Goin' In...

(Written a Couple Days Ago)

So I've been mindlessly roaming the internet all day in an attempt to distract myself from an intense hangover. After making the forum rounds and doing some e-window shopping it was time to catch up on some blog reading.

I'm a little late but this is going to be my '09 recap, except I'm going to call it "going into 2010" since '09 was really a year of established trends going mainstream rather than innovation. To call them 2009 trends would be disrespectful to those who have been involved in the early days of various scenes. The same could probably be said every year, but it was very apparent to me this year.

Now depending on how you got here you may or may not understand what "scene" I am referring to. You may think I am only into Nissan, or Japanese cars, or vip style, or the "stance" scene, or rare wheels, or part of a secret underground society that would kill you before admitting they were into any scene at all. If you thought any one of these, you were wrong. The correct answer is all of the above (OK, OK... no secret society).

Which brings me to the first big thing for the fresh decade: blogging. On some of the more popular blogs you will find a blend of everything from slammed euros to Japanese motor sports (which I am actually not into). People are being exposed to things they might not have been otherwise and are coming together in celebration of common interests.

Stance and fitment are two of those things. While they are definitely not new things (let me stress this) they have officially culminated and the streets are full of pounded cars on wide/low offset wheels. Now I've been into low for a while (at least a decade), so it is taking me a while to get used to kids who just got their driver's license talking about this "new trend" but what are you gonna do? Roll with it...

Speaking of rolling, there's another aspect of wheels that is enjoying popularity. Rare, old school wheels are being imported by the boat loads. BBS RS have been done on literally everything this year. Equips pull a close second in the JDM scene and beyond. A handful of the usual suspects round out the list. While these wheels are great, I honestly can't wait until people either dig deeper into the OG wheel catalog or just move on.

Another style that will probably leak over into this year is the "raw" look. I'm actually going to split these into 2 categories. The "unrestored" class being the the better of the 2, there is beauty to be found in imperfect cars like the slammed 240Z that graced every major blog site this year. The rat rod inspired, "here one day, gone the next", style known as hoodride also seems to be causing some aftershock in the euro scene. This bring us to the lesser (IMO) of the 2, the "rusty" class. This is generally late model cars that were in decent (or better) exterior condition until someone decided to remove the paint and apply saltwater. I guarantee this will be one of those things that will be looked back upon and laughed at, with only those currently benefiting from the attention swearing it is cool until their dying days.

Roof racks are everywhere. If you don't actually use it you are lame.

Show Some Love to the Homies (No Homo)

New Liberty VIP CC Blog!

First profile is of the most e-famous duo in the crew; Agim Jones and the PresiBent. Stay tuned!

2K10

So it's a new year... For some reason this prompts people to make life changes and/or refocus on goals.

As for changes: I will continue drinking, smoking, and maintain a diet of delicious junk food.

However, I will be refocusing on my goals. The Q will get done this year. I will be wrapping up my love/hate LS build this month. It will either sit (possibly show) or find a new home. I will also try and make the transition from "hobby" to business. I've been trying to get things off the ground for a couple years now but haven't been able to find the right combination just yet.

I am also interested to see what my Liberty brethren will do this year. We hit the scene pretty hard last year and that was just the warm up (according to Agim Jones). Most of our crew has some intense plans for '10. Should be interesting.

Sergio's '98 Maxima

As you may, or may not, be aware of I was big into the Maxima scene for quite a while. Unfortunately I lost my project to Ike last year but I did have the pleasure of consulting on a build not long ago.


Within the Maxima circle there have been a couple guys who have focused on fitment, stance, and quality goods for a good couple years now (shout-out to the Fitment Crew) vs. the usual "How fast can i make my FWD slug of a sedan?" or "How awesome is this fiberglass Voltron body kit on eBay?".


Sergio wanted something clean, simple, and low that he could daily while attending school somewhere in CA. Suspension first, so I shipped him out some JIC FLT-TAR VIP coilovers. Next was to find some sick rollers and a set of O.Z. Pegasus fit the bill. An effortless period-correct look was accomplished in 17x9 +24 all around (fairly aggressive for the Maxima's solid rear beam suspension) wrapped in 225/45-17 Kuhmos.


The car had a little front end damage and I managed to sell him on the idea of a '95-'96 bumper/grill conversion. This is the opposite of the norm but we felt it would add to a cleaner old-school look. New '97-'99 headlights were installed because of their clear plastic lens. The car was repainted white with silver mirrors/window trim to accent the wheels. A little exhaust work was done to gain some ground clearance and get a better sound out of the VQ30DE.

I'm sure there is more to come, Serg still complains that it's not low enough (I concur) and wants to try something larger in the wheel department last I heard. I hope to have the privilege of being involved so I can live vicariously through his car rather than buying another A32.

Titan of Doom

Known to do half a donut for no reason at all.

(Name jack from Grant with no remorse)