I’d wanted this post live a few days ago but after seemingly everyone else at work was getting sick one by one the bug finally came my way. Hey, at least it happened after iMSS. Anyway, let’s get back to the photos…

We’re kicking things off today with the other side of Lowcals’ lineup, including Jesse’s duo. His Supra you’ll recognize but I believe this is the first time I’ve shared photos of his new R32 sedan on the site. I like the contrasting directions he’s chosen for the cars; the Supra rocks meaty tires and more aggressive aero whereas the R32 is the subtle, “practical” – but still stanced – daily.

I still need a wagon in my life some day. We’re over halfway to RHD Mk3 Foci wagons being legal for import to Canada now…just FYI. They’ll be dirt cheap by then too because, well, they’re Foci.

We’re definitely seeing more swapped FR-S/BRZ/86 builds locally now. In fact, there’s even a few LS-swapped examples roaming around. A lot of care had been taken with the details on this one – note the carbon fiber blanking plates for where the fog lights once were – and I especially liked how the intercooler’s shape happened to mimic that of the front bumper’s opening.

Next in line sat an FR-S sibling, but this time retaining its original Boxer powerplant. This too displayed plenty of brilliant craftsmanship, with a tidy headlight intake duct and shrouding around the v-mount setup. Both had some amazing titanium piping as well but it was a bit more prominently displayed with the Boxer engine here.

This Z is always easy to spot with its brown hue, and always turns my head for the RB-swap. Like a 2JZ FR-S it may seem odd to swap in an older powerplant, but can you really argue with the heritage (and capabilities) of an RB?

And speaking of RBs, this was a definite attention-getter for all of us, not just Josè. I can’t say we had the chance to look under the hood or underneath, but it was a seemingly all-stock R32, something which is definitely getting to be a rare sight these days. I hope it stays this way!

Eric’s S15 again, and Brent with an Adam LZ-esque hat. I’ve always really liked the very OEM exterior of Eric’s car, relying mainly on perfect stance and subtle tweaks (deleted middle wing support, OEM rear spats) to make it stand out instead of overfenders and a massive wing. The flared lips of the quarter panels add a nice little accent to the body as well.

This S13 also sported a very restrained exterior, though it did have a suspiciously large intercooler peeking out from behind the bumper.

Moving more towards the other end of the scale, this blue S15 is always nice to see. Note the very distinctive 78Works headlights, which looked right at home against the other cosmetic modifications.

Funky Garage’s cars always ooze style. It’s also wicked to see an 86 in something other than white; there’s nothing wrong with the iconic Panda scheme at all but you can’t deny that this light blue looked perfect on the lines of the hatch. Also note the fender mirrors on the Celica. Sweet touch!

Spoon inspiration meets Infamous aero, for a twist on a classic approach to the DC2 platform.

While we’re on the topic on Integras, this one really caught my attention at the show. A DC2/4 chassis, JDM front end, Advans, Mugen Gen 1 wing – yes, yes, yes, and yes. A chassis I adore and some of my favourite period parts added in as well.

In 2016 we had Josh debut his fully restomodded K-EG, in 2017 it was Alex and his restored, numbers-matching ITR, and this year saw the covers come off of Jeevs’ restomodded CTR. A greater emphasis on preservation – even to the point of taking on proper ground-up restorations – is something I’m very glad to see taking hold and all three of these cars are amazing examples with which to lead the way. It was always a matter of when and not if restorations would become a part of our “world” and it’s awesome to see more popping up here in town too. Jeevs even had some original brochures in the passenger footwell of the car, another wicked detail and one we’ve yet to see really cross over from the classic car side of the hobby.

I remember when EKs were brand new cars so it’s still a bit weird at times to think of them and “restoration” in the same sentence, but they’re definitely at that age now so it’s awesome to see people taking the time and care to properly bring them back up to like-new or beyond.

Regular readers may have heard us refer to the game of “Will Derrick Fit” in the past. Looking at this photo now, we should have played “Will Josè Fit” with Wingz’s Miata. For the record, Derrick has successfully squeezed into Spark before.

I had the chance to quickly catch up with Brent at the show and check out his 3 series as well. He’s always doing his own thing and all of his cars have been instantly recognizable for it; the 3 was no exception, being slammed on massive Weds and sporting a 326Power wing out back

Following any show there will always be one car that I wish I’d taken more photos of. From the selection at iMSS 2019 it wound up being this Varis STI – not just because it was incredibly well done and I’d like to be able to study it more, but (mainly) because it’s from Winnipeg, so I likely won’t be seeing it in person again any time soon. Following the build process on IG reveals a huge amount of work going into this car, even stripping the interior down to nothing and having it resprayed. Having quickly helped prep a couple of engine bays and interiors for paint before, I can’t imagine the amount of work it was to do the full process start to finish – gut, prep, paint, and reassemble.

