VIP Cars

This past weekend I attended Nisei Week Showoff Car Show 2011. The quality of turn was great last year so I knew that it would be just as great if not better this year. What makes the Nisei car show so enticing is the selection of JDM (and a few Euro) cars that show. If you like clean JDM and VIP style cars this is the show to attend. Read More

Daniel Rosen is a self-admitted Porsche man. His previous project, a Fatlace featured 997 slammed on Forged wheels, was a great example of what's possible within the "stance" world with enough vision, hard work, and liquid capital. Seeing a true performance machine with the imposing presence that 12" wide concave wheels command brings out a kind of childish glee, harkening back to the early days of fantasy hot wheels and book fair posters with a robot unicorn driving a Countach in some epic lightning storm. Nevertheless, as you would imagine, stancing supercars isn't cheap. Daniel Rosen admits, "... I have been driving Porsches for the last few years and decided to spend my money more wisely (bought a house) so I picked up the GS, and the build snowballed from there . . . it is still is a huge savings over my last cars." This Lexus GS350 AWD is Daniel's budget car; his budget beater. Read More

Last weekend Marcus and I both attended SPOCOM in Anahiem at the Anaheim Convention Center. SPOCOM is not only a car show, but also a model convention too which is why my last post was an all models post. We thought that the quality of cars that attended were phenomenal and wish we could of captured everything . Cars from out of state such as Texas and Nevada came to show too. Quality builds were everywhere in Anaheim last weekend! Read More

The VIP designation gets thrown around pretty loosely nowadays. From the JDM kei cars and vans, to the rising popularity of Thai Accord's and Camry's, VIP fashion seems to have spread to any car that can get low enough and sport a set of curtains. To further confuse the matter, many of the more traditional platform builds in Japan are starting to sport brighter colors and wilder body kits, deviating from the defining style the gives them their inspiration. While that diversity is important and healthy for the scene in general, it's rewarding to see a big black sedan in classic bippu style. The great twist, however, is that Jame's Wald LS460 doesn't come from Japan or southern California, but the desert state of Nevada. Read More

Last weekend was the Big Socal Euro Gathering 2011 that was being held in San Diego at the Qualcomm Stadium. It was a 2.5 hour trip for me, but being in a caravan made the trip a little more enjoyable. If I was to sum up the event, the main photo above sums it up pretty well. All Euro makes were in attendance. From timeless classics to modern JDM, a wide variety of cars showed up. Read More

Checkout this trailer from Mike Kippen for StanceWorks' upcoming event "Tailored" in Seattle, WA, featuring Canibeat photographer Mike Gilbert and his a6! Mike did an amazing job of capturing Mike's car rolling through the streets of Seattle, and we can't wait to see some coverage from the event this weekend! Read More

The internet has completely reinvented the way we as auto enthusiasts approach modified cars. Whereas there were previously maybe a dozen or so national magazines that showcased maybe 8-10 cars a month, it's entirely possible to be exposed to that many full features in a single day now.  And that's not even including the builds that one can follow on the forums, or the random shots dumped on Tumblr, Flickr, and Facebook. Cars rise to popularity in a matter of hours, and often are forgotten with the click of a mouse. Trends that once may have lasted years phase out in a matter of months.  Everything is moving faster; changing and evolving right before our eyes. Cars are bought, wheels are mounted, photos are taken, car is sold: whatever it takes for 15 minutes of e-fame. Full builds are almost a relic of the past; a dusty old practice from a time when exposure was a rare commodity, and only the best of the best got big attention. After all, if all it takes to get a feature is a drop and a rare set of wheels, why spend tens of thousands of dollars customizing your car? Mark Naylor can tell you why.

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Classic Greek mythology tells of the first woman on Earth, Pandora, and her infamous box. The story goes that Pandora opened this box and unknowingly released all the evil into the world, leaving only Hope inside. Now I'm not trying to infer that Luky Chadwick's VIP styled xB is that box, or that it's evil at all; but during this shoot, it seemed that the world had it out for photographer Andy Parra and his attempt to capture this bagged Scion. Read More

Some of you may recognize this car from a few months back and said "hey that's the same white TL showcased at Wekfest in San Francisco!" If you just had that short burst of déjà vu then you're absolutely right, the featured car made it's official debut at Wekfest SF and is now exclusively appearing here on Canibeat. Check out Adrian Stone's Acura TL. I mean seriously, who wouldn't drool over this TL? Read More

Ask the people who know me and they'll tell you I'm a scene guy. I love the car scene. The lifestyle, culture, people and everything else that the car scene provides is what got me into automotive photography, not just the cars themselves. So given that, I spontaneously decided to venture out to the east coast for Import Alliance 2011 summer meet after hearing just how big the turn out would be. All I can say is, I was very pleasantly surprised and shocked at what the east coast had to offer. Read More