There was a handful of Porches like this duo in white, a beautiful 911 and a road ready-racer GT3.

Hands down my favorite V8 powered saloon car. The Mercedes C63. The 6.2L engine creates the most euphoric noise simply by mixing petrol and air! Amazing!!

Between spats of rain when the heavens finally closed up the sun came shining down resulting in some quick costume changes for some.

Despite being on the ‘plumpier’ side compared to the old model, tipping the scales at almost two tonne. The new BMW M5 can get up to 100kph from stand still in just over 4 seconds… The M5 is definitely punching above it’s weight!!

I think I saw a bunny wabbit!! A MK1 Golf aka the Volkswagen Rabbit in the US. The original Golf has always been a charmer, before these guys “Hot Hatches” didn’t exist.

Aside from VW’s as far as the eye could see there was a healthy amount of BMW’s filling out the lines at the show. This E30 was picture perfect sitting atop it’s mesh wheels.

The Z4 M is one of the most underrated roadsters of the modern area. With a punchy straight 6 engine and great handling just add some iconic Japanese wheels and it’s winning combo in our books!

At every show there’s that one car, that one you wait just a little bit longer for people to move out of the way to make sure you get the photo…

This was ‘The car’… This stunning E92 BMW was menacing from every angle.

There’s no denying the wheels are the hero here. 3 piece Work Meisters in satin black.

The fitment is spot on, the owner is brave to be driving around like this in Melbourne for quite a few reasons!

All the cool kids rock up late these days and nothing says cooler than a fresh yellow sticker from the boys in blue. The owner of this Golf also scored some airtime on the “highway patrol – TV Show” so keep your eyes out for that episode when it airs.

It’s easy to see why it got so much attention from side on… Absolutely slammed on a set of Porsche wheels, check out that dish!!

More AMG goodness, this time a coupe. We miss hood emblems, stupid inconsiderate pedestrians ruining it for everyone!!

Another comfortable German four door packing a V8 under the hood and mated to Audi’s renowned 4WD system makes this one quite capable in corners and off the line!

Speaking of 4WD… Not many can come close to the mighty Nissan GTR. The Victorian chapter of Skylines Australia had a huge display of Japan’s greatest export on show.

Round taillights as far as the eye can see…

There was plenty of R35’s on display and amongst such a large group it didn’t take much to stand out, just some wheels and a nice drop in the ride height and this grey number was looking great!

One of the most Iconic colours for the R34’s. Bayside Blue is always a favorite of ours.

We were pleased to find two GTR’s wearing blue at the show, if they were girls at a party they would NOT be friends right now.

This track spec R33 GTR was looking nice thrown into the mix, definitely not the most popular GTR model but this one was very aggressive! It just looked like it was itching to get out onto the track!!

The V35… Some love to argue it’s not a “real” Skyline at all. Others simply see it for what it is… A sleek and sporty luxury coupe. They were a big hit in the US.

The bad weather meant many entrants were running late, cars kept flowing in all morning.

Everyone’s favorite. A Ford Mustang. The blue was great colour on the classic body and with a bigger chin than a man from a Bonds commercial too!

Now to a local hero… The Holden SL/R 5000 Torana. With hulking wheel arches from factory and the green hue it certainly was looking angry!

Remember when I said this was the most eclectic car show around? Down the front we found a giant Dodge ‘truck’, wrapped commodore and wrapped Monaro.

The ‘loud’ looks of the other wrapped cars were dulled by this gleaming Mercedes coupe. The gold wrap had a mirror finish, we were just happy the sun was tucked away behind the clouds!!

In between checking out all the cars there was often the distracting sound of some cars blasting around Sandown circuit, this was the perfect backdrop for the car show.

We don’t know why this guys been hiding from all the Classic Japan shows… A pristine Mitsubishi Galant GTO is a rare sight to be had!

Onto some more classic rides from the land of the rising sun. There were a handful of beautiful Z’s on show.

This was our favorite 270ZX of the bunch, super clean, wheel flares and dished wheels. Perfect!

There was even some quality cars for the little guys at the show! Any kid rolling around in the driveway in one of these bad boys is sure to be the envy of all the other kids in the street.

It seems there were also a few nice cars out in the car park.

We found Daniel’s MX5 adorning a few extra additions.

The new spoiler is a killer piece to finish off the look of the car.

Now we’ve all seen manga art used on a car but we’ve never seen a panel this big done entirely in manga comics.

While it’s pretty extreme it is nice to see some quality artwork up close.

One of the more ‘wild’ looking 86’s at the show, this one paying homage to Toyota Racing Developments ‘TRD’.

