Cupcake Meet 16

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Right after TX2K13, the next day I woke and left Houston for the 3 hour drive to Cupcake Meet 16 in San Antonio. I met up with the rest of the Natuskashi Garage crew at the meet and they were pretty much setting up the tent when I arrived. Still tired from yesterday’s work and TK2K13, being reunited with the Natsukashi Garage crew was worth it. Now, for those of you who dont know Cupcake Meet, its a car show that all the proceeds go to charity. A car show with a cause!

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The weather was perfect with clear blue skies. Thaison thankfully brought some sun block lotion, because with any outdoor car show that lasts more than 2 hrs you are most certainly going to get sunburn.

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This is Cody’s slammed Honda wagon, you dont see too many of these cars this clean. He even owns a dope Honda Ruckus too!

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Our newest member, Arick and his boosted Miata.

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2 door roaster and a bike, the perfect combo for any bachelor. Those days are gone for me haha, but I have my fiance and my GTI doe.

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Ruckus love

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Thaison’s crazy F20C swapped, Levin front end Hatchiroku!

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This CCM also had a drift event from the cars in the Lone Star Drift Series.

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This was the first bagged Turbo Beetlle I’ve ever seen. Im pretty sure the owner is saving up or waiting for his dope 3 piece rims.

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One of cleanest Hondas out there, I think saw this Honda at Wekfest Austin.

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JDM yo.

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This BMW is from the Squirrel Squad and they were definitely representing their hometown.

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Dem gold lips doe.

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These rims are fairly new from a new rim company called WatercooledIND. These are CC10 wheels and they will make any offset you want with these one piece wheels! I was actually going to get these wheels for my GTI but I went a different route and bought the Enkei RPF1s instead. But the CC10 are killer wheels.

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Liking that teal engine bay

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Because race/drift car

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This S2000 was at Wekfest Austin last year except it was plasti-dipped white. Looks better in yellow, in my opinion.

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BRG representing also, another very good team with their cars. I think they got 3rd place at Wekfest Austin for best in crew category.

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I was loving this STI and the Enkei NTo3 fitted this car very well

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Bent Work Equips 01, can also be used as a very expensive chair too!

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The meet ended at 7pm but the drivers at the drift event were giving rides for the spectators. The drifters went all out for the spectators and put up a very good show. The layers of sunblock really helped me not get sunburn. I know some of the other people that came to check out the show were red as a tomato at the end of the day. After the meet, Natuskashi Garage drove to Big Lou’s Pizza but the wait was 2 hrs long!!! So instead we ate at a chicken and wing place couple blocks down. After chowing down on some delicious chicken, and chillin,  the rest of the Natsukashi Garage crew went back to Austin and I prepared myself for the 3hr drive back to Houston. I’ll be back for the next CCM!

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On  a side note….. Coming back to my GTI at the end of the meet, I found a Sarap Buhay sticker lying next to my seat! Just wanna say thanks Sarap Buhay for hooking me up with this dope sticker!

Natsukashi Profile: Arick Casas

I just wanted to take some time to introduce one of our boys, Arick Casas. Hands down I think all of us can agree that he’s one of the craziest guys in our group. I’ve only had the pleasure of knowing him for such a shorter time than Branden or Cody have. I always knew him as the guy with the slammed xB back in the day…

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I think when it came down to things — it all started with his Honda Fit. After owning the car for less than a week, he had already started stripping it for touge runs.
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TX2K13

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Texas 2K13 is a yearly car event were all high power cars from all over the United States come to Texas to compete in a 3 day race event. The event was held at Lonestar Motorsport Park which is the home of Hennessy Performance. After my hospital orientation I headed down to TX2K13, it wasn’t that bad of a drive, just 45mins from Houston (without traffic). The cars that showed up were V8 muscle cars, Supras, GTRs, RX7s, Corvettes, Italian supercars, Mercedes, Sport bikes, High HP SUVs and trucks. Rolling up in my stanced, Unitronic stage 2 tuned GTI was probably one of the lowest horsepower cars out there.

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Club 420, Manila represent!!!

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While visting the the Philippines I have some friends that are in team called Club 420. Gotta say the cars are legit and to get in is by invite only.Paolo said “People might have a nice car but they have to get along with the group to get in.” Soo true to avoid any team drama. The people were in the team were chill and and didn’t mind me taking pics. My friend Nikko told me there are more people in the group but were unable to make it. They even have a Lamborghini in the team!!

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Import Alliance End of Winter Meet

When I first found out about import alliance back in high school I made it a goal of mine to make it to one of their meets. Ideally I would want to go to the Nashville or Atlanta ones since that’s where all the heavy hitters attend, but money and time always lead me away from it. To my luck, however, they hosted one at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth and a few of us Natsukashi guys (and gals) took to go.

The quality at this meet was outstanding. Yes there were the typical fake parts and no heart builds but you can really see the cars that shine with their creators heart. It’s the builds and the people behind them that constantly remind me of how fortunate I am to be apart of this scene.

P.S. I took a stab at editing photos for the first time, any criticism is welcome!

We decided to stay at the Best Western in Roanoke, Texas. This was the first time that we were stationed at some place that wasn’t way off in the boon docks. It was great!
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Import Face Off 2013

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After a busy night in the ER, and zero hour of sleep, I went directly to IFO with couple of my Houston buddies. The drive to IFO was very nice, the weather was perfect, smooth roads, and I didnt feel sleepy at all. My friend’s front end rabbit gti looked really good while rolling down to IFO. Later the rest of the Natsukashi Garage crew from Austin came down.

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Lay Low Hookah Meet

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I love car meets, especially when the cars are not rice. The Lay Low Hookah Meet was one of those meets. The meet was hosted by Team BottomOut and they are a cool group of people to talk to. I was worried at first the meet was just going to be a bunch of rice but the cars that showed up were legit. Some members from Strictly Gs, and Team Apocalypse came out to the meet. The meet was very chill and had a laid back atmosphere. No pressure to race other, or drifting or do burnouts. Its just a bunch of people getting together and talk about cars.

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Houston Auto Show 2013

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This was the first auto show for this year that I attended too. Its not like car shows where you see modified cars but its a show were auto makers show their latest car models and inovations. The crowd is more family oriented and it reminded me when I was a little kid and would go with my brother and dad to the Austin auto shows.

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Protect your investment, Dieselgeek Panzer Skid Plate

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Since Houston roads are well know to be in horrible condition, my factory plastic skid plate came lose after hitting a transition on the road. I did end up zip tying it, but came lose again on the highway. I wanted to go lower on my GTI but I didn’t want to go through several oil pans, so I went with Dieselgeek Panzer Skid Plate.

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Buying this skid plate is one of the best investments I bought for my car. This skid plate is very heavy duty, and I do have a peace of mind knowing the my oil pan and transmission are protected. The guys at Dieselgeek were quick to ship my skid plate, and its a complete bolt on. The skid plate bolts on to the frame of the car and it is very sturdy.
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