Benz

The weather was exceptionally great last weekend and my car was freshly ready for summer (thanks to Simply Tire and Automatrix) so I swung by Tiremag on Sunday for a BBQ they had organized along the people behind Ertefa. I must admit I was pretty surprised at the turnout since it's still somewhat early in the season and I know a few cars that are still in several pieces.

About three quarters of the way through writing last weeks Theme Tuesday I realized that there was no way to fit all of the companies I wanted into a post of reasonable length. What I didn't realize is how well received that post would be! I was honestly a little worried it would flop, now I might have to look into doing parts 3 and maybe for further down the road.

Sometime last year I got into a conversation about "real" wheel companies with a local enthusiast. Normally I try and avoid conversations like this all together but, this time I took the bait and asked the person to list off a few companies he considered real. The standard prerequisites (BBS, Volk, Work, and so forth) were fired off but I was a little shocked that he failed to mention any of the numerous new (or perhaps maturing) wheel companies that have been putting out original designs within the past 5 years or so.

Back with the second (and final) batch of photos from the 2013 Canadian International Autoshow media day. In my two years of experience attending the show for media day I have found striking an even balance between getting uncluttered photos and attending big reveals a little difficult. Last year I missed pretty well everything but this year I fared a bit better managing to catch three or four. Sadly I was distracted during Chevrolet's uncloaking of the Sting Ray which I'm still kicking myself over.

Heading back outside of the Las Vegas Convention Center for this extra long SEMA coverage post today. I'm not sure the exact criteria for parking outside of the Convention Center but if I were to guess I'd imagine it's similar to one of the larger "invite-only" car shows in the states.

Slowing things down a little today coverage wise for another SEMA Showstopper. Erik actually spotted this car on opening day (while I was off getting married) and suggested that I take a peak inside the car once I was done looking under the hood.

Recently a couple s-10 owning friends of mine stripped their trucks down to bare metal and seeing them both paint and rust less (at least for the time being) triggered this weeks Theme Tuesday. Interestingly enough it was common to come across posts that read 'this car was later painted' due to how hard it is to keep a bare metal car looking pristine no matter what you coat it with.

Since we've met Aidan has been slowly introducing me to more and more of the VIP culture so it's only fitting that he's the one to bring coverage from one of the largest VIP specific shows in North America, Black 3, to Stance Is Everything. Black which is held in New Jersey and presented by Luxury Abastract in association with the Liberty VIP car club is aimed at bringing the best VIP builds on the East Coast and abroad to the fore front.

At the last round of the 2012 CSCS series I spotted a vehicle sitting amongst the show and shine cars that I was more accustom to seeing running the quarter mile. This isn't entirely uncommon as people often park in the show and shine for a bit between runs but what made this a little different was the fact that previously I had never been able to identify this car.

I didn't go to H20i again this year, no excuse really, I just plain couldn't afford it due to recent purchases and trip to Vegas (read: SEMA) at the end of this month. So similar to last year I did a quick perusal of photo threads and compiled a short list of cars I liked.

This car is pretty old, as are the pictures of it, but I stumbled across it for the first time recently so I have to share it. "Back in the day" (late 90s early 2000 it seems) before people were putting LS motors in everything they were putting Chevy small blocks into everything*.

Another Importfest has come and gone which means this week is going to be almost completely dominated with coverage from the event. I haven't had a chance to go through all of my photos but on first glance I estimate about three posts worth of material.