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WTF Friday: I Used To Be With “It”

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I used to be with “it”, but then they changed what “it” was, now what I am with isn’t “it”, and what is “it” seems weird and scary to me.

That quote, which itself is pretty old, is from Abe Grandpa Simpson and adequately describes my reaction when I saw what cgod_zak is working on.

Taking the 3 piece up-sized “Sudani” lip truck (putting a larger diameter step lip on to a wheel to create the illusion of a massive unsafe stretch) to the next level he’s created what people are calling a “4 piece” wheel.

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Photo: @cgod_zak

Basically its a combination of lips and barrels that allow the wheel to be mounted to one of the barrels while the second barrel and an additional lip remain exposed.

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Photo: @cgod_zak
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Photo: @cgod_zak

This means that the tire is, more or less, safely mounted even though it looks like it’s being held on by the collective will of the entire Camber Gang.

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Photo: @cgod_zak

While I actually quite like the design of the wheel, the color choice, and think the mirror finish on the lips themselves the end result is not for me.

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Photo: @cgod_zak

For this old man it is a bit much but a quick peruse through Zak‘s instagram reveals its right up his alley and what he wanted so more power to him for wildly going against the grain. Hopefully the police department where he lives is pretty lenient because around here, well, that’s a paddlin.

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Photo: @cgod_zak

Before “hater” accusations start flying left right and center I actually really liked his car when it was like this, oh well.

Event Coverage: Eurokracy 2016 Pt. 3

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Eurokracy 2016 was big, too big for one post, too big for two posts, and really even with this third post there are probably a few awesome cars we just couldn’t get to.

But life’s all about focusing on what you have, not what you don’t, and today what we have is another wicked photo set from Stillsteezy.com‘s Gray Schilling.

As alluded to in part two, like any other euro show in 2016, there were a lot of over fenders and flares at Eurokracy 2016. To the love, or hate, I’m not quite sure, of body shops everywhere this trend shows no signs of slowing down.

Eurokracy-by-Gray-20But when the end result is as angry looking as @kikaabmw‘s bagged e92 all said and done should this trend die down?

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Sitting on AG wheels, and equipped with what I believe are Clinched flares her –yes this is female owned– car combines bags, a high large spoiler, and flares into a great looking, and surprisingly subtle package.

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In front of the Nine 1 Forged wheels booth as another flared BMW, this one equipped with a Liberty Walk kit.

Eurokracy-by-Gray-25Nine 1 is boutique wheel company that I must admit I’ve never heard of before. However with so many custom forged wheel manufacturers popping up world-wide it’s become really hard to keep track of all of them.

It’s nice to see an upstart brand like this coming out with unique designs.

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Their wheels remind me a bit of Luxury Abstract models, but with a style that is a bit more universal.

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European centric, but not European exclusive, is something I said in part two and the FRS above and Subaru lurking in the background, both likely representing for Scale suspension, are representative of that.

Eurokracy-by-Gray-34The non-European vehicles were just as clean as the European ones,  and there’s a good chance many were in fact owned by previous euro car enthusiasts who moved on to a new platform.

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@chetflix’s GTR is, incredible. Yes it’s bagged, and I’m sure just typing bagged and GTR on the same line has evoked a purists scream somewhere but damn the car looks good.

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I really like that he kept the wheel sizing reasonable so that aired up I’m sure the car can be driven in a manner still becoming of a GTR.

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Another car that has its fitment nailed, albeit slightly more aggressive,  than the GTR is the owner of this Wheel Garage RX7.

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Like a lot of the other cars in Montreal it too is bagged — remember aggressive fitment is illegal there– and looks great at 0psi.

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Going a little further aggressive still, was this Nissan. Bagged, obviously, the purple paint shimmered under the sun and those GMR wheels (another new multi-piece wheel company) really fill out the fenders front and rear.

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The fitment on this car is absolutely impeccable and of course Gray took a moment to capture just how close in proximity the wheel lip sits to the fender when the car is parked.

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Nope the car above is not a Frog or some other green reptile, that is a Pit Crew front end equipped Mazda Miata. I’ve actually never seen one of these conversions in person,  but I’ve read quite a bit about them.

