicago after the owner moved there from Arizona. This clean southern platform came with a JDM (this JDM not Japanese Domestic Market) stage 1 performance package already installed.

While the stage 1 package consists of a 4lb lower pulley, upgrade valve body, CAI, and a 90mm maf Chris knew right away that more modifications were in order.

Chris originally dropped the truck down four inches in the front with two inch drop tubular control arms and matching two inch drop springs, and four inches in the rear via a DJM flip kit and C notch.

However after taking a step back and looking at his freshly dropped ride he realized that he could, and needed to, go lower. He had a set of custom three inch drop springs made and added a two inch drop shackle to the rear to give the truck its final 5/7 drop.

To help make the new ride height livable Chris installed drop shocks on all four corners.

To set off the new drop Chris added custom painted 23″ 3 piece OZ vela rims with 295/30/23 Nitto tires. With such a drastic drop and large wheels some would say that Chris took a perfectly functional truck and made it impractical, however this Lightning is still capable of helping you move and towing water crafts to the lake.

With the suspension and wheel set up squared away Chris decided that the already fast truck needed some more ‘umph‘ when the loud pedal was smashed. This lead to the stock exhaust being ditched in favor of a MAC catback system, and the silencer holes in the blower being filled. Once that was all done the truck received a Royal Purple blood transfusion.

With the wheels, suspension, exterior (via billet grill, tails and 2pc headlights), and motor all being addressed Chris set forth to add his ‘Infamous’ touch to the interior.

Chris made his own suede black head liner in addition to dyeing the rest of interior black. He also swapped out the factory passenger bench seat in exchange for a bucket seat, finally the center console from a Ford Expedition was added along with a triple gauge pod and full stereo system.

Future plans for the truck include a Cervinis tailgate wing, smooth side steps and eventually a whipple blower once the current motor pops.

These future plans may have to wait at least three months as Chris is about to dive head first into The Infamous Project which will see him build a 1992 BMW AC Schnitzer and a 1989 Mustang GT Convertible for this years Performance World Car Show in Toronto.

The Infamous project will set a new standard for internet builds since not only will it be largely privately funded it will also be one of the only builds, to my knowledge, that will contain a live video feed of garage while Chris works on both cars.

If this double build is anything like his past builds it will be interesting, detailed, and clean, just what we all need to help us get through another long Canadian winter.

Thanks to Chris for sending his ride in for the feature and good luck goes out to him for both of his builds. I’m eager to see how the turn out.

One downside to the automotive hobby is that it’s generally one big sausage fest and when an adventurous woman does try to break into the scene she is either not taken seriously, hit on relentlessly, or both which is unfortunate because this often sends these women right back out of the hobby. Some girls however are dedicated enough to pursue past the bullshit and continue on. Stephanie, the owner of this feature ride, rolls her Black 335i with vanity plates the read Blak WIDW (Black Widow) and like a black widow spider she isn’t one to play with or take lightly.

Not only does she roll with punches of the male dominated maxbimmer.com crowd better than a lot of the fellas she also drives a car that’s so tastefully modded it’s no doubt sent a few guys back to the parts catalog to reconsider their modifications for next year.

Stephanie is no stranger to the automotive scene, she’s been modifying cars since she was of legal to drive (16 for you out of town folk). Her previous ride was a hand built boosted Civic that laid waste to anyone ready to underestimate it and her. After having enjoyed Civic nation for a few years Stephanie made the jump from Honda to BMW with a slammed (black of course) e36 convertible, and then upgraded once again to her current 335i.

Stephanie’s 6 speed, black sapphire metallic, premium sport package convertible, with a coral red interior with aluminum accents that puts down 300hp/300lb of torque from the factory was thing of beauty when it rolled off the line at BMW however the modifications Stephanie has done to this car make you wonder why the designers at BMW didn’t consult Stephanie before rolling out the concept.

The exterior was treated to an OEM BMW Aero-lip, yellow fogs, tints, and shadow lined trim, and after having some issues with the stock wheels cracking repeatedly (GTA roads FTL) 19″ staggered VMR V710 wheels (8.5″ front with 225/35s and 9.5″ rear with 255/30s) were put on and the stance of the car was properly addressed with H&R sport springs factory sport struts.

Motor wise the car is chipped wit a JB3 and now puts down numbers in the range of 400hp.

Having grown tired of the drag racing scene Stephanie’s next modifications are more lapping focused and her future plans include: KW V3 suspension, an upgraded front mount inter cooler, downpipes, and a full exhaust system.

Big thanks the Stephanie for submitting in a great set of photos for her feature and a nice list of modifications which made writing this article really easy and finally for allowing me to feature her car.

If you want your car featured on stanceiseverything.com just drop me a line at stanceiseverything@gmail.com.

Sometimes I think the idea of six degrees of separation isn’t just an idea or theory but an actual fact of life, and this featured ride is a perfect example of that. When this blog was in it’s infancy I shot a quick point and shoot photo of an Impala at one of the weekly Applewood Show and Shines. I sent the picture to my friend Keven during one of our weekly msn car chats and as luck would have it the owner, Dale, is his girlfriends father. Kev and I share the same taste in cars and he is a bit of a photog so the wheels were set in motion to get this Impala the shine time it deserves on Stance Is Everything.

