Hiro’s Hotrods Open House 11.19.22
If you don’t know who Austin Hironaka is by now, then you’ve definitely been living under a damn rock lol. Well for those that aren’t familiar, Austin is one of the most respected & dedicated enthusiasts I know in the industry and when it comes to amazing quality builds, his name is for sure up there. When Austin first introduced Hiro’s Hotrods a few years ago, I knew it was going to blow up. Not only because of his immaculate work, but also because he’s a real down to earth guy as well. The original location was in Bellingham, but when Pacific Raceways finally created their new development he immediately took that opportunity and leased a space for the new shop! A lot closer to everyone and super convenient right next to the track. Austin hosted a “Soft Opening” this past weekend for the community and even collected food donations for Northwest Harvest. It’s the season to give, and this event was a hit! It was cool because the bros from Namsayin hosted their monthly cruise, with the final point ending at the shop, so everything worked out perfectly. It was another great day with the community, and it’s always good seeing the homies. Congrats again on the new shop, Austin! HOTROD THE WORLD BABY!!!
One of the first to roll in was Cavie Amm with his K-swapped battleship grey EG hatch equipped with a whole lot of carbon fiber parts including a Spoon Sports lip, J’s Racing canards, Password JDM Ram Air Scoops, hood, side skirts, and mirrors. Love the OG Desmond Regamaster EVO’s & Spoon brakes tucked under the Chargespeed fenders. I have yet to check out Cavie’s motor set-up, but I’ll definitely make it a priority next time.
The homie, Kyle Moore, chuckin up the deuces in his FK8 Type R. Kyle switched up from his white CE28SL’s and came up on these Black Edition III TE37’s for a pretty good deal. To be honest I kinda miss the CE’s, but I love how the accents on the TE’s go well with the EVS Tuning carbon lip and APR wing.
Manny Guzman stays riding low in his 240SX coupe on some aggressive OG bronze TE’s.
Last time I seen Gery Snapp was when I first met him at a food pop-up 4 and a half years ago. Good to see he’s doing pretty well on the track with his 240SX.
It’s bittersweet seeing more JZX100 Chasers pop up locally, mainly because I want one so bad lol. This one was clean lowered on TE37 Sagas.
Pretty awesome JZX90 Mark II Tourer V owned by Jaymon Hirsh.
Everytime I see Tom Hatcher pull up with his wicked TB SS, it always makes me glad that he put the TE’s aside and settled with the ZE40’s since they seem to flow better. I’m bummed though because Tom always does a burnout whenever I’m not around, but I guess that’s my fault since I had to leave early lol.
Tristan Besabe’s R32 looking clean as always.
Al-Michael Franco, aka 1/2 of Namsayin, led most of the cruise attendants with his Integra GS-R that’s been in the scene for a long time. I think I need to make another blog post just about Namsayin since there’s so much history with Al-Michael & his brother, Walter Franco, and their passion with cars.
Jacob Reyes decided to put some miles onto his recently acquired 96 Integra GS-R. This car was meant for him because it is MINT! One owner with only 20k miles… I wouldn’t be surprised if Jacob has some rare parts stashed away for this car, but we shall see….
Pretty clean LS430 on polished Leon Hardiritt Ordens.
A lot of the NNG guys showed up for once, but half of them brought their 4x4’s. Ain’t nothing wrong with that though! They’re all still fire!
The ABG homegirl, Metree Ngeth, drove in Michael Legaspi’s Tacoma for him since he whipped his DC5 R. Sorry Mikey, but the Taco suits Metree more than you.
Jeremiah Whipple is finally in the whip for once.
The King Kong EG looking fresh on Advan RG’s.
Drift ready JZX90 Chaser and MKII rolling in. Also a baller with a 911 GT3 creeping up behind.
Zach Leitzke from Under-Pressure Racing pulling up in his 2JZ powered S2000.
Everyone’s favorite local wheel dealer, Chinh Do, NA1 NSX looking good with proper spec’d OG Advan RG’s. I’m a bit bummed though because Chinh recently posted his car for sale, but maybe it’s for a good reason. He probably found something better 👀
Austin putting in work and organizing the donations.
Some of the main Hiro’s Hotrods cars up front & center featuring both Austin’s CR-V & del Sol and Eric Anderson’s Wonder Civic.
Even though I didn’t use much proper time checking out the shop, it was very noticeable that the layout was solid. Eye catching things everywhere including precious moments, sentimental valued goods, and awesome things in general. On the lift is Cedric Pack’s EK coupe that Austin is currently working on. Pretty stoked to see the outcome of this project.
A few OG’s chopping it up and fitting in with the “Community over Cars” motto.
Bonifacio Cordero, owner-operator of Bonimoto NW, opened his doors a few months ago and had a public viewing during the soft opening as well. As you can tell, Bonifacio specializes in sports bikes and has been in the industry for about 15 years.
It’s cute how Kyle and his gal, Alexandra Wolfsen, both own FK8 Type R’s. Another cool thing about them is that they’re both photographers as well. Talk about couple goals 😍
Jim Pin’s CTR inspired EK hatch on Mugen MF10’s. He picked this up about 2 years ago and has been using his time wisely putting the car together with quality parts.
Joel Bello owns my favorite EM1 of all time. Super clean and subtle with Spoon mirrors & brakes, carbon hood, and Exceed front lip. What really helps Joel stand out even more is he has some of the most fire spec’d wheels including these OG bronze 16x8.5 +30 CE28’s in the front. He mixed it up this time with mag blue 16x8 +42 TE’s for the rears. So good!
The FL5 Type-R definitely grew onto me, especially since I finally seen one in person owned by Jeremy Tan. The Spoon render that was blown all over social media really changed my perspective about it. A solid drop and some wheels would definitely set it off.
Figured this was a nice shot comparing the FL5 with Adobo Speed’s Spoon Sports themed FK8.
I’ve seen this GS a couple times around the SeaTac area, but never knew who owned it. I dig the progress so far with the BN Sports body kit and GT-C style wheels.
Carlos Sandoval always seems to be making some heavy changes to his EJ1 every time I see it. His car definitely pops with the Advan livery, Wings West spoiler, and Enkei NT03’s which are probably the only Enkei wheels I’ve ever liked.
Brian Miller’s awesome GS-R sporting a full rare Mugen kit, JDM one piece headlights, and CE28’s.
A lot more Community Connections going down.
Manang Cheryl Flo was so sad for a moment about losing her glove, but right when I was about to take a photo of her & Zelly she finally found it! We were all surprised and knew the outcome of the photo was real epic 😂
Big Island Poke stays having a long line at all events. Much deserved though since their food is ono!
As I was leaving, I caught Corey Stover pulling up in his GDB WRX on Nismo LMGT4’s. He hopped out the car real quick and donated a bag of rice.
Mugen’d out Phoenix Yellow FK8 R owned by Rodney Sonza.
Two of some the hardest 2nd Gen Integras in the PNW: Franky Chan’s XSi and Sam Preng’s DB1.
My favorite car that showed up had to be this JZX100 Chaser rocking a Vertex kit and chrome Gram Lights 57DR wheels. I had to hit up my mano, Tomas Burns, and ask who the owner is. Turns out it’s Nick Schnell that brought it, who I’m familiar with since I remember his 1JZ swapped S13 he used to drift hard with back in the day.
