I don’t post a lot of Benz’s and I have no idea why, I do however know that I want to do a 190e Theme Tuesdays one of these days.
Anyway this e55 has been sitting on my hard drive for some time now and I quite like it so it’s time to share.
According to his post on mymbonline the owner had a set of BBS LMs and HRE’s before getting these Forgestar F1 20″ wheels.
As much as I love LM’s and HRE’s I must say these wheels suit the car perfectly.
Not too long ago I did a Theme Tuesday on DC Chassis Integras, well now it’s time to throw it back to the predecessor of the DC the DA.
Sadly like the DC chassis a lot of DA Integras have rotted away due to the amount of salt we use in the winter here in Toronto.
A few people have been able to keep theirs in one piece with a strict regime of cleaning and maintenance. The rest of the nice one’s live in Cali.
Not to take anything away from the builders doing great things here in North America, but the guys over in Europe consistently build Volkswagens of outstanding quality.
Today’s featured Passat, out of London, England, is just another example of what the European crowd is capable of.
Pete (better known as Big Pete in his local scene), the owner of this Passat, spared no expense when creating this jaw dropping VW.
Pete chose the Passat for his build due to it’s practicality both in storage capacity and fuel efficiency (diesel) and while his friends may have thought he was crazy Pete had an exceptional end goal in mind.
A week after Pete took delivery of his new ride he yanked the stock springs out and installed a set of 40mm lowering springs, while the springs were being swapped he discarded the stock wheels in favor of a set of 19” Audi A8 wheels.
After a little bit of a fender bender aftermarket headlights, hood and bumper were added while th car was being fixed. Not long after the new body pieces were installed the 40mm drop springs were replaced with a set of coil overs. At this time the 19″ A8 rims were also removed in favor of a set of 20” Ascari Cuervo rims.
Once this stage of the exterior additions was complete a full in car entertainment system (9 screens in total in addition to components and subwoofers) was installed while the stock cloth seats, which were already out for the install, were replaced with a leather set.
At the end of 2008 the car was sporting yet another set of wheels (color coded Legendary Penta’s) and Audi R8 headlights supplied by ULTRA.
Early in 2009, after a few run ins with the ground Pete realized that what his car sorely needed was a dynamic suspension set up.
After visiting his friend and getting an ‘idiots guide’ to air ride Pete headed home and laid out all the components of his air ride setup so he could figure out exactly how it was all going to fit into the car.
He and his friend managed to bag the front end themselves before sending the car to UK specialist Rayvern Hydraulics for the rear end and complex wiring.
Shortly after the install Pete added a set of digital gauges to monitor what was going on at all four corners of his vehicle as it’s a FBSS set up system.
Speaking of the four corners Pete had much, much, wider wheels in mind which required his car to go to the body shop and get it’s fenders widened. However no ordinary flared fenders would do, Pete made sure that the shop kept the flares as oem looking as possible since he wanted his car to maintain that clean OEM look once it was complete.
While the fenders were being reshaped the hood, bumper (MKV golf GTI fogs and Scirrocco mesh for the center were added the the bumper at this time), and side skirts also got some attention. Right before the final coat of Mercedes Benz Tanzinite blue was sprayed a few unnecessary factory bits were also shaved off.
Once the car was done at the body shop Pete added the last of his final touches to the interior and exterior (including being able to control the air ride via a remote FOB) and bought a new set of wheels for the car.
The first set being 20” x 9 and 20 x 10 fully polished (both sides of the wheel and between the spokes) Ascari Pentas and the second set being a fantastic looking set of Mercedes Benz AMG 20×8.5 and 20×10 as Phils daily/winter wheels.
Yes 20” wheels for winters.
Pete took his Passat and made it into an absolute masterpiece and it’s hard to capture everything that was done to this car in one feature.
Be sure to check out Pete’s highly detailed build thread on AUTOBAHN25.com as it is a delightful read.
Big thanks to Pete for letting me feature his ride and his friend Zebtan (zebtanphotography.co.uk) for hooking me up with the photos and connection out in England.
I’m sure his car will inspire a lot of Passat owners for years to come.
