Words by Matt Willis

Last weekend, I paid a visit to HRE Wheels here in San Diego for their annual Open House event. It’s a casual, laid-back gathering of higher-end vehicles and enthusiasts alike – definitely worth checking out if you haven’t been before. You also get an inside look at how HRE’s top-notch wheels are constructed and some of their latest projects.

Upon my arrival, the first car that caught my eye was this Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera.

And this snake…

Miura and Aventador…

Love this cockpit…

Couple of 7’s rolling in…

Mike Burroughs’ ultra low BMW E9. Beautifully restored as well…

Mike trying to make it go lower…

A Hummer joined the party…

I’m not a huge fan of the 1-series, but I think this one looks great and is trimmed up nicely.

The Japanese cars were also in attendance…

Pristine…

Plain and simple S…

This C63 AMG had some tacky elements to it, but I still think it looked very aggressive. Those Brembos are just massive…

Rare Alfa Romeo GTV…

Fisker Karma…

Fabspeed exhaust on a Ferrari F430…

I then meandered into the warehouse…

…and got a peek at HRE’s wheel creation process…

I have to admit, I didn’t really feel this 458 Spyder with F40-style wheels. Two different generations that I can’t see clashing…

McLaren MP4-12C…

911 with some copper-colored HRE’s in another section of the warehouse…

An Aston Martin V8 Vantage. I’ve never actually seen one up close, so it was a real treat…

I believe this was the wheel coating area…

Chrome red finished Mustang.

Just the bare essentials…

Boss 302…

The Lotus 7 that was rolling through earlier…

If you recall our last post from the local Tacos and Tuners meet, then you’ll recognize this beautiful E30 M3.

The F30 chassis stops me dead in my tracks every time. Still in love with it…

911 Turbo from BBI Autosport…

An older 911 motor, also done up by BBI…

This police-themed Charger was cruising around the lot for a bit…

Out back, I spotted Nicholas Haanen’s Mustang…

And some more great looking E30s…

Nice Camaro…

This CTS-V Coupe made it to the event with a flat…

Fiat 500 on Rotiform Nue wheels. Looks good. Still haven’t warmed up to Fiats though…haha…

Kia Optima…

The cars from Targa Trophy…

Another Superleggera…

As I was wrapping things up in the afternoon, cars were still rolling in…

Old Volkswagen Scirocco on some unique Ronal wheels…all the girls were going crazy over them, haha…

The new 911 body…

This is a variant/concept build of the Kia Soul that will use wheels designed by HRE.

Ariel Atom…

Caught John Ly’s beautiful AE86 on my way out…

That’s it, until next year! Thanks to HRE Wheels for opening their doors to us.