Whenever I check the site stats and see that the “Cars With Mouths” Theme Tuesday series is still one of the most visited I can’t help but chuckle a little bit because I initially thought no one would really be into it.
I guess the fact that we are now into round three of said series goes to show the longevity of the famous “shark mouth”, and various other forms of automotive grins.
Previously best known for their commuter cars and soccer mom moving compact sport utility vehicles, Hyundai placed their bets on quite the roll of dice when they released the Genesis line of vehicles in 2008.
Faced with a seriously uphill battle convincing the general public –never mind enthusiasts– that they could produce a luxury car, and a sports coupe, they had to come out of the gate swinging to grab any sort of market hold.
Now six years later they’ve managed to not only prove that they are in fact capable of doing both, but also convinced a number of enthusiasts to get behind the wheel of the other car with an H on it’s grill.
Being co-owner of a Hyundai Dealership Guillaume was an early adopter of the platform, and the car brought to you today, by SIE partner French Canadian VDO, is actually Guillaume’s second Genesis sedan, and third Genesis overall.
A fan of traditional VIP styling Guillaume sought to keep this car fairly refined yet still markedly different than factory form.
The Extreme Dimensions body kit the car wears today –which was molded from a one off version built for an ’09 SEMA car– needed quite a bit of customization to fit in a way that would look appropriate on a VIP influenced project.
After spending countless hours stressing over panel gaps Guillaume wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of an errant curb destroying his hard work, so he put the car on bags instead of coils.
Still a relatively new chassis Guillaume didn’t have the luxury of a bolt on kit and instead went with a UAS bag set-up over SMA coils.
As with most bag over coil configurations simply replacing the coil with an air spring wasn’t enough to put the car where he wanted, and Guillaume had to call in the services of his friend Martin Paul to fabricate custom top plates and rear bag brackets.
Giving the car the ability to rise up from the new lows provided by Martin’s modifications is a completely self contained Airrex digital system.
The wheels, which I must admit are simply stunning in person, are VIP Modular x110s finished fittingly in an option called Dubai Gold.
The aforementioned Genesis sedan Guillaume owned before this one equipped him with the knowledge necessary to order wheels that fit between tire and quarter panel out back while being flush up front.
A VIP influenced luxury sedan simply wouldn’t be complete without interior additions and as such the prerequisite table, glasses, and Junction Produce rear view mirror garnishes found their way inside the car.
These accessories do a great job of adding to the cars air of class and luxury.
Despite being one if (if not the only) Canadian 09-11 Genesis sedans modified to this level Guillaume recently decided to part ways with the vehicle and move on to something else.
Given his employment another Hyundai is expected but he’s not exactly sure which model at this point in time.
However since he’s already got a set Dampfhammer Wheels on the way I don’t imagine he will remain indecisive for too much longer.
In the last eight or so hours one car, and one car only, has essentially dominated my various social media feeds, a car which in every single iteration has turned heads and caused considerable internet uproar.
That car is of course the infamous Kawashima Celica.
First earning notoriety as an unusual drift vehicle back in 2010 the car has continued to change drastically year after year.
When slid the Celica raised eyebrows not only because of it’s FF configuration but also because of the owners interesting methods for achieving the now signature negative camber.
However what really got the peanut galleries (self included) going was the revision preceding the current, with insane stretch and exposed barrels.
At that point it was extremely difficult (arguably impossible) to see where the owner was going, and hard to not just assume it was just another person seeking internet notoriety.
Shortly after that particular bout with the internet the car quietly disappeared, that is until a few weeks ago when grainy progress shots started to hit the internet and discussion was restored a new.
In short order people began to wonder exactly what the owner had in mind, and whether or not this iteration would be finished or just remain a talking piece like years previous.
Yesterday, Nori Yaro –who seems to media source closest to the car– released photos of the finished product and true to form it was shocking.
And yet as visually jarring as it is I personally find this to be the best iteration so far because it is the most finished and most polished.
At every other point the car looked like a collection of half thought, half started, ideas but now as outlandish as it may be, the owners vision has finally bubbled to the surface.
Sure the look is not for everyone but really this car has never been for everyone. It’s been exactly what the owner wanted it to be every step of the way.