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I am a bit on the fence about the look myself, but I do like how the owner has remedied the often strange bumper to fender line these conversions have by molding the entire front end into pone piece.

Eurokracy-by-Gray-part-II-34Not to be outdone in their own home when it comes to being unique, the Euro guys can build head scratchers too, like this Audi that looks like an up-sized child’s toy.

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And above, is an all wheel steer, all wheel drive, Volkswagen Beetle that does a mean burn out.

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But the real oddity of the show was the next phase of the evolution of the Ghetto_mk3.

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After years of being hammered static, the car is going to continue to be hammered on static, just with an entirely new chassis underneath. You can see the beginnings of it here if you look closely at the wheel arches and up by the roof and door where you can spot the cage.

Should be an interesting car when it is complete that is for sure.

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On the complete polar opposite end of the spectrum is Michael Sabourin’s MkIII Jetta. Shaved bay, supercharged, super clean, and sitting on Epsilion mesh wheels his car always looks great.

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Wagon fans fret not there were quite a few at Eurokracy this year and my personal favorite has to be rat4life’s Marlboro themed bagged e39.

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Street car livery has been picking up among the Euro and import crowd over the past few years and this has to be one of the best applications I’ve seen.

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The wheel choice, and fitment, is so DTM as well which really helps tie the entire aesthetic together.

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I’m sure this car is only going to trigger more liverys to hit the street so I’m just going to sit here patiently and wait for the black and gold John Player’s Special colors to roll out.

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Moving back to solids, how  about the fitment on this m3? Sitting the quarter between the rim and tire outback this isn’t for the faint of heart.

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The same could be said about the fitment on this e36 that is sitting on the almost criminally under used RF-1 wheel.

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Picking a single car to end the 2016 Eurokracy coverage is a difficult ask so how about a pair? Above we have the show branded Porsche, driven by one of the event organizers Sergio,  and below we have an absolutely sinister looking competitor entry.

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Black, on black, with just hint of polish this Porsche looks perfectly as a send off to this year’s coverage.

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Thanks once again to Gray Schilling for giving us a peek at Eurokracy 2016.

Event Coverage: Eurokracy 2016 Pt. 2

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In part one of the 2016 Eurokracy coverage we took a look at the infamous burnout contest through the lens of Gray Schilling’s camera. For part two we’ll emerge from the smoke, clean the rubber off that lens, and take a walk through the vast show and shine portion the event.

Eurokracy has grown impressively year after year since it’s inception and now, on the event’s third venue, it has expanded to the point where many regard it as one of the best Euro-centric –but not Euro exclusive– car events anywhere in North America.

A mighty big accolade that the show runners have right to be proud of.Eurokracy-by-Gray-3Eurokracy-by-Gray-4

The European car crowd has always been synonymous with cars that are as low as possible first and foremost,  and the classic Benz sedans above and below represent that to a tee.

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Almost daily I see a meme or two on Facebook chastising cars that,  on first glance, appear to have only wheels and a drop. Whether or not those two modifications make up the entirety of the cars changes ultimately doesn’t matter because sometimes that is all you need to make a car stand out visually.

And despite what black stroked white text over a low resolution image might lead you to believe,  not everyone with a low car wants awards or special attention, they just want to hang out with others who, like themselves, happen to like their cars more on the side of impractical than practical.

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As you already know a bit of everything gets embraced here, so there’s no sense in prattling on too much about the ever-growing ‘us’ vs ‘them’  divide in an event coverage post.

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If this type of show, crowd, or modification style isn’t your thing feel free to bail out here, I promise there will be some drift coverage up next week, and some good ol’ fat tired american muscle the week after that.

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Still here? Good I knew you wouldn’t get too far (or you happened to see this paragraph on your way down to the comment section), and today, instead of looking at some of the late-model cars present at Eurokracy 2016 we are going to take a look at the vehicles at the show built before 1998.

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When talking about classic cars at a European show there’s not better place to start than a Beetle, and Villan Fab’s low, wide, raw, Beetle has sure been making its rounds both in Ontario and Quebec.

