Do you want to go to SEMA?

Do you want to go to SEMA?

Story by Mike Tolliver and Shannon Fenton

Pictures Mike Tolliver

Let's start off with getting the disappointment out of the way, no I will not get you tickets. In recent years SEMA has been cracking down on John Q. Public access.  Gone are the olden days where one could walk in more or less off the street and gawk at all the amazing product on display. To that effect I had a conversation with a few fellow SEMA goers and asked a somewhat simple question, "How do you spot the notice or public at SEMA?". The answer a resounding  "Easy; they are the ones asking for the FREE stuff or giveaways.". I witnessed this behavior first hand at Kato-San of Liberty Walk Performance's booth. While I watched in disbelief someone requested the shirt straight off his back, I stepped in the told the guy take a fan and move on. People, this is why we can't have nice things. 

The size of today's SEMA has ballooned from the 'good 'ol days'. It would take actually being there to realize that there is allot truth in statements like "there are 16 miles of aisles if you walked them all'. This was before they started using all the parking lots to store cars and hold DE expositions. This year’s DE selections featured drifting and rock crawling. Seriously, SEMA today is less of a trade show and more a massive invite only automotive buffet style event. Alas, one can only consume so much.

Limited on time this year I wanted hit the big hall, wheels and tires and see the outside, foregoing the rest. Mostly I was shopping sponsors for the wide range of Happenstance events by focusing on the common ground, oil and tire companies.  We did however stop at favorites like Accuair , Airlift and H&R to visit with both old and new friends. Next we tracked down partner cars from Rotiform, 1552 , Avant Garde , VIP Modular and Dampfhammer wheels to name a few. I chatted with the business owners and media before bumping into Mike and Andrew from StanceWorks and The Offset. I found BigMikecares a few times and setup a dinner with the SOWO

Partners, #becausebags and Solowerks at BURGr . Closing down the evening with drinks in the lounge bar with folks at PlanetHollywood.

It’s an experience to find out who from your circle that you will inevitably run into at SEMA. Unsurprisingly the celebs are there amongst their lower rated reality star brethren. Bag upon bag of autographed posters and swag is to be had. But again, don’t be greedy, you don’t need the shirt off anyone's back. All in all its both a rush of people and product, take notes.  

To close, if you are serious about going to and enjoying SEMA (and can get tickets) remember this: while yes it is held in Las Vegas it may as well be held in Butte Montana as you simply won't time to enjoy anything 'traditionally' Las Vegas. And that is ok, trust me. While this was a fast trip I had a great time trolling around with Meisterwerks team and the Phantasy Kolors guys enjoying what is the automotive buffet to end all buffets. There is always next year.

 

 

#NWTOYRUN 2015

Story by Mike Tolliver and Shannon Fenton

Pictures by Chris Brown

In cruises the Amir’s bagged M3, and I watch from the stage. An amazing surf blue laid across a sultry stretch on the wheels set to a soundtrack of the staccato thrum of loping cams. It’s a good place to be on a cold morning to be sure. Though let’s reboot to the beginning of the day where I was sick, struggling to not toss my cookies while at home setting up little over 100 photos across my 8-10 social media accounts. Awaiting my driver for the truck.

 

Forty minutes past when the driver was to arrive so that we could get on the road for #NWTOYRUN patience is exhausted. A few calls and my backup driver was in route. Another queasy 35 minutes later and we were pulling into #NWTOYRUN with the semi-truck, finally ready to begin the day. We drive slowly past hundreds of cars staged in line for a not so typical Northwest morning. A-typical as the sun is out and the rain has finally abated, today is going to be a great day and its only 8:45am.

 

Cars flow as salmon run up the river in the fall. First hundreds then thousands progress through the line, toys or cash in hand to help kids with needs. Clubs and forums are parking in neatly organized rows, enthusiast tribes of every ilk. The lower bowl teems with stanced, slammed rides. On the StanceWars stage I’m booming the latest Big Sean and calling out for the next round of Lead/Follow to proceed to the track. The O’Brian group is stuffing a tiny little Scion to egregious capacity with 17 people in less than 2 minutes. Marines are filling tall a pair of large Enterprise Rental Trucks with hundreds or thousands of toys. At the end of the day there were nine rounds of Lead/Follow on the track and somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000-4,000 cars through the gate. This year's #NWTOYRUN netted over ten thousand dollars cash donated and both those Enterprise trucks were filled with toys. We were happy to have been involved again and ecstatic to donate what our profit was for the day.

