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!

The first Squeeky Clean show took place two weeks ago at JRP and even though mother nature didn’t seem to fond about the idea of Matt having a show that day about 35 or so cars ended up coming out to participate in the event.

I arrived in time for it to start drying up but it was still pretty cold so as the judges hustled to wrap things up as quickly as possible I made my rounds with the camera.

Imports

Being an Honda guy Matt got a lot of support from the Import crowd.

I didn't notice the leather guts in this car until looking at the photo again today

I believe this car took home best sticker application or something like that

Guessing dude works at a skate shop, or at least knows someone who does

Facebook alerted me that Dan is looking to go lower next year.. something custom I think

You can't really see it here but this car had a slight pearl in the paint

Damn this is a nice looking DA on what look to be BBS RAs

Never seen aftermarket center caps in e30 baskets before, clever

I've always wondered if people steal these things? Would be weird to come back and find yours missing

The anodized lips set this car off pretty nice

Those Mugen sides do not look speed bump friendly

Squeeky clean

Recognized a few cars from JDMR at the show

Elevated came out to show Matt some support

LMs... I should do another LM appreciation Theme Tues

The Elevated EK and ChopShop EK are too of the hottest looking Civics in town

Alex is looking to go further aggressive out back next year

Dylan's Silvia on Pansport G7s

Matts s2000

Which looks like it's got more camber since the last time I saw it... not surprised he is always changing stuff on his cars

I didn't know this Scion was actually from Miami.. probably wishes he was home now

Love the Personal wheel in this interior

The engine bay was pretty unique

With this stealing the spotlight

Subaru

John’s Subaru is pretty wild I didn’t know just how wild until I read his  feature in Performance Auto and Sound that outlined just how much work he has put into this car. It’s certainly one of the more show oriented builds in the area but he drives the heck out of the car and it puts down a serious amount of horse power.

Curious how much power this puts down? Scroll.

Well damn

Orange/blue interior with Cusco cage and a plethora of gauges

John has more sponsors than I have modifications

Euro

I was told minutes before I showed up a whole bunch of VWs rolled out, bummer.

Jetta on AMG triple 5 spokes that I think come on the CLS36?

Dope Jetta on TMBs I also saw later at the ChopShop BBQ

White out treatment

Jujhar recently had some work done to his Golf, love the new front sans bra

So clean.

Hoping to maybe shoot this car some more next season

I beleive Matt plans to have the event earlier next year so expect a bigger turnout for Squeaky Clean 2012

A few might make their way to Importfest Montreal but the rest will either be converted back to winter mode, stored, or go under the knife for rebuilds.

With that in mind I made sure to do a few laps of the show and shine Sunday just to make sure I got some photos of some of the more attention grabbing cars.

Stickers and Stuff

Before I jump right into the cars here are a few stickers and random things I spotted including a dog and a Tiburon covered in 15 layers of Plasti Dip which evidently turns it into a giant chalk board.

This modified society crown is pretty cool

This Sittin' pretty sticker was a nice combination of script and sans serif fonts

Adam rocking the Purple and Teal color sticker chosen by Erik

Stoked to see Javed still rocking the black and gold

It's been a long time since I have written with chalk...

This dog decided walking was way over rated

Other cars

Don't often seen Bentleys at show and shine events

This Lotus probably would have been more at home on the road course

One day I'll have to come up to Cayuga for a drag event and see cars like this run

Business end

Domestics

I have not seen something so 'under construction' at a show in a long time

Sic's new tow pig

I bet the side pipes on this spark like crazy

I can't imagine the aftermarket for these is huge so kudos to the owner for sticking with

Erik was around for the earlier part of the show and shine

His turbo setup seems to be treating him well

The CSCS parking lot... not so much

Nissan

So Fresh Auto Maxima

Very aggressive Skyline

Te37 SL's are getting quite popular and look really nice on this GTR

Hyundai, Mazda, Mitsubishi

I think this is an Elantra (or Accent?).... cutting all the cf for the splitter probably wasn't easy

The rear is pretty wild to match what was going on up front

Miata with some eye makeup

Limited myself to one picture of Carsons Evo

Subaru

Ty's STI is still for sale

Lownatics brought a couple cars out

Hot as hell...

Audi, BMW

The body work on this Audi was pretty flawless, molded front bumper is brave

Sam from WP Pro Brakes brought out his e39

Blacked out boosted e46 cab

Not all that much room in e46 engine bays

M - Tricks wide body 2002

While the bronze lips are quite nice I think I preferred the polished lips

Toyota/Scion

C west Supra

Clean bay

"You'll blow yourself to pieces!"

