This Saturday I went to the Toronto International Auto show, which I used to go to all the time with my dad as a young buck but this is only my second year going as an ‘adult’.
Going the Saturday before the show closed was perhaps a mistake as the show got busier as the day went on making it harder and harder to take photos.
You could say I went to the 2010 Toronto International Auto Show and all I got were these crowded photos, however the show was a perfect way to add some event coverage, and therefore original content, to an otherwise event less winter season.
A view of the madness... this was about 12 o clock or so
Big Bird
Oddly enough this truck was in the parking lot I parked at. Being pretty high this truck juxtaposed next to my car was pretty amusing to me. I couldn’t actually park beside it though as someone did the spot beside it an injustice by throwing up in it meaning that for me to get out I would have had to walk through vomit, gross.
This car needs some mudders to make the lift make sense... Mack emblems?Lol at my roof not even making it up to the bed rails...
The Transformers Camaro
GM I have a bone to pick with you… how dare you show a Camaro SS Autobot edition with a automatic transmission. As a Transformers fan and a car enthusiast I do not condone such a travesty.
Regardless here is a pic of the emblem and offending transmission.
I'm curious what the cost of replacement emblems would be and how many will be stolen*facepalm*
Factory performance accessories.
It’s always nice to see what sort of performance accessories manufactures offer for their own vehicles. Things like these are espically nice for people who want to keep their factory warrenty in tact.
Here are some examples from Toyota/Lexus/Scion camp.
TRD spring, strut and bar packageLexus fsport spring/strut set upF sport big brake kit
Concept Cars
It’s always cool to see concept cars at auto shows like these. It shows what the automotive designers really had in mind for their creation before it got watered down to meet the needs of the general public. Could you imagine where our cars would be today if more automobiles stayed in tact from concept to production?
This VW NCC hybrid concept proves that you can do Hybrid cars that don't look silly (look at you Toyota Prius)This Soul based jeep like concept was pretty interesting, don't think Kia has a rugged frame thoughThe following Mazda 2 concepts are based on the upcoming to North America Mazda 2 ChassisYou can see the stock version in red, I think these have a decent chance in becoming realityThough a little small for my needs I prefer these to the Fit/YarisI had considered getting my wheels powder coated a similar colorThe Lexus LF - CH concept was looking pretty radI think the idea of hiding rear door handles on 5 doors should make its way to productionThe Infiniti Essence conceptThis car had Bat mobile like lines, I dig
New Models/Introductory Models/ Current Models
I didn’t take pictures of all the new cars at this years show because stock cars, as a rule, are fairly boring and have copious amounts of fender gap (do we really need fist size fender gaps on sedans?).
However I did take pictures on some of the more interesting models.
There was a pretty awesome classic Motor sports exhibit at the show. In all honesty my knowledge of racing is pretty sparse but I know when a car is worth stopping to snap a photo.
In addition to these there were also a few classic sports/muscle/rods strewn about the show which were there, I would like to think, just to please me.
Every event needs a deuce coupeCool to see that Audi doesn't forget it's pastRace height is serious!My program just fit underneathThis car was un restored and looked ready to get back on the trackClassic race engineering at it's finestI sort of want to go to a vintage race event now...This 81 Jag XJS was hands down my favorite car of the show, I've never seen a race prepped Jag before
Shelby Exhibit
Carrol Shelby is a boss. What this man has done for automotive enthusiasts everywhere is incredible. The Toronto International Auto show had a very well put together tribute to his accomplishments over the years. The aforementioned Jag was my favorite car of the show but this was my favorite part of the show.
Shelby was a big part of the vipers development, anyone remember the show Viper?The rear wheel gap on these is a lot more than I every rememberedSign says do not touch and yet smudges everywhereShelby Green Hornet Mustang replica... fine piece of machinery thisInteresting thing I notice was that this car had a mat underneath, it wasn't leaking though marking its territory!Carols touch influenced all of these carsThis un restored bar find Cobra makes me want to go huntingSeveral million dollars worth of Automotive history hereThis particular one was worth 2.3 millionThe information card near this car said that it was akin to driving on marbles at top speed, niceBuilt to be drivenMagnificent
God bless the internet it’s provided such things this week as Epic Beard Man, rumors of a Snookie sex tape (ugh), Gordon Lightfoot’s death and today’s collection of strange car related images.
