On Wednesdays the parking lot at the corner of Blackfoot and 46th Ave SE hosts the Menace Rides meets, and each week the turnout has been rather impressive. On Saturday however, the special Mid-2016 meet took place and the number of vehicles that showed up was mind-blowing. Fellow enthusiasts came from hours away in some cases and the lot was overflowing with a huge variety of makes and models.

At around 6:30 I arrived at Chinook mall (more specifically, the old Beyond meeting location) where Devon and many Shinkiro Style members were gathering in preparation for a short cruise over to the Menace meet. We couldn’t have asked for better weather for the evening and it was nice to be at the old stomping grounds, albeit briefly.

The little ‘pre-meet’ was basically just a line-up of iconic Japanese metal…and Brian and I with our Foci.

Yes, for what I’ll be spending on the ST swap for the sedan I could be buying an S15 right now. In due time…

Devon’s R34.

Shawn’s white on white ITR. Throw on a Mugen Gen 1 wing and I’d call it about perfect…

This turned out to be one of my favourite shots of the evening. R34, S15, Evo, Supra, MR2…most of the iconic 90’s Japanese sports cars in one shot, plus an EF for good measure.

As 7pm got closer we then hopped in the cars and made the short trek over to the Menace meet, arriving just in time to grab some parking spots without too much trouble. It wasn’t long after that the final stalls were taken.

LOWCALS, arriving in style.

Mario and some of the guys were upgrading the stereo in Sriracha (it was 5 days old at this point and already had seen a decent bit of work – an update will be due soon!) and finished in time to come over to the meet.

A couple of nights prior Mario, Derrick and I had applied the background for the FiST’s new windshield banner as well, which you can get a glimpse of here. Sparkle Purple!

A number of fellow Focus and Fiesta owners attended from Calgary and Edmonton, bringing together almost a full rainbow of colours. Race Red, Molten Orange, Yellow Blaze, Green Envy, and Performance Blue were all present, as well as Tuxedo Black and Ruby Red.

E46s don’t need much in terms of styling tweaks. A car that has aged very well…

Ruff World.

Partway through the evening a few of us took a much-needed food break. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had food from Mary Brown’s – I definitely need to go more.

I finally had the chance to see Levi’s new S14 in person. I like how it’s coming together.

Next to it was Dustin’s S15, sporting a new rear diffuser which I think made a huge difference to the appearance of the car.

Note the duct in place of the driver’s side fog light.

Brett rolling through in the Angry V…

Since the meet some more small parts have arrived for Sriracha and some bigger stuff should be following soon. I’m excited to see more go on!

This 180SX was super clean and the colour was something else. I know Brian was a big fan of this shade of blue.

I quickly tried a couple of rollers, as a few cars started heading out.

I’m glad to see the guys from LOWCALS are enjoying their decals! Rob and Charles opted to throw them on their rear diffusers.

A few owners of the new GT350s have been bringing them out to meets which is awesome to see. There are certainly a decent number of these on the roads of Calgary already, it would seem.

Birdy brought out his Rallybacker-kitted FR-S. The kit probably divides opinions with its styling but I like it. It’ll be neat to see once it has been colour-matched.

Last but not least, Brian’s Titanium and Mustard. Following the Menace meet Brian and I went on a cruise for a few quick photos at a new spot he found, before heading over to Barlow – which seemed to be even busier than the Menace meet! We hung out a little while longer and grabbed some drinks at Timmies before finally calling it a night and heading home.

Don’t forget that tonight is Cars and Coffee, and next week is their special Ferrari night! In other news, Ketchup’s drivetrain will hopefully be pulled out soon so that the swap project can really get moving forward. Stay tuned for updates on that! I’m getting excited for boost.

-Bill