This car polarizes people anywhere it goes,  but at the end of the day there’s no mistaking it for any other on the road.

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The Unix Performance Mk I is a Eurorkacy veteran at this point, and its attention to detail seems to have inspired others as there were a number of other clean Mk I variants at Eurokracy 2016.

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Caddy or Golf, you can choose one of each, and since more options are better than few you can choose regular turbo or turbo diesel.

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A fan of Sciroccos but you have not seen any in a while? Neither have I but there were at least two wicked ones at Eurokracy and Gray caught glimpses of both.

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There was even a Volkswagen Thing, and a chopped down penny racer style cabriolet at Eurokracy this year.

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With a lot of flares coming up in part three, I’ve limited their appearance in part two to the set below.

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I’m sure none of you mind the inclusion of the boxy flares of a Rally ready Lancia Delta HF Evo, this car looks to be worth the price of admission alone.

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But wait there’s more! Maybe its Gray’s eye for the unmodified, or there just happened to be more at this years show, but I can’t recall there being so many pristine classics at any Eurokracy event prior.

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I mean look at that E-Type, it could probably do just as well, if not better, at Pebble Beach than it would at Eurokracy.

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And this Citroen DS21 is another extremely well-kept piece of metal.

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These cars were pretty far ahead of their time technology wise, and despite their age don’t look horribly dated today.

They have a unique look about them sure, but a lot of far worse designs come out of that particular era.

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Fittingly they were also on pneumatic suspension from the factory!

With that bit of french tech we are going to end today’s post, but check back later this week for the conclusion of the Eurokracy 2016 coverage provided by Gray Schilling of StillSteezy.com

 

Theme Tuesdays: Autocross Trucks

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I was listening to c10 Talk the other day while doing some painting around the house, and in their Lonestar Throwdown episode the topic of using trucks for autocross came up.

Of course after once I was done painting, and with drink in hand, I cruised around looking for trucks on autocross courses which lead to today’s Theme Tuesday.

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This C1500 has a pretty cool story, the owner had started it on one truck which then caught fire, but he transfered his work to this second truck and well, kept on truckin.
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It’s an LS powered rig now and more about it can be found here and here on Pro-Touring.com.
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This Advanced design truck might not be built to Autocross, but the owner looks like he’s having a blast giving it a go. Goals for myself perhaps? I need to hit up a Good Guys event anyway… – Source

There’s a Schwartz Performance chassis under this truck that looks like it works very, very well.

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It looks as though there seriously wasn’t anything Butch King didn’t try in his Blazer that is sadly no longer with us – source
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Here;s another s10 built to corner, a build thread on this truck is here for your convince
I've seen this photo quite a bit, but now I have a build thread on Kill Billet to go with it!
I’ve seen this photo quite a bit, but now I have a build thread on Kill Billet to go with it!
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The owner of this truck documented driving his car across the country in the Hot Rod Power Tour, and bending some corners with it here on alloymotors.com
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I tried to keep this post to mostly trucks in action but I made a few exceptions, this Ranger is a well deserved one I think. Sadly I have yet to be able to track down more information
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Of all the trucks I found c10s seem to get autocrossed the most
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C10 + Good Guys on Google is a great search combo if you are dying for more – Classictrucks.com
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I usually don’t like roof modifications on trucks, but, seeing this one uses more than makes up for it
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No Limit specializes in making trucks do non truck stuff very well.
Chris Smith's C10 is one of my favorite competitive trucks
Chris Smith’s C10 is one of my favorite competitive trucks
700hp 434 inside of a show worth engine bay
It also does a damn fine job of looking like a show truck when it needs to as well. When I saw it at SEMA in 2012 it had a 753 horsepower 454 between the fenders in 2012
This truck is such a well built machine that I spent about 15 minutes looking at it
It was in full Optima Street Car Challenge mode at the time
Speaking of C10s, this and the one following it are simply incredible
If you’re curious this is the truck beside it, another C10 built to manhandle road courses and Autocross tracks
Very glad to have seen Brad Coomer's C10 drive, this truck sounds Amazing
It looks (and sounds) great cruising along
But looks more at home on the course - myrideisme.com
But looks more at home on the course – myrideisme.com

As you can imagine this Rabbit hole goes quite deep, and if you’re wondering why I didn’t include noteworthy builds like the PCHRods C10R or the local Targa Truck, well, I’ve already thought of a different Theme Tuesday for trucks taken to the next level.

