NightLife | 2012 LTBMW Meet & Greet

Night Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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Good morning everyone! I think that applies to those who live in the US right now, but wherever you are, welcome back to Night Import (^-^)v It's been a busy week like usual with car shows and meets. You know how it goes down in California, especially after winter, so expect a lot more coverages this year. I really wanted to focus more on features, but the time to actually go out during the weekdays and do photoshoots is not working out, so my apologies to all the car owners I promised to shoot their rides. It will happen soon, so give me a bit more time! But in the positive side for all you Night Import fans, a coverage should be good enough during your break time or if you don't have anything to do.
Last week, there were 2 places I needed to stop by to do coverage; LTBMW's Greet & Meet and Hot Import Nights. I was unsure if I had time to stop by LTBMW's meet because I got a sudden call on Friday asking to work on Saturday, so my time schedule got pretty fuked up. Luckily, I ended early and had time to grab something to eat and head down to LTBMW's meet. Yeap~ I promised myself not to attend 2 car meets/shows this year, but it's not working out because I fuking love cars. :D
Let's get on with the coverage.

Random Nightlight | Monstrous 3

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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The deep throttle roar you hear from miles away turns your head unintentionally. No matter what you are doing, the sound of what hears like a F1 car becomes an instant attraction and if this happens at a meet, it won't be only you but others as well turning heads. Few weeks ago at Bulletproof's 11th Anniversary Meet, it was this M3 Sedan E90 LCI that amazed everyone because of its pleasing exterior look and exotic sound from the Meisterschaft exhaust by GT Haus. There are much more things to share, so read and see along.

Special Coverage | Eagle Rock Plaza 2nd Car Meet

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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Yesterday night will be one of those memorable moments of my time being in the automotive scene exploring car meets because of going through 6+ bumps in Eagle Rock plaza that literally ripped off my front lip because of being too low and having to come out of my car every time I went over one because my bumper fell off, but also because I attended a car meet held at a permitted lot!
This was my first time attending this meet after hearing others the 1st one was epic, so I didn't know what to expect. O yea, just a heads up, from now on my coverage on events or meets will have a title on the cover photo. I usually just post a photo that goes along with the whole event/meet, but seems like some of you guys liked/wanted a title on it, so look forward to seeing poor title fonts (^_^)v.

Special Coverage | LTBMW End of Summer Meet

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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It's that time now where I'm attending all these events and meets for the second time, meaning my hobby has reached its year. I'm actually surprised and at the same time, proud of myself because of being dedicated with my blog and going out there to shoot cars rather than staying home every week and post random shit. There were definitely times when I did want to quit and go with something more important in life, but all in honesty, just seeing cars made my day. It didn't matter if I had a dslr or point-n-shoot camera. This community is simply amazing and non-comparable to others because not is it only about cars, but the positive attitude of people. There were occasions when this wasn't true, but overall, I think that's one of the main reasons why I've been going on and on and slowly upgrading my skills with photography to bring you guys the best of the best.
From what I remember, (LTBMW) LTBMW's 2010 meet was the time when I realized how much work I needed to do. I was very active during that time period, but it wasn't all about going to events and taking simple shots. I learned a lot from experienced photographers, especially from 1013MM who promotes this meet and sent me an invitation to go to this meet once again to cover for my blog. I did not know 1013MM personally back then, but do remember talking to him for a few seconds and that was it. Since then, 1013MM and I have been in contact continuously and built up a friendly relationship. Once I arrived to this meet, we were walking around and talking about which wheels were replicas, who were douschebags, etc. Anyways, we had a good time with our conversation while covering the event, so let's get on with it.

Event Coverage | AF Imp Super Carnival

Night-Import: Photography by Kaoru Shoji | Words by William Lee

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This past weekend at Osaka, Japan, our photographer Kaoru san attended an event called Super Carnival hosted by one of the biggest magazines in Japan, AF Imp (Auto Fashion Import). AF Imp has been publishing their own line of magazines for years and is known for introducing newest to modified European cars. This event by AF Imp is held annually and always overcrowded with spectators with the sickest cars in Japan.

Special Coverage | Trend Setters 2011 by Mfest x Oakley

Night-Import: Photography by Nick Schultz | Words by William Lee

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I was debating on going to this meet after SmartWax x Chemical Guys Open House last Saturday because of being less exposed to Euro cars and wanted to expand my viewing pleasures. Driving almost 5 hours every weekend is not so wallet friendly and because I'm currently driving with -8 camber in the rears, I have to think twice on where to go and do coverage. Fortunately, my site has photographers located in various areas in SoCal and I'm always grateful when they go out there to do a coverage for the site. I had no clue Nick went to this meet until one of my friend told me Nick was using his 'stance' pose to shoot the cars, so an early thanks to Nick!

But enough with my gratitude to our photographers (love you guys) and let's get to the event.
Last week, one of the biggest BMW forums, Mfest, organized their annual gathering meet with Oakley at Oakley headquarters located in Foothill Ranch, CA. I'm clueless on how this meet started, but from what I've heard from close friends, this is a must-to-attend meet for all Euro car owners.

Event Coverage: Bimmerfest 2011

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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Bimmerfest started out as a small local meet at a dealership, but as time was going by and words being spread to fellow BMW owners, the meet became an event and the turnout was too big to handle. That's when the location was changed to a larger venue and Rose Bowl located in Pasadena, CA became 'the place' for Bimmerfest. I've heard from my friends about how crazy this event gets every year and sure enough, it was pretty insane. After an early morning heading out to Toyotafest 2011 and doing a coverage for about 3 hours, special staff Hooni and I headed directly to Bimmerfest. Upon arrival, the parking lots were already filled and tons of BMW's were parked in the showcase area.

