Happy Halloween everyone! For this weekend’s post I have the photo set from the Custom Decals x So Scare Season Closer last month, now that we’ve run through some project updates and other content. As one of the final shows of the season this ended up being a rather brilliant day, despite the weather’s best attempts to ruin it. You may recall from the brief recap I’d posted following the weekend when both this and Steel Dreamz took place, that for a little while it was rather unpleasant and most of us were either hiding under tents or in cars, waiting (hoping) for the storm to pass. Fortunately it soon did, and after a bit of cleanup everything was able to once again proceed as planned.
The amount of excitement and buzz leading up to the Closer was crazy – as it usually is with anything these guys host – and sure enough the people and cars came out in force. It ended up taking a few hours to get everyone in the lot and set up due to how many arrived (and reportedly space hadn’t been properly cleared on the lot yet by the morning of the show…whoops) but it was worth the wait. Poor Harrison though ended up being parked on the street for a couple of hours – I rolled by and waved at something like 10:30 and just as I parked my car a text from him came in saying he’d been there since 9! Fortunately at that point it wasn’t too much longer before we could all enter, but it just goes to further prove how much of a name the guys have built when they can bring out a sea of cars like this.
Worth noting is that the event was a bit special for me in that it was the first time I’d officially judged a show, thanks to Shawn and the team inviting me to join. Reportedly when they were trying to compile a list of people to judge the vehicles, my name kept coming up for the Domestic category – surely surprising for nobody that I’d be associated with domestic vehicles. Haha. It was an awesome opportunity and one I’d gladly accept again if another chance arose.
Anyway, I had immediately sent back a “yes” when Shawn messaged me to inquire, and then it was just a matter of waiting for the big day as the invite came in a few weeks prior. This then, is when a few friends started bugging me (more than usual…) that Mustard needed to come out to a formal event again; I kept shrugging off the requests since I’ve retired it from big events in favour of showing the S15 these days, but secretly prepared it a few days before so that I could shut them up – I mean, surprise them – by having this suddenly pull into the lot the morning of the Closer. It of course worked out perfectly to have the OG officialTHREETWENTY car present that day, but even without the award it was admittedly nice to see it out again and getting some attention. I decided to take it out to High River as well a couple of weeks after, but that’ll be a post for another time…
With that intro out of the way, let’s get on to the photos of everyone else’s cars from the Closer shall we? After editing I actually ended up with a few more than I had originally expected, as between the storm and judging I didn’t shoot all that many during the day. These two above were from roll-in while many of us were waiting for our cue to enter the lot, and from here we immediately jump to after the rain, as you’ll note from the suddenly-wet vehicles and ground…
Favourite decal from the day. Among Us, thank you for the many hours of enjoyable YouTube videos; I’ve actually still yet to play it myself.
Nice, and fairly simple, Civic sporting the first flip-trunk I’d seen in quite some time. A little quarter panel touch-up and you’d have a perfect little cruiser to enjoy and show.
This del Sol (no, del is not capitalized) is one that deserves a special mention as I’d seen it who knows how many times at other events but never realized it had the rare TransTop option! For the Closer the TransTop was displayed partway through its cycle and my inner Honda nerd was freaking out at the sight of it – until this day I’d never seen one in person (or at least not known I had).
The TransTop was a system that raised the trunk lid straight up, removed the targa top, stored it inside the trunk lid, and then lowered the lid back down again – all automatically! The fact that Honda pulled this kind of complexity off nearly 30 years ago is crazy.
Further down the same aisle, the Pontiac fan in me was then pleased to see a rather stealthy G8 sitting on some BBSs and packing a set of CTS-V brakes. If I recall correctly it was partially rebadged as its Holden counterpart too. Super discreet car unless you knew what you were looking at; nicely done.
OEM+ seating for this FC was a nice touch.
I actually didn’t realize until after the event, but this ’73 Mach 1 is Jason Wang’s new project. Numbers-matching too, I understand, and a barn find of sorts.
I had one in the recap post, but here’s an extra photo of our trio for the day – with Mustard making an appearance Dijon came out to match instead of the S13, but we still had the “Red 1990’s Japanese Car” box checked with Harrison’s MX-6.
Gerard’s EK is one I can never walk by without taking a closer look. Without any distinctive scenery behind it, this is a car you could assume was out of SoCal or something; it’s so well done.
Similarly, Roel’s Varis FK8 has been done extremely well; a lot of time and effort (and quality parts) into a still fairly-new platform.
Gian’s 750iL continued to make itself known as a force to be reckoned with, taking home yet another award: Best in Show Euro.
Not far from us, the girls had their cars lined up and Mel had her drag shoes on display as usual. As you may know the poor Jellybean might have ended the season with a bang but will only come back in 2022 stronger and faster.
Maybe I need to take a page from Ken’s book and buy more yellow or grey shirts. Colour coordination on point!
Ending the day with the Best in Show Overall trophy was Frank’s LS FD, and further proving why it deserves what it gets, the season has just now barely ended and he already has it torn apart again for further refinement.
Liam’s FK7, another award winner as shown in that initial recap post following the event.
I of course shot these photos prior to the awards ceremony at the end of the day, but apparently I shot a number of eventual winners back-to-back. Noel’s S14 came out in a new livery and took home Best in Show Nissan!
Spencer’s S14 sat nearby, representing the Zenkis.
The car that I definitely should have taken more photos of during the event was this mental EG, which was yet another award winner (Best in Show Honda). Built as a proper drag car, under that carbon front end was a heavily reworked B-series powering all four wheels. Brilliant build, and very tidy too.
Zack’s Vigor has a custom widebody in progress, but was wrapped for the time being while the kit is still finalized. 2022 debut?
Junior’s RS4, looking good as always. A heavily-modified car that takes a trained eye to recognize.
Can’t photograph a car show without at least one shot of the dogs.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the domestic category wasn’t the largest at the event (has it ever been? Haha) but there was still quite a variety of cars to weigh against one another and it took some effort. It’s always tough to try and compare new and modified to old and restored, but in the end I felt the most deserving was this beautiful ’68 coupe owned by @andrewperformancemotors.
It still doesn’t make sense, how well JDM DC2 front lips fit S15s.
Kyle’s R32, looking tough with its meaty setup. Quite fast, I gather…
Roxy’s Genesis would have passed Jason’s BI with flying colours – after the rain storm did its best to undo everyone’s detailing she made sure her car was back in tip-top shape.
And as the final shot from the day, Jynelle rolling out with a couple of the other Miatas that were there.
I want to say thank-you again to Shawn and the team for the invite to be one of the judges this year, and congratulations to all of the award winners! Here’s hoping next year’s edition is only bigger and better still – and ideally, less wet.
With snow now here and the cars officially parked it’s time to switch our attention to winter makeovers (or daily driver tinkering – looking at you, Arabis) but not to worry; 2021 ended up being quite an eventful season despite everything going on and between some other event photos, more project updates, and other random happenings – combined with things still to come before spring – there’ll be no shortage of content for the winter! As always thanks for reading, and stay tuned for plenty more to come.
-Bill