Quite a few Scion's at this round, I paid the most attention to the XBs

The hood and emblem on this one are pretty cool

Last time I saw Adam's Scion was in dim light tired at Importfest, seeing it more alert I noticed how nice it really is

The air ride makes a considerable difference when compared to that yellow one

You may have noticed I am a fan of his trunk setup

Honda

Javed's boosted EL out front of the Street Concepts booth

Level One near the Meguairs Canada Setup

This car was actually competing in a few track events not the show and shine

Matt added 'moar low' since his feature and was parked at the AMF booth

Also at the AMF booth...

Nice Prelude

On the way to CSCS I passed a traffic slowage that turned out to be this car along with a few others pulled over

Dope Spoon equipped EK

Tidy engine bay too

P-Dizzles Civic was up for sale earlier in the year good to see he kept it

Wonder if he will make any changes over the winter....

Congrats to the CSCS team for another season and letting me do some give-aways over the course of the season. Count down to next year begins now…

The look combined with the name Lamborghini was enough to make me a life long fan.

While I learned more about them as I aged until recently I had no idea that the Lamborghini factory may have considered production turbo versions. In defense of myself (and others of my generation who might not have known) reportedly only two were ever built by Lamborghini, the prototype which was misplaced/crashed/or otherwise and this one that hangs out in Switzerland with women who wear shiny clothes.

This beast is equipped with the 5.2L V12 and two Garret T5s which combined put down 550 to 750hp and sixty miles per hour comes (and goes) in a scant 3.7 seconds while this car pulls up to 333km/h.

One can only hope an epic race insued

Not only is this car beautiful on the outside

The engine bay is equally a work of art (unless you have to fix something)

So rad

I wish there was a sound clip with this photo

Ronals never looked so great

God damn. If this isn’t straight from the factory it sure as hell should have been.

Spotted on Suck Squeeze Bang Blow .

Site Updates

I Manged to do quite a bit this week, a feature, event coverage, a give away, and put in the order for the new T shirts. The second round of shirts will be teal on charcoal and have a few slight differences from the introductory ones.  Sizing will be Gildan S – XXL and I should have them by next Friday.

Sunday I will be at the Nextmod Annual BBQ come out if you like cars and free food.

Flashback Friday

If you encouragement other than food take a look at part one and part two of last years coverage.

It's always packed so make sure to pass through

Conveniently the two events were close enough (about thirty minutes apart) that you didn’t really have to make a choice between the two if you were only a spectator like myself.

The first event I attended (and returned to) was the Battleground Show N’ Shine put on by Battleground Performance and Division R.

Previously Division R had most of their events in Mississauga but this year they decided to switch things and as a new event, at a new venue, the show drew out a good amount of cars so I am sure the organizers were pretty happy.

The Fiat

This was actually one of two crazy Fiat’s I saw last Saturday which on it’s own is pretty weird because I don’t normally come across Fiats outside of classic car shows. What made this particular one different (other than the fact it is an X1/9 something I have never seen before) is that it was powered by a turbocharged h22 Honda motor.

A quick google search revealed that this might not be the only one

Fuelcell up front along with what look to be 8" subs

In addition to the motor swap the car has obviously undergone a lot of cosmetic changes

See the guy in the background looking at it like wtf? There was a lot of that

Domestics

Once I made it past the Fiat I headed over to where some domestics were parked to say hello to a few friends

One of my favorite local sleepers

James and I (mostly James) are looking to put together something for the underexposed mini truck community in Ont should be cool once we do it

In addition to being quite nice this girl loves trucks

One More

James came out with two friends, one who drove a bagged Camaro and another who drives a currently un-restored mini from the early 90s

-

In typical Lowkey fashion no sign of the air management in this Camaro

Cobalts are becoming a bit more commonplace at shows

Hyundai, Nissan, and Infiniti

The dudes in the car beside this Gen seem to be watching my closely...

Part of the Division R lineup

Alvin's Kenwood trunk setup (thanks for rockin' the new sticker)

This G35 on 20x10 /20x11 Raderwerks should be familiar to you by now

Well fitted

As part of Division R he couldn't be judged but I am sure he would have done well if he could

Apparently this car was at Importfest and I just missed it... tunnel vision brought on by the Impala beside it at the time I suppose

The Sic Ryde lineup changes so often though you can't really blame me for missing new additions occasionally

Mazdas

Don't think I have ever thrown up a side shot of Tim's Protege

RX-7 with a body kit I have never seen before...

I have to stop messing around and actually get an engine bay shot of this car for you guys

Dat ass

Acura/Honda

Really liked the wheels on this car... never seen them before

Close up of the kicks Venette Vega wheels

Very nice DC2

I'm curious how many NSX's are in the area as I keep coming across ones that are new to me

I also seem to have under estimated the amount of first gen Civics

Unlike the RX-7 above I got pics of this cars motor and nothing else... it runs 10s

Couple Hondas parked in the far side of the lot

Always nice to see a well kept CRX

Engine bay of the above rex

I think a girl might have driven this one

This one I know was lady driven

Emilio from Two Litre Media made the trek out from Kingston

Spotted him at the end of the day shooting for the raffle winner

Worked 905 reppin'

The engine bay is pretty cool certainly not many, if any, like it

Level One rolling in after Stretch and Poke

Their rear diffuser game is serious

Dan ended up taking home best stance

Level One S2k lineup

This V6 civic showed up while I at Stretch and Poke

Brian's Ek still never ceases to impress me

The entire build is on point

Little jealous of those wheels...

