IMG_9861

I’ve lived in California all 23 years of my life and it’s only been recently that I started attending shows much like the SoCal Euro from a couple weekends ago.  I’ve got a lot of making up to do for all the festivities I’ve been missing out on.  Socal Euro was definitely not a show to have missed!  There was so much win on that 14th day of September.  Everything from the free and plentiful parking, to the free admission, the delicacies offered by the food trucks, the drag races and the bountiful selection of cars inside and outside the show.  Did I mention free parking and admission?  I literally had no excuse to not go.  If you’re asking me, Socal Euro felt like a car show within a car show and I see now that’s the point.  Much like a kid in a candy store, I completely forgot my chaperone    girlfriend and buddy Kevin were walking with me as I snapped photos here and there, willy-nilly.  In each direction I looked, I saw the sort of variety of treats that even Willy Wonka himself would gawk at.

Photos by: Phillip Awad exclusively for Stancenation.com

IMG_9645

As we arrived at the show right on time, I was overwhelmed with the sheer number Euro’s coming down the freeway. I couldn’t help but feel guilty that I left my old girl at home.  My girlfriend chaperone insisted we take her Kia, because it has A/C, and hair wouldn’t get messed up on the way down because of the open windows. To cope with that guilt, I was pointing here and there watching for the next Vee-Dub, Bimmer, or Lambo fly by. Little girl screams were the noises I made exiting the freeway.  There’s just something special when a gathering of this magnitude is put together.  When so many cars, from so many unique people, all have stories and builds.  Love was in the air.  I believe it’s called, “Das Auto!” (Thanks VW).

IMG_9647

IMG_9651

I spent a solid forty-five minutes wandering around aimlessly.  Once inside the show, people were instantly greeted by that savory and salty air produced by the food trucks.  The whole day, there were cars lining up on Christmas tree lane.  It was so great to catch fly-by’s from the humble e30 to roaring Camaro’s to the silent but speedy Tesla to the eye candy overload of an orange McLren MP12-4c.  There was even a VW MK1 with an engine note that, from a distance, sounded like a nitro R/C car revving.  Well, I’m pretty sure I caught wind that it was indeed nitrous injected and damn, that things flew!  I think the crew was working out some bugs and put down some awesome runs so congrats!  How awesome would it have been if the crowd could pick favorites to line up, like a peoples’ choice?  Next time!

IMG_9652

IMG_9653

Lon Mok is one of the brains behind the operation of Socal Euro.  I reached out to him to get some more info behind the show’s short history.  “SoCalEuro started out in 2001 as SoCaliVW.com and SoCalAudi.com and eventually we converted it to SoCalEuro.”  Lon and Paul Chan teamed up to organize their first big meet back in 2001.  “The first larger meet was at San Diego Krispy Kreme donuts which we had about 100 cars.”  Sometime before the end of 2002, “We did an Irvine meet in Costco with about 100 cars also.”   The next couple years were quiet until their NorCal vs SoCal meet in San Luis Obispo brought out a commendable 300 cars in 2004, “which was amazing back then.”  That was almost ten years ago!  I didn’t even know what it was like to drive then, let alone operate a stick-shift and clutch or even understand why suspension tweaking is different from street, track, and stance. Special thanks to Lon Mok for taking the time to speak with me, and from all of us at Stance Nation, thank you for the show and to our readers for checking in!

IMG_9654

IMG_9657

IMG_9658

IMG_9659

IMG_9660

IMG_9662

IMG_9666

IMG_9668

IMG_9669

IMG_9672

IMG_9676

IMG_9679

IMG_9681

IMG_9682

IMG_9683

IMG_9685

IMG_9690

IMG_9695

IMG_9696

IMG_9698

IMG_9701

IMG_9702

IMG_9703

IMG_9705

IMG_9706

IMG_9707

IMG_9708

IMG_9709

IMG_9711

IMG_9712

IMG_9719

IMG_9727

IMG_9730

IMG_9732

IMG_9733

IMG_9735

IMG_9736

IMG_9737

IMG_9739

IMG_9746

IMG_9748

IMG_9752

IMG_9753

IMG_9754

IMG_9755

IMG_9757

IMG_9758

IMG_9759

IMG_9762

IMG_9765

IMG_9768

IMG_9769

IMG_9771

IMG_9773

IMG_9774

IMG_9775

IMG_9781

IMG_9784

IMG_9785

IMG_9787

IMG_9791

IMG_9795

IMG_9796

IMG_9798

IMG_9803

IMG_9807

IMG_9817

IMG_9819

IMG_9823

IMG_9824

IMG_9825

IMG_9826

IMG_9827

IMG_9829

IMG_9831

IMG_9835

IMG_9838

IMG_9839

IMG_9841

IMG_9842

IMG_9843

IMG_9844

IMG_9845

IMG_9846

IMG_9851

IMG_9852

IMG_9854

IMG_9855

IMG_9856

IMG_9858

IMG_9869

IMG_9872

IMG_9873

IMG_9875

IMG_9876

IMG_9877

IMG_9880

IMG_9881

IMG_9882

IMG_9883

IMG_9884

IMG_9886

IMG_9887

IMG_9888

IMG_9889

IMG_9890

IMG_9891

IMG_9892

IMG_9894

IMG_9896

IMG_9897

IMG_9898

IMG_9900

IMG_9901

IMG_9903

IMG_9904

IMG_9906

IMG_9907

IMG_9909

IMG_9912

IMG_9913

IMG_9914

IMG_9915

IMG_9916

IMG_9917

IMG_9918

IMG_9920

IMG_9921

IMG_9923

IMG_9924

IMG_9928

IMG_9930

IMG_9931

IMG_9932