Awhile ago I came across a fairly small picture of a few oddly proportioned, about go kart sized, vehicles sitting on an oval track waiting for a scantily clad woman to drop the flag and thought what the heck are those?
Then I forgot about the picture almost entirely.
A few weeks later I found a photo of a similar car (with yet another woman in it) and thought I ought to get to the bottom of what I was seeing.
Did the run? Were they go-karts? Power Wheels? These were the questions I needed answered so I turned to Google and found out that they were in fact called Zingers.
The first ‘Zinger’ photo I came acrossand the second photo where scale is a bit easier to interpet
Built originally in much smaller scale by MPC the idea behind Zingers was to stuff hilariously out of scale motors and wheels under regularly proportioned bodies.
Denny Johnson birthed the idea and in the early 70’s six “full” size ones were built using 1:1 motors and wheels.
The original model ZingersWhat appears to be a scan of the original line up
The next few photos I am assuming are from a more recent shoot of the surviving Zingers
Sadly none of them were actually capable of moving under their own power which kind of just makes them elaborate engine stands.
After looking at the photos a few times the semi truck one started to look mighty familiar so I did a little digging in the crates and it turns out I actually saw it at Performance World in 2010.
Whether or not it’s the exact same one I can’t be sure but it certainly looks as though it is.
More info on these things can be found here and here.
Someone should make one that runs, the dune buggy looks the most feasible to do so. Perhaps the van…
Flashback Friday
Posted this car in this weeks Theme Tuesday, hard to say which wheels I like more these or the Sempeks.
Sorry for the delay between parts two and part three of the 2013 Mega Speed Coverage it wasn’t really intentional, I just got busy getting a few ducks in a row (more on said ducks next week).
Today’s wrap up coverage has a little bit of everything that you couldn’t find in the previous posts.
Vans
Have to respect ‘vanners’ for doing whatever they want and not giving a damn what other people think. I probably spend more time than I should looking at vans to be honest.
65 Ford Econline line affectionetly known as The GrasshopperNo missing that intake setupThis van was fairly morbidly decked outThe George Barris SuperVan in it’s freshly restored gloryUnderneath all that custom body work, sparkle paint, and red shag is a 66 Dodge TradesmenI’m almost positive growing up one of the (old) phones in our house was the one on the back wall of this vanYou couldn’t pay me to get in a van with shag carpeting but some of the Mega Speed Models did for the sunshine girl shoot
Car Stars
I wonder if in say, fifteen years or so, people will start to make replicas of cars from the Fast & The Furious series? I suppose for that to work they would have to stick around from movie to move.
Oddly enough this car had Ironman playing on a screen in the trunk. I guess the owner wasn’t a fan of the Seth Rogan’s Green Hornet eitherThere’s no doubt in my mind that I have seen each of these at Street Classics Cruise In before
Lowriders
There were a few lowriders at the show but they were parked in high foot traffic area that didn’t lend itself to great shots. I’ll see them again as the season progresses for sure though.
This Impala has such a classic Cali styleMajestics Toronto and Switches N Thangs holding it down in Hall 1It was great to see this car completed for the show, I wasn’t expecting to see it until the summerAll the chrome and mirrors actually made this car somewhat difficult to shootI should be taking some more photos of this sooner rather than later…
Classics and Customs
It took me awhile to see the vehicles in halls one and two but like years previous they didn’t disappoint in the least.
This is one of a handful of cars I really regret not taking more photos ofProbably be awhile before I see something like it again…The owner of this Buick turbo six powered Camaro drove this car through the snow to the show as it sits.Long time readers might recall when this car was blueBoothill Automotive Reseruction’s other show stopper, Rick Nash’s CamaroTrans Am Rocking ForgelinesThe wheel choice on this GTO was interesting, can’t say I see mesh wheels on GTO’s too oftenClass winning, big blower, CamaroOne of the more fitting uses of the “Remove before flight” tag I’ve seenThis Lincoln was one of those cars that was so well done it looks like it could have come that way from the factoryIt’s hard to describe the amount of work in this without showing you the owners build logThis Buick Sedanette was pretty wild, and brightThese Fords are really growing on meThis actually reminds me quite a bit of Chuck’s 56In addition to being gorgeous this truck made me want creamsiclesThe paint was beautiful…I kind of want to take before and mount it to my nitro RC.Classic flames herePerformance Improvements is building this Factory Five for their 50th Anniversary. I’m hoping to pop by and check in on this car as it progressesLots of gold leaf on this build, which as the plate implies was all steelHitman Hotrods T bucketThe purple lights shining on ‘The Booch’ always make shooting it a bit of a challengeThis 36 Ford known as the time bomb is absolutely perfect in my eyesNice touch with the wheels matching the interior on this’32 Ford on a Multimatic frame featuring their very unique ‘in wheel’ suspensionThe damper is actually the gold and blue unit you see bolted to the firewall, apparently it’s a significant handling improvement compared to other options on the marketThe  finish on this car was impeccable, which makes sense considering where it is parkedLove the way the white walls pop on this car. Wish there was a way to have the roof a darker black
That’s pretty well it from Mega Speed 2013 but a few more cars might make their way up to the fanpage over the next few weeks.