 

 

StanceWars goes to Vegas

Well some know and some don't but adding or expanding is something I've been looking into for a long time. I've been watching others expand or have series of events and trying to learn from their mistakes. I've looked into any locations around the United States and Canada. Doing my research and development. I learned the harsh reality a few years ago when I tried to expand and add a new fitment event in San Francisco called Crafted Fitment. It seemed like a smart move at the time but the harsh

reality set in after the event when I reached for my personal check book to pay the venue, T-shirt guy and other bills. I lost about $5,000 that day and learned a valuable lesson. So things changed for me and I started to research more on out of town events and who was throwing them and how it was done and what issues and problems were happening. We had already started to take feedback on my other events and everything started to align and goals were being met.

Recently, ok maybe early summer I bought my latest project vehicle #projectfreightshaker its a 2001 Freightliner Columbia and a 87 Kentucky Drop trailer. While others were building their next show car I was secretly building a 65foot rolling stage, car hauler and event booth. What does this have to do with anything ? Well now Happenstance events has the ability to take everything we need to run a event properly out of state.

I'm reinvesting constantly into my events. We don't rent , we buy for the long-term. Controlling costs allows us to control our outcome and allows us to do things others cant. This was a lesson I learned from other groups along the way. I've got more that I'll reveal later on lessons learned.

So what about Vegas and do I know about Wuste? I known about Wuste for years and I know Brandon as well. I'm not enemies nor is he a close friend. The event is what it is. The first year I attended Wuste I met with the hotel staff to see about options and what was, and wasn't being done. Each year plans and conversations are renewed and things happen or don't according to my goals for the year. This upcoming year things aligned and possibilities become reality.

So I'm proud to announce my company, Happenstance event productions and its brand StanceWars will now have a expansion in Las Vegas March 28th at Boulder Station and Casino. www.boulderstation.sclv.com We’ll be treating our Las Vegas event a lot like a Spring Break for fitment nuts. Just four hours east of southern California, Las Vegas was a natural choice to combine several demographics in a single location and bring a destination event. Expansion of the... StanceWars franchise has been planned over several years while growing our brand and event logistics capabilities.

Our new Las Vegas StanceWars will be a weekend destination event planned carefully to incorporate the fitment world and the European community. StanceWars will be held atop the new 2700 space parking structure with a ‪#‎Top100‬ and vendor floor with 400-700 space VIP parking area. Although the vibe will be similar to our Bellevue event, in Las Vegas things will not be held back. Open container laws, Vape laws and bar service are very different in Las Vegas. We'll be having #tedtalks on fitment and wheels with some stage games like Airride Limbo.

Also joining the party will be second day event for Waterwerks NW for the European community of the south west. So take a minute and review http://vegascarshowweekend.com/ our combined registration portal for both StanceWars and Waterwerks NW guests.

Starting Monday December first you can book hotel rooms at Boulder Station. Early bird special $90 a night a night for Friday and Saturday and if you’re staying until Monday, only $45! Call Palace Station at (702) 367-2411 or 1 (800) 6-STATIONS and use reservation code “BCIWERK”

HondaFest - Snap Krackel Pop

You knows its the start of the season when you pull off the freeway and see hundreds of Hondas all in line

 

 

Last week we ventured out to an event we had not been to before. Normally this weekend there are three shows PNW SpringMeet , NissanFest and HondaTech. This year the planets aligned and we were able to make it out to Hondatech renamed to Hondafest and organized by Pacific Raceways and NWMotiv. As I said before I got off of south bounds highway 18 and there was the Hondas , hundreds of them all early and in the way. Needless to say I just hugged the shoulder and drove past to get in early to setup the #StanceWars booth. Once inside and seeing the layout we made our way over the northeast corner and started to setup next to That-Steez and few of the other vendors.