Putting on a show is a heck of a lot of work so congrats to Battleground and Division R for pulling of their first one.

Tomorrow I will have photos from the last Stretch and Poke meet of the season.

However with events going on basically every weekend of September 2011 isn’t going out without a fight.

This coming Sunday there are two events to look forward to: the Battle Ground Performance Show & Shine, and the final Stretch and Poke meet of the year both of which I will be attending.

The Battle Ground show is being put on with the help of Division R Performance and will run from 10am – 5pm at the Battleground store which is located at 80 Carlauren Road Woodbridge Ontario (Weston/7).

There are tons of classes including specialty awards for: Best of show, Largest Car Club, Best Stance, Best Wheels, Best Engine Swap, Lowest Ride and Best Female ride.

Check out the flier below for more additional details:

Click to head to the official Facebook event page

The final Stretch and Poke event will be at the usual location (Downsview Park) with all the usual suspects (Cool Kids, StreetClass, The Scraped Crusaders, Stance Is Everything, and ProperSpecs) and this event starts at 1pm and goes until the final car rolls out.

Click for the Stretch & Poke event page

If the weather is good you have no reason to be sitting around at home this Sunday. My personal plan of attack is BGP show from 10-12isn, Stretch and Poke from 1-3 then back to BGP in time for awards and wrap up.

Also if you ever want to know whats going on in the GTA (with more than my typical one week lead time) my friend Trevor started an event calendar site for the GTA over at tdott.me – Toronto’s Auto Blog

I think the increased amount of anticipation was due to the hard work the Ifest team put in beforehand  promoting the show online and at events, as well as the announcement of several ‘feature‘ cars coming to the show from both within the GTA area and abroad.

Personally I was looking forward to the show as it would be my first time attending the show on setup day, and it was an opportunity to meet a huge number of readers for the first time. It’s always cool to see what you guys have to say about the site.

Today’s coverage is most of the behind the scenes stuff though a little of that might trickle into part two as well.

This vibe speaker wall is a big reason why my throat hurts today, it is LOUD

The Acurabot made it's return to Importfest to compete in the 'Elite' category

I think I heard an audible snap when the guy in the striped shirt int he background turned his head

Sic Ryde had a huge setup this year, his area was flooded with people (and models) Saturday

This Civic stopped me in my tracks the last CSCS and did the same at Importfest, it's immaculate and heavily modified

This Civic was one of three dope cars in the 'Stretch & Poke!' area

So Fresh Automotive was nearly done setting up there lineup when I passed by

Brightest Speed 3 ever, did very well when it came down to awards

This Maxima is crazy, the people next door at Fanexpo would have got a kick out of it

Importfest supporting their local Chop Shop

A3 obsession continues...

Scion Tuner Challenge 2011

I’m not sure how many of you guys have been following this challenge but the cars were all complete and debuted at Importfest. While all quite different stylistically they are all good examples of what can be done on the various Scion platforms.

My goes to the Team TDS ‘Chocolate Love’ because they are a team made up of local OGs.

Kryptonite by Camo customs out of Quebec

Anarchy by the SR auto group from BC

Chocolate love by Team TDS out of right here in Toronto

3/4 of the Chocolate love car

Nine-O-Five Rides

The Nine-0-Five Rides team are regulars at Importfest so this years was no exception. I know a couple of the guys in this group personally and know how hard they worked to get their cars ready for the show so it was good to see they all were able to make it.

Erik recently finished his turbo setup and was straight piped at IF so you could hear him coming in

Quick look at Erik's new Turbo setup

Eric and Ty parked and ready for the next day

Not sure if I have seen this Celica before, new addition?

I know the Acurabot was in the house but Alex's car went through one hell of a Transformation

I hear there is an interoffice lowest car contest where he works and now he's a little closer to the top...

Explicit Conentz

The Exclusive Wheel and Tire backed Explicit Contentz team had a bunch of unique vehicles including a very quick Kia which I will have more photos of tomorrow and Mina’s recently featured GTI along with a golf with an A3 front end.

The body work on this car was incredibly well done even with the hood popped it looked factory

Mina and the above mentioned boosted Kia

Toronto Subaru Club

TSC had it’s own team this year, they also had a meet the day after which I wasn’t able to attend but Spyder01 was if you want to check that out.

Chris' hawk eye is considerably lower than the last time I saw it and still amazing

BBS RS FTMFW

Chris pointed out that there are no WRB Subaru's in this whole line up, go figure.