Here are some more photos of this great looking Passat:
I’ve had this car in the cue for a few days now but had yet to have a chance post it with a lot of the other things that have been going on lately. Since I am waiting on some feedback for the final touches of the latest featured ride I now have my chance.
We don’t get Lupo’s here in Canada but it’s good to know that they adhere to the BBS RMs + Drop = good philosophy.
I actually found this car on a BMX message board as it belongs to a fellow rider from England.
Earlier this week I thought I had the perfect WTF Friday planned, but the problem was I saw the car I wanted to post on Monday and I knew there was no way it wouldn’t get posted up on Jalopnik before Friday. As it turns out I was right the Dragon Corvette has already come and gone from the front page of Jalopnik.
No worry though I think this back up WTF Friday filled with crazy front end swaps is just as good (or is it bad?).
Front end swaps are a tricky bird, in some cases they look great (sil80s) but in a lot of cases they look like (to quote a comment I saw NWP4Life) “an asshole full of dicks”.
The biggest thing this week is obviously the addition of official Stance Is Everything Store, but that aside I’ve been contacted by a local show to come out and cover it, as well as contribute some prizing for the lowest car trophey.
Part Two of Spring is in the air is nearly completely written and will be posted next Thursday, these posts have been a blast and hopefully I can do new stuff with other bloggers soon. I’ve also got a neat over seas feature for Monday. April looks great so far!
Wasn’t really sure what to Flashback to today so why not some event coverage from 2009s Sixth Annual Honda Tech meet at Downsview park in Toronto? This was a fun free meet and the weather was great so if you missed the coverage or missed going here it is!
Have a great Easter Weekend everyone!
With spring weather finally here I thought it would be interesting to get in touch with with some of my favorite independent automotive bloggers and ask them what they had in store for both their cars and blogs this year.
I sent around five questions to each of them and to my surprise all of them were kind enough to answer in depth. In part 1 (of 2) of the spring is in the air series I catch up with the authors of Rich Corinthian Leather, Cars X Girl, Hatch Life and Build Threads to find out what they have in store for this spring.
Derek Kreindler is a lucky guy. His job as a Toronto area automotive journalist has allowed him to spare his Miata from some of the winter duty and drive press cars in the miserable weather instead.
I’m not jealous or anything of course… let’s see what he’s up to.
Where are you from and how did the winter season treat you?
This winter was pretty good, I had an Acura TL AWD and Acurca RDX with big winter tires during the two heavey snow falls. The TL had a 6-speed manual and was a blast to drive in the snow as was the RDX. I haven’t spent a lot of time with a turbo car, since my MKV Jetta 2.0T, and the AWD system works like a charm.
After I gave them back, the snow cleared up, and I was driving my car on snow tires for a while and with weather being so dry I managed to do a few track days!
When the snow and ice were present things were a little interesting. Driving my car was treacherous, but one day we had a last gen Audi TT, a 2010 Taurus SHO and a 650 horsepower R35 GTR. That day was a lot of fun.
The only time I won’t drive my car is after the roads have been salted or after the snow melts and there’s saltwater everywhere, that stuff kills cars; NA Miatas, EG Civics and 240SXs have disappeared from the roads up here due to rust.
Did your car receive any new modifications over the winter months or any plans for spring?
Yeah, I put the snow tires on! My biggest acquisition was a Hard Dog rollbar, which was something I sorely needed, I also got a Bride Zeta II seat, which is one of the few that will fit in a Miata.
Spring plans include a bigger front sway bar, poly bushings and maybe a new steering wheel, and hopefully some new rims but that depends on “real world” bills.
Any particular events you are looking forward to this year? (show or competitive)
On March 27th I’ll be getting a tour of the Sultan of Michigan‘s garage, If you’ve never seen the famous video, this guy has 3 warehouses of exotics, muscle cars and Corvettes. I think I’m going to see all of my dream cars under one roof.
I’m also looking forward to my usual track days at Toronto Motorsports Park, it’s become something of a scene, where we have a regular crowd with a few professional instructors and we all help each other out, swap cars and enjoy bagels & junk food.