 

A few loud noises came for the track and people came and went all day past the booth. With the sun out we speculated on who in the crowd would have the worst sunburn and who needed a bit more sun. A few quick trips in the car show area and I saw some favorites and oh course a few booth honeys .

Words by | Mike Tolliver  
Photos by | Jonathan Teso

JSM Autohaus | Lowered Goods Meet

JSM Autohaus | Lowered Goods Meet

 

Words | MT

Pics| Chris Miller

 

It’s a bit chilling , and the day after I just took the staff to #Fast6 the night before, along with a trip to World of Beers , but that is another story . Back to task, chilling a little wet and thinking – weather man I think you got me again. The SlamVan is loaded  and a fresh wash the night before I was on the way to JSM Autohaus | LoweredGoods Meet. All I knew was its in Kirkland , I seen a lot of social media traffic and that this was the place to be on this day.

 

Arriving at JSM Autohaus we were greeted by a large number of clean JDM goodness with a amble amount of lipped wheels, my fav. After some quick introductions with the owners we were shuttled to our little spot and began a fun day of comical conversations , fast paced speed talking salesmanship and just some fat kid treats from the food trucks.

 

 A quick walk around the lots we seemed to find bunches of Vape dragging folks with very familiar cars. Let’s let the pictures from SBR talk to you. If you see us at a meet , walk up say hi and ask a question ,all of us will answer , but only one will be right J

 

SBR Event Pictures

Three hours to midnight

Well it’s near the end of 2012 , in fact it’s just three hours till midnight. I am doing the normal, relaxing at home , on the net and have a cold bottle of beer. So what all happened in 2012 for me ? Well I tried to attend 20+ car meets , a few shows in state and out of state. I tried to listen and learn as much as I could from others and from what I saw firsthand.

 

Mistakes …. Yup I’ve made a life in my life but I made a few good ones this year. So I was not prepared when I went to WEK Fest. I missed a hug opportunity at WEK Fest to get people to notice I was doing an event in the same town just a few months later. Super bone head move. So that lead me to make an even dumber move later by have the smallest most expensive stance event in the bay area. That lead to more disappointments in the fall and winter. Next I had to have a VIP party at StanceWars. What was I thinking . Tailored Seattle we had an epic party and I just wanted that again. Well the state liquor board called me just a few times , that put a huge damper on the party.  I think I paid more people not to come in then what paid to get in.

 

Success … yup I’ve seen that , I’ve had it in my hand and It’s still possible.  With 20 X III in a few hours and a lot of planning we are headed to have at least a lot of fun. I’ve been going to car shows , car meets and events for a long time and I like to think I know what most folks want . A few epic cars , lots of your friends , cool new people to meet and a story to remember. Well that’s what we are aiming for.

 

A taste …… what new on the horizon ? F U N ,that’s it . Keep an eye on us, things are happening .  

WinterMode ......

 

Well its winter time and if you want to know Seattle can be a down and out kinda place this time of year. Saturday it was sunning , so for a minute I took my little hot hatch out for a quick spin. I just wanted to get the oil up to temp and maybe take a layer of tire off J

 

 

Hot hatch , yup my black 1977 VW Rabbit with a 1999 AEB Passat motor and great hamster wheel. Its crotch rocket quick and I would not say that’s fast.

 

Winter , time to think about summer , make some plans that can’t we beat, and dream of a new car to build. Each winter starts to get me dreaming of a new build and now that I own a few car events it gives me more motivation to have something new to drive.

 

Last year I needed a shop van, I saved until I thought I had enough cash , but I could not find a xB for the budget I had outlined. I wanted a van to lug crap to shows and drag daily around. I was lucky enough to find a 2000 Odyssey. Check out http://www.facebook.com/projectodyssey2 for more details.  I knew where some NOS wheels were and I just had to get a few details together . A quick wrap and some rag tag manual air ride. It all came together rather well, even better than Paul thought. See the write up at MiamiStance.com

http://stancemiami.com/2012/08/08/vans-can-play-too/#more-154  

 

Well more planning for events like The Old School Reunion , StanceWars and CraftedFitment. Lets see what I have to say later about those.