Team Menace 25th Anniversary Car Show 8.18.24
25 years… A timeline that a lot of car clubs, brands, or even businesses can’t even last/reach. Not for Menace though. A team that doesn’t hold back on quality built cars. They’ve made a huge impact in the scene and helped set the bar for the Pacific Northwest. I remember when I first encountered them at my first car show: Hot Import Nights Seattle 2008. At that time I was amazed with what was around. Cars that broke my neck in almost every direction and especially all the import models. One car that stood out to me the most was Al-Michael Franco’s GS-R. I do have some photos from that show stored somewhere, but I’ll save those for a later post. I didn’t really engage with Menace until I met Kenji Nishimura 11 years ago when I tagged along with Cullen Cheung during a PASMAG photoshoot for Kenji’s Lexus GS300. A few years later, I met quite a few other Menace members during the morning of Wekfest Seattle 2017, thanks to the bro Jason Rivera. Some real solid guys I can say. They’ve definitely hit some numbers over the years by earning plenty of awards at every show they attend, and the crew grows even bigger every time I see them. I know this recent show definitely meant a lot to them, and it was another good day seeing the car homies come out & kick it. Congrats to Team Menace on this big milestone! Before you read through my coverage, check out this old video of their team during it’s prime era. A video I enjoyed watching so much when I was in middle school…
Pretty cool and nostalgic huh? Enjoy my coverage!
I mentioned it before that Kyappu Car Club never fails to show up first at almost any gathering or show, and here they are lol.
Christian Corpuz cheesing hard in his bagged 3IS on TE37s. White on white is always right.
Andre Tapang unfortunately sold his S2000, but still showed it out one last time. Congrats to Randy! Good to know the car is going to a great home.
Tuan Vu brought out a different pair of vehicles to this event, and they're not Hondas...
Tuan's IS-F on matte blue gunmetal ZE40's is perfect. Love the Tom's Racing carbon front lip and bright orange brake calipers he just installed. This would be a fire daily!
Tuan's fiance, Hannah, brought the lifted GX460 on indigo blue Advan RG-D2 wheels.
The Backyard Boogie squad showing up fashionably late lol.
Christian Umagat recently picked up some mag blue TE's and Recaro Tomcats for his EG, and everything looks good. It was his Birthday that day too, so we celebrated a little after the show. Happy Birthday again, ading! Also hi Alexis ✌🏼
Yev Gatala went hoodless this time and slapped on some OG 5 lug 15" Regas with stenciled tires. Nice Back Yard Special wing back there as well.
I'm not too crazy about the GR86, or even FRS/BRZ's in general. There's only a handful I like out there and Peter Bugayong has one of them. He went pretty hard this year with all the mods he put into it. Love the paint matched Exceed front lip and side skirts, along with the Tom's Racing over fenders surrounding the CE28N Plus wheels. Peep the Brembo STi BBK too. Very proper execution, pare!
Very clean millenium jade S14 Kouki running a full Kazama Tryval kit, Car Modify Wonder wing, and TE37 Sagas.
Mark Wu has an EK coupe that was put together in the early 2000s when conversions and shaved side moldings were popular. Obviously the S14 headlights are very noticable and pretty odd to some, but everything else goes pretty well. The Racing Hart C2s are a classic, and the kit is pretty sick.
The Mugen wing is a nice touch for the rear.
The new M2's are actually growing onto me. This Frozen Grey G87 looked solid with a carbon front lip and BBS FIRevo wheels.
This is probably my favorite shot so far of Ken Sugawara's EK. The side profile showing off the perfect ride height and his new Voltex wing. FIRE, PAR!
Last time I seen Wil Spangler was at Wekfest '22 with his S2000. He sold it and picked up this NA1 NSX a couple months ago. Nice to see him turning a dream into a reality. His first mod was slapping on the EVO II's fresh from ICB. Looking forward to seeing what he does to this.
Jason doing his job and guiding this Rocket Bunny FRS.
Nice to have properly met Loc Nguyen. Real chill guy. Not sure if anything has changed with his DC2 Type-R, but it's still dope as fuck.
Duncan Changa's Laguna Seca Blue F80 on BBS RS2's. The Laptorr lip seems to be very common with this chassis, but I'm all for it.
Yurii Nadtochii built a childhood dream! This E46 M3 GTR was inspired by the game 'Need For Speed: Most Wanted'. Definitely brought back some memories driving this car in the PS2.
Teddie Pequet's Aimgain equipped GS400 looking glossy under the sun. For those that are serious and interested, Teddie might be selling this car 👀
Ed Gaborno finally got the pass to be a Liberty VIP prospect. Congrats brah! Time to get real bags and a full Junction Produce kit! Shoutout to Ted and Manong Josh Bolduc for repping the PNW!
