JDMST Meet – Gripshiftslide

Eastside JDM :: Under The Cover Of Dark

Grant — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 00:27:41 +0000

On a dark Saturday night a large group of JDM car’s descended on a car park somewhere in Melbourne’s east. Although not all of the cars where exclusively from the east, some traveling from the north for a chance to meet other JDM import owners. Many cars were seen scouting the area even before the meet had started at nine thirty, presumably looking out for police or defect stations.

Other cars where seen doing blocky’s just because they were lost and could not see the meet point. With a vague location listed on the Facebook event page a fair group of cars found themselves congregating around a nearby MacDonalds.

Once a small group of cars lined up next to each other then it was a simple case of follow the leader. Streams of burbling WRX’s arrived with a pack of Nissan’s bringing a chorus of turbo flutter.

It wasn’t just Subaru’s and Nissan’s that brought the JDM flavor but also a few Mitsubishi’s that made an appearance.

There were even a few Euro invaders sneaking in slowly amongst the herd of JDM cars, quietly they found parking spots close to the main action.

Not may people are brave enough to add a bold contrasting color that attracts attention but the red highlights on this R34 help to give the car a bit of an impact.

Rare and unique yet not a JDM car this Ford Sierra Cosworth was hidden up the back of the car meet where it didn’t seem to attract the attention it so rightly deserved.

Among the sea of regular JDM cars was this little and rare semi softtop suzuki swift. I’ve never seen one before however it does make sense that Suzuki would create such a thing especially in the nineties.

Now For the heavy hitters! The crowd pleasures! A supra with some serious power and a full blown drift car driving around on club plates. These two cars pulled the biggest crowd of the night they also attracted the attention of the police who were keeping a close eye on the car meet.

Another euro invader, a mini with some chunky BBS rims and plenty of style.

You can never go wrong with the traditional black and gold combo that’s why the John Player Special livery is one of the most loved race car livery’s.

Two cars that share DNA parked right next to each other! The real question is when will Toyota release a turbo 86? There are plenty of bolt on turbo kits but no factory option, we have only been waiting five years and still we wait.

A rather clean S14 with a fresh looking kit never fails to impress, the S14 is like a middle child it never gets the love it deserves.

Who needs shiny wheels when you have a striking paint job like this!

Selling merchandise at car meets is starting to gain popularity, not only where there all kinds of stickers for sale but there was also hot donuts and coffee!

A strong representation from the AE86 crew with a nice mix of hatch and notchbacks all in a row.

You cannot go wrong with an FD RX7 remarkably this one has a massive front mount intercooler tucked behind the front bar for a bit of extra oomph.

Classic Japanese style smaller negative offset wheels with fat tires, whats not to like about this Onevia!

A change of parking spot brought a whole new crowd to these two show stoppers. Unfortunately the Insane Customs S13 Drift car was not appreciated by the highway patrol who threw the book at them for driving on club plates after 12am.

Looking a little worse for wear this MX5 is mid restoration yet i bet we will see this car with a completely new look very soon.

At first i did not recognize what car this was, I soon discovered it was a Subaru Impreza with some special tuning from AVO. This Impreza goes by the name of GPVII and has it own following on Instagram.

Parked way in the back, ready for a quick escape was this beautiful R34 weapon. It sat quietly in the shadow of darkness just begging for a photo.

Having owned an import i know the feeling of always watching your back when driving in Melbourne, being a target because you have a loud car or something that looks relatively fast does not mean your a criminal. Car meets like this bring together like minded people to share their creations with the rest of the car community. Eastside JDM are helping to keep a good group of JDM fans together much like the original JDMST group and we hope to keep a close eye on this forever growing movement.
-Grant

JDMST :: End of Year 2012

Grant — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 09:19:06 +0000

Last Sunday marked the end of year for the JDM Style Tuning Melbourne family and after such an up and down year for these meets, organisers were unsure how another large meet near the city would go.
Thankfully everyone was well behaved and the day was a smashing success!