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.
Sure there have been a lot of questionably named replica companies that have emerged since the latest “rise of stance” but there are also several creative brands making their individual marks on the industry as well.
So many in fact that I’ve decided to break this Theme Tuesday into two parts.
I’ve been following this company out of Michigan on facebook for about a year now and as the name suggests they generally cater to the VW crowd.
While I’m sure there wheels would look good on a variety of other cars there is no denying they look stunning on Volkswagens.
Watercooled IND CC10sI posted this on the fanpage way back, love the satin black on the graphite BL8sWhat would a wheel company be without a classic 5 spoke?
Vossen has gained a lot of popularity over the past few years by producing large diameter wheels at affordable price points.
Their alignment with Importfest has given me a chance to see a lot of their lineup in person and have always been impressed with their styles and finishes.
Sadly too big for my car.
Harvin’s 370z on Vossen CV2 wheelsCV-5s on a local G35This car my look familiar from this video
This is perhaps the newest company on the list but at the same time the one I’ve been watching the closest. Putting a set of their wheels under Knoop’s car is a great way to kick down the door and make a name for yourself.
Sempek’s Trophy wheel suits this e39 quite wellKnoop on Sempek KnoopsPut to the test
Memoryfab is one of two wheel companies on this list with deep roots in importing, selling, and refinishing wheels. Memoryfab’s M Technica line consists mostly of wheels inspired by classic Motorsport designs that work great on older vehicles.
They’ve also got a few more contemporary models that look nice on modern cars like the FR-S as well.
M technia Turbos on a MiataM technia Aero 18s test fit on a MkIVM technica Aero’s on an FR-SM Technica DirectionalsMemory Fab also made these, and these are awesome
A familiar name on Stance Is Everything Luxury Abstract has amassed an impressive following over the past few years due to the hard work put in by the entire staff.
They recently picked up to two Canadian distributors (one of which being local PFAFF Tuning) so I am really looking forward to finally seeing a set in the flesh in the near future.
7 on Madors, I really like the Mador Mini as wellThis car was featured on Grassor-Cs was featured on Stance Nation recentlyUnique wheels for a unique car, Max’s Acura looking stunning on Madors
When the owner of ADV.1 first started pushing the brand he was met with a lot of resistance due to the in your face marketing campaign (fuckyourwheels.com) and his previous endevours with now extinct wheel company 360 forged.
Despite criticisms and nay-sayers ADV.1 has prevailed and continues to put out high quality, understated, designs that work well on a variety of vehicles.
Peter’s car on his previous ADV.1 set-upGrinder TV Audi sittin’ low on ADV.1 8TS wheels (I think)Perfect fit reallyInsane.
Easily one of the most successful and recognizable names on this list everyone at this point has heard of and seen a Rotiform wheel on-line and in person.
I’m not sure anyone could have predicted a few years ago just how popular this company would become.
3PC TMBs are perhaps my favorite of the entire lineupCaddy on BLQSRotiform Dia wheels, obviously Lamborghini inspired but sick none the less
Stay tuned for the rest next week, and feel free to submit a few favorites of your own.
One of the main reasons people choose modify their car is so that it’s different than any other on the road, this is especially true when the platform you are working with is fairly common.
During the time Stance Is Everything has been active Level One member Dan has built two unique, very low, and fairly well known Honda s2000s.
His most recent being the now sold yellow rendition that’s been posted here multiple times and featured on Illmotion, Stretch & Poke, and twice on Stance Nation.
This car obviously has fans world wide, one of whom loves the car so much they decided to replicate it nearly identically, all the way down to a not-quite-right Level One sticker.
