As mentioned at the start of the last post, Part 2 of this review will cover the second half of the year – the posts from July to December. This was when we were busier with shows and events, and a couple more new cars came into our group as well.

So, back we go to July….

Dave, Kyle, Kanji and I met up for a little photoshoot in Canmore and that was the first post of the month. Of the four cars here, the Focus is the only one that wasn’t bought in 2014. Dave got his RSX, Kyle picked up an Integra as a new daily/beater, and Kanji had his BRZ. As Kanji happily pointed out (to tease me), I was now the only one here who had never owned an Integra. Dang it.

By this time the BRZ had started to change, with new wheels being fitted and the headlights receiving tint at one of our install days in The MacKenCo Garage. All that it needed at this point was moar low, and that came next.

Dave’s RSX was pretty much as it was when he bought it as there hadn’t been much time to work on it.

Kyle’s Integra meanwhile, was left alone since it was supposed to be the ‘beater’, after all.

Just before the photoshoot in Canmore I stopped by the body shop with a selection of parts to be painted. Mario and I had decided that the Cup Spoilers would go on the sedan, so they were getting painted…

…along with the roof rails…

…and washer nozzles.

The day after installing those pieces Mario and I fitted the “e-glove” splitter as the final touch and the mini-makeover was complete.

These parts were all installed in preparation for a scheduled photoshoot with Jason of lifewithjson.com which happened soon after. This was an especially important day for all of us as these shots were sent off to Performance Ford for a feature on the SE and ST. It was just recently in fact that Jason and I were able to meet up and I could deliver both his and JC’s copies of the magazine to him. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, thank you again for absolutely knocking this one out of the park Jason and JC!

At the start of August a few of us gathered at Chinook for a mini Focus meet and to say hi to a fellow owner who was in from Edmonton. Spending a couple of hours standing in a parking lot may sound odd to non-car people but as we know, it’s great fun and it’s always good to catch up with old friends and make new ones.

By this point ill.motion’s annual Sunday School show was fast approaching so cars were being updated and detailed in preparation for the big day. I planned on a couple of updates, the first of which was to be retrofitted headlights. In case you’re wondering why they have never been seen on the car, unfortunately they were not finished up in time for Sunday School and following that got put on the back burner. At this point I’m waiting for spring to install them on the car as I don’t want rocks being thrown up at them and damaging the lenses. The posts documenting the retrofit will continue once they wind up on the car.

The second update that I had planned, and the one that was finished in time for the show, was a custom set of gauge faces from Black Cat Custom. They arrived just in time and I was able to fit them before the event.

This was an extra-exciting event for me personally as ThreeTwenty and MacKenCo were sponsoring Sunday School for the first time. I was very happy to be able to sponsor the trophies and am very grateful for everyone that chose to attend with us. As I mentioned in the posts following the show we had 16 vehicles which was double the number we had last year. I don’t plan on trying to once again double that number for next year’s show but perhaps we can go a bit bigger still. Who knows?

Going back to the subject of moar low for the BRZ, this is the height Kanji settled on for the summer. The BRZ didn’t have the longest mod list but the few changes came together to really make the car look aggressive.

Dave’s RSX was starting to change more by this point, with retrofitted headlights being one of the updates.

Guy’s Fit was another one of the cars that spent some time in The MacKenCo Garage this year, getting its roof wrapped in matte black. Also new this year were wheels, coilovers, and tail lights. Guy is already working on collecting parts for the spring and has something special in store for it.

Looking back, one thing I wish we had done more of this year was racing and drifting the R/C cars but we did bring some out for Sunday School in addition to a few of the regular meets.

Safe to say, Sunday School was once again a huge success and a great variety of cars came out, both from within Calgary…

…as well as some that were from other cities and provinces. I don’t know how ill.motion plans to top this but I’m confident they will.

One of the features from this year, and a consistently popular post on the site, is that of José’s Mk3 Focus sedan. It was already a very distinctive car within the Focus community but it continues to change and I know he has some good stuff already in the works for 2015.

It was also in August when the digital issue of Performance Ford – featuring the SE and ST – went live. Mario and I had kept this a secret until we could show off the actual magazine and we were extremely excited when we saw the new issue come out. I wish we could have shown a shot of the cover at Sunday School but it didn’t come out until after.

When September rolled around we were still busy with meets and Park and Polish was around the corner too. Some of us coordinated a Focus meet in Red Deer and that gave us a different parking lot to stand in for a couple of hours.

The next weekend we were over at Quarry Park to show support for MADD and take part in one final big show for the season. Representing the UCCC we had Terence, Solomon, Jacob, myself, and Andrew.

Following Park and Polish I shot Solomon’s E90 for a feature on the site and as promised an update will be posted once his new parts – which finally arrived – are installed.

Grey Eagle continued to have good turnouts and give us something to look forward to in the middle of the week. Levi finally got the TEs on his BRZ just in time so that he could enjoy them for a bit before winter showed up.

I can’t drive by the casino without thinking about the meets and getting excited for their return. Above is one of my favourite shots from this year’s meets – remember those warm summer evenings, spent with food and drink in hand, with beautiful cars everywhere?

Also following Park and Polish I picked up new wheels for the Focus and was able to have them on for a little while before winter tires were needed again. A set of 18″ Rays 57DRs were bought from an ST owner in the states and took over the summer wheel job. For my birthday a few of us cruised over to Black Diamond and had some fun wandering around.

At the start of October we were able to get some Focus owners together (and Yolanda with her Mazda 3) for a mini meet at the usual Grey Eagle location. We were taking advantage of any nice weather there was at this point, as we knew winter was coming.

It wasn’t too long after that mother nature forced the change of wheels. Even though the new-to-me Rays had to go into hiding for the winter I wasn’t upset because I knew the Tarmacs would be back. Not wanting to use 16s for the snowy season any more I picked up some 18″ winters, and thanks to Zero Limit’s mounting of them I can now have 18″ wheels on for the whole year.

Some time after the issue was released we finally received enough extra copies of Performance Ford to hand out to everyone who had been waiting. We had a list of people who were to get a copy that exceeded the number of issues we could buy in stores here, so I got in touch with Performance Ford and got plenty more.

After living with the BCC gauges for a few months I added a review to the site to share my thoughts on and experience with them. I was glad to hear back from owners that it was useful!

Finally moving on to the present month, with holiday preparations and plans to look after not much happened in terms of cars. A highlight though was getting the chance to finally see some 2015 Mustangs in person, and even start one up. Maybe some day I’ll get the opportunity to drive one but for now I’m content with this.

And with that, this is now the end of the final post for this year. To start off the blog for 2015 I have one more entry coming which will count down the top stories from the last 12 months, and then it’s on to new content. Happy New Year everyone!

-Bill