The question myself and countless others are now asking is what can possibly be next?
I’m sure we all have friends who are so determined that when they say they are going to do something it is as good as done.
My friend Darcy Peters is one of those people, so about a year ago when he told me he was going to co drive a rally car I knew it was essentially written in stone.
Fast forward to today and he’s co-driven a number of events with Peter Nazarewycz and together as Team Argon their venture into the competitive sport of rally driving –in a green civic that could– has proven quite successful with a season highlight being a third place finish at their first national event.
Currently they are competing for a 2014 Champion Spark Plugs sponsorship and could use a little help making it into the next round, so if after checking out the photos below, and their video on alwaysachampion.com, you are as stoked on the team as I am be sure to click ‘Vote For Me’ over on the Champion site.
Note: If you are thinking “hey this is a good time to email Dave and ask him to help me win xxx contest” I will totally do it for you if you are capable of putting together an edit like this while being as awesome as Darcy.
In Toronto it is currently feels like eighteen degrees below 0 which is actually pretty balmy compared to yesterday’s bone chilling low of -24.2°C.
It’s actually so cold that salt alone can’t melt the remnants of recent snow falls, and they’ve had to use beet juice of all things to keep people from spinning off into guard rails.
What does this have to do with today’s Winter Wednesday car? Not a thing. I just felt like sharing just how crappy winters get around here.
Enjoy this very clean dumped MKIII I found on gshep’s flickr.
Photo Credit: gshep’s flickr
Check back later today for another Winter Wednesday post as well.
As a child I built a heck of a lot of model cars (a hobby I have recently picked up once more) and one kit that I have fond memories assembling was Monogram’s 1956 Bel Air.
The Belair is a true American classic with an appeal that transcends many different scenes so I am a little surprised it took me so long to realize that there was a dire need for some appreciation here on the site.
Thanks go to photographer Brett Sloan and Facebook fan Victor Ospina for the inspiration, and final push on this one.
Going to call it here but I’m thinking I will revisit this Theme again within the next six months.
…and by that time of year I mean the period where I wish I went to SummerNats in Australia. If I could choose one event for a wealthy dowager to fly me to I am pretty sure it would be this one.
In addition to looking like a flat out awesome party the vehicles that show up are incredibly diverse and the burnout contest is, quite frankly, out of hand.
Here are a few photos I found kicking around this morning while looking for videos of the swapped e46 I posted on the Facebook fan page yesterday.
Still waiting on what will no doubt be a landslide of videos to follow.
Thought trikes were a 2013 WTF Fridays thing? Think again because this Cavalier based trike is just too damn ‘wtf?’ not to post.
After presumably being on the losing end of a collision the rear end of this red third generation Cavalier has been axed in favour of a mess of tubing, a large rear wheel, and a formidable wing.
The (now removed) craiglist ad typically didn’t go into detail regarding how (or why!) this came to be but does boast working AC and Heat.
How well said things actually work probably greatly depends on how fast you are going, but at least you have an awesome wind shield visor to keep the sun out of your eyes.
The asking price was a surprising $4,500 which the owner stated he needed to pay for medical bills, whether or not the medical bills are the direct result of an accident in said trike, or the cause of the idea behind this magnificent specimen may never know.
It is titled as a custom vehicle which means if you are in Springfield and looking for something bizarre to drive around this could be just right for you.
Though I doubt many of you are in the market….
At the end of each year I’ve always found it fitting to look back on a few of the trends, both on-line and otherwise, that took the car community documented here on Stance Is Everything by storm the last three hundred and sixty five days.
If nothing else posts like these are always amusing to look back on the following years to assist in separating the trends from the fads.
At least one or two of the things mentioned today lay right on the trend/fad border so if you see the need to call a spade a spade, feel free to do so in the comments below.
If collectively the last six months of ’09 and the first six months of 2010 were the year of the automotive blog boom, and 2011 the year of the automotive Facebook page explosion, then the social media trend of 2013 was the Instagram account.
With less initial investment time than both a blog and a fan page, new Instagram accounts are born hourly with some ‘clever’ combination of one of stance, quality, classic, daily, import, drift, lowered, japan, camper, fitted, dumped, illest, or steezy as an account name.
