AutoCon, as much as I want to commit to my usual writing etiquette and tell you about what an amazing event this was and how sorry you must be for missing it. However, I can’t. It seems that every car enthusiast in a hundred mile radius turned up for quite possibly the most advertised and reputable car show of the year. Held a little closer to home than most years it was imperative that we were amongst the hoard of photographers, and other enthusiasts slammed together in the parking lot of Santa Anita Race Park this past Saturday. 

Though the heat was excruciating and places to sit and escape the heat were scarce, it didn’t seem to affect the hundreds if not thousands of attendees at the event from soaking in all the show, and the sun had to offer. With so many incredible cars, vendors, and even a stripper poll from our boys at Chemical Guys… There was more eye candy roaming around than any given day on Hollywood Blvd, and it definitely made the scorching heat and aching legs well worth the constant walk around the showcase.

Two members of our own Stance Syndicate were able to make it into the showcase, including our newest member Benji Gutierrez and his R53 Mini Cooper S, sitting pretty on some gorgeous and pristine white BBS RS classics. Don’t let the girly demeanor fool you “Swaggy” as he has so loving been named packs quite a punch under the hood as well. Definitely not your girlfriends Mini.

Our other Euro member Joel Reyes was able to make it out and melt faces with his GTI’s usual aggressive demeanor and incredibly built swagger, although we felt the black & white color scheme was getting a tad bland so our boy Jerod decided to add some color… Unfortunately within a couple of hours most of our new colorful “accents” were gone, for obvious reasons.

Speaking of well built European monsters. Our boy Pat Estudillo may be out of the country but it doesn’t mean his car has to miss out on the fun of AutoCon. Look for this glorious HPR built Bavarian monster to grace the pages of Stance Stories a lot more often, hopefully with his own feature!

Although my boys from Autoproject were sorely missed… Mostly because I had no booze buddies for the day, some of the members were able to make it into the showcase. In the words of our boy Kurt “mijas roll deep son”.

On the opposite end of the lot we ran into this female owned Silvia, and may I say.. Oh my lord what a clean build. You wouldn’t guess from looking at it, but most of the exterior add ons are rattle can painted, whoever does the body work for this Silvia has my business any day of the week.

Where there is one VIP build there are many. With this new style slowly growing larger by the day and starting a new chapter in the automotive culture it’s always cool to see the new things people are coming out with, and though some builds do seem to blend together, there is always more than a few jaw droppers scattered around… Especially builds like Ojay’s Lexus LS.

Jerod Lopez, the mastermind behind the new addition to Joel now colorful build, seems to not receive the recognition he deserves. Though he is forever the comic in any circle of friends. His CG6 build has more heart and commitment in it than most marriages. From the beginning it seemed nobody believed in this project turning out the way it did, myself included. May I say, well played sir, well played. I definitely have my foot in my mouth on this one.

With all the gorgeous built Audi A3′s in the game now-a-days. From Joser Romo’s gorgeous static green A3 to Antonio Rocha’s blue bombshell on CCW Classics it’s still nice to see people taking shots with the popular chassis type, and succeeding in snapping the necks of even the most snobby of European and even JDM exclusive enthusiasts. Much like Jason’s Accuair and BBS equipped fire red Audi A3, this will be a popular chassis for years to come, and we have no complaints on our end.

Well fitted Subaru’s are rare, considering most of the community considers it practically blasphemous to eliminate even a drop of functionality from the track-built champions, we at Stance Stories always welcome well fitted STI’s especially the newer wagon chassis. Absolutely gorgeous.

Much to my awe, most people had no idea what they were looking at walking by this car. What is this gorgeous car you may be asking yourself. This is a a Honda NSX complete with a full wide body Vielside kit. Vielside kits are rare for any cars in the U.S.A, especially on an NSX, but good Jesus does it look gorgeous. Best in Show in our books for sure!

These Porsche’s have always been somewhat of a dream car for me. Nothing says you’ve arrived to me, like a mid-80′s 911 SC sitting in the driveway of your home. Though most of these cars in our scene are the pre-made Rauh-Welt monsters, it’s still more than refreshing to see these built in one mans garage for his own enjoyment like the 911 above rolling home from a long day of snapping necks at AutoCon.

This was our first experience with AutoCon, and though we missed the Stance Works Invitational in order to attend it was more than worth it, and far lighter on our wallets. To all the new friends we made at in the ticket line, inside the event, and even at the mall next door. Thank you for all the memories, free merchandise, and quite the impressive sunburn we walked away with at AutoCon this year. We had an amazing time, and will definitely be back next year. Much like our boy Mike Vo above we wish you “peace out yo!” from our coverage of AutoCon 2012 at Santa Anita Race Park.

• Story by Aleksey Royt
• Photos by Jordan Adkins & Aleksey Royt
• Edited by Aleksey Royt