Dan’s car early last season on the new wheels with the factory bumperWith the ASM front bumperThe imitation, note the Level One sticker and similar ‘School of Hard Parked‘ Stretch & Poke stickerDan’s car at Importfest in 2012The facsimile as of  March 24th 2013
If the imitation stopped at the most recent version of Dan’s car that would be one thing but the owner has obviously been following Dan’s car from afar for awhile, check out the photos below.
Dan with the white TE37sand the imitation…
Considering all the time and effort put into copying Dan’s car it’s weird the owner couldn’t have thought of a few personal touches or at the very least drawn inspiration from a few sources.
I guess it is a compliment to Dan’s tastes.
Site Updates
Hope to round out the Mega Speed coverage between now and Monday and then start to work on some of the Air Lift Performance content I’ve got lying in wait.
Flashback Friday
If your curious about all most of the revisions Dan’s car went through take a look back at the post titled ‘Shoe Fetish‘ from 2012.
Today’s portion of coverage from Mega Speed 2013 focuses almost exclusively on the tuner hall which this year was fairly self contained from the rest of the show.
Apparently this was done based on feedback from last year but personally I would have liked to have been a little bit closer to the rest of the action.
Nevertheless the tuner hall did have a lot of cars and it was great to see a lot of people again after a long winter that refused to leave.
Shining Monkey
The Shining Monkey booth was pretty well packed all the entire weekend with people who wanted to hang out with professional drifter Chris Forseberg and check out Ken Blocks car.
Chris Forsberg’s competition carKen Block sadly never made it (partying in Budapest) but his Ford Fiesta didJust ain’t care
Taylor’d Customs / Airlift/ John
This year was my first year showing at Mega Speed and it was actually John and Blair who managed to convince me to do so.
Blair and I showed side by side while John was a few cars down in his own showcase section putting us to shame winning multiple awards.
Big thanks to Blair for the carpet and stanchionsBlair’s wheels didn’t arrive in time for the show but thanks to Air Lift Performance we both got lowCan’t wait to run these wheels all the time again, putting my winters on again after the show suckedThis was the first event I felt I could get some decent shots of John’s car from all anglesHe ended up taking home the award for best Import Other, and best wheelsBig thanks to John for rocking that very large, and hard to appy, SIE sticker!There’s actually a lot of flake and depth in John’s paint… it’s just nearly impossible to capture
Acura/Honda
The owner of this first generation Civic sent in some progress photos awhile back and I completely forgot about it until I saw it at Mega SpeedJaved’s EL looking clean as alwaysI’ve seen this RSX a few times but it looked especially good at Mega Speed 2013, I think it was the lack of stickersBrian says this is the last time his Civic will be seen like this, very curious what he has in storeTurbo K20 Civic with an interesting front bumperAnother big turbo drag Civic
BMW
Nice to see some of the old maxbimmer.com glory day guys out at Mega Speed.
Randy’s e46 looking great on his new SSR wheelsIt’s been quite some time since I have seen Fab’s e46. Still looks goodRounding out the maxbimmer alumni was Gary with his wide body e46Nice looking e39 wagon, don’t see a lot of these at shows
Euro
Manny’s GLIThis Golf bagged Golf had a very aggressive Rotiform setupLove the vinyl on the tank.Nice touch here matching the inter cooler piping to the wheels and the strut barPerdo still has one of my favourite local A3sVery clean MKII Golf on re lipped RMsDowntown Porsche sponsored 911
Nissan
Peter Chrisikopoulos’ drift car was in the Street Concepts boothQuite the difference between now and the first time I saw it last yearBattle worn from last years seasonPaul’s GTR, stunning as alwaysPeter got some new wheels for his Skyline. I’m not quite sure if I like these more or his old ADV.1 wheels
Mazda
Dippedinc.ca had their plastidipped speed 3 outFlying Miata LS converted Miata. The motor looks surprisingly at home in thereThis wide body MX-3 reminds me of a mini version of John’s Mazda car
Ford, Fiat, Hyundai and Toyota
I met a lot of people for the first time at Mega Speed, one of them being the owner of this Mustang Mike (aka Mcnarly)Who would have thought Rockstar wheels would fit under a Fiat 500?Sam’s Genesis on Alex’s wheelsNot sure whether or not Sam will be rocking these all yearThe Too Fast Motors 350z looks to have received some plasti dip, or vinly wrap over the winter as well as some Phat Fux Wheels (worst wheel name ever)Tom’s Celica also went through some changes this winter, receiving a repainted engine bay…and new hatch setup
Minis
These two cars were actually in the hall that part 1 of the coverage was focused on but I felt it more appropriate to include them as a close out to today’s post.
