VIP Cars

Here is the beginning of what everyone has been waiting for, part one of our Wekfest IV San Francisco coverage! We lucked out with a beautiful San Francisco day, with mid sixties weather and a nice breeze coming off of the bay. As always, the line was reaching far into the distance as fans and spectators lined up as early as 1am the night before just to get a glimpse of the incredible lineup of cars spanning the floor of two enormous buildings at Fort Mason. Five days prior to the show the Canibeat crew rolled out from the east coast to do some scoping out of the scene and to make some visits to a few of the big names in the game to film some interviews for the soon to be released Canibeat TV and we had a blast! Hopefully you enjoy the photos of our trip & part one of Wekfest IV coverage, don't forget to stay tuned for even more coverage! Read More

"The automotive scene makes homes to many differently styles of tuning culture. Be it race cars, VIP cars, drift cars or off the wall exotics. But one thing that bring all these styles together is their shared love for cars. Now days people spend too much time talking about why they're cool and why you're not. The Tokyo Auto Salon brings every style together under one roof and shares it with the world. Surely we can all appreciate each others cars more than once a year, can't we?"

In keeping up with our newfound tradition of Wallpaper Wednesdays we bring you a series of high-res wallpapers of two of the hottest VIP rides in the states, our friends Ty and Will's GS & SC from Liberty VIP. These photos were taken by RIDES Magazine photographer Andrew Link for their 2011 SEMA edition so in case you missed that issue we wanted to provide you with some fresh wallpapers.  If you want to see more of Andrew's work be sure to checkout his Flickr and follow him on Facebook! Read More

Influence is a rather interesting phenomenon in automotive culture. There are, on the whole, three major camps: the European, the East Asian, and the North American, each of which has a near unlimited amount of subcultures and movements. While each of the spheres has their own unique aesthetics, individuals are constantly pulling ideas from each other and blending those designs into their own region's styles. One can look to the American hot-rod culture's influence on the European air-cooled Volkswagens or the American adoption of the Japanese tuner style.  Eventually these influences get passed around so many times, that they end up coming back to the original source in new ways. For example, the Japanese VIP scene was inspired by the large, classy sedans of Europe.  Japanese tuners were drawn to the imposing characters of cars like the Mercedes S Class and BMW 7 series, and sought to apply those same styling cues to their own domestic sedans, mixing the classy Old World style with the existing shakotan look. Michael Milano-Picardi was inspired by that bippu look and has applied it to his own Mercedes CL500; an American, modifying his European sports coupe in a manner invented by the Japanese for to mimic stately European sedans. Wunderbar! Read More

As the year ends, another season of shows will end with it. To close out 2011, we present our Autocon coverage for you. The event, along with the turn out, was much larger than last year. We were excited to use that opportunity to booth for the first time on the West Coast. Organized as a charity event, the show was a great experience for us, and we enjoyed meeting everyone. We'd like to thank the Royal Origin guys for coming out to show at our booth with their quality cars and hilarious entertainment throughout the day. Four different photographers covered Autocon for us just to make sure we didn't miss anything. Enjoy, and we hope to see you next year! Read More

Our friends over at Vossen Wheels and videographer Vinny Minton have collaborated to develop this video of Robby Rai's stunning Infiniti G37. Bagged on a fresh set of Vossen VVS-082 (F: 20x9 / R: 20x10.5) in a Black Machined finish with Stainless Lips, Robby's G37 is sitting so proper. Enjoy guys.

The Hawaiian Islands, for all of their natural beauty and tropical vistas, have a rather tumultuous geological history. Located above a Pacific Ocean hotspot, the islands that form the 50th state were created through a series of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and subsequent erosion. This pattern of destruction and rebirth has allowed the islands to continually turn mountains of magma, ash, and fire into tropical paradises. Albert Lee, a resident of the capital city of  Honolulu, saw his last project, a turboed GS300, burn to the ground after a faulty turbo install. Determined to come back bigger than ever, Albert teamed up with VIP Modular to create this gorgeous VIP Modular GS350. Read More

“Executive.” When you hear this word, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Is it a suit and tie or private jets; maybe shiny watches or dress socks? Well if it is, you’re wrong. Regardless of what your parents tell you, or what the school says, or even what Websters defines because Jason’s 2006 GS300 is Executive. Read More

From dusk till dawn Kenny captured the very first car at the airport to the very last and nearly everything in between. Between the soundtrack and the time lapse segments, we think Kenny did an amazing job of capturing the cars, the people, and the overall feel of First Class Fitment 2011! Read More

I hate that minivans have the stigma that they do. While they admittedly won't win any awards around the track, they are the perfect vehicle for someone looking for serious utility without the drawbacks of larger SUVs. And one only has to look back to the 1970's to see the awesome styling possibilities with these big wagons. Owner Donald James saw the potential in his 2005 Odyssey and went all out with a classic VIP build, blending traditional Japanese cues with a mostly untouched USDM platform. Read More