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Theme Tuesdays: Los Boulevardos

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Recently I stumbled upon on Stance Works thread that kind of rattled the entire belief system this site is based on, for years I have often considered American cars -ie: Impalas slammed on Supremes with white walls- a different style of lowrider but it turns out that is not the case.

According to members of the Los Boulevardos Car Club these cars that are too late to be traditional (in the hot rod sense), and too lowrider to be custom (think sleds), and too custom to be lowriders (think lack of wires) are their own niche entirely.

Though they are obviously influenced by all three of the aforementioned customization styles they are their own niche birthed by custom car builders and painters like Larry Watson and Gene Winfield (who I was lucky enough to meet at SEMA).

Here’s an explanation by Al Grain (Alex) on Stance Works

There was a period of time after the custom cars of the 50’s, but before the lowriders of the late 70’s where mainstream focus shifted away from custom cars (chopped tops/smoothed body panels/hubcaps/etc).

It was still the sixties though, and people did whatever their imaginations came up with with what resources they had. Metal flake paint, lace patterns, wild psychedelic paintwork took the place of more expensive body modifications.

One of the biggest differences between our cars and a modern day lowrider is the wheels. You’ll never see Daytons, McLeans or Chinese wire wheels on a Los Boulevardos car.

We’ll roll Astro Supreme, Cragars SS or Starwires, Rockets, Tru-Spokes, chrome reverse and a myriad of other period wheels.

Then there’s what I run – the ’53-’55 Buick Skylark wire wheel. These were the gold standard for a wire wheel on a custom car back in the 60’s.

I found all of this pretty interesting and when I find things interesting I tend to spend a lot of time reading about them which is how I stumbled upon the  Los Boulverdos forum and most of these photos.

This car according to Alex was the beginning of the trend
Of course they don’t all have wild paint, this one is rocking what appears to be a subtle flake
And this and even subtler paint job
Love the car, love the shot
It’s crazy to think that wires wheels are what probably lead to these
The fact that these cars can be so simple, and some so wild, makes them awesome
Amazing Caddy
Slightly different take on pinstripping
This car has a lot of lowrider influences, most notably the paint
Amazing 5355
Japan has picked up on the style as well
From a Los Boulverdos Car Club Cruise
From the same cruise if I am not mistaken
I’ve seen this Buick pop up a few times over the past few months
The hours and detail in that paint…
More intricate paintwork
Lanny Ericson’s 56 which was painted by Gene Winfield the finish is called Violet Fantasy
51 Chev picked up from Rub N Scrape
Boss Rivi from Local Hero which is a blog you should check now and again
and to end it with Alex’s Oldsmobile Dynamic 88

Guest Coverage: Illmotion Sunday School Show & Shine 2012

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Canadian readers have probably heard of Illmotion before but for those of you may not have Illmotion is a group of enthusiasts from Calgary who in 2010 decided their scene needed a bit of a kick in the pants.

Last Sunday they had their second annual “Sunday School” show and shine at the Max Bell centre in Calgary and like other great events in the Calgary area guest contributing photographer Mike McConnell was there.

From what Mike told me the show had desert like temperatures but it looks like quite the variety of vehicles showed up. Here’s some of the show from Mike’s point of view.

Domestics

Mustang Mach 1
SRT-4 on Miesters
Good to see the classics still attracting attention

VW, Audi, Mercedes, BMW

GTI on Diamonds
I hear there is some great riding out in Calgary
The block heater suggests this is an all year driver… damn clean for that
Jetta squatted
Best GTI from Mike’s Driven coverage
For sale…
One sick Audi rollin’ by…
One sitting still

I be in the benzo, keep a low profile

I’ve seen loudspeakers on roof racks but never a sub

E30 on RMs that look to be relipped
E30 on TH lines
Why not boost while you are doing the swap?
Type 2’s look amazing on e36 coupe, especially as wide as this
When I posted this car in Mike’s Driven coveage…
….I didn’t realize what was under the hood

Mini, Lotus, Saturn, Mazda

Clean classic
Mazda 3 owners love battles
Cortina!
Incredible
I’ve been following this build on and off on Stance Works, must have missed the bit stating it was Canadian

Mitsubishi

Talk about a blast from the past…
Evo with aggressive aero and what look to be AME Tracers

Subaru

Clean GRB
Drank

Honda/Acura

Usually I find this aero a little too aggressive but here it works
Ryan from the Illmotion staff
Silver on teal is becoming a popular color combination
DC on wide Regas
That would be a little distracting

Lexus and Toyota

Lex on seven series wheels
Great look from the front
Simply stunning
Corolla on VS-XXs, pretty nice actually
It is 86 day after all…
This car was recently featured on Illmotion you can read more about it here.
Closer look at those beautiful 16×10 LM20s

Nissans

Starting to develop a real liking for these trucks
Autodream.ca lineup
Even getting the attention of the models…
This was also at Driven
Super clean, even with the blast pipe
I like this guys sense of humour
Nice looking car as well, not just grabbing attention with the ‘Cars’ eyes and banner
Perfect?