WTF Friday: Harley Wheelies

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So, I am willing to admit that when it comes to the land of motorcycles I am more or less in the dark and privy to what other people share with me, or things that I randomly stumble across by happenstance.

So, that said, people may have been doing wheelies on Harley Davidson Motorcycles for a long time and I am just now finding out, or, going this crazy behind the bars of a Harley is a somewhat recent trend.

Either way it looks absolutely insane and I love it. This first video I watched after it was mentioned in a Smoking Tire Podcast. I’ve seen videos of a lot of ridiculous stuff go down on Mulholland Highway but this is right up there with some of the craziest.

I don’t profess to be a Harley guy at all, but apparently the bikes are modified Street Bobs and pretty farm removed from the large, sometimes slow, loud as hell, cruisers I normally associate with the HD brand.

The guys up above seem to not be alone because if you search Harley Wheelies a lot of videos on YouTube pop up including the one above and the one below by Unknown Industries (who seem to be some sort of authority on this sort of thing) and they do it on bikes that are much more inline with what I think of when it comes to Harley Davidson motorcycles.

The latest Unknown Industries video, the Unknown Ride, is my favorite so far, but it seems like this rabbit hole goes pretty deep and I’m just at the beginning.

Got any videos I need see? Feel free to add them in the comments.

Opposite Day

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Shake Rabble and Roll is a local themed diner about fifteen minutes from my house and is my go to on Monday’s and Saturdays if I have a few minutes to fill between dinner and Ash’s bed time and feel like looking at cars.

I’ve been about six times now and while there are some regulars (one of which I’ll post next week) there are a lot of new cars that come and go as well and this post has one of each.

I’ve seen the car a few times, it sounds really mean, looks rough, and is the type of car that if it were a person you wouldn’t want to come across in a back alley.

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The 54 Ford truck on the other hand, while still mean, is a lot more refined and a vehicle and is what I would more equate to the type of person you wouldn’t want to meet in court.

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Due to where it was parked I couldn’t get nice photos of the front so the rear will have to do for now, I’m sure I’ll see it again and perhaps I’ll ask for a peek under hood.

Semaphore

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Blair has been asking me to shoot some rolling shots of his previously featured ’59 Beetle for a few weeks now, and last weekend we convinced John to be the wheel man while I manned the no fun gun.

The idea was to go East bound for a few exits while I got my settings right –these are actually my first rolling shots– then turn around and head west so I could shoot a few more.

Unfortunately the Beetle was having none of it with the splines wearing themselves off the axles. We ended up having to coast/push/coax the car back to Blair’s house before heading back to the shop.

Fortunately though I did manage a few shots, these two being the best of the bunch.

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Next subject to get rollers of will have to be John’s truck, then perhaps the Beetle again once it is back on the road.

Theme Tuesdays: Local Trunk Set Ups

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Last week I featured local unique motor swaps for Theme Tuesday and this week, spurred by the trunk of the 1995 “Goldmine” Cadillac from the 6th Annual Majestics/Luxurious BBQ coverage, I’ll be posting some of my favorite local trunk set ups from over the past few years.

With each passing year the bar gets raised even higher for what constitutes a “good” trunk install which in turn pushes builders to be more and more creative.

The set up in my car is pretty simple, and tucked away, but the truck might need to get a hardline or two after pulling this one together.