Division R Performance

A lot of Division R was already there when I showed up but a few cars were still rolling in that I didn’t get a chance to shoot. Their area was pretty live during the show though thanks to the support from Cherry Sounds.

Met Tim,a reader with a very heavily modified Protege

Two very fitted G35s

This was one of the best applications of a smoke machine I have ever seen at a car show

This looks 1000 times better than the cotton ball trick people were using late 90s

Nextmod

Nextmod got their familiar spot this year and brought out a lot of their show regulars with a few new additions.

Nextmod is big in the Mazda 3 community so they always have a couple in the show with them

Shea was the first person to rock the new sticker on his 2010

White cars still make up a lot of the Nextmod lineup

But they do include a few other cars

Setting track records one weekend winning car show trophies the next...

If you don't recognize this car take a look at the feature from early this summer

Advan's gone, ADV.1's installed, and dropped, Peter was busy!

Level One

Level One has some of the most recognizable low and aggressively fit cars in the area and they brought them all out for IF.

Serious front line

Dan's s2000 had some paint work done before the show and looked absolutely flawless

Got Ass?

I love the LM's on the first car and the Civic is my favorite of that generation locally hands down

Liberty VIP

If you followed the fan page this weekend you know I spent a decent amount of time with the guys from Liberty VIP. I plan to dedicate an entire post to them in the not too distant future but I couldn’t leave them out of this post.

Going through the photos I have of these cars alone is going to take some time…. here’s a couple.

Brett, one of the local members, initially parked his LS400 upstairs

This year I really took notice at just how clean this car is

Eventually he made it down to what would be Liberty VIP's permanent home for the show, the lobby

Still want, still can't afford.

This car is straight up insane in person, insane.

Hope you enjoyed this collection of pre show photos. Tomorrow’s Theme Tuesday will be Importfest related and potentially NSFW so be sure to check that out, then Wednesday I will get into the coverage from Saturday.

This was the first one of these events I had been to in 2011, and the first I had been to in quite some time where the forecast was great the entire day.

The turnout was incredible and the cars were awesome as always, if you live in the area and like cars there really is no excuse why you shouldn’t check one of these out. Also the 50/50 draws are getting pretty high so you could leave the event richer than when you arrived, we didn’t though.

Bikes

First time I have noticed bikes at these meets, guess it’s my growing two wheel obsession.

Couple bikes rolled up, I liked the black one quite a bit

Ducati's look much much better black in my opinion

Imports

Not JDM though…

Do not have to do a thing to a car like this

I took a picture of this Mini while waiting for the crowd to thin around the GTO then forgot to take a picture of the GTO, fail

If you own one of these let's go for a ride, thanks in advance

Star Cars

It occurred to me the other day that its entirely possible for younger car enthusiasts to have never seen an original episode of the Dukes of Hazzard or Starsky and Hutch. Weird. On a somewhat related thought are there any K.I.T.T. replicas in Ontario?

Torino equipped with siren and strobes

Favorite TV car hands down

Like the confederate flag a General isn't complete without the dixie horn

Ford

I didn't get a shot of this Ford GT but I did get a shot of the Whipple

I remember this car from the pre 1955 show a few years back

American Graffiti styled Ford

Gassers and Customs

I’m always pretty excited to see a gassers, customs and lead sleds pull up because they are always oozing so much style.

New build or resto what do you think?

I didn't get a shot of it but the header on the drivers side actually burnt the paint up, which actually made it even cooler

I always love a well done flat black paint job without tiger stripping

Lead kings car, beautiful machine

Chevys

These cruise ins are really heaven for Chevy fans

Chevelle and a Mustang parked in front of a garage you would never see them in

This Camaro had a very nicely done full JL audio setup

The install where it mattered was clean as well

Bagged 70 Chevelle SS

Excellent looking 69 SS

Spectre cold air looks like devil horns

This Chevelle was a bit of a sleeper

Most certainly not what it came from the factory with

You might remember this Impala, it's been featured here before

Similarly colored Impala SS

Very clean 70 or 71 Camaro

Tidy engine bay to match

Mopars

A few of these I had a tough time identifying once I got home. So if in fact some of these are labeled incorrectly let me know.

Bright orange Duster

I believe this is a Plymouth Valiant, don't come across them a lot so I am not 100%

Regardless of what it was it was packing some heat under hood

One shot for the road

Similarly powered Road Runner from the same shop

Shop does big things...

A car with a story to tell

I found this Bel Air incredibly interesting because it was obvious that at some point in its life somebody really took care of it and did a lot of modifications to the car, then that care suddenly stopped and the car has become less than half of what it once was.

I never saw the owner to ask what happened but that is probably a good thing because I’m not sure how I would phrase the question without it being offensive, it’s just weird to see a car in this shape still driving normally they only start to look like this after years of sitting in a driveway.

I’m sure this car has a story and one day I would love to hear it.