With over 150 cars on display it can get a bit crazy so here are just some of the cars that caught our eye.
Neil from Primal Garage brought along his new 180SX, closely modeled on his previous black 180Sx. We expect this new one to be quite the head turner when he is finished tinkering.

Sitting pretty on a set of AME TM-02’s with some wide fenders to finish off this aggressive look nicely.

The car park chosen was just a stones throw away from the regular Bolte bridge location. Melbourne’s Monash freeway provided a fantastic backdrop, almost looking like a famous ‘Daikoku’ Japanese car meet. Rather fitting for a JDMST meet, don’t you think!!

With some regulars coming along for the afternoon it was almost a ‘best of’ JDMST looking at the year we’ve had.

This KE70 has been a regular attendee all year and with a considerable distance to drive to each meet we are impressed at the owner’s dedication to the club.

Now I am a big Honda fan (please don’t hate me) so this turnout really impressed me with some amazing builds that have been hiding somewhere in Melbourne.

This factory green EK civic was covered in cool parts; type R wing, spoon mirrors, carbon bonnet, Recaro seats and BBS wheels.
Another cool addition that only Honda nerds will pick up on or even appreciate is that the owner has installed SiR rear seats with headrests!
Amazing stuff we know but thought we should point it out for non-Honda fans.

Some more Civic’s that have snapped a lot if necks in their time no doubt, This USDM inspired duo have taken Honda’s in Melbourne to a new level.
Throw in some K series engine’s and these cars would be world class!

Both cars have been finished to such a high standard it really is an impressive sight seeing the two together. The Midori green hatch has CCW’s on all four corners while the Electron Blue coupe is wearing Sprint Heart CP-R’s. A classic choice amongst Honda aficionado’s.

Last Honda I promise!!
This DC5 Type S Integra was covered in hot parts like an aggressive looking lip kit, Spoon brake calipers and a set of Work 11R’s.
We’d love to see some more of this and maybe even under the hood!

The three lowest cars from Ballarat!!
The X7 Cressida’s were back out again and this time they brought their Skyline friend along. This R31 was so low it was scraping the whole way even at low speeds.
Ballarat is over an hour out from Melbourne so that would have been one intense drive!!

Here is Heath’s other car when he is not driving his cool Datsun wagon. That’s right, a convertible left hand drive Porsche!!
Very unique and we can’t wait to see if Heath adds any of his flare to this classic Euro beauty.

Evan from Rpower Motorsport came out with his R33 GT-R to see what all the fuss was about. Word on the street is that Evan is working on some exciting stuff at the moment.
We can’t wait to see what come’s of Rpower Motorsport in 2013!

The star of the show despite all the controversy over fake wheels and real stickers was by far this RX-7. It is one serious looking car, that wouldn’t look all that out of place in a batman movie, wouldn’t you agree?

Chris has been building this Mazda for quite some time now. The car originally started out white and has since taken on a very menacing look!

While no expense has been spared in the build, Chris’ RX-7 has been a hot topic of conversation since the meet thanks to some ‘fake’ wheels with genuine stickers. However these are just a temporary fit until he can decide on the perfect wheel for his pride and joy – according to Chris.

Gordie’s little Fiat showed up for its last Victorian meet ever. After the meet the blue Fiat was being picked up and taken back to Queensland with its new owner.

Something we would like to see done more here in Melbourne is the Subaru Forester. We have seen show and we have even seen a few with some ‘go’!
We are still waiting for one with the perfect balance. If you have a Forester or know of one that fits this description please send us an email on enq@gripshiftslide.com

More fuel for the ‘fake’ wheel fire! This Mazda hatch looked like a perfect daily streeter and we think the Jap hatch on Euro wheels is a winner!

Andrew’s Bug eye WRX has been stealing plenty of looks lately thanks to an impressive set of Work XD9’s wheels, with a size of 18×9 in +20 they’re rumored to be the only set like it in Australia!!

Believe it or not this little truck is a 1990 Nissan Sunny. Another rare thing to have in the land of Oz… as this is actually a long wheel base model!
Something considered rare as rockinghorse poo and is rumored to be the only one in Victoria!