I’m not baller enough to do any competitive events yet, but I’m going to be out there as often as I can to work on going faster.
Anything new and exciting we can expect from Rich Corinthian Leather this spring/summer?
Rich Corinthian Leather doesn’t really have a direction, it’s more spur of the moment topics I choose to write about. You’ll be seeing more of me at Speed Sport Life and other outlets as well.
Meg was one of the first regular commenters here on Stance and continues to be a familiar face both here and on twitter. When not zipping around the autocross course in her Miata, or taking photos, she can be found learning whatever she can about 240s so that she can pour that knowledge into her own build.
Where are you from and how did the winter season treat you?
Currently living on Little Rock AFB, in Arkansas. For my last winter here (moving to Spokane, WA in May/June) it was more wintry than usual — including four snow days during the spring semester.
Overall, all three cars made it in one piece, so I can’t complain.
[Two her’s one her husbands.]
Did your car receive any new modifications over the winter months or any plans for spring?
Let’s see…. The Miata’s been relatively unchanged, I’m pretty happy with where she’s at right now anyhow. I will be picking up a Torsen LSD this year, hopefully.
The S2000 is just getting new tires, but also an alcantara leather center console cover. Plans for her are unsure as the husband’s looking into another car for himself. (I’m not allowed a new car until he gets a new car, ha.)
The 240SX is where ALL the work’s been at lately. Over the winter (wrong time to do it, in hindsight) she underwent the SR20DET swap.
Plans for this year include (hopefully) the Silvia front end conversion, a Bride seat, and wheels. Really I’m just looking forward to enjoying my new engine. 🙂 (Actually she needs a new diff too….. Yikes.)
Any particular events you are looking forward to this year? (show or competitive)
There’s a chance that this year we’ll be able to go to a Formula D event. I’m excited because I have yet to actually go and see drifting first hand, it’s all been on DVD’s and the web and in pictures for me.
There’s also Spokane County Raceway, which is literally within eight miles of the Air Force Base. I’m looking forward to hopefully getting out to a track day or two with the Miata. 🙂 And, of course, auto crossing!
I might go to Hot Import Nights as well, I’ve never gone and I feel like I should go once. I can also get a media pass which is great!
I should be a busy girl this season!
Anything new and exciting we can expect from Cars X Girl this spring/summer?
Plenty! Mostly after we move, though.
There’s so much that the Pacific Northwest has to offer as far as car culture goes I can’t wait to sample it all, and, naturally, share my experiences. 🙂
Other than just going places and seeing things, the 240SX should be humming along yet, and I may start sharing some details on looking to add a fourth car to the family.
Noah is one heck of a guy not only does he use his blog, Hatch Life, as a place to post car after car you might have never heard of or seen before, but he also uses it as a way to change lives (more on that further down).
Noah is fairly modest guy, who doesn’t think his cars are all that much, so while he didn’t answer the questions as traditionally as everyone else I was able to answer them on his behalf based on the information he sent along.
Where are you from and how did the winter season treat you?
Noah’s from Columbus, Ohio and the winter season kept him pretty busy and not just because of the snow.
Like a lot of people over the past year or so (self included) Noah has had to keep his ear to the ground and feet to the pavement looking for a new job opportunity since his current employment situation is coming to an end.
While this is a downer Noahs spirits remain high since his friend Melisa, in which The Melissa Project was founded, beat her cancer into remission and the $2500 he raised through his site for her cause helped tremendously.
If you click through to any link in this post click this one because it’s truley awesome and inspiring story.
Did your car receive any new modifications over the winter months or any plans for spring?
The stock pile of parts for Noahs first Civic (the red DX below) increased over the winter by way of a red carpet, vibrant catback, and as Noah puts it ‘a bunch of overpriced beauty washers’.
This Civic, which is his baby, has a plethora of mods including: APEX’i N1 coilovers, Wicked Tuning LCAs, Benen rear subframe brace, Megan C Pillar Bar, Hawk pads, Password carbon cooling plate, Y8 intake manifold/short ram, 15×7 rotas and a CRV 5 speed cluster.