Even though it's rough now it's easy to see that a lot of this is custom

Maybe the text on the back is a hint at what happened

The Car of my dreams?

My girlfriend and I often chat about what type of car I will build when the time is right and I can devote a lot of money into something I plan to keep for a long time. I’m pretty much dead set on owning a classic simply because I have always wanted one and while I love Impalas she is pretty partial to Chevelles and considering the amount of money the project will probably cost I am willing to make a compromise on model of car.

That being said this Chevelle is perhaps the closest I have seen to what I picture building in my head.  It’s low, it tucks, has huge tires, a heavenly exhaust note and an epic single solid color paint job.

I stood fixated in this position for about 5, maybe 10, minutes

Very spartan engine bay, looks like you could climb in there with it to work on the motor

If you can't understand why I love this car you might now know me

This was my first ‘Heat The Street‘ show of the year (their 7th in total) so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect in regards to turnout number and quality of cars. Upon arrival I was pleasantly surprised on both counts, many of the usual suspects came out to enjoy the sun along with a few people and cars I had not seen in awhile.

Heck even I parked my car within the show boundaries.

Random

Took a bit more time at this show to take some pictures of some of the other things that I saw at the show outside of cars and women. I was able to capture most of the random stuff that was happening at the show outside of the guys on pocket bikes who I kept missing.

As impractical and illegal as those things are I still want one. Even though I would probably get bored of it really quick.

One of the loudest vehicles I have ever heard, period.

Best team name goes to...

Always been a bit more of a Batman fan myself, but nice art work none the less

Dogs doing dog stuff

Sono tube used for its original intent

The winner of the Heat The Street Tour will be seen flying off the top rope wearing this

Bikes

Bikes seem to be popping up at meets more and more this year, or maybe I am just noticing them more and they were always there. If the latter is the case it is not a good sign for either my wallet or well being.

A friend of mine owned this bike, Gucci fabric on the seat like a boss

Monster livery Ninja

Euro

Not much of a Euro turnout but I am guessing everyone many were getting their rides ready for Waterfest and Vagkraft.

I didn't see this Audi until the end of the show different touch with the wheels and piping

On the flip side this Jetta was one of the first cars I saw

Ford

These two Mustangs stood out to me for fairly obvious reasons. The first one because the owner thought outside of the box in regards to wheel selection and the second because it was all around ridiculous.

I am hoping to head out to a Street Classics Cruise in this Saturday so maybe I will see it again there?

Mustang on Volks, they flow surprisingly well

Insane Mach 1, watching the owner try and baby it out of the show was fun

Power staring me right in the face

Dodge/Chrylser

In my eyes the 300cs stole the show in regards to Dodge and Chrylser, the two below in particular are very well done.

Carlos brought out one of his two show cars, his Integra will apparently be at the next

I have not seen this car since Voicecoil meltdown, looks just a nice as the first time i saw it

Overall a very clean car

This 300c was also nice and low and was packing a punch under hood

And here is that punch

GM

Most of the GM field was made up of trucks that were also at the Niagara Truck and Tuner Expo, though a couple I hadn’t seen since last years Scrape if at all.

Green Bastard Buick

Reminds me of the new version of Bumble Bee... he probably gets that a lot now

Team Asshole bagged Cobalt, later seen dragging down the street

Killer paint treatment on this s10, creative, unique, and well executed

You all, already know how much I like my slammed early gen s10s

I really like how the two tone carries through inside of the truck

If this is original paint the owner of this truck knows a thing or to about paint care

Perfect.

I need to get a ride in one of these some time before I die

Imports

I was reading a post on Canibeat the other day regarding USDM styling picking up in Japan which blows my mind because they copy us, we copy them, infinite loop? Just a random side thought that doesn’t really have anything to do with the cars below.

Andrew brought home another win with his Genesis

The paint on this RX-8 does a hell of a lot of cool things under the sun

I parked beside Aidan to use some of the crowd his car draws to my advantage

We also tossed a bunch of the site promo cards between his wheel and tire

He took him best VIP/JDM at the show

Chris was out with Division R

Sam's been hitting up all the shows and accumulating best stance wins

Thanks for the love Sam

A GTR Bruce Wayne himself would approve of

Hard to tell from the picture but that's a CF inlay on the spokes

KJohn's Accord wagon is easily one of the lowest and most unique in the area

Beautiful

Very aggressively styled Acura

Looks like it would be right at home on a road course

Danio showed up late, but brought the heat with his latest wheel set up which looks incredible

Fitted

How he continues to raise the bar in regards to s2000s in Toronto is insane

Bikini Contest

As promised coverage of the women from the events has returned to Stance Is Everything, at least for now. I’ve actually got to give credit to my girlfriend for taking these photos as I was taking the ones for the fan page with my phone.

The guys in the background of all of these pictures seem to be enjoying themselves

This girl didn't win but she was a contender

No comment nessecary.