Gareth’s MX5 has recently acquired a supercharger and has been enjoying some spirited mountain drives. We’re sure that this little roadster would be a heap of fun through some nice twisty roads!

Despite the obvious high front end. this S14 was near perfect! With tough looking front fenders, 2UP 3-piece wings and some huge Work Meister’s under the guards making it look the picture of perfection.

All in all, one of the best meets of the year. We take our hats off to the organisers for putting in all the hard effort to secure a location and for putting up with all of the stress worrying if people will behave our not.
With the day showing that there is hope for the Victorian scene yet, future events will see more entertainment and food etc available too.
Well done to all those who have participated and come along to any of these meets over the year, we have seen numbers grow from 20 odd cars to over 400!!!
Something we hope continues along with all the good behavior!
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.

RTR :: JDM Style Tuning Dyno Day

Grant — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 08:47:35 +0000

A couple of weeks ago a few members from the JDM Style Tuning forums managed to sweet talk the guys from the Road Track Rally into having JDMST dyno day at their workshop, the attending list on the forum was full and the workshop was filled with some truly amazing Japanese machinery on the day!

With the even running all day, car came and went so parking wasn’t an issue in the tiny back streets of Dandenong.
We snapped a few shots of Reece’s Camry while there was no other cars or a crowd around it (which is a rare sight at a JDMST meet).

This car receives a lot of praise for it’s stupidly low ride height and aggressive offset.

The SSR MS1 wheels are a perfect match for this unique entry into the stance scene.

The wild card for the day went to Tim and his SR20DET powered Club Man, this lightweight open wheeler coupled with the performance of the punchy boosted Nissan 2 liter engine would be one hell of a handful under full throttle!

Once one the rollers the little guy belted out an impressive 152Kw at the wheels!!

While the boys were slaving away in the dyno booth the workshop was filled with some beautiful street cars, loving the Ralliart mud flaps on this Evo!

This Evo sits a little closer to the functional side of the fence with a not so unfriendly ride height, some very wide wheels to offer a little extra grip and a healthy amount of poke to the little punchy sedan.

Every time we visit the RTR workshop we are always so blown away by how clean it is!
Upstairs we found a set of Nismo wheels holding this wall up, we wondered if anyone would notice if they went missing…

The immaculate RTR Evo X is another mind blowing experience walking into this workshop hidden away in Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs, We also crack a massive smile when we spot the GSS stickers on the bumper!!

Hidden in the back we found Trae’s Evo 7, now it seems it wasn’t actually there to go the dyno at all but in fact staying for a sleepover getting some things finished under the hood…

We’re not exactly sure what else could be done to improve this engine bay!!

Our favorite car on the day had to be this immaculate R34 GT-R!!

Bayside Blue and white wheels is a match made in heaven!

Shaun’s Skyline conquered the day with an impressive 292.8kw!!
More than enough for any fun street car.

All in all it was a great day out, very relaxed compared to the chaos of some of the bigger meets of late that have seen plenty of police trouble.
This was a breathe of fresh air and everyone who participated enjoyed testing the performance of their cars in a safe and legal manner and we’re hoping there are many more ‘activity’ based meets in the future as standing around cars in a car park can get stale.
Well done to the organisers and RTR for hosting such good day!
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.
Photos : Andrew Nguyen | AN Photography

JDMST :: Melbourne Meet June

Grant — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 08:33:02 +0000

Well another month done means another end of month meet for the JDMStyletuning crew, with record numbers at every meet things are still looking good for Melbourne’s car scene… Despite some very frosty weather there was around 300 cars at the meet!!

With those kind of numbers the small area under the Bolte Bridge was soon packed fence to fence, finding a parking spot was becoming extremely difficult with cars pouring out onto the street!

Regardless of the ‘JDM’ in the name, the meet always get its fair share of euros as well!
With a healthy amount of v dubbers in attendance there was more then enough variety for those bored of the Japanese cars on show.