Mike’s full gallery of Illmotion Sunday School coverage is availible on his flicrk account.

WTF Friday: Counting Sheep

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Sleepers are interesting and everyone seems to define them a little differently.

Personally I feel the best sleepers are the ones that are not entirely batshit crazy and have yet to make the changes that often reveal the cars true nature (ie cages and drag radials).

These two cars in my eyes are perfect examples of the classic sleeper, unexpectedly fast and more than just a race car that managed to keep it’s stock appearance.

First up is this ’82 Pontiac Wagon. The owner never posted what it ran but it’s got a 427 under the hood and is/was bottle fed so it’s probably much faster than you would expect.

Man these things are… not very attractive
Attractive where it counts though

The second car is a four door Malibu complete with two tone paint and wire caps. The owner says that he and his wife wife’s daily drove it and though he could have made it a little faster he was happy enough running 11s in a car that looked like it should stick to the right lane.

Nobody ever suspects the butterfly
“The shifter was bolted directly to the seat pan and would slide back and forth with the seat depending on who was driving the car”
Stock interior
But then…
Hub caps off so they don’t get sent down the track and runs 11s all day
383 with “some spray”

If you’ve got some time to burn check out this thread on the yellow bullet full of sleepers.

Site Updates

Long weekend so I probably won’t make it out to any events other than maybe a local cruise in I stumble upon.

I do however have a bunch of photos from various events and shoots throught the season I have yet to post so I might work on that back log.

Also I will be giving away another pair of Importfest tickets next week.

Flashback Friday

Remember this?


Original post here.

This is big business… The American way

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I love long, low, American cars, and by now I am sure you have all realized this.

This Cadillac is particularly low and long and I wish I knew more about it but I’ve got nothing.

I simply spotted it on The Low Down awhile back and saved it for later and now is later. If you don’t like low Cadillacs I’m sorry, but if you do you’re welcome.


I should look into shooting something along these lines… any takers?

Event Coverage: Candy On Chrome

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Prior the the KJohn Wickedest Slam show I stopped by the True Playaz Candy and Chrome show a few minitues from my house.

Last year I showed up way to early which meant a really long day so this year I showed up around 2:30 right in the middle of the action so to speak.

On arrival it was instantly apparent that the show was much bigger than last year with a lot of familar faces making it out along with plenty of new cars.

Euros

I can’t remember a single euro out last year, this year there were a few.

Didn’t expect to run into Dan at the show
This was pretty nice, sitting on what look to be VMRs
Some bang in the decklid

Bikes

Recently I came to the realization that making it through my entire life without ever owning a motorcycle is an impossibility.

I used to really only be into crotch rockets and dirtbikes but bikes like this are really starting to grow on me
This looked… very difficult to ride
Terrible shot but shows the angle of the bars
Crazy…

Trucks

Great to see more trucks out this year, and I found out about a cruise in August 11th that I may be able to make it out to which is awesome because most of the truck events I have had to miss this year for one reason or another.

Willing to bet that Dan already has his tickets for the next Superman
Jeff is slowly but surely bringing his Blazer back up to snuff, the paint scheme he has planned with the raw (then cleared) metal should look awesome
One of my favourite first gens
Geoff (Blue Mazda) may or may not have left a trail of sparks in front of a cop car later that weekend…
This Ranger has apparently been around a few years, how I manged to forget a convertible Ranger… I’m not sure
Look from the side
Not quite finished yet
Amazing bed

Dogpatch Devils

I would love to see more of the cars from this group. Each one was worthy of more photos than I took.

It’s a toss up between building a truck like this one day or something like an Chevelle or Nova
Can’t imagine how much fun it must be to cruise in these
Perfect right down to the cheater slicks
Put this one on the fanpage a few days ago
Everything about this just flows so well, inclding the cream firewall colour

Classics

Can’t say I see a lot of 71(?) Riviera’s period let alone at a lowrider show
This Impala reminds me a lot of Dale’s
This Monte was kinda of interesting
Underhood was what I was expecting
but I did expect all this in the trunk
Clean subtle Nova on Rallyes
The amount of detail in that grill, not done like that anymore
Straight as an arrow

Traditional Lowriders

Since I took photos of a lot of these cars at the Luxurious/Majestics BBQ I didn’t go crazy trying to get all of them again.

I was also holding out to get a lot of hopping shots but only three cars competed which was a little disappointing compared last years event and the Majestics/Luxurious event a few weeks ago.

