I try my best to stay on top of the sudden explosion of random parking lot meets in my area, which means constantly scraping through social media to find decent meetups that draw in more well-built and thought out cars. A lot of the time I’ll end up in the parking lot of a Target or Wall-mart that’s full of civilian traffic, cops, and hordes of crappy, cheap cars on crappy, cheap wheels. Thankfully when I decided to bop over to TheBigBangMeet’s gathering I found a lot more going on than I expected! The now long-gone Super Autobacs in Westminster up the street from where I live has hosted a smattering of local meets over the past few years and not many of them draw what you would call a ‘show-worthy’ crowd, but the planets aligned that day and I got a chance to see some really cool examples of classic Japanese automotive artwork for free!
I parked, got all my camera gear situated, and right as I started scanning the lot for where to begin, this gorgeous C10 Hakosuka Skyline parked right in front of me. Now I don’t hold any beliefs regarding the divine, but this was one of those times where I felt like the car gods were smiling over me. Talk about your archetypal setup with a tasteful drop, chin spoiler, and bolt-on overfenders outlining a set of classic Watanabes.
On the other end of the spectrum was this ‘USDM-Style’ eg civic on aggressivley fitted Diamond Racing wheels, bosozoku-inspired exhaust tip, and anodized tow-hook.
A good euro build is tough to find at this type of meet as the general flavor has more of a Japanese vibe, but this Mk3 Jetta on BBS and bagged golf were a decent representation. Too bad about the replica wheels on the golf though.
My favorite car of the meet had to be this pristine AE86 with Version Select aero, overfenders, and Work Meister CR-01. I love these corollas and all the history the chassis has in driving culture and seeing one this clean and well put-together outside of a show put a huge smile on my face.
510 wagon that constantly had a swarm of people around it checking out what was under the hood.
And here’s why! Not many street-driven 510 owners can use their bays as a sterile surgical environment.
Hopefully I’ll get to see a lot more of this car and it’s owner as show season ramps up, definitely an interesting build.
There’s not much wrong with life if you can enjoy it from this view, they just don’t make cockpits like they used to.
As is usual at most local meets, NVüS had strong support among those in attendance. This slammed and cambered FA5 Civic is one of many among their numbers.
It takes a certain type of person to throw a batman logo on the full-carbon front end of an S2000. An awesome person.
There were a few playful shouts of ‘Needs more low!” and “I still see wheel gap!” as this eg scraped by.
I’m a sucker for a set of Work XD9’s on about anything, especially if they’re any kind of matte finish and thought they suited this 300zx perfectly.
I ran into a few fellow Fit owners as well, it’s always good to see fellow mini-minivan enthusiasts out in the wild!
Interesting combination of passions going on with this 200SX (S12), graffiti, comic books, and an airbrushed brain-bucket? I like where you’re going!
I guess the moral of the story is not to be afraid to check out a local parking-lot meet. Yes, sometimes you’ll end up being one of the only six cars that showed up, or someone will attempt some sweet front-wheel burnouts and get the cops called, or any number of crazy shenanigans, but more often than not you’ll have an entertaining story to tell and will have met some new, worthwhile car fanatics like yourself that share the same passion for this insane lifestyle.
Hobbaswaggle!© 