Alright folks, let’s wrap up the Sunday School coverage, shall we? I have for you all today the final set of photos making up the main portion of the event coverage; a couple of spotlights and our traditional post-show photoshoot are still to come but today is about another selection of the vehicles that were shined up and brought down to Max Bell.

I don’t know what else I can say here by way of an introduction that I haven’t already touched on. Great day, great show, great cars. There was one main difference as compared to the prior Sunday Schools though, which was that for the first time I didn’t get a sunburn! I think Mario was more impressed by that than I was. Every year prior we ended the show with a sunburn contest but this time around we all lost – or won – based on how you look at it. The reason for that is because throughout the day the sun kept ducking behind clouds, giving us breaks from the heat and allowing us to spend more time out from under the tent without cooking, but the trade-off was that at times the lighting became a bit ‘meh’ (technical term) for photos; but at least we could look at them afterwards without being bright red!

Anyway, you likely care more about seeing the last set of car photos than hearing about how some of us still haven’t figured out proper sunscreen usage, so let’s get going with those. If you have a keen eye or were at the event and remember how the cars were arranged, you may note that some of the cars below were parked alongside those already seen; I made multiple laps of the venue during the day and in some cases a photo of a car had to wait for a future lap if it were blocked by people for example, so just because a car was missed while its neighbours were already shown, it doesn’t mean I skipped it. Sometimes however a car would still go un-photographed if I never got the chance for a decent picture, or if I made a mental note to shoot it on the next lap and that note then unintentionally got deleted in my head. If you had been waiting to see your car and it’s below, I hope you like the photo(s)! If it isn’t however, please don’t take offense. Haha 

We’ll kick things off today with Ryan’s MR2. I thought the custom grey TE37s from last season would be hard to beat but the switch to black, paired with the new carbon additions (side aero) definitely did just that, and the acid-green/highlighter-y coloured decals were an awesome complement to both.

The cockpit; for the age of the these cars I’d say it has held up very well styling-wise. There are no real gimmicks, just a functional and driver-oriented space. Also, note the super-short short throw; any shorter and the knob would be recessed within the console!

Here’s something that I’m sure most people won’t know – Matt’s 944 is painted in a specific shade from the Lexus LFA palette called Brownstone Metallic. That itself is pretty neat but to make it one step better, it was a colour limited to one – and ONLY ONE – LFA ever and was never on another car. That means that for all we know, there could only be two vehicles in the world painted in this specific variant of the OEM Lexus colour, with this being one of them – it also meant that figuring out the code was an absolute nightmare! This car actually came through the body shop I used to work at and I helped with the engine bay prep one day so I was glad to see the paint there was holding up nicely (ha).

This is also a prime example of why I wish more owners displayed info sheets with their cars. It helps the audience have a better understanding and appreciation (hopefully) for what they’re looking at and personally, I always enjoy learning more about the vehicles I’m presented with at events like this.

As we wanderd towards the far side of the lot our attention was quickly stolen by this RS because, well, Ford owners. This one was sporting some subtle Maxton aero and some hydrodipping under the hood along with a few other changes. You might also see just a sliver of green from inside, provided by some Takata harnesses; I hate to nitpick vehicles in these posts but we noticed the harnesses were not installed properly and would likely do more harm than good in any collision. Hopefully a harness bar comes soon!

Moving over to the far row now, which featured a good number of vintage Japanese vehicles; the MkIV Supra was actually one of the newer models there!

The first rule of pop-up club: Pop-ups must be popped up at all times. Haha. Whenever I drive the S13 – even if it’s the middle of the day and the lights are off – I have the headlights up. Never underestimate the amount of fun brought by the simple inclusion of these things!

The open hood on the red 86 drew our attention and we found this rather serious setup hiding inside the bay! Speaking of the bay, it was a nice, functional example too; tidy but not sterile, and presentable while still keeping things accessible and accessories in place.

What would you employ? The iconic Panda scheme, or something different? And to expand on that, Trueno or Levin? Hatch or coupe?

A car that has been breaking necks everywhere it goes, Brent’s crazy widebody (and in a way 2-door converted), wrapped, single-turbo converted Scoobaru Legacy was parked across from us to represent 403media, naturally.

Elsewhere in the group was Colin’s Speed3 with a crazy new diffuser. “Did you see where I put your decal?”, he asked; good thing I didn’t trip when I went around to the back of his car to look!

I had been waiting on the chance to see Jason’s Varis x Aimgain BRZ in person following its makeover this season. I love seeing how people mix and match different aero on cars, and especially on FRSs/BRZs given the huge number of options available. This was a combo I hadn’t seen before so props to Jason for doing something different, and also something that flows fairly well; each kit features just enough sharp and rounded edges to work pretty well with the other, considering they were of course never designed to. Also, the colour combo was amazing.

A quick stop back at our group and the STs (and “ST”) of our lineup. I think Yolanda needs a personalized plate next – hers was the only ST here to not have one!