Hopping is hard as hell the cars though so I get not everyone is really into doing it all the time.

The lineup
From the opposite end
OG’s
Caprice wagon from last year which judging by the tire wear it still spends a lot of it’s time up on 3
Naeem’s car once again on three
Joe and a Crazy orange Regal
Joe’s 25th anniversary wheels
Engine bay of the orange car, the flaking and pinstriping continued all the way around the car
Flexin’
This car barley ran but had no issues hopping
Jeff is of course never scared to hop his car
Nor Naeem
OG
Reppin NY
Love this hardtop
End with this, my favorite shot of the day

Theme Tuesdays: Audi A3s

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Last night I was sorting through my saved images folder and looking at my ever growing list of half started Theme Tuesday posts when I noticed that I had quite a few a3 photos saved for what I thought would be a part two.

Which would be all well and good except for the fact that I had yet to do part one…

When I start to forget what I’ve posted does this mean I have posted too much?

Anyway after a little more organizing and some time on google here’s a Theme Tuesday dedicated to a car that I wouldn’t mind as my next vehicle.

Warning.. lots of white examples in this post
Sitting Perfect
I have a bit of a love  hate with the kit on this car but at this angle I like it a lot
Contrast to the car above this car has very smooth body work
Pulled this off tumblr… maybe I should get one
The amount of wheel A3s can swallow out back is impressive

I recall reading that the front of this car might not have been notched hence it being a bit higher than the rear

A bit over the top for a daily but still pretty nice

Every iteration of this car has topped the last
The ‘storm trooper’ look is like the murdered out look, some make it look tacky and others make it look great
So dope
Kathrine’s car as for sale for awhile… I think she ended up keeping it
Little… or a lot of function never hurt anyone
Another track preprepared example

I personally hardly see any in this colour

Another in the same colour

Blue isn’t bad either…
Simple
Member of a BMX forum I am on, love this car, my second favourite A3 without a doubt
This is my personal favourite

The world needs more turbo wagons, or maybe just I do.

52

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Some people build cars and some people assemble cars and personally I have no issue admitting that I assemble cars, meaning that my car is comprised entirely of off the shelf parts and is easily re creatable.

The goal of course is to one day be like Jeff who at the age of 19 has already proven himself a car builder by creating a vehicle worthy of accolades from enthusiasts world wide.

Recently Chris Johnston got a chance to catch up with Jeff to not only take some pictures of the car but also get a bit of a back story on it’s creation.

Here’s Jeff’s car through Chris’ words and photography.



This ’94 Mini was purchased by Jeff while in high school after he worked a lot of shitty part time jobs to be able to afford it.

Originally a Japanese model that had already been converted to LHD when he got it Jeff figured he would leave well enough alone and just drive it, as we all do.




Eventually he supercharged the stock engine but soon after he was lusting for even more power so he started to do some research.


After a lot of time on forums he decided a b series swap would give him the power he was after so he followed an ad on kijji to a b18c motor.

To his surprise when he arrived to pick the new motor it was still attached to the car.

After a compression test checked out, he took the entire Integra home and began taking the parts off it including; ECU, wiring harness, engine, shift linkage, and all the other assorted odds and ends needed for the swap.

Other than the exhaust the entire car was built by Jeff in his parents garage and is beyond cool.

Photo/Text Credit Chris Johnston

A build thread on the car can be found here.

Event Coverage: Wickedest Slam 1.0

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KJohn Car Innovations has been cranking out pretty low and loud cars from the Brampton area for a few years now -most notably their Accord Wagon and SRT-4– and this Saturday they had their first show, the ‘Wickedest Slam 1.0’.

Since Brampton isn’t all that far from me I decided to swing by after Candy and Chrome and check it out.

Being in the middle of a field once this show got dark it got, DARK so I wasn’t able to cover the entire show but I made sure to capture most of the more appealing or interesting cars that were in attendance.

Domestics

Can’t say I see a lot of Calibre SRT’s modified
Took a peek inside of this and, from what I remember 5 T2500 Fosgate Amps. one Lanzar Amp, one Sony crossover, and about 6 batteries all wired with 0 gauge….loud
Lifted 4wd s10, very clean

Imports

This Accord was in the sound off, it was really loud and the roof vibrated like crazy
Clean DA
Another clean ac
I think later in the evening this Supra was shooting flames
The kit on the Protege was one I had never seen before and a heck of a lot of pieces
Myself and Chris
Closer look at Chris’ car, big changes coming in time for Importfest
Not sure what happened to the old airbrushed hood
Very clean Subaru, aside from the bike rack
Function on the left, form on the right
Very nice to see a fitted fifth generation Prelude locally
Surprised I’ve never seen it before actually…

Datsun 620

First time I have ever seen one of these in person, the owner says it was originally a Cali truck (not surprised based on how clean it is) and he’s only had it here for a short while. Infinite potential here.