If we rewind the clock to the start of the day, one of the first cars we all saw when we rolled in early that morning was this green Veilside Fortune FD which was sitting almost by itself at that time. The sight of it caught me completely by surprise and I couldn’t wait to go back for a closer look once the show was up and running. I’d only ever seen one other Fortune-kitted FD in person, and that was at Grey Eagle a few years ago. This one – being RHD – was definitely a different car.

A second shot from a bit later on. I know no further details on this thing, but I’m intrigued. I’m also getting strong KMR vibes from it with the green/gold combo. Haha

One of the local Mercedes dealers had brought a few cars to last year’s show and did so again this time. My favourite was this facelift AMG GT R in satin silver. I’m not the world’s biggest Mercedes fan – most don’t do a lot for me – but the GT R has always been an exception. Solarbeam Yellow please.

Carter’s S13 was sporting an updated look for iMSS, showing off a new lip kit which he’d painted himself I believe. Sitting next to Noel’s S14, the two made a nice pair showing two very different directions of S-Chassis builds. They even happened to be next to an S15 (look to the left) to complete the iconic trio.

I’ll always stop for a nicely done Mk4 R32. If I were ever to take on a VAG project, one of these would be near the top of my list of candidates. I’ve always admired the super purposeful styling and they still look pretty dang good after all of these years. This is one model of car that I’d be very content to do very little with, looks-wise.

I can’t keep up with some of these cars that go through a rewrap each season. Brandon’s Evo X ditched its blue finish for green, and the lip was colour-matched as well; it’s crazy how much that changes the front end of a ten.

Though he sadly passed away earlier this season, Joey’s R32 sedan was still brought out for display at Sunday School this year which was nice to see. It sat next to this S13.5 which was rocking a slightly less common engine swap, a Toyota 1UZ unless I’m mistaken?

Terrible angle for the photo, I realize, but still worth sharing.

I wish I knew more about this tidy Chaser – note the TRD front bumper with the cool little asymmetrical duct on the driver’s side. Anyone care to chime in?

A Rocket Bunny kitted and LS-swapped S13 coupe; a widebody LS S-chassis on paper sounds aggressive, but with the crisp white paint and polished VS-KFs the actual result was still pretty reserved – almost mature in appearance for lack of a better word. And yes, the focus is a bit off in the photo but I wasn’t not sharing it. We’ll just ignore that little goof.

We were having a bit of fun teasing Josè (slash trying to convince him to move up here permanently) by illustrating how common RHD vehicles are here. Show us RHD Supras, 350Zs, FDs, Miatas, Silvias, etc and we won’t really bat an eye (as an example, an R34 rolled by us during setup and it barely registered for us while he was absolutely losing his mind over the sight of it). The only models that – for reasons unknown to me – make me do a double take are Evo 7s and 8s. I don’t know what it is, but it only really trips me out to see RHD versions of these rolling around. Anything else can pass by with the wheel on the other side but it’s only these that surprise me.

Insert the usual TE37 Town and Volk Capital jokes here. It would seem that Evo/STI owners in Calgary (in particular) love their Volks almost as much as Foci owners love their fifteen52s. Jus’ saying.

I couldn’t pass up a quick shot of this mini i8 – I’d always wanted something like this when I was a kid. My cousins have kids, perhaps I could use that as an excuse to buy one and keep it at the house. You know, for when they come over. Totally not for me at all.

Josè, this one’s for you – Tim’s cup in the cupholder. Eh.

With the sun out on the Mercs now I grabbed a shot of the new AMG GT 4 Door Coupè. Looks cool, makes absolutely no sense to me as a part of the ever-expanding lineup. BMW and Mercedes make too many cars. Haha

I never ran into Shawn during the show, but at least had the chance to see his ITR and grab a photo. The Gathers livery was a brilliant decision.

Red is a colour you don’t see on S15s much. This one was actually wrapped, but underneath it was blue which is another uncommon shade for the chassis. I don’t know if it still is currently but it was actually for sale at the time of iMSS as Mario was quick to remind me of. I think he thought I was a bit crazy for picking the S15 that I did. Haha

And the last car for today will be the super-tidy S14 that had been a stand-out for me at Driven this season. It’s hard to go wrong with the factory lines of a Kouki model and some carefully-chosen upgrades.

I had said previously that I expected to have three parts in total for iMSS coverage this year, but after going through all of my pictures from the event there are still some more that I wish to share so at some point I’ll be tossing up a fourth post with the last of the bunch. There’ll be a few more cars but also some details that I picked out here and there as I played with my telephoto. I do believe we can call this the end of the “main” coverage however, so thank you for reading, sharing, and all of the great feedback on this year’s photos! I don’t know what to expect for iMSS X next year – being that it’ll be the finale to an amazing decade of shows – but based on the run ill.motion has had with these we can count on it being a great time.

-Bill