Bless you internet for without you I would be jobless.
Low mowAny ideas why that adjustable is in there? Shim maybe?Sure they fit now but...Gotta do what you gotta do I guessThis is Sam's signature on maxbimmer, I gotta admit it made me lol
Site updates
As some of you might have noticed on Monday via my twitter account I finished some preliminary designs for some new stickers and the art department, aka my gf, is going to look over to clean them up before they are sent to my printer.
I have new versions of stickers with the url, something for the auto-x/track crowd, some stickers with girls in them, and something sexually suggestive. I would post some teaser pics but I want a few in my hand first so that if they do get copied at least I know I had made some first.
This year I plan to make it out to at least one of these events, scheduling didn’t work out to well last summer so hopefully this summer I can fix that if nothing else just to see this car again.
Two Litre Media captures the El clipped Civic
Hoping to make it out to the auto show this weekend so fingers crossed I do. Have a good one!
For those of you living outside of Canada let me give you a quick break down on our car importation laws… they suck, and when I say they suck I mean they are strange.
To tell you the truth I am not 100% on them, all I know is that going by our odd rules this R33 might be the first on our streets.
You see a lot of desirable cars that are less than 15 years of age are generally impossible to import into our fair country, and to make matters worse we have an inadmissible list that bars cars of any age for reasons only people in suits understand.
For example we can’t import a 2000 Lexus SC400/300, 1995 and 1996 Dodge vipers, and 1995 Dodge Spirit/Acclaims, and I’m not even sure anyone would want to import a Dodge Spirit but I guess someone out there needs a replacement for their reliant K.
What this means in relationship to today’s post is that prior to 2010 R33s could not be imported into Canada to be titled and insured.
With a strong knowledge of importation laws this local Toronto Mazda 3 member waited until the 2010 New Year rang in before he imported this 1995 Skyline GTR V-spec which he says is the first one titled and insured for Canadian streets. His car is the 88th R33 GTR built in this year and is 1 of 1,423 Vspecs built.
I bet no one on this street knows what this car is...
Now an r33 would be impressive at factory specs but this one has quite a list of mods; 1998 Skyline GTR factory HID headlights,Greddy 4row FMIC with polished piping kit, Greddy Profec B boost controller, with factory boost re-stricter removed (boost is now 13psi), HKS Turbo Timer, Nismo 320KPH, 11,000RPM cluster… the list goes on and on lets just say that this car is suited and booted and in near mint condition.
Dat assThis is a manly purpleI remember the first time I saw my car being excitied... seeing this I would faintImagine the wrong motor was under here? That would be a downerClean center consoleIf you look carefully you can see his daily speed 3 out front
While this car looks amazing the owner has no plans to show it, or let it sit around collecting dust as soon as the weather clears up it’s running its paces on the track regularly, and that’s always good to hear.
Of course you remember it how could you forget? Well it’s been sold.
It’s been up for sale for awhile now and just this past weekend a deal was finalized and the car changed hands. Thankfully the previous owner contacted his friend Amer Nabulsi to snap a few photos of this car before it road off into the sunset.
Brought out in the middle of winter for one last shootSide profile, this shot is well framedCan't get over the amount of dish on this carFront end of mtech II goodnessHopefully the new owner treats this car right
Who knows where this car will end up in the future or how it will look in the days to come. Hopefully the new owner just builds upon the already established look, but whatever happens we can always remember it as it was via pictures.
If you want to see more work from this photographer visit amernabulsi.com
Wow with the holiday on Monday I forgot today was Wednesday when I woke up this morning.
It wasn’t until I was driving to work in the snow that it clicked and I realized I needed to do a Winter Wednesday post for this week.
Luckily I had this gem stashed away in my gmail account and it just so happens that it will go well with what I am posting later today.
Fate perhaps.