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Going to take things way back to 2011 and one of the first hardline set ups I had seen at the time, clean simple, with still a lot of usable trunk space
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I am going to stretch the definition of the word trunk here only because this is still one of the most unusual air tanks I have ever seen.
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When I saw this at Megaspeed in 2013 I couldn’t help but chuckle, it certainly is clever
Another clever one, this is from Berlin Klassik a few years ago
Another clever one, this is from Berlin Klassik a few years ago
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If you like you’re trunk a little more “A Gentleman’s study”…
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A lot of people are doing wood floors today but Tim’s was an early favorite of mine when he finished it in 2011 or so
Including the trunk
Not every car featured today is more on the form side of the fence, this tri-five Chevy has a very tidy trunk with a roll cage integrated, fuel cell, and relocated battery
Sneaky nitrous setup is sneaky
This was a local Wagovan fed by a bottle hidden in a sub box, I’ve always thought it was really clever
Truck setup in the Caballero
This set up is really neat, every component fits into a lower floor cargo area and matches one another
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This is super era correct lowrider with those quad 8″ Audiobahn subs and velour everywhere
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If you want something a little more contemporary how about this…
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…or this…
..or this of course
..or this of course
The trunk in full steal mode with the air ride setup neatly tucked away
If all of the above is a little too much for you how about a set up hidden under vintage luggage
However with the vintage luggage remove the setup is easily accesible, a lot of time went into finding period fitting luggage
Pretty sure a battery is tucked under that other piece as well
Dialed trunk setup concealing the air ride
This Caddy owned by Tim, one half of Tim and Brenda’s place, has a very nicely done trunk full of false panels
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I’m sure somewhere people who collect vintage fire fighting equipment are up in arms over them being converted to air tanks
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But it really is a great re-purpose of old equipment
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I imagine this tank fills in no time with 4 compressors
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Hardlines have really become quite popular the last few years, I remember when most were done by Swoops and few were out this way
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The hardlines here are nicely formed but I am mostly posting this because of the small K&N filters on the compressors. Neat idea
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This trunk combines a lot of what we’ve seen above, false panels, flooring, hardlines, and subs
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Kevin at Chop Shop has done a LOT of wicked trunk installs the past year or so
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A few people came together to make this one a reality with the coating and upholstery, and it looks great over all
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Unix Performance took the minimalist approach to their ever changing mk 1 a few years ago
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Quite like how it hangs off the roll bar, and above the awesome “spare”

I’m going to call this one here, but I don’t think it will be the last. I wonder what the next trend will be?

Event Coverage: The 6th Annual Majestics/Luxurious BBQ

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By now most of you already know that I make a point to attend at least one lowrider BBQ every year because I’m a whole fan of the lowrider lifestyle. Yes I said lifestyle, and unlike a lot of other blogs I don’t toss that word around every other post.

Lowriding, to these clubs, is truly a lifestyle, and that lifestyle is why these events are some of the best events in the city. Families are welcomed and encouraged, everything is free of charge.

Though it’s much larger than the average house or block could hold, the event still has a backyard barbecue vibe that makes it so genuine.

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I know it’s a bit broken record to drive home how positive the vibe is at these events every year, but they really are a top five event for me.

Because they are a top five, when given the option of taking my dad, who was in town from Jamaica, to this show or any other show that day I chose this one.

In addition to bringing my dad I brought Ash too which marked this event as the first the Thomas family made an appearance at three generations deep.

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This years BBQ had clubs from Toronto, obviously, and Montreal, again a given as these two lowriding scenes are very tight, but cars from Detroit, and clubs from a few other neighboring states came out as well to see exactly how the Toronto Majestics and Luxrious clubs get down.

Since the Rollerz Only had their BBQ the weekend before this meant many of these car owners did the commute two weekends in a row without a single complaint.

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My pops hasn’t owned a modified car for a long time but if he has allegiance to anything its cars made before 1990, and American classics are right up there because those were the cars of his generation.

majestics-luxurious-bbq-2016-up-downmajestics-luxurious-bbq-chevy-truckSo walking around he couldn’t help but take a few pictures with his phone to show the friends he’d be touching base with here in Canada before skipping back to his retirement paradise in Jamaica.

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He, and I, both really liked this big block Camaro. A split bumper model, it was clean and tidy and with 572 cubic inches under the hood I suspect it would have no problem pulling the wheels into the air with the hammer down.

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Speaking of wheels up my dad had never seen hoppers before, so it was fun to see his reaction to these big cars laying bumper.

majestics-luxurious-bbq-2016-hop-3He seemed a bit confused that people would put so much money into their cars only to violently hop them up and down, but as I explained to him these cars are built for that, and their owners live for it.