Sadly many of these accounts are simply re-churning the the same images we’ve all seen before, or worse like the one above “re-editing” photos and calling them their own, in order to build a “brand” and eventually sell some sort of merchandise then cut and run when it all dries up.
The saving grace to all this is that eventually people will catch on and these accounts full of hollow likes, and a fickle fan base, will shrivel and die or get deleted allowing the more awesome instagram accounts to continue their rise to the top.
Going hand and hand with influx of Instagram pages has been the rise of the automotive meme. The groundwork set by the “Because Race Car” in 2011 paved the way for the ‘automeme’ to reach what could now be considered critical mass.
Today’s meme’s run the gamut from legitimately funny, all the way to down right offensive and I honestly wouldn’t be mad if a few of them got buried in 2014, even if it means the old memes are buried by new memes.
The Japanese tuning scene has always been a big point of interest for enthusiasts around the world, with people constantly looking towards the land of the rising sun for inspiration and content.
In previous years RAUH-Welt Begriff was the brand under the microscope while this year thing seemed to shift to fellow over fender obsessed tuners Liberty Walk and TRA Kyoto (Rocket Bunny) who both had several web features a piece when SEMA rolled around.
On the merchandise design side of things I don’t think that the ‘traditional Japanese car club’ sticker has ever been more popular as I noticed a number of designs similar to the one below hitting e-stores all across the internet.
In my opinion the constant influx of Japanese content is a bit of a double edged sword because, at times there is a definite over saturation of certain brands and certain content which dates things and incredibly rapid pace.
Another downside to the increased media attention on Japan is that those genuinely interested in the Japaense culture (the entire culture not just the flavour of the month vehicles and shops) get drowned out by those who are feigning interest because it is the current “it” thing.
That being said I still hold hopeful that the intensified media eye on Japan will help expose their thriving lowrider, minitruck, and hot rod scenes.
Those who called aggressive fitment, and the stance genre as a whole, a horrible fad in 2011 grew visibly frustrated in 2012 when it continued to gain popularity, and hopping mad in 2013 when it became abundantly clear it wasn’t going away any time soon.
Despite the fact that he built a SEMA worthy FR-S in his own garage MotoIQ (who has never been shy about their hate of the genre) continued their subtle pot shots in Noel Barnum’s direction, while the “Ultimate JDM Experience” 7tune took a more direct approach berating the stance community any chance they got on their Facebook page.
If you add in forum goers and blog commenters around the world stance has never been globally more hated and as it continues to grow in popularity so do the numbers of those who vehemently oppose it.
While I am a strict believer of “to each their own”, and the last person to force acceptance down someone’s throat, I often wonder if these people hold the same animosity towards other style first genres such as lowriders and kustoms?
As technology improves, and becomes more readily accessible, both photography and video-graphy quality naturally improve year after year.
In 2013 it felt as though automotive video production as a whole took a huge leap forward in terms of quality.
Local producers like Backstage Productions, Art Malczewski (Drop Culture), French Canadian VDO, and Flight Faction Films all brought their best to the table and globally Maiham Media has been absolutely destroying along with Stephen Brooks, and Chris Petruccio.
People often ask why I don’t personally try my hand at event videos and the honest truth is that compared to the ever increasing quality of video produced I’ve got nothing to bring to the table.
In the United States spray-able Plasti Dip has been available for years, but here in Canada the now familiar blue and yellow rattle can was previously only available at one specific store (Home Hardware), and even then it’s actually on the shelf availability was quite slim.
This all completely changed when the automotive community saw the pigmented aerosol propelled rubber as an economical way to completely change the look of anything relatively temporarily.
Now Plasti Dip is available pretty well everywhere you turn and it’s use has grown from wheels and interior trim to complete exterior refinishes.
The wild demand for the product has even birthed a number of rubberized coating companies that will not only supply people with the product but also do the labor as well.
When done right Plasti Dip applications create a unique finish that is not easily reproducible with other products, but when done wrong incorrectly or hastily yields a much less desirable look.
Whether Plasti Dip has, or will, become a serious contender for the vinyl, or even paint, markets still remains to be seen, but I don’t think I was the only one surprised with how widespread it’s use was in 2013.