It was really good to see an SW20 turbo at the meet, their popularity has really dropped off in the last 5 years and that is a real shame.
They are such a nice car and the GT model has one of the best interiors of the 90’s!

S15 Varietta, it’s a love hate for some…
We like anything that is different, with the roof down it is still one very attractive car!

Sticker bombing on a whole new level!
Next we will see a whole car… It’s only a matter of time.

Finally the brand new Toyota 86 makes it’s JDMST debut here in Melbourne!

From here you can gauge the scale of how small this car really is, being very similar dimensions to the mx5 which is a very good thing!

The hero car of 2012!
It’s vital that the FT86 succeeds worldwide to remind the Japanese auto manufactures that they need to sell performance based vehicles and they should never leave their heritage to die.

The Galant VR4 is often a car that gets overlooked, they’re an aggressive car with plenty of bang for buck and a heaps of boot space!
So much carbon fiber goodness too!!

Classic Toyota styling and one hell of a colour combo!

The perks of running an older car… Club registration!!

Sometimes simply really is best, factory lip kit, nice wheels and one of the best paint colours to roll of a showroom floor!

Yes its is the famous crazy loud RS Impreza, with a brand new set of teeth, the owner tells me that these teeth have already tasted blood!
Watch out for the feature on this car coming in the next few months!!

Ex Auto Salon car, check out this crazy interior!

There is nothing like a little sun shower in the middle of the day, Melbourne living up to it’s bizarre weather patterns like always.

A very shiny intake manifold on this Alfa, Everybody stopped to stare.

The little red AW11 MR2, still clean as hell from the last meet!

Old school with a touch of luxury, this Creseida would make for a killer daily!

Happy Euro is happy!

With nearly 300 cars at just one time there was nearly 600 people running around, ridiculous numbers for such an informal event!

This KE70 has graced our pages a few times, it’s great to see owners so active and attending so many events.

The cars kept creeping through all afternoon, trying to find that special empty spot.

This R34 was utterly perfect, such a rare colour for a GT-R and the wheel fitment and colour combo was spot on!!

Everyone dressed warm, those that didn’t huddled in cars for fear of dying in the sub 10 degree weather!!

Talk about setting a parking trend.

We spotted these gangster as valve caps on this little MX5, it’s the little details that make a car.

The Nissan S15’s seem to double in numbers at every meet.

The cars made full use of the area, bumper to bumper parking meant it was extremely hard to get a shot of just one car in particular!

A wild pack of Subaru’s appeared

There where no more sun showers, soon the sun faded and the rain came down hard!

Despite the downpour the cars remained and the show went on.

One of the good old Evos, these always remind me of the PS1 game Colin Macre 2

It’s a shame there is a fence between the meet and the water, this space would make for some awesome photo opportunities!

Some of the clouds passed just to tease us with a few final minutes of the setting sun.

Vyet’s track spec s2000 stopped the show for many who were in awe of this deadly little convertible, absolutely no hard parking here… This car gets driven!!

Awesome little Datsun 1200 Ute now with a new engine too!

GSS contributor, Melvin Tang’s Subbie hatch sitting very well on some Enkie wheels.

One of the We heart Car comp winners, Lon in her impressive little black MX5.
No wonder she won a prize!

New wheels for this familiar looking Datsun wagon, we are really digging the new look!

After some unsavory behavior from some people leaving the event, the meet was quickly over and cars started to leave.
A reminder to all those attending, don’t act like dick’s, dropping burnouts and the police will leave us alone.
With a massive turnout in spite of some rain and freezing temperatures we can’t wait for summer!!
Thanks for looking,
– Grant / Gwyn
Guest Photographer :Leigh Kelly
www.facebook.com/leighkellyphoto
www.whereisleigh.com

JDMST May :: Imports of The Caribbean Market

Grant — Mon, 28 May 2012 05:39:37 +0000

Melbourne’s latest JDMST meet was held yesterday morning, with a new location and time slot it was set to not be a hit with the masses.