Liz Badua decided to make a nice change to RJ Buenaventura's Subie by switching out his valve stem caps for these Buto ones. These suit him very well.
GT86 fitted with a Modellista kit and Work Meister S1 wheels.
Abraham Santiago's crazy Denali Ultimate was a real crowd pleaser. Need to do a shoot with him and Rube eventually.
Cy Seigafo's show quality G37s.
It's been a while since I last seen this F22C powered Celica GT. Still pretty damn cool!
I like the tri spoke wheels on this R8...
Blobleye STi on SSR Professor SP1 wheels.
Dino M's bagged A90 Supra rocking a full carbon Aimgain kit and Meisters.
The show had a nice variety, including a '58 Impala owned by Keoni from 25th Street Riders CC.
I remember catching Brandon Henness' LS swapped 240Z at the Pit+Paddock Car Show at Formula D a couple years ago. Still looks great!
Mark Rea has this unique 280Z that he fabricated all the metal work on. Not sure what kind of style he's going for, but I respect his work.
Ryan Rea's '88 Soarer is something you don't see every day. For instance, there aren't many JDM cars out there with a hydraulics set-up. You know what though? I fuck with it! The gold accents all around is heat!
Mark Rivera's KP61 Starlet will always be a favorite. The red flakey paint for sure pops, and the Advan A3A wheels are period correct.
The 16V 4AGE swap paired with ITB's is so good!
Fully loaded Aimgain GT-R looking sleek.
Interesting exhaust relocation where the license plate used to be.
Pretty neat S2000 rocking an ASM kit and Advan GT wheels.
HKS GT2 supercharger sitting tight in the bay.
Dru Nemo's supercharged Varis BRZ on 10th Anniversary TE37V wheels. Jayson Cruz from Skreet Garage helped put this car together.
Vince Nguyen's RC F hard parked next to another RC F. As you can see, Vince loves to support all his homies' business with all the decals he got going on. Nothing wrong with that though. Seems like a real ass homie for sure.
Ben Malla and Christian catching up on some rest...
Rodney Sonza switched up the Takata Green TE's for a pressed graphite set on his Vertex S15, and I think it looks much better since the fitment seems more proper.
Dan Nguyen was a last minute addition to their model lineup. The tank top does suit him very well 💪🏼
Crazy to see how much this team has evolved over the years. They always have some of the best cars.
A nice collective of their members and even a few of the OG's that started Menace.
The fabulous Sarah Decker was the official spokesmodel for the event. I had to take advantage of her presence by getting a few shots of her. I noticed she liked this 964 turbo so we got some photos done. Nice to know we have similar taste since this was one of my favorites as well.
Pogi boy, Caryl Dela Rosa, being the supportive "Umbrella Girl" for the one time.
Codi Blanken was brave enough to bring up his RE Amemiya FD RX-7 to Canada the day before for another event. It was clear skies heading up there, but heavy rains coming down that evening. Nice to know he made it back in one piece, but also that the car runs real one. Codi is still getting some stuff done to the motor, so hopefully the next time he shows out it'll be 💯
Speaking of rain, it started coming down hard a little over an hour before the show ended. Kind of a blessing in disguise since I was burnt and not feeling so well lol.
I love how Randy Olivarez slapped on 16" MF10's instead of the typical 17". The beefy tires go so well with the car, and the set-up goes hard with the Spoon brakes. He plans to swap some parts from the new S2K to the new one, and it should look more fire.
You hardly see any of these cars in the rain, especially Radar Edwards' Mugen DC2R. A little mother nature won't hurt...
Kai Tan's AMG GTR looking like the Green Goblin.
Bagged WRX equipped with a Chargespeed wide body kit and polished Work Meisters.
I wonder what Dan Nguyen has planned next for his NSX next car show season. Something big? Something small? No change at all? We shall see...
Lex's clean & simple NA1 on staggered TE's. Be on the lookout for this build 👀
Kenji Nishimura's MKIV Supra loaded with a Top Secret GT300 kit, Ganador mirrors, and HRE wheels. Still crazy to see Kenji transition from his old VIP GS300 to this beautiful machine. I believe he wanted to have one final project car before he stops eventually. This is the perfect endgame chassis in my opinion.
Jason Rivera's '86 Toyota Pickup that he came up on from his Uncle. Apparently it's just been sitting for quite some time, and Jason had the opportunity to get it. He got it running and even slapped on these JDM Lodio Drive wheels that he got from Al Michael Franco.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for the next event!