His Civc also has a Volante steering wheel with a bit of a story behind it. Purchased on ebay from an owner in Thailand this wheel came with it’s mother of pearl inlay heavily tarnished and the original horn button replaced with a BMW unit (in an e30 it’s previous life perhaps?).
While this has all been cleaned up it was quite a surprise when he got it.
During the course of he winter his Civic got a bronze poweder coated valve cover, and a polished fuel rail, in the spring it’s also going to get some out of the way by installing a new water pump and replacing his timing belt.
His silver daily driver EK is a salvage title car that now only receives what it needs to keep going, but this doesn’t mean that this car is stock.
It has a bunch of mods including a 99-00 front end, ChargeSpeed lip, CTR rear lip, color matched side skirts, Nuespeed springs, and Konig Work Equip replicas.
One thing this Civic no longer has though is Honda Emblems as they keep getting pinched every winter
Anything new and exciting we can expect from Hatch Life this spring/summer?
Noah’s been pretty quiet about his plans for Hatch Life since he has not had time yet to implement them but rest assured that even if all he does is keep doing what he is going Hatch Life is a blog worth visiting.
Anth and Build-Threads really need no introduction, this site is bar none the best place to visit to get build fix.
Since the last time I mentioned Build Threads Anth has moved his site from a wordpress hosted server to his own and has lent his writing talents to Speed Hunters for a four part feature.
With so much going on I’m glad Anth could clear his schedule enough to let me know what’s going on with his rides, did I mention he is on the other side of the world?
Where are you from and how did the winter season treat you?
I am from Melbourne, Australia, so our seasons are actually the opposite to what you guys have, We’re just entering Autumn now, so I’ve just finished my summer season and I’m getting ready for winter.
Did your car receive any new modifications over the winter months or any plans for spring?
At the very beginning of my summer (late Nov, early Dec), the diff in my Datsun 510 started to play up and make a terrible whining noise which ended up being the crown wheel & pinion.
Christmas was just around the corner, and if I took too long (to get it fixed) I would have had to wait until the new year for workshops to re-open.
Luckily everything went to plan, the diff was re-built and re-installed, and I could enjoy driving the car over the summer months.
My MKIV Golf daily had it’s coilovers & 18″ Aristo replicas fitted, which meant that no matter which car I choose to drive I can at least be happy that I was traveling in style.
My plans for this winter are minor, as I am trying to save money, the Datsun will continue to receive minor detail work such as cleaning up the engine bay a bit at a time while the Golf is awaiting a new sway bar (as the stock one is rubbing on the drive shaft).
Once that goes in I can lower it some more, and then I want to track down some spacers for it to get the stance looking right (Stance is Everything, after all!).
I also want to fit a CD/DVD/MP3 head unit + 7″ fold-out monitor that’s been sitting in my garage for the past 2yrs.
Any particular events you are looking forward to this year? (show or competitive)
I am actually looking forward to viewing all of the American and European shows online.
One of the good things about entering Winter on this side of the world is knowing that on the other side everyone else is debuting their cars at all the latest shows.
So, I know that most cold mornings when I boot up my Mac, I can count on some fresh coverage from yet another car gathering and lose myself in the summery images of all the newly modded cars.
Anything new and exciting we can expect from Build Threads this spring/summer?
Well I’m a pretty bad procrastinator (eg. the previously mentioned head unit that’s been in my garage for 2 years), I’ve been meaning to work on the appearance of the blog, create a new logo, header, forum signatures, and even register it as a business so I can run some advertising.
How much of that will actually get done? We’ll have to wait and see!
That’s it for this round of ‘Spring is in the air’ but check back next Thursday to see what the authors of N/A On The Run, Full Lock, and Up-shift.net are up to this spring.
My friend Brad Cross of Drift Posse had this posted on his facebook and I watched it and enjoyed. DP managed to get out and film some snow drifting during our really dry winter here in Toronto and also threw in some footage from the Sweetie Girl Racing Clinic from last week, check it out.
DRIFTPOSSE.COM – The drivers aren’t the only ones shakin’ off the rust, with this being only the second, and final Cyrious Productions offseason jam to be released this year. This one’s short and sweet… most of the fellas are busier doing builds than driving this year, but now that the track days are starting to open up, it’s time to get those cars race ready and shake off that rust!!! This video Has some combined footage from the final two snowfalls we saw this winter, as well as some clips from the SGR Track Day at Cayuga, March 21st 2010.