With the meet starting at 9am at the Caribbean Market in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, for some it was going to be too early and for some a bit too far… To top all that off, the weather was looking less then fantastic!
However the crowds did turn up and the car park filled beyond expectations!

I was extremely surprised to see this purple kitted up R34 roll into the car park.

There was something about it I just couldn’t put my finger on…

It was actually an R32 with a R34 front end conversion!!
Certainly not something you’d see everyday! Also conversions like this aren’t everybody’s cup of tea but well done to the owner for building such a unique looking car.

One of the first cars I stopped to take photos of was this brown Kesev, everything was on point.
Loved the DORI show plates too!

There were a decent amount of Honda’s like this EK Civic, rocking all the usual good stuff… Recaros, hood bra, roof racks and a nice amount of stance.

This little Diahatsu was back on the road after clearing a recent defect notice. It was cocking it’s legs like a small terrier thanks to a nifty airbag suspension set up.

This little performance started to pull in a small crowd.

Gerry’s stunning 240K Skyline made it out for the early morning meet.

While it remains classic in appearance on the outside, it’s far from classic under the hood! With an RB25 and a host of modifications to the drive line, suspension and brakes make it all work.

Inside this brilliant machine, it’s the same blend of new vs old. Trimmed into the center console is a double din screen controlling the soundtrack to this Japanese muscle car.

There were also a few hot hatches on show, they looked like the perfect battle – parked side by side… Jap Vs. Euro.
We would love to see these two go head to head.

By 11am the designated area was close to full and cars arriving struggled to find a park close by.

This S15 on black Work Miester’s is one of the best examples of that old saying that sometimes ‘less is more’.

It was great to see an Sw20 MR2 out and about, they seem to be dwindling in numbers these days.

Some more old school Toyota love, two KE70’s parked side by side.
From memory the owner of the orange Corolla is from Ballarat, massive dedication right there to get to this meet!

Check out the amount of lock on the blue one!

A Gripshiftslide.com sponsored drift car made an appearance too!

There were actually a heap of stickers on cars at the meet!
From both Grant and myself, thanks for all the support. Even though the stickers don’t make us rich it really is great motivation seeing dozens of cars with the logo on them.

The man responsible for this meet gets to drive this Liberty home! Very jelly!

Rob of Full Motion Photography fame’s very own MX5, looking just as tough as ever.

It was nice to see this little red 86 now registered and with some new wheels!

Now I think I might be getting a little slow these days, because I only just worked what the plates on this Cappuccino mean…

Inside the cozy little Suzuki Cappuccino was a nice wood grain trim and Nardi steering wheel.

The car park was now full and cars continued rolling in!

Spotted a nice little diffuser set up on this EM1 Civic.

300ZX Vs. 180SX.

Micheal’s I ‘heart’ Grip RX Impreza made the drive from the west, with a few more details finished inside this is shaping up to be one of the best street cars in VIC!!

This classic Celica was amazing to say the least, sitting on Gram lights and sporting an engine bay you could literally eat off!
Sitting next to it was one extremely rare TE27 Corolla too!

Something you never see on Australian roads, a Nissan S15 Varietta.
The car looked perfect in this colour!

Something equally as rare but somewhat unnoticed at a JDMST meet, a BMW E30 wagon!

A touch of VIP, this Toyota Crown had quite a crowd around it all day.

Tri spoke wheels don’t work on many cars but this 4th gen Honda Prelude is one of the exceptions.

Rock out with your SOHC out!

Gareth’s super clean and soon to be turbo MX5.

This white FD RX-7 stole a few hearts that day, it was gorgeous!!

Back to the brown KE Corolla that had a few people staring, check out the massive drift pipes!
Also to the female owner of this car, well done!!

So despite being early on a Sunday with some not so fantastic weather, the turnout was great!
With the final car count somewhere around the 200+ mark, the numbers were awesome!
Well done to the organisers and all those involved. Looking forward to more planned meets like this without having to worry about people ruining it and police interrupting the fun.
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.