This was awesome to see – I had been wondering if we’d see any RHD 7th-gen Celicas at some point because surely they were old enough now right? Well, they are (and have been for a couple of years in fact), and there was one at SS! I’ve always liked this gen and think it has a lot of potential; I wouldn’t turn one down. I remember when these were fairly common platforms to build up but since then they have nearly all but disappeared. Hopefully we see these have a rise in popularity once again!

Speaking of platforms that are common to build, we’ve been fortunate that S15s have been legal in Canada for long enough that a number of people have not only picked them up, but have had the opportunity to do some crazy things with them. This one, which has been seen before on the site, is definitely one of the more complete builds with a 2JZ swap, Rocket Bunny kit, and full respray.

At first glance you may think that this white Teggy had received a JDM front-end conversion, but a closer look will reveal that it was actually a RHD import too, and presumably a Type R based on the lack of both side moldings and a sunroof.

Eric’s S15 is another Toyota-powered Silvia, but in this case it’s the 1JZ you’ll find under the hood. This could perhaps be considered a sleeper, not so much in the power sense (though it does make decent bit) but in the ‘amount of work’ sense. With the hood closed it looks like a relatively standard S15 – with a crazy stance, granted – so would you expect to find such a swap?

Oh right, that new Acura – you didn’t think I’d forgotten about the NSX photos, did you? During my laps I shot these few; and unintentionally also got a photo showing off Brad’s epic beard…but on to the NSX.

It’s definitely a head turner, there’s no doubt about that, but like the CTR there were some details I was wondering about. Case in point – note that there are two different grille designs featured on the front end. Could the design team not make up their minds on the size or orientation of the hexagons to use? Maybe the car took so long to come to market because they met an impass with this and finally had to compromise by having both. Hahaha

It was difficult to get a clear shot from this angle so here are both failed attempts. Naturally this was an attention-getter at the show and no one would notice a guy with a camera behind the car when they were focused on the car itself.

I can’t really offer any detailed thoughts on the car yet but I look forward to seeing how it does over time and how it ultimately holds up against the original. It’s definitely a cool car and I’m happy to see the name return but being parked next to Alex’s ITR confirmed for me which I’d rather have; and it wasn’t the red one.

I’d probably also take the other red Acura in the line-up first; Punit’s Integra. It was already seen in the coverage but I had to include this angle of it. I really like how you can see the texture of the carbon fiber weave through the paint on the hatch; it’s very F40-esque. It hints at what’s beneath the red top coat if you know what you’re looking at. Also, this photo happened because it contains three things I love in one shot; S15s, DC2s, and Mugen Gen 1 wings.

This legend was back and could be seen wandering around the show. He was out at Sunday School 2016 as well but just like then, he was without the extended claw tools. Missed opportunity.

Merlin, hanging out off to the side as his dad (Aldrich) continued providing music for all of us. He surely appreciated the moments when the sun hid behind the clouds and the temperature dropped a few degrees!

I don’t at every show but often try to make at least one trip through the spectator parking lot if I can; there are usually some pretty cool hidden gems to be found! Justin had to head back to his car for a moment so I tagged along to see what there was. Definitely not parked under the no parking sign was this awesome little Golf; I spied the Performance VW banner, which led me to wonder if it was a previous feature car? Also note the gusseted cage and fire extinguisher, the external oil cooler, and I guess what could technically have been called a side-exit exhaust? Haha.

Eurobeat intensifies.

We stopped to check out a few other cars but soon were back to the show itself, which was getting ready to wrap up. Some less-than-ideal weather was approaching and people were keeping their eyes on the sky (and weather apps) to stay alert of any potential hazards.

The official mascot for officialTHREETWENTY? I think he should be – Royal the Fox! I didn’t even know he had come along to the show but found him hiding out inside Mario’s Fiesta when I got back to the group.

At this point, with multiple laps completed and knowing the awards would start before too long, we then hung out at the tent as we waited for the event to wrap up. It had been another great day but we were starting to feel a bit tired from it; I lounged in one of the lawn chairs and looked around for a few more things I could point my camera at from that location. One more 400R photo never hurt, right?

Sure enough, the approaching storms made the awards ceremony start a bit earlier than scheduled to (hopefully) give everyone the chance to get out of the lot before the skies opened. There was apparently a bit of hail further south in the city but fortunately none of it made its way to Max Bell; we were ultimately rained on during roll-out but a few minutes of hiding out in our cars allowed us to miss the worst of it and stay somewhat dry.

A big thank-you again – we can never say that enough – goes to everyone involved in putting on Sunday School 2017 and allowing a show of its size to go so smoothly! It causes plenty of sleepless nights as people on both the organizing and participating sides prepare, but the results are worth it. Once again we had a great assortment of cars in a wonderful venue, opportunities to catch up with old friends and make new ones, and the chance to witness the continual progression and growth of our community. We can’t ask for much more than that, can we?

I hope you all enjoyed this look at Sunday School 2017! Thank you for reading, and please stay tuned as there’s always more to come.

-Bill