Hybrid and electric cars are for rain forest loving hippies right? Wrong!! Tesla has been changing people’s perception of electric powered cars since 2008. Thanks to some ingenious engineering, some 600 newton meters of torque and over 300KW of power.
While range is still the biggest issue for these types of cars speed certainly isn’t a problem anymore.

Easily one of the most curious cars at the show… The English sports car known as the Ultima GTR.

It’s offered both as a fully built road ready car and funnily enough as a (do it your self) kit car. The car is however far more advanced than it’s diy origins let on.

Utilising a tubular steel space frame with a fiberglass body it’s light, really light!! Weighing in a smidge under a 1,000KG.

Inside is one of the simplest interiors we’ve ever come across. No distractions here just some pedals, a shifter and a steering wheel. Surrounded by a generous splash of Alacantra and this is somewhere we simply refer to as our “happy” place.

The engine found in the “turnkey” version (factory built) is a small block V8 sourced from Chevrolet mated to ether a Porsche gear box or Getrag Transaxle unit. Recent builds have been putting out over 500kw… That makes for 0-100kph in about 2.6 seconds!!!!

Now the exotics. Custom Cars & Coffee really has it all. There were Lamborghini’s, Ferrari’s, and Maserati’s for all to see.

Lamborghini’s have always been the pin up poster car of choice for young enthusiasts but it wasn’t until the Murcielago came along in 2001 that Lamborghini really took the mass produced super car fight to Ferrari. Paving the way for the Gallardo which sold more in total than all previous Lamborghini’s combined! The Murcielago was however the more extreme of the two featuring the companies biggest V12 engine to date.

The Murcielago really is one of the most striking cars in person and easily one of the widest at over two meters wide!!

What would an Italian super car be with out scissors doors?! It really adds to the theater of the angry Italian bull.

The heart of the beast. A 6.5L monster of a V12. One of the last we’ll ever see thanks to stricter emission laws.

Lastly another V12 terror from the land of pizza. The Ferrari Testarossa. One of the most Iconic supercars of the 80’s and also known for it’s ridiculously large side mirrors.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Custom Cars & Coffee and can only imagine what the turnout would have been like if the weather was on the dryer side.
This is hands down the best mix of cars we’ve seen on home soil and really captures the feeling we get seeing all the photos from some of the coffee meets from Irvine, California.
We’re look forward to the next big event these guys conjure up, to keep up to date follow their Facebook page here. Customcarsandcoffeemelbourne
In the mean time if you have a craving for early mornings, roasted beans and gorgeous cars then check out the regular monthly meets held by Road Track Rally – Cars & Coffee
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.

Just over two weeks ago we received a phone call from the Sydney All Stars crew saying they would be coming to Melbourne and we should host a big meet up!
With the excitement of co-hosting a big meet with our pals from over the border, we got busy making calls and had a location booked with just a week until the date when of course –  disaster struck!
Our first venue had double booked us so and we needed to either cancel altogether or relocate! So it was back to the phone to find an alternative, that was when we called up the ever faithful Caribbean Market in Melbourne’s east. After our last very successful event there, they were more than happy to have us back with just a weeks notice!!


The next step was to invite some friends of Gripshiftslide.com.
Our regulars on the day included Saint Side Shop, Ilovedrift.com, JDMparts.rupewrecht.com and of course we lined up our mate Luke on the decks for the four hour straight set!!
Yep, the day was set to be a hit with the only question mark being the always unpredictable Melbourne weather.

Arriving at the markets around 9:30am, we started setting up and getting everything ready before the big 12pm start. For once it looked as though the weather would be on our side too!
Saint Side Shop and Ilovedrift.com arrived soon after bringing a bunch of cool gear to display, like Cats’ Sileighty drift car and one of Saint Side’s cutom BMX’s.

Dan from JDMparts.rupewrecht.com was all smiles after he had all his amazing wheels on display. This is a dangerous guy to invite to an event because every time we spend way too much time contemplating buying wheels from him! Go away Dan!!!

Our interstate guests arrived a little later after having a big night on the town. They brought along the All Stars Maloo Ute for the journey down from Sydney and had many of the local guys and girls drooling over it all day!

The first car to arrive was this clean black R34 with a twin brother in Bayside blue and so of course by now the excitement was kicking in already… This was going to be a very good day!!

Within minutes little groups started pouring in. This MX-5 was quick to steal our attention from the rest of the group. The bright red roadster looked so good against the green grass!

By now things were really up and running with a constant stream of cars crawling in and we do mean crawling, unfortunately we weren’t advised we were going to need our own volunteers to direct the traffic so we had to improvise a little.
Our friend Paul took charge and was the main man telling everyone where to park and did a killer job –  so a massive thank you goes out to Paul for doing way more than he should have!