Again mums the word.

The eye daggers the other competitors shot this girl were ridiculous

These were the top 3 finalists with the girl in the middle taking it

The next event on the SLC Heat The Street Tour

Not too fussed though I will see these cars again soon and I think the next S&P event at Downsview Park I will raid Lyndsey’s lens stash to switch up the look of the photos a little bit.

Anyway enough talk, more photos!

Lexus

Missed these three from part 1. Funny enough the first two both live in the neighborhood I grew up in and I saw these cars a lot at an impressionable age which makes them a big influence on why this site exists today.

Sharad from SK Performance was out in his wife's car and I grabbed an LED kit from him that was a really good investment on my part

Check out that camber, tire shops live Sic

Sic Ryde unexpectedly showed up with a trunk full of chicken, I was hungry so this was perfect

Samson from GB Tires leading his crew in

Nissans

Drift Posse gettin' a little love on the lip there

I know a guy who wanted Advan gold from a powder coater and it came out cardboard beige

Skyline I have never seen before

Seeing this car coming straight at you then turn is crazy, because it really emphasizes the dish on those works

Exhaust/trash receptacle?

Mitsubishi

This car was recently featured on Stance Nation and is just as clean in person as it looks in pictures

The TE37 SL's are a nice switch up on a modern classic

This is dedication.

Subarus

Tidy WRB wagon

This car is beautiful in person, hats off once again to Chris

It's just well done all around and exactly the type of car I would drive

Another winner in rally blue (...I know clever caption right? Ha)

This car puts down 400 hp and looks good doing so

God I love BBS LMs

If I could afford it one of these would be my next car, the money tree just refuses to grow though

Euros

CHOPSHOP dominated a lot of the Euro presence at this meet.

Basically everyone loves Drew's e30

Purple drank wheels

OEM +

Aidan gave this guy a heads up when out at the movies, great to see new people out

Pssssst.

This car sits nice aired out and he doesn't drive much higher than this

More Chop Shop

Perhaps the first time I have seen this car in person, I thought it was a unicorn for awhile

VW Caddy full of attitude

Manny likes this Mexican lowrider

Supras

I guess the price of Supras has fallen a little bit more because they seem to be popping up more often at meets. That or a container full of them just arrived, either way I’m stoked to see ‘em.

This one was closed up so no telling what was under the hood

But this one was opened up to reveal...

a large single turbo setup

Bam.

Since posting my last set of photos it’s come to my attention that the actions of some people at the meet have put the venue in a little bit of jeoprdy because the management is not happy.

Personally I like this venue and I enjoy these meets so if you happen to know some of the people flexing their horsepower at the meets just give them a heads up that their actions were noted and are not encouraged.

The next Stretch & Poke meet is at Import Expo which I am not 100% sure if I am going to enter or not (my car is not a show car) but I will be covering it.

As much as I love going to events, hanging out, and documenting sometimes it’s hard to find the time to sit down and edit the photos I take.

This problem becomes more apparent when it’s nice outside & work is kicking my ass. However the show must go on so here are the pictures from the CSCS opener show and shine.

Nextmod

As usual Nextmod is doing a tour of all the major events with CSCS being one of the first stops.

Everytime I was by the NM area I was blinded by the refliction of all the white cars

Sniped a shot from the drag stands

Couple new mods added to this car since I saw it at S&P

Focal Point Concepts

FPC is the perfect example of a group of friends who happen to just all love cars.

Crew deep

Spensers hatch on it's new 5 bolt suspension

This car took home a well deserved best graphics

I see this car randomly all over the place

Nine-O-Five Rides

I’ll be hanging with the Nine-O-Five Rides crew at the end of the month at their Niagra Tuner & Truck Expo Sunday June 26th.

Erik out in the beater

Nine 0 Five Rides Soarer

Erik's roomate has a nicely done low Subaru

This swap should look familiar from a few weeks ago

Domestics

Lip on a flipped lip. Different.

This trucks paint does all sorts of cool things in the sun

James parked out front of the Meguairs booth

S10s sticking together

Not sure about driving with that shifter but it brings the theme together

Nissans

Interesting wheel choice on this 300zx

Clean as hell

The colors on this car compliment it well so I keep taking pics of it

Santi's car lurkin' in the infield

This picture doesn't really do it justice but Sam's car has a nice subtle gold flake over the black now

He has also added a min ibar to his trunk

and has also added a new dash table

Mazda, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Lexus

Graphiti took care of the wrap on this car. Lots of wraps in 2011

First time I have seen this RX-7 outdoors, wonder if it drove in

Thanks to you guys I now know this is an AZ-1

3 Cyl ftw?

I've always like the white Lexus uses

Although it just got out of the paint shop with a new front Andrew says it is mid make over

The rear is going to get a bit fatter in the weeks to come

Hondas

Well that's one reason to bag your ride

Miss Vtec

KJohn has gone for a more in your face look this year

Saw this hatch while I was up in the grand stands too

I have been running into Adam every 4 or 5 days either at a show or at the skate park

I've been following the build on this car, got a chance to meet the owner nice guy

An angle grinder, some clear coat and some creativity created this look

Really like the color of this first hatch, and always dig the one in the back

Accord on Work VS-XX

Boosted S2k...