According to the cards both of these cars were owned by the same lucky manTurbo charged Honda heartVery classy and tastefully modified, basically perfectHats off the owner for two beautifully put together cars
The final part of the coverage devoted to the classics will be up soon, should be roughly as large as this post.
Before I get back into another round of Mega Speed coverage (read: finish editing the photos) I thought I would put up some snaps of the 2013 Mega Speed Grand Champion, the ’56 Hauler.
Mega Speed was actually my second time seeing this truck in person. The first time I saw it was at the Detroit Autorama (where it took home 1st place, Radical Truck, Best Truck, and Outstanding Display).
The reason you didn’t see any photos of it in the Detroit Autorama coverage is because every time I tried to get a photo it was surrounded by a wall of people.
Here in Toronto the truck was still mostly surrounded at any given time but thanks to (yet another) riding friend who works for the company commissioned to build the truck —Boothill Automotive located in Erin Ontario— I was lucky enough to get a chance to step inside the display and snap a few photos of this immaculate ford.
The list of body modifications done to this truck is very extensive and yet none of it is in your faceOne modification that caught my eye instantly was the incredibly cool manually operated, gas shock assisted, cable latching, hinged front endUnderneath the hinged hood sits this Roush 588 EFI motorThe box of the truck is scratch built with custom fenders that are 2 ¼” wider than stock and 1 ½” longer in the frontThe interior like the rest of the truck was beautifully resto modded with carbon fibre, steel, and leather ½” thick carbon fibre/honeycomb bed boards line the floorThis photo is a little weird as it was shot in a mirror but shows the Ride Tech suspension, 3″ mandrel bent exhaust, modified rear endGreat looking trophy, well deserved, trophy for the folks at Boothill
Much more info about the final product and the build can be found at 56hauler.com
This reminds me that I’ve got some shots from the 2012 Boothill BBQ still to post up….
I like to believe there are at least two universal truths among car enthusiasts. The first is that everyone loves the e30 m3, and the second is that everybody likes a good burnout.
Personally I love a good burnout and while I agree they have their time and place (leaving a meet is neither the time nor the place), I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing more tires evaporate into clouds of smoke this year.
Might as well start things off with the universally loved (I hope) e30 m3Mtech II e30s can get love tooAnother beaut from the SW campI need an old truck in my lifeLove the plateMiata roasting at h20iCloser look via The Scraped CrusadersPhilly GS at h20iDylan and Riley roastin’ em at last years CSCS season openerRubber bits are good for the lungsHuge fan of this captureThere is actually an entire thread on the H.A.M.B dedicated to fire burnoutsI wouldn’t want to clean the white TE’s after thisSimply amazingThis kind of looks like a AT-ST stuck on wheels and doing a burnoutRWD converted ForresterI’ve recently been playing a lot of Sonic 2 on my iphone…Love mini burnoutsSy/Ty’s are one of my dream vehicles. That list is very long howeverEasily one of the most famous burnout pics in recent memory. video
With Performance World going the way of the dodo Mega Speed had big shoes to fill when they stepped up to replace the previous unofficial show season opener here in Toronto.
From a spectators perspective Mega Speed 2012 was a resounding success and Mega Speed 2013 was shaping up to be a great follow up.
This year’s event did have a few hiccups —one regarding a particular celebrity driver, and another being the mysterious the lack of pinstripers (which is a personal favourite attraction of mine )– but it still had the awesome variety of cars I’ve come to expect of any show that takes place at the International Center late March.
The number of cars at these events always yields multi part coverage so except a few more posts about the show this week. As always I’ve done my best to break it up by hall.
Today’s coverage is mostly from the truck/rat rod hall but a few others have mixed their way in.
Rat Rods
I still hesitate to use the words ‘Rat Rod’ because in some circles in can cause huge debates about what is, and isn’t a one, but I don’t think the owners of the vehicles below would take offence to their builds being called rats.
I waited pretty well all weekend to get some unobstructed shots of this truckThe choice, and location, of motor made it an instant fan favourite and usually a number of people were around itI never did figure out the motor was but I heard a few people guess that it’s from an early ElderadoEither way it was certainly uniqueI also also a big fan of this build which had a lot of great small detailsFor example you can just make out the connecting rod motor mount hereThis truck had a lot of  pretty rad paintwork…though perhaps not the most P.G.Kind of blows my mind how small the passenger area of vehicles used to be compared to today, guess we are all getting fatThis was my first time seeing this truck (which was built by someone I used to ride with) and it totally deserved the first place award it took homeIn my opinion it’s rough where it ought to be and refined where it ought to beDiz Nutz.