Paint was in great shape
Different set of wheels (thinking dark bronze) and that’s all it needs exterior wise
Inside as clean as the outside
Possibilities are limitless

Limbo

I didn’t shoot the whole limbo contest just the more interesting vehicles,  none of these cars actually ended up winning and s2000 took it due to it’s low ‘roof’ line.

KJOHN Accord going through
The SRT-4 trying to take it home
SK said he wasn’t going to enter but decided to try his luck

The Lincoln

To me this Lincoln is perfect, It’s perfect because the owner doesn’t need to do a thing more to it.

It’s a timeless look, 5 years ago this car would have turned heads and 5 years from now it will still turn heads.

Straight G
Stunning
All of the chrome was in great shape, worked with with the Torque Thrusts
Setup this shot with the mini tripod and telephoto

WTF Friday: Domestic Sandwhich

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I’ve seen wild front end conversions, wild rear conversions, and entire body swaps but this… this is a little weird.

The front of this car from a fifth generation Mustang, while the rear is from a C5 Corvette, & sandwiched between the two is the orignal car with is a fourth generation Mustang.

I guess the owner likes Ford and Chevy but didn’t like the Ford he originally started with?



Surprisingly everything seems to line up pretty well and the all the panel gaps look consistent.

It would be weird to see a Mustang coming up in your review and then getting passed by a ‘Corvette’ though.

Site Updates

Two shows this weekend both on Saturday and I should be at both because they are less than an hour driving time for me total which I like.

No free food that I know of though…


I’ve also got some feature content, and some photo shoot out-takes that might make their way up next week as well.

Flashback Friday

Here’s a look back to last years True Playaz show Parkin’ Lot Pimpin’ 5





Guest Coverage: Dropsicles Sideshow 2012

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Mike McConnell is an awesome event photographer, like myself he is the kind of guy who will do multiple passes of a show to make sure nothing gets missed and he isn’t against revisiting the same car a few times in order capture those fine details.

His latest contribution is from theDropsicles Sideshow held in Lethbridge Alberta and while I had never heard of it before these photos have made it a show I am going to keep an eye on. Great variety and quality.

Maybe there is something to that cross Canada road trip Lyndsey wants to do after all…

Cars

Judging from the photos it seems like Sideshow was more of a truck thing but the cars were pretty sick as well.

Insane airbrush work
I find I don’t see these nearly enough
It wouldn’t be a set of photos from Mike without a classic Bug
Pair of Caddy’s
Love the vitnage pinstriping
BMW wheels continue to make their rounds in the Japanese market
Proper looking Soarer
Did you know there is a fanpage dedicated to the hatred of SRT-4s? A bit much. I don’t mind them really.
Classic
One of the best application of these wheels I have seen
They suit this car very well
Big Caddys dropped are perfect
Another Caddy about tucking lug
Huge wires are huge
Awesome street rod
Just.. incredible
Riviera if I am not mistaken?
Another look at it

Trucks

I was previously unaware of the Alberta truck scene, looks pretty serious.

I was in one of these karts on the weekend, would have been infinitely cooler at this height
Sideshow is a show for all vehicles
You already know how I feel about slammed duallys
For some reason this immediatly made me think of brotocross.com (hilarious motocross blog)
JDM sport truck? I’d love to see more trucks done like this
The cap is a little crazy but damn awesome otherwise
Both pretty awesome
A friend of mine has been telling me to pick one of these up for awhile, I didn’t see the appeal until now
S10 4runner bumper… I think this guy is or was on Blazinlow.com waaay back
I pretty much wrote off liking this generation F150 until now
Alberta uses sand right? Not salt? Is that why all these older trucks survive?
Seriously if that is the reason I need to start a petition against salting roads
Awesome Silverado, if this is original paint I will be amazed
Ranger laying flat out
Mazdawg
Love the painted roof, nice touch, fits the rest of the theme too
It’s always kind of a shame that work like this often get’s hidden under beds and fenders
Hopefully photos of this Datsun finished cross my path one day
The low part is taken care of
It’s always cool to see shows that go that extra mile with the trophies
Clean S10
This kind of looks like a Luv but I think its a 70s B series truck… also boost?
I think ‘neck break’ is overused in regards to vehicles but it appears to be happening here if you look in the background
Low at any cost
This is a serious piece of work curious how high he has to raise it to drive
On my third of fourth look through Mike’s photos I noticed the shifter in the truck… nice touch
Based purlely on the photos I saw this looks like the vehicle of the event in my eyes
Immaculate build front to back
As I said on the fanpage… pure automotive art in the bed
and absolutely stunning from the side

All of Mike’s photos from this event can be found here on flickr.

Thanks again Mike!