V6 Powered Civic under new ownership with some new mods

I am sure none of you have forgot this car

Euros

Golf showing off some awards

Clean and simple GLI

Sebastian's worked over e46 showing with Division R

Bass rattlin' like to midgets in the trunk wrasslin

Sick looking Jetta laid out near the front of the show and shine

That’s it for CSCS this time around, see you at round 2 July 17th at Mosport.

Also Chris and I from CSCS are going to be bouncing some ideas off each other for some give a ways so keep an eye out for those!

While I wasn’t able to make it out to this years Summer Sizzle put on by Pur Secretz Mike happened to be showing at the event and was nice enough to snap a few photos for use here.

Like last year this show took place at Vonn Cycle where they had the ability to shut a few streets down and line it with cars.

Bikes and Vonn Cycle

Since the show as at a motorcycle shop there were bikes on display (along with cars) inside and outside of Vonn Cycle.

The dude in the background kinda looks like Skillz

Wish I knew a little more about bikes...

Ya, I guess that is a nice car to have in your showroom...

Classy lady in red

Domestics

Seeing cars like these makes me super excited for the Fleetwood Country Cruize In I am going to this weekend.

This clean Camaro is new to me

Quite used to seeing this Nova standing out in a sea of imports

Euros

Nice lookin' line up

Not familiar with this e30 hopefully I'll catch it in person sometime

Turbo fed Golf

Imports

Mike's personal ride, VS-XX wheels looking damn clean

This is a nicely done Mazda6

Row of Sedans

Interesting color choices here, not bad

This was the RX-7 that showed up to Stretch & Poke

I think I've seen this wide body RSX before but perhaps on different wheels

Ejaz's Protege

RX-8 wheels are a common mod for 3s but a little less common for Proteges

and this is a...?

See this car sliding Sunday maybe?

If I am not mistaken this car has had a wheel swap since I last saw it

Did Matt get new wheels... again?

Focal Point Concepts, Call of Duty fans it would seem

This looks like the Fast Wheels Chaser

Nice two tone turbo hatch

Some of you might remember Mike’s work from last year where he covered Stretch and Poke 2 for the site, don’t be surprised if you start to see his name a bit more around here as he approached me recently with some pretty cool ideas for the site.

Mikes entire Summer Sizzle photo set can be found here.

If you are looking for something to do on the May 29th I suggest hitting up either the Krown Lakeshore Charity Show and Shine, Pur Secretz Summer Sizzle 3, Stretch and Poke 2011 # 1, and finally BVANs kick square 1/jdmrides off meet.

Krown Lakeshore Charity Show And Shine

This Show and Shine is the first show that I am going to be attending on the 29th. It’s put on by a good friend of mine and it’s a charitable event for Sick Kids Hospital and because I was a Sick Kid I try and support that hostpital as much as I can.

The event takes place between 11am and 4pm and at the Krown Lakeshore location which is: 1019 Lakeshore Road East, Mississauga, Ontario.

Some of the day’s events include raffle draws, huge sales by Krown Lakeshore for all the products and services they offer, an M&M Meat Shops BBQ, etc. Hope to see you there on Sunday May29th as the show will between 11:00am-4:00pm.

Summer Sizzle 3

Last year I headed out to Summer Sizzle 2 pretty impulsively as the weather was good and I had a few hours to kill so I went solo with no expectations.

I ended up seeing a few friends there and having a good time overall and while I can’t make it this year I know a lot of people are so for those of you looking to check it out this show takes place at Vonn Cycle which is at 181 Woodstream Blvd, Woodbridge, ON

Come spend a day of fun in the sun with Pur Secretz and Vonn Cycle at Summer Sizzle 3 Show ‘N’ Shine
on Sunday May 29th 12-5pm!!!!!! As the biggest street show of the year, this is an event you won’t want
to miss. Also be there for the Grand Opening of 360 Motorsports!!
…
Lots of exciting things going on during this event including:, raffles with some high end prizes, live
entertainment by Tha Nazdaq and of course all our fellow friends in the automotive industry. Once again
there will be FREE Rockstar Beverages all day long!!!

Previous event coverage:

Mike is going to be there again with his RX-8 and taking some photos for the site

Kjhon's Accord

I've yet to see Krystyn this year

Event Coverage: Summer Sizzle 2

Stretch & Poke 2011 #1

The second event I will be going to on the 29th is the first Stretch & Poke event of 2011.

Dave at S&P is good folk so I always try and make it out to his events for that reason and there is sure to be a lot of aggressively fitted cars at the show as well which is always a plus around here.

