Wekfest LA: Part One

After a great Saturday at the HRE meet here in San Diego, we were hoping for an even better meet on Sunday at the first-ever so-cal Wekfest. We were always disappointed about the San Francisco show being so far away, so we were definitely excited about Weksos coming to Long Beach…

Wekfest didn’t start until around noon, so it was nice to get that later start and get everybody together rather than rushing up to LA while half-asleep at the same time. Tim and I, along with a few others, hit up Denny’s late in the morning, and then made the cruise up to the Queen Mary at 11 or so. At this point, we’re seeing all these cars lined up to get in and we’re thinking there’s plenty of parking being such a large event – in actuality, it was quite the opposite. Every lot around the harbor was either full or off-limits, and it was only a few minutes after twelve. One of our guys got lucky and got into the first lot, which was a $12 fee but at least it was close to the entrance. But he was one car out of hundreds – what about the rest of the line? The parking authorities didn’t even bother to let them in…so we were confused as to where to go. In the end, we ended up getting routed in a 180 and back out of the lot (a one-way street) where another parking attendant handed us a poorly scribed map on a piece of copy paper telling us to go six blocks away and find parking there. WTF! And there was a HUGE line of cars behind us still! Meanwhile people are backing up against a one-way street and trying to park curbside elsewhere. We searched for about twenty minutes — our buddy was lucky enough to find a spot on the street, while we ended up back in the same line we tried to go through before. Luckily this time, a different attendant waved us into the closer lot and (for the $12 fee) we finally got to park and get on with the show. I think Weksos could have done some better planning…Wekfest is a HEADLINER event. The name itself carries attendance. I sort of think the same way about Eibach…why not work a deal with the other lots around to open up and pay them off to do so? It’s Sunday anyways, where else are they gonna make money? They’re making some profit margin off tickets, the least they could do is ensure everyone can find parking. And I’m not a cheapass… I don’t mind paying to park, but when its this meatball of chaos and there’s uncoordinated organization, it just starts my experience off on the wrong foot…

Anyways, we got in (after I forgot my wallet in my car and lost my keys at the security check…sigh, my fault), and I felt much better after seeing some of the cars…I’ll let the pics do the talking…

Still on the way up, chasing Peng in his Accord. Love his setup, especially the tail lights…

In line to park. We spotted a couple new ’11 Chargers here…

Tim enjoyed this lowered CR-V in the parking lot…

After getting our tickets, we immediately tried to fight the crowds and snap as many shots as we could without people walking in front of the camera (or walking over us).

Ferrari 360. I love 360 Modenas a lot, probably my second favorite next to the 458 Italia. This one had some tacky features but still a Ferrari…

…a better angle…

Very clean S14…

I’m not a huge fan of this style, but its becoming more popular and it is always interesting to see what people do. Great motor setup…I think it’s one of few D-series engines I’ve seen equipped with ITBs.

If you recall a week or so ago, we saw this Civic at the itsJDMyo! 1 year Anniversary Meet in Cerritos. Looking great!

…and here’s Mini-Me…

Love the anodized gunmetal on these BBS wheels!

We continued on to the VIP section…

If I remember correctly, I thought I saw this Z at XDC LA a couple months ago. Beautiful!

Highlander…

Timeless Integra…

…I’ll end part one with this stunning Evo X from HighEnd:

I’ll continue coverage tomorrow and try to squeeze everything into two parts. There were some more “new and notable” builds that I should be recognized too. This weekend will be slow as far as events, so we’ll keep content coming. Kind of nice for a change!

–Matt