It's been a long time since I've been to Vegas. I've only been twice, both times as a teenager, and the first being Formula Drift Las Vegas with my Dad. I actually took pictures with a Sony DSLR I had - none of which are good - but might be worth putting up here some time as a laugh. This was around 2011 and the era of big power was ramping up so the drift car style I liked was starting to be phased out. Matt Powers was the driver I wanted to see most in his Rocket Bunny V1 S14. I remember being more interested in the Slammed Society meet that accompanied FD at a lot of their events. I used to obsess over Lowballers, Royal Origin, and WrongFitmentCrew cars from forums and blog posts so getting to see them in person blew my child mind. With a trip to LA (a short 4 hour drive away) coinciding with the Lowballers vs Karuma meet, it was only fitting my return to Vegas was to see some Lowballers cars again.
The very first thing that caught my eye from all the way across the lot was this insane GS. The aero is a modified version of Aimgain's kit further exaggerated by the widened, high radius fenders housing Work Carving Head 40s with the "mariachi" center caps. The execution was unrivaled.
There were a good amount of S-chassis in attendance as well. This S13 sat over R33 style wheels ran Uras type 4 aero with a Uras drag wing and Origin type 1 hood.
Don't quote me on this, but I belive this S13 coupe is running D-Max aero and overs. What I do know is it barely contains those massive VS-KFs!
Good looking "strawberry face" S14s seem to be a rarity these days. Most of them are just bad looking leftovers from when this conversion was more popular 15 years ago. To make the broader-looking S15 front work, overfenders are a a must. These look to be 50mm Origin offerings matched to an Origin kit.
Fun fact: the term "strawberry face" refers to S15 fronts because "one five" in Japanese is "ichi go" and "ichigo" means strawberry.
Lastly, an actual S15 was also in attendance with Uras Type 5 aero and 17/18 staggered OG TE37s. The light blue tint to the headlights matching the blue cusco bolt in was a nice touch.
This pair of Y33s looked like they teleported here from a VIP event in Japan. The brown one was bagged while the white one achieves this fitment on coilovers. Both of these machines show how to style a big camber setup.
While on the subject of Nissan's big body platform, the F50 chassis is largely - and unfairly - ignored with most people either focusing on the Y33 or the less popular but also criminally underrated Y50 M35/45 or the Y51 Cima/Fuga/M. This example is stunning. If I had to take a bit of a shot in the dark, I believe the front is Aimgain and the rear is Mode Parfume. The subtle carbon additions and the plentiful chrome are the perfect garnish to convey that luxury oppulence without getting into gaudy territory. Leon Hardiritt Adels are a suitably uncommon choice for this uncommon platform.
I wish I got to check out this 3GS more but I'm glad I caught it on it's way out. This chassis doesn't need much to stand out more than some hard fitment on big Waffes.
With the price of more popular drift chassis rising, I wonder if people will begin to broaden their horizons a bit and we'll start to see people drifting cars like the 3GS. Being auto only doesn't help, but I believe they're still in the era where it wouldn't be an electrical nightmare to get the car to still function post swap...or if more people will just drift automatics. I've been experimenting with auto drifting myself and it isn't terrible, especially with more power than a stock 2JZGE I'm cooking with. I've been seeing a huge rise in Japanese drivers drifting anything FR with a Toyota or Lexus badge despite being automatic so maybe we'll see further development with tech and technique. I have no idea if this one actually drifts or just emulates the style, but it was cool to see and a thought I've been thinking more and more about lately. It's definitely a chassis that looks cool with a drift car kind of style and I'd like to see more of it.
One thing the VIP community does better than any other community is make tan look good. White over gold two tone ties in the sandy tan and brown L-Tide interior retrim and tan Junction Produce curtains. The outside is kept simple and clean to allow the subtle modifications and Work Emitz to stand out.
Is a Ferrari 360 on BBS LMs VIP? Probably not, but a Ferrari on BBS splits is a pretty big show of opulence.
As of the past 6 or so years, there's been a huge intersect in the VIP and off-roading scenes with a lot of car people jumping ship or dabbling in trucks as well. I'm not a huge truck guy myself but this black on black on black 70 series Land Cruiser caught my eye. It had a villainous vibe about it - a Bond villain type car.
Another culture that seems to intersect a bit with VIP is the lowrider scene. Maybe it's a mutual appreciation for attention to detail and quality.
This pair of matching E92 M3s on Volks was a cool match-up!
I was genuinely awestruck by this 2GS. The way it sat perfectly level with the ground and those huge Ordens filling out the widened fenders was perfect. I'm not really sure how to elaborate beyond that...
Despite all the cool aero for the AE86 chassis, a zenki lip on a kouki bumper is all you need. My want of an AE86 is becoming unbearable lately.
The 17 generation Crown is a chassis that seems to be picking up speed. It's not often you get a cool Japanese FR that also comes as a wagon. I envy that trunk space every time I'm smashing all my shit into my S14 for a drift event.
If you literally hate having extra space, this Beat is a good alternative. I'm not the biggest fan of tbhe TE37V mostly but in this higher offset spec they look pretty cool.
The kouki UCF20 has to be the prettiest of it's lineage. Hard to beat such a crisp example.
Something New England is lacking is much of a VIP scene. We definitely have our hidden gems, but it doesn't feel like there's a community about it...or enough examples to build a localized community. I think a contributor to that could be how easily a VIP-style car can blend and mold into other communities. If you're into drifting, you kind of have to become a part of a local drifting community to enjoy it, but to build a VIP car, you don't need to intertwine yourself amongst others in the same lane - especially with how broad the stance scene umbrella is. I feel like we miss out in that regard though because without a localized community to compete with, there isn't a much of a push for something elevated beyond fitment and aero when you can only show your work with pictures on Instagram. There's a few excellent builds out in New England however and hopefully they can curate a growing community because I want to see more!
Once again, I'm slacking on content but I'm sitting on a few events worth of photos and some concepts for more abstract series I've been wanting to start. I'm feeling inspired again (famous last words) so expect that content to start rolling out. I've also been marinating in the idea of restarting the short lived podcast. I feel like there's a gap to be filled in content there and I've been wanting to explore it again.
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