Canada! Winter hibernation is over! The Stretch & Poke! 2011 Calendar of Events has arrived and we’re hosting 5 events for 2011, with 2 of them awarding trophies and prizes! (Registration at Import Expo and Importfest required).

Previous event coverage:

This car was sold but is still around...

Lexus crew rollin' deep

Stance factory in the house

Event Coverage: S&P 3 – Sayonara Summer

BVAN’s first official meet 2011

Last year I went out to this meet and it had the chance to be epic…. then the cops broke it up. This year security and local PD are going to be notified so that hopefully it isn’t as much of a bust.

I don’t live quite as close this year but depending on how the other two events go I might make this event number 3 of the day.

Previous coverage:

Maybe this year I will bring a flash or something

Parking lot kept filling with more and more cars

and then we had to go...

If you catch me at any of these events I will have stickers on me. Fingers crossed it finally stops raining!

This year I’ve decided to switch things up a bit by posting the more modern Imports, Euros, and American cars first leaving the rat rods, traditional rods, and muscle cars to later.

Chevy

To tell you the truth I wasn’t sure what days coverage to post this Corvette in but because it’s not a classic, and doesn’t really fit in with the ‘Tuners’ and Euros but I’m sure none of you really mind that it’s in today’s mix.

Seems like a well know build too, somehow I had no idea.

ETC Enterprises did a crazy job on this car

Sits on 20x10 21x13 iForgeed Legacy V2

LSX 376 crate motor puts down the power

Toyota’s and Mazdas

There wasn’t really much from these brands at the show but here is a couple

This Chaser was practically hiding in the Direct Auto Imports booth

Last time I saw this car someone was sleeping in it

Honda/snail propelled

Veilside Widebody RX-7 on 20s all around

Custom audio by Natural Sound, really crazy looking setup in person

That rotary puts down 464 HP/379 tq

Mini’s

Out of nowhere this year there was a bunch of Mini’s at the show,  I’m not complaining as some people (Ollie)* have got me hooked on these little buggers.

These cars just look like so much fun to drive

The Baur e30 of Mini's?

I wonder how hard it is to find tires for Mini's...

The Magic School Bus

K-swapped Mini!

The roof was CF (or CF over layed) which was a nice touch

and it was AWD (CRV rear end)

Honda’s and Acuras

Not always a huge fan of this generation Civic but this one was very nice

Clean K swapped EK

This cars been all over the net and back and still grabs my attention

I'm always glad to see this car has stayed the same, the owner got it right first time

Great looking rear diffuser

This S2K is another car I am glad stayed very close to what it looked like last year

Do not think I have seen this NSX before

The Importexpo livery covered NSX

Buddy Club wide body RSX I last saw at Rish's BBQ

Another Import Expo decal-ed Acura

Every time I see this EL I take a picture

Euros

This reminds me I should try and make it to Vagkraft again this year.

Shudder to think of the retail on these wheels

Hell ya this

Tuckin' Porsche wheels hard

M-Tricks wide body 2002

Have to give it to these guys, the car went through one hell of a transformation

4 door on Sportmaxx's I might know the previous owner of this car, not 100% sure

The Modified Society e36

That wide body e46 from High End was back and as rumored had a cage and forced induction

Sic Ryde

Had to cruise by the SIC RYDE display and see what was up for the beginning of 2011. He had his usual cars out as well as a few I had not seen since before going under the knife. Of course Sic’s personal Lexus had new wheels.

Overview of the SIC RYDE display

I saw an older gentleman stop his son in his tracks and tell him about when he had one of these cars

Sic's got his late model Benz game right too

Classy CLS 500

Accord on 20s

The wide body turbo vr6 Corrado

Unique filler setup

Sic's other Corrado which he bought brand new

Spotless Type R

Repsol Honda CBR that looked like it had an extended swing arm

Porsche drop

Sic's LS400 is on 22s this season, 22x10.5 out back...

Another shot of the LS just because I don't know how he got those to fit

Division R

Division R means business in 2011 they came this year with a lot more cars then I knew they had and the cars I did know they had all had new modifications.

Division R Fairlady, love the white letters

Wonder if the look is just a look or if he tracks it

Perdo Kicked his SSW's to the curb for some LM's, good choice

Followed this build on Maxbimmer, pretty crazy the work that went into it

Red CF hood, very nice touch

The setup is 19x10/ 19x12 and the quarters are all metal off a different e46

Been awhile since I had seen Randy (empowered) his e46 has gone through a bunch of changes

Hadn't seen Andrew in awhile either so we shot the breeze for a bit

Sam got a set of VS-XX wheels for this season, they look great

I'll see this car a few times this year I'm sure

Beautiful

I’ve got a lot more to come from this show over the next few days so if your wondering where the Muscle, Rods, and Minitrucks are don’t worry they are coming down the pipe.