Special Coverage: Platte Forme A.G. Grand Opening

Night-Import: Photography by William Lee

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It was a tiring day yesterday, attending Formula D and editing hundreds of photos, but as always, there will be a meet/event on the weekends and I couldn't miss today's grand opening of Platte Forme A.G. located in Alhambra, CA. Platte Forme A.G. mainly specializes in Euro cars, but also JDM cars as well. The meet was opened to any make & model, but it was mostly BMW's and luxurious cars.

Special Coverage: LTBMW Grand Opening Meet

Night-Import: Photography by William Lee

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There were a few events going on yesterday and attending every single one was almost impossible. Cars & Coffee happens every week and the turnouts are always great, but an hour drive weekly isn't really worth the time when nearly 70% of the cars are the same unless it's a marque. After checking my list of events schedule, I decided to hit up LTBMW's Grand Opening after seeing a coverage that was done last year by Canibeat.
This was LTBMW's second grand opening, an overall of three meets in total hosted by the shop for BMW owners.
I would say the turnout was as big as Savini Wheels meet a few months ago, but with more quality cars.

Nightlight | Breaking the Limits

Night-Import: Photography by Jonathan Ray

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We love to feature cars that are well-built, especially the ones that have both the looks and performance. The term 'well-built' can be defined in several ways, but for the car that's being featured today, how about Horsepower Freaks turbo Stage 2 pulling 648WHP on race/meth. Good enough? Although our site is mostly dedicated to imports (depends on how you define it), this beauty deserves its feature on any magazine/blogs out there today.

Event Coverage: Enthusiast Meet and Greet x Savini Open House

After a long and early morning walking around at Cars & Coffee in Irvine, I headed out to Savini's Open House in Anaheim.
This company was pretty new in my list of wheel companies, but that was before I headed down to Password:JDM's warehouse and saw a GT-R on 21" Savini Wheels.

Event Coverage: Formula D/Fatlace 1of1: Title Fight (Part 2)

Not too many words can describe how intense the final round of Formula D went. It was the most spectacular drifting event ever, making the event title 'Title Fight' sound perfect!
If you haven't kept up by watching it live on the net or were not there in person, Tanner Foust won the overall title of FD and Vaughn Gittin Jr. won the 2010 FD championship. The last rounds between these two amazing drifters were intense! The judging came down to 'one more time' after Round 7, but the ultimate Tanner Foust was just too hard to beat. As much as spectators enjoyed the battles amongst the drifters, they had some great time checking out the vendors and entertainment booths.

That's what Formula D is all about. Watch, relax, and to have fun.

Event Coverage: Formula D/Fatlace 1of1: Title Fight (Part 1)

Probably the most intense and over-crowded event in California, Irwindale Speedway held the final round of Formula D with the top drifters all around the world. But before I get into depth about the drifting event, I want to share some amazing hellaflush/stance rides in California. For every Formula D, we can't forget about the collaborating crew, Fatlace.
The top cars are chosen to show their rides like every other FD event, but yesterday was more meaningful for all the participants because of the massive amount of spectators, well-known media blog photographers, and obviously, watching the final round of Formula D.

Random Spotlight: Stance it, Race it

"Eat, Sleep, Race"
I came across this 94 325i (E36) through Zvilia and became speechless.
Clean cars are always a favorite, but sometimes, a beat up one could look great as well.
How about half and half?

Special Coverage: Bisimoto Luxury Exotic Car Meet

Night-Import: Photography by William Lee

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After the two events, I went to City of Industry for the Bisimoto meet to take some photos and do my final coverage of the day. I was really exhausted but managed to stay until all the cars came in. Pictures are all angled out and look weird so sorry about that :)
Anyways, big thanks to Randy (Sale Manager for Bisimoto) for hooking it up with the VIP pass. First time talking to him and we had a long conversation about business and stuff. Awesome guy to talk to so if you're planning to get products from Bisimoto, talk to Randy.
I also met some photographers; from MotorMavens and Honda-Wired.
Cool guys as well.

Perfect Stretch and Stance

I had to visit Varrstoen yesterday to pick up some lug nuts and came across one of the workers BMW.
What caught my attention was the HF (HellaFlush) sticker on the front emblem.
Now most car owners who have this sticker on their car are usually hellaflush so I walked around to check the stance.
As predicted, the car was flawless.

The owner of today's feature ride is Navith from Varrstoen.
He wanted his car to be clean for a quick coverage photoshoot, but I really didn't mind because you guys know I look for a clean stance'd car.
Not a shiny "i'm not dirty" clean, but a clean overall look.



The stretch on all the wheels was nearly perfect and the stance was amazing.



You could see the pulled and rolled fenders that sit flush with the wheels.

As of right now, the only information I have for this car are specs for the wheels and basic exterior/engine mods. I'll update this as soon as I get in contact with Navith.

Wheels
19x9.5 +2 & 19x10.5 +5 wrapped on 225/35/19 & 265/30/19 FK452's
SuperSport Coilovers
E39 Sport Sway Bars

Exterior/Interior
M5 Front & Rear Bumpers
Carbon Fiber Fabric Trims
E60 545i Short Shifter
ZHP shift knob
E39 M5 front bumper
E39 M5 Rear Bumper
Carbon Fiber Real Diffuser
Magnaflow Quad Tip Exhuast (3.5” Tips
8000k HIDs
3500K Fogs

So what's next?
ESS TS2 SuperCharger



Really clean look from the front



Here's another shot from above



Perfect stretch. Not too extreme, not too little, but right on point.





Rear shot. Sexy!



Love doing on-site coverages :)
Great Stance!
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