2013 could almost be dubbed ‘The Year Of The Bag’ because not only did anything and everything touch the ground at 0 psi, but people finally started to really pay attention the performance merit of air suspension.
Jalopnik/The Smoking Tire ran an Accuair video on their homepage that documented Matt Farah’s experience carving California corners in an air ride equipped Audi S4, while over on Speed Hunters Vaugh Gittin JR shared his impressions of the Air Lift Performance set-up installed on his SEMA bound Double Down Mustang RTR project.
Across the globe Airrex affiliated Car Porn Racing released a video showcasing several different cars drifting on air, while a little closer to home AB Motoring put their Air Lift Performance equipped s14 through it’s paces at a Risky Devil Drift event.
The icing on the cake came when both Air Lift Performance and European Car released videos directly comparing bags to coils with results closer and more favourable than many air ride naysayers are willing to believe.
While the war between bags and coils continues to wage on it’s not unfair to say that air, as a way to balance form and function, gained a lot of traction in 2013 that is only going to continue in 2014.
The ying to air rides yang, the boundaries of what was achievable riding on coils was again pushed to new limits in 2013.
What was low in 2012 became a thing of the past as people removed helpers, lock rings, ordered new springs, lifted motors, notched frames, and generally did whatever they could to minimize the amount of light that could pass under their car.
While some opted for the impossibly low, and impossibly, clean look others simply went with the ‘just ain’t care’, low no matter the cost, approach.
With no end in sight I genuinely fear for the well being of oil pans and speed bumps of 2014.
This might be a direct result of the different events I attended this year but I noticed several builds trending more towards the “classier” side of things in 2013.
By class I am referring to a restrained, coordinated, colour pallet and acute attention to detail.
Cars with just enough done to stand out but not so much that they deter from the vehicles charm and natural appeal.
This is a stark contrast, and refreshing change, from the “throw everything expensive at it and keep what sticks” approach that seemed to be popular of years past.
It often takes a little more time to modify a car this way but there’s honestly nothing wrong with that.
The last trend I am going to touch on, and one of my more favourite, is the return of the tire width/wheel width balance.
For awhile many seemed dead set on throwing the widest wheel, and narrowest tire, under their car and calling it a day but now, people seem to want to fit the most of both underneath their rides.
Yes, to the bane of fitment critics mentioned above tire stretch is still very much a thing but the days of the extreme “look at me” stretch seem to be numbered.
Whether this trend is a result of people spending even more time calculating their final specs, getting better at fender modification, or a direct result of the increased use of over fenders I am not sure but I for one welcome the return of more tire.
With tire width on the increase I’m looking forward to beefing up the neglected Fat And Flush category of the site.
Can’t really think of a better way to send off a year of Theme Tuesday posts than with a collection of my own personal favourite photos of 2013.
One day I might go back and count how many photos I take in a season, but I do know it’s quite a few so narrowing down my picks was a little difficult but I am pretty happy with the list below.
Hopefully you guys enjoy it as well and maybe see a photo you have yet to see this year.
An out of nowhere entry for the last CSCS event, this e46 had gobs of power on tap giving it the ability to bellow out huge plumes of smoke at will.
I knew it had the potential to make a great shot and I was really stoked when this photo came out sharp.
Original Post: 2013 CSCS Season Finale – Pt. 1
The Detroit Autorama is an incredible show that houses some of the most expensive cars ever built, but my favourite part of the entire event had to be the Autorama “Extreme” portion in the basement.
That part of the show featured a number of cars that were full of character like this slightly humanized T bucket.
Original Post: Detroit Autorama Extreme
Every year during media day at the Canadian International Autoshow I find my self virtually alone with the ‘Cruise Nationals’ vehicles which yeilds the opportunity to take as many photos as I want basically undisturbed.
I really liked the engine bay of this Willy’s so I spent a few moments making sure I got a good capture of it.
Original Post: The 2013 Canadian International Autoshow: Pt. 1
An entire show full of real cars and I managed to get suckered in by a 1/18 Rudolf Caracciola #8 1931 Mercedes-Benz SSKL: German Grand Prix model. Typical.
It took a bit but I was able to get a photo without the surrounding glass being too distracting.