Thanks to the teams efforts the main area was looking great, it was jam packed with all sorts of rad cars… from this super aggressive looking Golf

To the loudest car on the day by far, this immaculate black SS Camaro!

Not far from the Camaro was this crazy XY drift car, yep drift car! We’ve been hearing a bit about this build and we’re very excited to get to see the finished result at a drift day really soon.

Even with the main area full, more and more cars kept arriving and the cars began spilling out into another grassy area and soon there were practically two shows running simultaneously.
We loved the sight of this crisp white Hachi Roku rolling in.

Speaking of AE86’s, we couldn’t stay away from this tidy red example on Impul Hoshino’s. As the sun started fading behind the clouds the paintwork really came alive!

Justin’s S2000 was looking good with it’s new shoes, white on white is always a good idea!

We don’t know if the owner of this actually came over from SA but this S12 was so straight and looked great with some slightly aggressive fitting wheels.

It seems our fan base has been infiltrated by Toyota Chaser owners as there was at least 10 at the meet. With examples this good, we weren’t complaining!!

Another big group at the meet had to be the E30 Squad. These boys live and breath everything Bavarian Motor Works, but more specifically the now legendary E30 model.

From the clean and straight.

To those sporting a host of accessories from the M series catalog.

If we had to pick one that captured our hearts it would probably be this one with a great wheel choice and a race inspired interior with a single Sparco seat and an after market steering wheel.

While directing traffic I broke my neck checking out this FC Rx7.

After it had parked I was pulled in by the little details the owner had added around the headlights.

Yep, that’s a black and white manga comic wrapped around the plastics!

It seemed we were treated to a heap of cool older Evo’s.

We counted four Evo 6’s hiding around the place!

Is Melbourne the home of modified Toyota Camry’s?? This very new model Camry was stealing a few looks from passers by and maybe at first people were wondering what type of car it in fact was. The new model is sporting some pretty mean looking headlights!

Another car still in it’s infancy as a modifiers choice of blank canvas, the Honda Jazz. This is something we could get used to seeing a lot more of!!

Jono from Zeroclearance.net’s S13 was looking very dope with a brand new wing and some super wide steelies, sitting beneath the rear guards are wheels measuring a staggering 15×10 with 0 offset!!

Local female drifter and GSS favourite is Esther and her sparkly Sileighty. The obscenely bright pink gram lights always grab peoples attention whether it’s sliding at the track or parking hard at one of our meets, it is clear to see that people love this car.

Or maybe it’s just the numberplate’s?

With cars coming and going all day it was hard to keep track but we think this was the only R35 GT-R in Melbourne that wasn’t on display at the PSRA- Performance Motorshow. (More on that show later!)

We were also very lucky to be graced with two Honda NSX’s!! This is the pinnacle for Honda fan boys. The faces of onlookers as this drove in to find a parking spot was priceless!

We always like to help out a good cause so we let our friends Matt and Simon come along and run a raffle next to our stand, the boys have entered a Mystery Box Rally to help raise funds for cancer research.
We will be keeping you guys up to date  with ways you can help out and even bring you some of the action while the boys are driving the pants of their mystery rally car.

At the end of the day the raffle was drawn by yours truly and a lucky winner walked away with a mystery box of their own full to the brim with $$$ worth of Martini Racing products and Redline gearbox oil and heap of other cool stuff like some GSS merch!!
To stay up to date with the boys and their journey follow them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/choongaandsimmomysterybox

Niel from Primal Garage brought out his poster worthy 180SX and a very clean customers car…

This is one of the latest cars to roll out of the Primal Garage workshop and the wheel choice was spot on for the new Toyota 86. We think this car needs to have a few more photos taken at a later date.

This old school ghetto blaster was actually tuned in and pumping tunes at a whopping 4watts RMS off the roof of the car… What car??

A rat-rod commodore of course!! This car was actually a big hit and it’s charm seemed to win over a few people.

We also got a visit from a monster truck! Not really but when you park a massive Chevrolet Z71 next to the kind of cars we normally see at a meet like this, there is quite a staggering difference in size!

The Corolla wagon we fell in love with at 100MM was kind enough to show up for the afternoon and park in front of our stalls for us to enjoy looking at it as the event started to wind down.

The 612 Autoworks boys managed to convince Charlie to bring down his brand new toy, a Datsun C210 Skyline. This thing is bad ass and until that afternoon I didn’t even know I wanted one and now it’s all I can think about!

Also this happened… Two DMC Delorean’s!! The two parked up side-by-side and enjoyed a mini photo shoot at the end of the day with a dozen cameras on them at one time. It was a very unique sight and sadly something I might not get to see again.

