I’d lost track of the time, so I did a double-take when I first saw the announcement for Balance’s anniversary get-together. Five years. Five years now, the shop has been open and helping the community with installs, repairs, and maintenance. I remember when Jackie opened the original Zero Limit even before that, and now Balance has been going for half a decade.

It was indeed 2015 though when we all gathered just before that year’s Sunday School to celebrate the grand opening, when the shop was so new that the signage on the building hadn’t even been updated yet.

Five years on and the Balance team is still hard at work, staying involved with many projects and always being ready to help with any mechanical work required. I was even back a few days ago for an alignment on the S15, and once it’s back home the S13 will probably be off for a quick service too.

Admittedly I haven’t visited as frequently in recent times as I had before that, between work, life, and now Covid, so there was no way I was missing the anniversary celebration last weekend. It was time I swung by to say hi to the guys and hang out for a bit.

The weather cooperated beautifully, Aldrich was busily providing the music, and with some food on the grille it felt like a relatively normal gathering at the shop, some face masks aside.

There were plenty of familiar cars out too, some of which I don’t run into much any more such as Brad’s Civic.

There was also some slightly newer stuff, in varying degrees of baller.

I finally had the chance to photograph Jason’s CTR, now wearing the full Mugen kit and tail lights as well. Note the re-applied rear pinstripe as a subtle accent.

Speaking of Mugen, Punit’s Integra was out too, sporting its Gen 1 wing – still my favourite wing, of any chassis, of all time. I don’t care if I never get an Integra to build, I still want one of these for my own collection.

As I’m getting older I find that I’m coming to like Altezzas more and more, in the right applications. Maybe it’s a nostalgia thing?

I’m trying to remember when the last time I took a photo of Ryan’s Genesis was…2014 or 2015 maybe? Given the length of time, it’s awesome to see it back on the road again.

Jackie’s Tundra, wearing a new logo for the shop on the fender.

See Doggos, take photos of doggos. Always.

It’s not every day you see two LHD FD3Ss here, let alone one that looks to be stock.

As part of the little gathering the guys had a TV as a raffle prize which had been kindly sponsored by Bearded Mechanical. I took this photo as part of the set just to show that, well, they had a TV as a raffle prize which had been kindly sponsored by Bearded Mechanical. Wouldn’t you know, my mother decided to buy some tickets for fun and actually ended up winning it! Thanks to Jackie for letting it sit at the shop for a few days while we arranged to borrow someone’s truck to pick it up, given the Suburban is currently off at Speedy. Great timing.

As time goes on, the facelifted RSX is a platform I feel is aging quite nicely. I remember I hated it when it first came out for the loss of the unique half-circles under the lights but I’ve since grown to far prefer it to the earlier versions.

Rally monster, and plain ol’ monster.

Hondas and Balance seem to be a constant pairing, so it was no real surprise that more kept showing up. These two were certainly among those breaking some necks.

Lining up, with the Phoenix Yellow ITR that came in with them…

This one easily was my pick of the bunch: JDM face, TEs, and tons of Mugen goodness, even including the Room Cover.

Random old memory triggered by the sight of this FC convertible: my high school’s guidance counselor had one (in white) and we’d chat about cars sometimes since he knew I was a car nut too. We coordinated, and on one of my final days of high school he picked me up from my house and drove me to school in it. One of (I think) the two times in my life I’ve actually ridden in an RX-7. The other time we got a bit sideways.

This Miami Blue (I believe?) GT4 was drawing lots of attention, and rightfully so. The yellow centering stripe was a nice accent against the paint.

Sneaking in a shot of my own car (my blog, I get to do that) since this was one of its first outings of the year following its lengthy vacation from the road. It was funny watching so many people wander around it, looking for evidence of it being vinyl wrapped.

And with another shot of Brad’s Civic, I think this is where we’ll wrap it up today. A big congratulations to Jackie and crew once again! Thank you for all of the help over the years, and thank you for always welcoming me in with my camera even when I wasn’t bringing in work. Here’s to the next five!

-Bill