Dale was lucky enough to save 62 Impala from becoming a potential rats nest in the confines of a  dusty barn in  Vancouver British Columbia and transform it into the beautiful piece of machinery you see before you today.

Once in Dales possession the car Dale chose to go the resto-mod route which meant that it was off to the spray booth then his garage for some TLC.

Once the interior and exterior panels got some love the stealth air ride install was completed and oversize torque thrust wheels added to compliment the freshly rejuvenated chrome bumper and trim.

The Impala has now rightfully owned garage space as Dale’s weekend toy and show and shine car that he is not afraid to show off.

In one final example of six degrees of separation Dale’s wife is a flight attendant who happened to have Chip Foose on one of her flights and after a few how do you do’s Dale is now the owner of a personally signed marker and pen illustration of his Impala.

Some dudes have all the luck.

Thanks to Keven for shooting these photos for me, and Dale for allowing us to feature his ride. Expect to see a lot more photos from Keven on this site as he is about as down as it gets in support for this blog.

As always if you want your car featured send me an email at stanceiseverything@gmail.com

When I started this blog I had no idea where it would take me, or how often I would post, however 100 posts came up almost unexpectedly and what better way to celebrate than with a story about a full restoration built by a local car nut? The builder of this car is like me in a lot of ways he loves, BMX,Transformers, The internet Industry, Blogging, and fine pieces of American muscle.

Over the course of seven or so years Eugene has worked tirelessly to restore this 1968 Pontiac Firebird to factory show room condition only to put it up for sale after about one year of seat time. Some might consider putting in that much work to sell so quickly is crazy but for Eugene the art of the build is just as enjoyable if not more than the finished project. Infact he has already started considering his next project; a 1940s Fleet side Pickup.

If Eugene keeps cranking out cars of this caliber and selling them for such reasonable prices (this car is priced to move at $23,595) than the prospects of all us us being able to one day own a piece of American muscle history  just shot up.

The Beginning
Eugene’s story writes out like a novel, and actually did become a book, his fascination with the first gen Firebirds started when he worked at the GM plant and familiarized himself with the parts and service manuals of the 1967-1969 Firebird.

With a new found love and a wealth of knowledge he set forth to build a show room ready First Gen Bird. He started off with one that was not too rough around the edges…

Motor work
The 68 Firebird came with an inline six rated at 215hp in it’s most powerful optioned out form the neat part about this motor, which I learned while reading Eugenes site about his bird, is that it was designed by John Z Delorean the same person that designed this.

The Motor running after rebuild

Interior Restoration
The interior was a bit of a mish-mash of parts which can be somewhat expected of a car of this vintage.  All of this was addressed by Eugene during the restoration and the interior was brought back it its intended glory.

Exterior Restoration
The climate in the GTA is terrible for the longevity of cars, they all rust to some degree, thankfully Eugene took the time to have his car repaired properly and not smacked full of bondo.

The finished product
This car turned out beautiful in the end and while it doesn’t have any suspension mods its original stance is one that demands attention and I am sure every car enthusiast would turn their head as this bird flies by.

I’m really honored that Eugene wanted me to do a piece on his car and part of me is sad to see that he is selling it so quickly, however I am really excited to see what he does with his next project.

If you want to read more about the restoration process of this car check out the page Eugene built all about it, My First Gen Bird, all of the pictures in this piece came from there. If you want to buy this fine machine visit his for sale page at car candy.

Thanks for reading the first 100 and stick around for many more.

Have you ever had something you wanted so bad that you kept at it longer than you really should have at the dismay of others? You invested so much time and heart into it that you didn’t want to let it go no matter how financially stupid it was to keep pushing forward? Well if you have you can probably relate to the story of my old truck and this Featured Ride.

For as long as I can remember I wanted a minitruck bad, and the item of my desire was an box style s-10 Blazer. I don’t remember where or when I saw my first one but something about them was just really appealing to me. However I didn’t realize two things going into purchasing one. Old Canadian vehicles are pretty much rotten pieces of garbage, and GM quality from 1992 leaves a lot to be desired.

After about a four month search I found a Blazer that I thought could work for a decent price and bought it from a shady used car dealership with an in house body shop and got it cleaned up and ready to be modified.

Below is essentially how the vehicle looked upon pick up, but washed.

I rocked it like this for about two or three months, though with the window and hood guard removed, and surprisingly it was stolen as such. It was recovered though and the only thing that was stolen of importance was my skateboard. I took this time to get an alarm installed, the rocker panels fixed, and the tints redone.

Suspension
During the months the car was stock I spent a lot of time pulling together the suspension. This truck was going to get SLAMMED until I could afford to bag it. I purchased Belltech 3inch springs and 2 inch drop spindles for the front and 3 inch drop leafs and 3 inch drop blocks and a Suicidedoors.com notch, with Belltech dropshocks to keep things sort of comfortable.