As 4 o’clock struck we waved off our interstate guests and began packing up the stalls and cleaning up some of the litter left behind.
Given the amount of people that attended the place was looking great and thankfully the markets didn’t mind the disturbance of one of Melbourne’s biggest meets happening right next door to them.
We really can’t thank all those that attended and more importantly helped out with the massive task of setting up and keeping on top of the traffic and then packing it all up at the end of the day again, but you know who you are.
We have some big plans and a west side meet coming very soon! Stay tuned Melbourne and thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.

A few weeks have passed since Melbourne’s last JDM Style Tuning meet, but could it be the last for good?
After some appalling behavior the police were called to the scene and things escalated quickly with the event shut down and people told to go home.
Despite all this we saw some of the best cars Melbourne has to offer, read on to see more…


The moment we got close to the multi level parking the excitement was high with some music in the distance echoing down the street and a substantial line of cars crawling up the lane way to get in.
Pulling in we spotted a group of Lamborghini’s and even a couple of Ferrari’s so we were expected some quality cars in the car park.

The cars kept pulling in, from the rooftop you could have spent the whole afternoon just watching all the cool cars entering the car park

We followed this tidy little Nissan TRX into the venue, this is the first time I have seen one at a meet let alone one this clean!

After hunting for some exciting cars at the entrance we began our slow crawl up the multi level car park, as we got closer to the stop the music from earlier got louder and louder, expecting to see some decked out car audio display we were pleasantly surprised to see a DJ set up on one of the higher levels belting out the tunes!

Nearly every level there was something worth stopping for, we spotted a group of people huddled around this white 458 Italia surrounded by other exotics and tough euros.

An old favorite of the GSS team…

Heath’s Datsun 260 wagon, apparently since this event Heath has lowered the car a touch more so expect to see some more shots of this in the future!

On one of the higher levels we found this Z club with a large group all lined up for some shots together, some ranged from stock to the heavily modified.

With the estimated number of cars above the 300 mark this was some turnout and with the location the vibe was fantastic!
However the local law enforcement had come to investigate the traffic congestion and one thing led to another and a car was given a defect notice outside the venue…
Things got out of hand after someone from the top level had thrown a bottle down to the street were the police car was parked, this single action ended what was possibly the best event Melbourne import owners had ever seen.

We won’t focus on the bad points but rather take a look at what was achieved with absolutely no funding or support from anyone other than one single person that organized this whole event.

The cars were impressive everywhere you turned, these two ‘stanced’ Accords had a corner to them selves.
With some uber low suspension, how did they even get into the car park??!

Melbourne’s Honda scene is definitely alive and strong, the rooftop alone was littered with dozens of hot Honda’s, this is about the third week in a row we have put up a shot of this green EK hatch! We just can’t help ourselves!!

Meet the boss, this S2000 has been on our site a few times before as well.
It’s all business at the front and party at the back with an all out diffuser and wild exhaust.

The infamous JDM cop car, not to every bodies taste but it does take a nice photo or two.

The boy racers dream, Two racetrack ready MX5’s and an EF8 CRX!

The rooftop provided some great backdrops, unfortunately it also allowed people to get nice and close to the edge which in turn resulted in the incident that caused the police to retaliate.

We managed to snap this bright yellow DC2 Integra slowly approaching the entrance before we were asked to leave, the JDM front is one of the best designs to ever come out of Japan!

We are always on the hunt for more European cars to post on the site, As soon as I saw this matte black RS4 Audi I ran to take some shots of it parking. The cold wintery skyline made the wagon look right at home!

There was a number of Mazda’s hidden in the lower levels, this red FD RX7 stole a lot of looks from the people walking past.

Just one level below the RX7 we grabbed a shot of these two ballin’ MX5’s together, we still can’t un-see the smiley face in the front bar tho.

DR30 Skylines are on the brink of becoming a classic, just a few more years and these will start to skyrocket in value!

This DC5R belonged to Club ITR member David, with a killer wheel combo and carbon bonnet, all on his P’s too!!

There wasn’t as many Toyota’s at the meet but we did see a couple of Supra’s hiding out and quite a few older Corollas.

We have seen Ricky’s Honda Del Sol pop on a few blogs and no one has even mention the fact that it has an EG Civic front end, hats off for pulling off one of the first conversion in the country!!

This black on black R35 GT-R was one of the last cars we got to take a photo of before the police asked us to move on, we look forward to seeing more of these Skylines modified as second hand prices fall here in Australia.
What started as one of the most exciting events also turned into one of the most memorable for all the wrong reasons, with the best range of cars we have ever seen it really was a shame to see it all ruined by a hand full of people.
The future for large car meets in Melbourne will be shaky to say the least, we are still set to host our own show & shine event later this month at Calder Park.
Check our facebook page for more details!
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.