Trucks
Big shout out to all the minitruck guys I talked to at Mega Speed. I’ll do my best to actually come out to Vanfest this year, I’ve only been meaning to for three years or so…
This s-10 really messed with me for awhile, I later found out the weird proportions were because of the Pro Mod front endSeptic company sponsored pro street rangerThe son of the owner of this truck drives a Mazda that could almost drive under itThis was crazy and I really regret not taking more photos of it nowNice to see a little old school flavour at the showI liked this, the lack of paint looked great on those wheelsThis Mazda has some of the best chameleon paint I’ve ever laid eyes onFront shot of the pairChatted with the owner of this truck for awhile, nice guy with a great looking truckI previously had no idea how hard this truck layed out. For whatever reason the other wheels didn’t really showcase itGary’s Ranger after it’s most recent round of changes.Andy Brown’s truck that was recently featured in Mini Truckin’I think I can count on one hand the amount of bagged Dakotas I have seen in personand I can’t say I have ever seen a tank like this before
Hitman Hot Rods
Hitman is a shop located in Cambridge Ontario that I am long overdue to go and visit. They brought out a few things this year (like the red s10Â above) but their show stealing piece was the frame below.
It’s hybrid suspension set-up built by (another) old riding friend of mine that will eventually sit under another truck that Gary is building.
A few of Hitman’s more standard framesThe first time I saw a photo of this four bag configuration was on instagram and I must have spun my phone around five times trying to figure what was going onTwo of the bags out back push fluid to the hydraulic cylinders up front, which is a similar set-up to the Andy’s MazdaThe outer frame rails also double as air tanksIn this shot you can see Jeff from Switches ‘N Thangs talking to Matt about the details of the buildThis motor isn’t the one that will eventually find it’s way under the hood of the truckOne last look
Sometimes I come across builds that leave me completely floored in every way imaginable and this dwarf Mercury is one of those builds. Originally intrigued by it’s small stature I set out to find more info and what I thought to be some sort of fibreglass reproduction was actually quite the opposite.
This Dwarf Mercury known as the Rebel Rouser, is a completely hand built steel vehicle built by Ernie Adams.
Built over the course of five years Ernie made everything from scratch except for the spotlights and mirrors and powered by a Toyota engine the ‘Rouser can hit highway speeds with realtive ease. Looks like a normal sized car here until you start paying attention to the background
With someone crouching beside it you can really tell something is off here scale wiseHere the size of the car is obviousI wonder if these kids thought it was a damn good looking Power Wheels?The man himself and his creation
I could say a lot more about this car but I think the six minute video below does an excellent job of showcasing Ernie’s, hard work, craftsmanship, and ingenuity.
http://vimeo.com/57941515
I’m never going to look at a fridge door the same way again.
My car is currently sitting in the International Centre right now as part of the MegaSpeed Custom Car and Truck Show and I will be there Saturday afternoon and some point on Sunday and I’ve currently got all the product that’s left in the store in the car at the show so if you want anything find me there.
Most of us (especially those of us who have done it) have at some point heard someone state that lowering a truck ruins a truck.
The funny part about that statement is that most lowered trucks are still more truck that most nay sayers actually need, and are still very capable of hauling miscellaneous goods, be it in the bed or on a trailer as is today’s theme.
Starting of light and working our way up here’s Jeff’s truck (pre disappearing paint trick) pulling a small trailerKiller combo hereThis truck was from last years camp and drag and it’s almost absurd how big (and low) that trailer isThis is static (with helper bags) and has 17000lbs on it in this pictureThis truck looks as though it gets put to work quite oftenFunny some might say these two trucks should switch placesPretty sure I’ve seen a feature of the van somewhere before…This truck and the one above look kind of simiarMost of the scrap metal guys around here drive clapped out cube vans…I’m noticing a theme within a theme here……duallys pullin’ minisI like the similarity in these buildsThe baby doll on the bumper kind of creeps me out…Mind of Macias is one of those blogs I always has decent content but I always forget aboutI think this may also be staticAwesome shotThis shot of the Little Shop’s dually pulling this massive trailer is what inspired this themeDually, pulling dualliesI would gladly accept either of these trucks in my lifeGod damnPerhaps the most famous of all shot by John Jackson
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