In all honesty it rode very very poorly.

Sticker Removal/Body maintenance
Shortly after this I realized that the paint job I had got left a lot to be desired and most of the rust was coming back and the clear coat was peeling in some places but with a good wax and polish I was able to get by the planned respray in spring.  I was willing to pay a lot of money for Casual Customs to do a full restoration on the body of this truck.

IROCS
My stock tires developed bulges since they were probably the same ones that had been on the car for the past 10 years and they sucked in the winter so I bought a set of painted IROCS with all seasons to rock. My winter traction was still terrible but they fit the look of the truck very, very well.

The system
The system is what really made this vehicle for me. I put a lot of time and thought into making this truck sound as balanced as I could and still be practical(ish) for my uses. This meant my bike still had to fit in the back, and multiple bikes on occasion. This is probably what I miss most of all.

The Beginning of the end
By this point the truck had been giving me a bunch of maintenance issues (brakes didn’t work over 100 km for awhile, intake manifold gasket went, alternator/battery gave up the ghost, exhaust had half fallen off, CAA hit it off the roof of a parking garage, the list goes on and on) and at the urging of my family and friends I had actually put the truck up for sale and was actually considering letting it go.

The Break In
The truck ended up getting broken into a GO station (which was not an isolated incident when it comes to go stations) and the system was carelessly ripped out. While ripping out the system they killed the ignition, under dash wiring, and the drivers side door. The truck was in really rough shape after this incident and I didn’t think it would ever run again.

I was right as insurance wrote it off and gave me a whooping $700 for my trouble and when I went to remove my affects and wiring from the truck I was quite pleased to find out a cat had pissed in the entire interior making the job hellish.

One day I hope to build another dream car but I am not sure it will be a minitruck. When I do it though it will not be a daily driver/project (too many headaches) and the base will not come from Canada.

When I was growing up my mom had a burgundy 1988 Honda Accord that was a dedicated daily driver until the earth decided to claim it back by the way of rust. Unfortunately many Honda’s of all generations and models meet a similar fate.

However thanks to members of the JDMrides community an increasing number of Honda’s are being saved from rust and rice daily. Since 2007 Jim E has been working to turn his Accord from humble daily driver to Mugen Inspired head turner and he has succeeded.

Where it all started (2007)

The Mid Way Point (2008)

2009

Power folding side mirrors installed

Exterior
Mugen replica lip kit
JDM Stanley Fogs
EDM rear roof spoiler
Power folding Mirrors
Authentic Mugen Grill
Authentic Mugen Flush mount spoiler
Benen IND rear tow hook
JDM rear fog

Wheels/Tires/Suspension
Mugen MF8 with MF10 center caps wrapped in Falken Azenis
Function and Form type 2 coil overs
front upper strut bar
rear upper strut bar
rear lower tie bar

Interior
JDM Window Visors
SIR 3rd Brake Light
JDM Door garnishes
EDM Gauge Cluster
JDM Cup Holder

Thanks to Jim for being the first featured ride not owned by myself here on Stance Is Everything

The GTA has a lot of amazing cars that pass rip up and down the 400 series highways. Many have short lives and some live for ever. Stance Is Everything is committed to bring the stories behind these cars: how these cars got to where they are today and where they are headed. Today’s Featured ride is the founder of Stance Is Everythings first car: Daves (old) 1985 BMW 325e.

This e30 started spent most of its life as a 1985 325e serving as a daily driver for a truck driver in Atlanta. This father son project car was rust free, fully loaded and LSD equipped, it was never fast but it was fun and was one of the cleanest diving board equipped e30s around. leather interior fully loaded car with and LSD, it wasn’t fast but it was fun and extremely clean for its age and mileage. It was a project my dad and I shared for as long as I drove it.

Here is it’s story.

Initial Delivery
When I first got the car I was stoked to finally have my own set of wheels to whip around and it didn’t matter to me how it looked or that I could not yet drive standard.

New Paint and rims
I spent a lot of time in the kitchen of a local Jack Astors until I was was able to afford new paint and rims in the same year, however this pretty much cleared out my bank account so I could not afford new suspenison to go with the BBS RM’s.

Angel eyes

New suspension
I was finally able to afford to drop the car a little bit. After I lowered this car I knew I could never drive a stock height car again.

Interior
I put a lot of seat time in this vehicle so I had to make it something I enjoyed sitting in, this mean the drivers seat and stereo had to be addressed.

Exterior
The e30 taught me that subtle tasteful, vehicle appropriate modifications win out over outrageous body kits and paint.

You never forget your first.

The Modifications
Suspension: Eibach Pro Kit/ Bilstien Sport shocks
Wheels: 15 x 6.5″ BBS RMS
Tires: Falken 512’s 205/55/15
Motor: Jim Conforti Chip, K&N Drop In Filter
SSK: Motronix
Stereo: Pioneer Head Unit, Rockford Fostage 4 channel Amp, Infinity Reference components, Jl 12w3v2