Music: Tortoise – Seneca and Wu-Tang – Cash Still Rules/Scary Hours (still don’t nothing move but the money)
When I was younger I wanted a camouflage BMX bike really bad, I actually took it as far as reading a tutorial on how to paint your own camouflage. Once I figured out how much labor it would take, and how much it would have cost I painted my bike solid blue.
The people with the cars today however have a lot more ambition than myself, or access to someone who can print and wrap automotive vinyl. Either or.
I wonder if this look is on the rise or on the decline? Hmmm do we need more of this?
Accords have really be coming into their own lately among the stance crowd. A car which was historically seen as the older, more conservative brother of the Civic is finally starting to get the respect it deserves as a platform, that in the right hands, can hang with the best of them.
Hailing from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Malik bought his Accord brand new in 2007 as a way to escape the lure of the street racing scene and has been transforming it into a head turner ever since.
Soon after purchase Malik started his modifications off fairly conservatively by upgrading the headlights and fog lights by retro fitting HID units and before he knew it the mod bug was fully taking over.
In his hunt for the perfect stance Malik went through a variety of different suspension setups initially the car was lowered on Tien S-techs, then Eibach Sportlines, and finally Nuespeed race springs.
When none of these options delivered the slam Malik needed he picked up a set of Function Form coil overs and dropped his Accord on its knees.
With his suspension finally in order Malik flew through 14 different sets of wheels before landing on the 18×8 TSW Snetterton wheels currently taking residence in his wheel. However these wheels are only there until a set of flush fitting CCW Classics takes their place.
In preparation for the stunning forthcoming wheel set Malik has added a trio of Siebon Carbon fiber accessories including a hood, mirror covers and B pillars.
By the end of the summer Malik is hoping to wrap up the exterior mods by adding a carbon fiber trunk to the mix, once that happens his attention will turn to the interior where the current stock seats will be replaced with Bride units.
So far Malik is off to a great start with his Accord and with what he has in store for his ride it’s only going to get better, I hope once it’s all done Malik will send new pictures in and give me another opportunity to showcase his ride.
Thanks again Malik.
With the introduction of a new batch of stickers, combined with the demand of the old ones, I felt the need to open up a simple Official Stance Is Everything – Big Cartel- Store to help me keep on top of sending out orders.
The latest batch of designs is a fairly limited initial trial run but once they sell out I will restock at higher numbers with a variety of colors.
So without further adieu here are the five products currently carried in The Official Stance Is Everything store.
All of the stickers are die cut on automotive quality vinyl.
The stickers that started it all: These stickers are currently available in: Pink, White, Green, Gold, Black and Gunmetal and currently stock for each color is at least four units.
To purchase the ‘original URL’ sticker please visit the Stance Is Everything Store.
Currently in a limited all white run of 5 units these ‘Cone Hunter’ stickers are mainly for the track/autocross crowd, but also for those who like to abduct construction and movie set cones.
To purchase the ‘Cone Hunters’ sticker please visit the Stance Is Everything Store.
Urkel was kind of annoying but so is knocking over cones and having to pick them up. This idea came to me in the shower so hopefully it’s as funny to you as it is to me.
Also currently in a limited run of 5 white units.
To purchase the original ‘ Did I do that’ sticker please visit the Stance Is Everything Store.
The second of possibly many revisions of the basic URL sticker, currently 2 pink and 3 white are available so act fast!
To purchase the ‘Did URL 2.0’ sticker please visit the Stance Is Everything Store.
This sticker basically sells itself. Once again 2 pink 3 white currently available more stock coming soon.
To purchase the ‘I like em dropped’ sticker please visit the Stance Is Everything Store.
Head over to the store and grab your stickers, and don’t worry you are not funding a turbo build or anything on my part, the cost of the stickers goes right back into making and shipping more stickers.
Thanks for the support everyone and if there is a color you would like to see next batch let me know via the comments!
