GUEST BLOG> BMW Mania at Studie Tokyo w/WSTO
Imagine getting a call telling you that you and one other guy are the $10 million winners of the state lottery - all you have to do is split the money. Cool, right? Now, imagine the state lottery commission calling again to tell you that the other guy lost his ticket and the whole $10 million is yours. If you have a good imagination, that about sums up how excited I felt getting a chance to attend my first Tokyo Auto Salon - sort of like that lottery winner. But, when I got to visit Studie, the ultra high-end tuner shop, it was almost like getting that second call.
Studie has five locations; Yokohama, Tokyo, Kobe, Sendai and Kidnie. I had the honor of visiting two of these amazing shops; Studie Tokyo (their latest which opened last year) and the main hub, Studie Yokohama. Read more...
VIDEO> Ronal Racing Rims Rebarreled by Rotiform!
Wheel Mavens, where you at?! This past weekend, I drove down to Rotiform in Orange County CA to drop off my wheels to be refinished. I’ve been steadily working on the newest MotorMavens Project Car, Project BMW E39 Touring, in attempt to step out of my ” vintage Japanese car shell” and learn a bit more about European cars, and connect with the community as well. I’ve been learning a lot about BMWs lately (like how BMW power window regulators are not your friends), and have been enjoying the process.
I had to get my wheels rebored out to fit my E39′s larger center bore, as the factory BMW CB is normally 72.56… and my E39′s factory CB is 74.1mm. Thanks a lot E39 designers at BMW! WTH.
Anyway, in order to fit my new 19×9 and 19×10 wheels on my 5 series BM double, I had to rebore them out. However, when I was dropping off the wheels, my eye was caught on a couple sets of these super aggressive, concave face, super fat lip Ronal Racing wheels. Needless to say, I was JOCKING them!
Enough typing… just watch the video. If you’re a wheel guy like I am, you’ll be drooling all over your keyboard…
:: Antonio Alvendia
COVERAGE> Bimmerfest Takes Over Pasadena!
The amount of BMWs (and their owners) that attended the event was just RIDICULOUS! No, seriously... ridiculous! When I exited off the 210 freeway, I (and my 5 series BMW touring) immediately joined the fray of BMWs making their way to the Rose Bowl, which was made famous by holiday football games and slow moving floats parading through Pasadena city streets. Creeping through traffic at a snail's pace, I followed the long line of cars with license plates from New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon, and New Mexico... chuckling to myself, thinking "I wonder how many of these guys think I'm here to put my car in the show? I'm just here to shoot coverage of the event and do a little carspotting!"
Truth be told, even though I've been to BMW Welt in Munich, experienced the Autobahn, and stayed overnight at Hotel Am Tiergarten/Pistenklause (the small hotel/restaurant owned by BMW ringtaxi driver Sabine Schmitz's family) that sits inside the Nurburgring... even though my trip to Deutschland actually inspired me to buy a 5 series BMW wagon, I still don't see myself as a "BMW guy." Read more...
WEBMINING> Super Fresh with BBS Mesh
Brandon Nero’s ’04 Jetta GLI from wagenwerks on Vimeo.
When I’m bored at work, I constantly listen to MP3s and surf the web. The other day, I decided to look at Volkswagen related videos because I was interested in finding more cars that looked similar to my friend Zach’s Well Dunn Passat.
I stumbled across this older video from Wagenwerks Productions, that featured a Volkswagen Jetta GLI owned by a guy named Brandon Nero. I think this video is sick – the music went well with the feel of the video. The Jetta is so simple and clean, yet it’s so aggressive! I gotta hand it to Brandon Nero, he made one dope looking Jetta! I obviously love the car’s super low stance, and the fitment of the BBS mesh wheels? Perfect.
While replaying the video about 4-5 times, I read the comments on the Wagenwerks Vimeo account and saw that they used roller blades to get all the moving camera shots! No fancy rigs or easy dollies used here! I can go on for days about how good this video is, but I think I’ll just shut up and let you watch. Awesome, right?
:: Yoshi Shindo
COVERAGE> Simply Clean + Stance in Orlando
GALLERY> E30s at H20 After Hours
Enough rambling, on to the story!! Read more...
WEBMINING> Aggressive Offset Deja VW
CARSPOTTING> bB Squad on BBS in Sarasota
It was one of those perfect Florida days, with the tang of fresh salt water in the air and the sun seeming to just chill and hang out like an old friend – warm and breezy in a “no worries” sorta way. So, what does one do in Paradise? That’s right... check out the cars. We were in Florida to attend the Scion Exposed 6.0 event in Sarasota anyway, so we thought we'd do a little carspotting at the show. That’s where we saw our favorite car at the show - this clean, minimalist, emerald gem, owned by Nick Rico of the bB Squad. Read more...
VIDEO> Offset is Everything at Nisei
Most Motor Mavens readers have been following Antonio’s photos and stories from Nisei Showoff, so we’ve decided to release a video of the event as well! We really wanted to highlight something that impressed us at the show – the fact that so many of these great cars are stepping up their game with aggressive offset and negative camber!
Forget the trophies – for us, the super slammed cars with the best wheels, stance, engine mods and paint jobs were the stars of the show. Nisei Showoff wasn’t about the models (although there were a few that showed up, haha); it was about the hottest street cars. Events like this are becoming more and more rare. We feel privileged that we were there to support Ken Miyoshi on his last Nisei Showoff, because of the great feeling that this show produced. Props to Ken and the Mainstream Productions crew for bringing us an awesome day of street cars and good friends in the middle of Little Tokyo.
We hop you enjoy the video, and don’t forget to leave comments!
:: Travis Hodges
CARSPOTTING> Braxton's E30 Bimmer on BBS
The E30 was only the second generation of the now legendary BMW 3-Series and the chariot of choice during the Yuppie Age. Along with tennis rackets and boat shoes, E30s were frequently used as shorthand for preppiness in 80s movies. But nowadays it's a different story. E30s can be found for less than three grand, making them ripe for the type of customization that Chet down at the country club would never consider. Read more...
