Event: It’s JDM Yo! 1st Anniversary Meet v.1

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Alright, let me just start out by saying that this meet turned out to be way bigger than I had expected.  I had originally planned to stop by real quick, say hello to a few people, snap some shots and jam to Aliso Viejo to the Tamiya RC track.  Despite my attempts to hurry, we ended up staying for about 2 hours.  The layout of the meet was really cool, with multiple doors leading to new warehouses; all packed full of self-built cars.  Some were track inspired, many were heavily VIP influenced, all were cool in their own right.  I didn’t have my 28mm with me, so the majority of these were taken with my 50mm – forgive the lack of full car shots, but at a meet like this, and the lenses I had, it was all but impossible to snatch a frame without anyone getting in the way.  Click past the break to see the first of the coverage.

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We ended up parking one block over, and I would say with the amount of traffic, that we were pretty lucky to even get that close.  I snapped this shot of Anny and Chris before I crossed the street and narrowly escaped getting hit by some large Nissan.  On a side note, if you’re in to food trucks, Chris organizes a ‘food truck meet’ every Thursday in Los Alamitos from 5pm-9pm.  If you’re interested, hit him up on twitter – @crispyLB.

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I saw Anny laughing at something as I was crossing the street.  When I got to the sidewalk she pointed out the Minions chilling in the back of this EVO X.  I gotta find one of those haha.

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We made our way through the outside lot fairly quickly.  The sun starting blazing and the sun and I don’t get along too well.  I think I remember seeing this coupe at Eibach.  I should, it was only last week.

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Pretty clean bay.  The headlight and bumper fitment was a little odd though.

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This crazy RX7 rolled up right when we got into the lot.  A little over the top, but it reminded me of something I’d see being driven around Tokyo.

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STi front end.  I’m glad Subaru brought the WRX sedan back, but I still really like the 5-doors. This one had pretty aggressive wheel fitment.

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Another Eibach attendee…I think…

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I think I remember seeing this Z33 at Nisei last year.  I like the Meisters, but I think it would look better if the rear wing was painted.

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I’d like to see the front grill painted as well.  It’s always hard to paint of carbon though, so I understand.

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That 350 and this EVO pulled up at the same time.  I think I am in love…I’ll own an EVO one day.

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This NSX was a pleasant surprise.  I’ve never been a huge fan of GT-V’s, gold wheels, or polished lips, but it works pretty well on this car.

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Password JDM brought out a few of their cars to show; including their R35.  I’ll never get over how beastly these look.  I’m glad the US finally got something right.

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Cusco had their booth setup and brought out a pretty cool looking 86.  Next to them was 5zigen.

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I chuckled to myself when I saw the xB’s parked next to the food trucks.  Lunch box!

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Does this look familiar?  You’ve seen the car probably a hundred times already in the past week.  I thought this was pretty humorous considering we were supposed to be racing at the Tamiya track that same afternoon.

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Tough call on this one.  I’m a sucker for IS-F’s, but I was a little turned off at some of the modifications to this one.  If the spoiler and diffuser was painted matched it would look a little more classy.  I’ll never own one though, so my opinion probably doesn’t matter too much to the owner.

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A peek through the open hood of the hatchback revealed our next destination.  Indoors to the warehouse and out of the sun.

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I had one of those flashbacks to my childhood when I saw this MR2.  The first ever Import Tuner I got was back in Junior High School.  It was the 4th edition – that’s right, issue #4.  On the cover it had a Toyota MR2 with the TRD kit.  I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.  What’s even cooler was that I got it on a fishing trip with my dad at some po-dunk ass bait shop.  Anyway, I’m not even sure it is the same kit, but it brought back memories none-the-less.

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Dumped Box!

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Turned left into the first section of the warehouse and ran into Big Mike’s meticulously detailed Prelude.  I met up with a few people in this building and continued on my journey through the rest of the maze like warehouse….

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…but not before Narita Dog crept up on a few things.  He found Reza capturing some light…

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…and then he found Big Mike’s lost hood.  I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen it – because it’s never on the car.  That does it for part 1, keep your eye out for the next round in due time.  I gotta get some sleep.

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