With e30 m3s being pretty rare in the GTA I can thankfully say I have never seen one out in our salty winters, of course that’s not to say that no one brings theirs out in the snow somewhere else, as the picture below illustrates.
Looks like she didn't get very far which is could because I would hate for some dolt in a Caravan to smash into this car
Quite honestly I don’t see any reason not to drive this car, with proper winter tires, in the snow as it would be a lot of fun.
I don’t think snow (which is just cold water after all) leads to the early demise of vehicles, rather I think it’s the salt and idiots who can’t drive in the winter that kill a lot of the best enthusiast cars.
Fingers crossed this car was just brought out for this shoot and then tucked back away for fairer conditions and fingers crossed I can find more pictures of it in my travels.
Here in Toronto our winters are long and boring, and while awd guys have fun amusing themselves in the snow, the rest of us drive around in our salt covered cars hating life.
For the past two winters JDMrides.ca has stepped in with a valve cover build off contest to help kill of some of the winter blahs.
While this years entries trickle in lets take a look at some of the best from last year.
They are all pretty creative and I am not sure how many Honda followers I have but hopefully this post inspires someone somewhere.
Land of the rising sunLand of the rising insurance rates?It makes me sad that this is done so well as I despise Hello KittyMy personal favorite, canNot a JDM rides member but amazing none the less
VW Harlequins are pretty interesting little cars. Like most people the first time I saw one I thought it was some sort of joke and was pretty surprised to learn that they were actually a limited run of Golfs by VW.
I don’t think any other car company would have had the guts to produce a car that looks like this, and I don’t think any fanatics other than VW guys could make them look good.
I know the ride height isn't all that low but we are just getting startedKids R Us? I thought it was Toys R Us? WhatWith mismatched panels you can rock mismatched rimsAnother shot at the same show, nice plate!Night time shot with matching BBS wheels with mis matched capsHarlequin sittin on DaytonsRollin shot, fitment on these is actually quite niceThis next Harlequin sits on Borbets and gets around...infront of a VW dealership......at a show collecting trophies, note the shoesHarlequin lawnmower on Ronal TurbosThe late edition, Keven reminded me I forgot oneJetta owner getting in on the funWas this foreshadowing on VWs part?
Apparently only around 264 of these Golfs exist, but a few of them have been repainted solid colors in order for dealers to move them off the lot so the number is a little harder to narrow down.
I got in late last night from a weekend long snowboarding trip I am a little tired and disoriented but thankfully today is a holiday. I am going to use today to catch up on some things Stance Is Everything related after I do some cleaning up here around the house. Until I get some time to write a little bit more here is two quick shots of a Mazda MX-5 dumped on some Equips.
I know a few of my Miata owning readers might say this height is impracticalBut they won't say it doesn't look good 😉
Alright first things first off to make some breakfast, clean up, design some stickers, and write an in depth about this magazine that occupied my time during the driving this weekend:
This was a good read
Let’s see how much I can accomplish. Should you want more pictures of cars on Work wheels check out iputinwork.com
This might be a little old now, I’m not entirely sure, but since I just saw it, it’s safe to assume that all of the internet has yet to see it. Although these pics look super gruesome the drive actually walked directly from this accident to buy a lottery ticket since he has a horse shoe way up his butt.
The story from HD9 WCPO says that the crash is still under investigation but it’s pretty likely that excessive speed was involved. Regardless of what happened the driver is very, very lucky.
From this angle it looks pretty bad but nothing too out of the ordinary for hitting a poleAir bag deployed always goodHoly shit!
Site Updates
Monday is a holiday here (Family Day!) so I will either be designing stickers or at the Toronto International Auto Show, either way I should have some interesting content for next week.
Speaking of stickers my illest/fatlace package arrived and I am sending out some stickers today after work to San Diego, Tucson, and Hamilton.
Siiiick
Traffic wise this weeks Theme Tuesday is continuing to do really well which I am glad because it took some time to put together and I was somewhat worried that not everyone felt the same way I did about car models. However the response has been good and I am already working on a part 2!
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