While far from a technically superior photo it perfectly captures the random hilarity that happens at any given event in Ontario.
The question is does the beard match the truck, or the truck match the beard?
Original Post: Stretch & Poke! Presents Fitted Lifestyle 2013
Though a hair soft on the focus I love how much this Can Jam Motorsports sponsored Subaru is squatting on it’s way to ripping the straight a new one.
Original Post: 2013 CSCS Season Finale – Pt. 1
Brad seemingly came out of nowhere with one of my favourite cars of the season and as such I shot quite a few photos of it.
This particular picture happens to be my personal favourite of the bunch which I suppose makes me an ass man.
Original Post: 2013 CSCS Season Opener – Pt. 2
Typically not the kind of thing I’d shoot during event coverage, this ticket jumped out at me so I snapped this photo off and ended up really pleased with the composition and depth of field.
Original Post: Vagkraft
Can’t really explain why I like this photo so much, it might have something to do with the fact that I have personally photographed very few Harlequins.
Original Post: Euronited
Like Brad’s Mr-2 Luke’s car is fairly photogenic which means I took a lot of photos of it making it really hard to narrow things down.
This one might be it, but if you asked me a week ago it could have been this one.
Original Post: Euronited
When I went out to take photos for my sixteen thousand kilometer review of my suspension set-up I had no idea where I was going to do it or if it was going to work out.
A few laps around one of the snazzier areas of Mississauga and I managed to find a location that worked and a unknowingly willing passer by to create an interesting photo.
Original Post: Sixteen Thousand Kilometers On Air
I showed up pretty late to the Majestics/Luxurious BBQ this year which meant I had a smaller selection of cars to shoot, but less people to shoot around.
I’m a big fan of flaked roofs so I fell in love with this car instantly and it just so happened to be positioned perfectly for this photo.
Original Post: 2013 Majestics / Luxurious BBQ
Managed to snap this one off while trying not to get in Ryo Kaneta’s way for the USDMFreax/Fitted Lifestyle magazine shoot.
I believe this was the first time I saw James Won’s car on the Regamaster Evos, such a good choice.
Original Post: Behind The Scenes Of A USDMFREAX Feature Shoot
Ruben’s feature is probably my best collection of feature photos to date, and picking one out of the entire set was pretty tough.
I eventually settled on this one because of the iconic lowrider stance and hints of sun rays bleeding in.
The graffiti background helped too.
Original Post: Featured Ride: Ruben’s 64 Chevrolet Impala SS
Being one of the fastest and most photogenic cars in the CSCS time attack series my camera is often pointed in the direction of James Houghton’s car.
This panning shot is probably the best I got of it in 2013.
Original Post: 2013 CSCS Beach Burnout
I always find the Roadmates Corn Roast a really enjoyable event to shoot because it’s such a laid back affair.
This means foot traffic is fairly light and the resulting photos are very uncluttered. I took a lot of photos of this car and this wound out being my favorite mostly due to composition.
Original Post: Roadmates Corn Roast
The weather for the 2013 Truck & Tuner expo started off so poor that I was worried I wouldn’t get any photos at all but between the showers, and before the sun burned away the clouds, I managed to get some of my favorite event photos of the entire season.
The ridiculousness of the 6.0 Vortec motor in a Nova makes this shot for me.
Original Post: 2013 Niagara Tuner & Truck Expo – Part 1
As soon as I got into this vantage point to shoot the limbo at the Truck & Tuner Expo I knew that the photos would be very well received thanks to model Melissa Danielle working the height pole.
Original Post: 2013 Niagara Truck & Tuner Expo Vehicle Limbo
This photo of Curtis throwing the horns out of Brad Carlton’s car during the CSCS finale captures Dead Machine perfectly.
Loud, Chaotic, and Fun.
Super stoked on what Curtis and Amy have done so far with the brand and looking forward to seeing what they do in 2014.
Original Post: 2013 CSCS Season Finale – Pt. 1
When I passed this car in the Whips & Chocolate booth at Eurokracy I never expected to see it in the burnout booth because it’s a fairly clean car.
As it turns out a little peer pressure goes a long way.
Original Post: Eurokracy 2013 Burnout Contest
Happy New Year!