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My apologies for the similar angle and small number of hopping photos this year. Immediately after the first car Ash wanted on my shoulders, which made taking photos a bit difficult.

The cars hopping made a lasting impression on him though, and he’s been hopping the 65 Riviera Ruben gave him at the show ever since.

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Ruben’s car was one of the first I showed my dad to give him an idea of just how detail focused lowriders can be.

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I didn’t take too many pictures of his ’64, only because I still feel that his feature is some of my best work, but I did take a few detail shots of it and a few of the other cars at the show.

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Details, details, details, and more details. It never ceases to amaze me how much detail is put into these cars, especially the undersides, considering that most drive to the BBQ under their own power and get driven fairly regularly.

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I don’t get to see ‘Bombs’, or pre 1955 chassis based, lowriders very often but I always consider myself fortunate when I do. These cars have a whole different feel about them and usually are static, or on very simple hydraulic systems with limited lift drop and speed, but still command respect on the street and turn heads.

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majestics-luxurious-bbq-2016-bomb-2-interiorThis fleetline? Beautiful. And the blue car above? More of the same. I’m sure there are plenty of Kustom builders disagree and would rather see these cars as sleds but me, I’m happy I love in a city where I can see both from one weekend to the next.

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I also have to admit I was happy to finally see a Blazer done up on hydraulics. I’m a Blazer fan, and I’m a lowrider fan so of course I liked this, but it’s not something people have really been doing much of say the past eight years or so (probably more), so shout out to the owner of this one.

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The Toronto chapter of the Cadillac Kings car club have quickly brought together some of the best looking Cadillacs of the city, which given their name only makes sense.

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This ’65 Deville proves that hubs and whites are sometimes the only way to go when the original lines of the car look so good.

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At any angle the car looked imposing and really low.

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Parked a few cars over this ’95 is perhaps the newest truly complete lowrider build on the streets of Toronto.

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I’ve seen some really impressive trunk set-ups before, of all different genres, but this has to be one of the cleanest, no question. Astheitcally and physically clean it was clear someone put a lot of time into pulling this trunk set up together.

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Pinstriping, gold plating, and gold leafing, done to the nines.

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Of course it’s no true lowrider coverage without a healthy douse of 60s Impala love, and that’s where we’ll end the coverage of the 2016 Majestics/Luxurious BBQ.

If you’re STILL not going to some of these events a year you really need to make some time. Great food, great times, great people.

WTF Friday: Mr. Belvadere

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Often artists are behind some of the craziest cars in existence, being creative at their core it only makes sense that their free thought travels into all aspects of their life, including car building.

Matt Van Overloop is an artist, he makes wicked signs, awesome wall art, and enviable pedal cars for kids. Matt is also building an outstandingly well thought out ’53 Plymouth Belvadere with C4 suspension, powered by a Viper V10 motor he somehow picked up for $600.

I spotted this build on Jesse Bower’s Just A Car Guy Blog and kept it on the back burner until I had some time to look a bit closer. The progress on Matt’s page, Lightly Engineered, doesn’t to back to the beginning but it goes back far enough.

(Edit: found a very detailed thread on protouring.com).

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Jumping in at the first picture on the Facebook page you can see that the stock floor and frame are history, Matt has instead opted to put a new frame under the car and channel the car over said frame.

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Check out the bear shaped gusset in the frame, what a unique detail to add and something only an artist would really do.

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Now look at the fact that you can no longer even see that bear, hidden details covered incredible work. I wonder how many other gems like that will be hidden in this build.

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The artisan metal work continues into the interior where Matt is making every panel from scratch, did you notice the gusseting around the door frame? No detail is overlooked with this car and when it is finished rolling art will be the only proper way to describe it.

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The exterior looks to be rocking its original Patina, and based on his previous builds I don’t think there are plans to change that but you honestly never really know how a project will wind up until its finished.

As of June the car is on the ground, running, and moving so who knows how long it will be until we see some shake down video.

Matt is clearly a very busy man so while I won’t be holding my breath I will be following along on Facebook at Lightly Engineered and on protouring.com