If you’ve never shown a car at Wekfest before, then you may not be aware that this is a full weekend event. Our trip started on Friday with Jamie cleaning up the cars since I wasn’t feeling all that well. On Saturday we did some final detailing because the cars were supposed to be down for roll in at 3:15 pm. On the way down, we got to discover a new feature on the Camry. Just as we were passing through the Sunol Grade we developed a hell of a sputter that left us with a max of about 20 mph. If you’ve never done an inside show you might not be aware of the 1/4 full fuel tank rule. I’ve shown up before and had to circle the block trying to burn off fuel, so we were running fairly low in both cars. Apparently in the 95+ degree heat, the Camry can develop a bit of a vapor lock situation in this scenario. Who knew. Luckily venting the gas cap was all it took to get us back on the road and under power.
We arrived at the convention center only a few minutes late, which was still about 3 hours before we manged to get through the line and into the building. I guess there was a lack of understanding on what the roll in time tables were. After 5 hours in rather warm weather in one car that never had AC (Hachi), and one car that I haven’t had time to finish fixing the AC (Camry), we were done. We dropped the cars off and headed for the Hotel down the street.
We took advantage of the last of my trade work with Hotel De Anza and grabbed a room with a view. We could almost see the cars from where we were. If they weren’t locked up in a building that is.
We finished up the day with a nice meal and a little walk around downtown San Jose.
The following day started off fairly early for us with a walk back to the convention center to start cleaning. I got in a few shots before the show started, but once the spectators were inside I hung around by the cars for the most part to be able to answer questions.
Both cars got quite a bit of attention, but I think the Hachi edged out the Camry this time. That’s one each if you’re keeping track. There were probably only a handful of people that figured out that the Corolla was actually the more stock of the two and that the Camry has had an engine swap. Quite a few people grabbed my sweet brochures, and have hopefully found their way here to see what’s in store next for the two.
https://brandonmostautomotive.myportfolio.com/wekfest-2018
We didn’t bring home any awards, but I didn’t really expect to. The Hachi isn’t modified enough to grab the judges attention, and the Camry…. well I was honestly just surprised the Camry was accepted. I love the car, more than I ever thought I would, and really dig how it’s turning out, but remember when I had to send in the applications for this event the Camry was in pieces for the engine swap. Everything else was their good faith that I would finish something at least sorta cool in time. So for that Wekfest I say thank you.
A couple of shots showing the Roll Out craziness. Believe it or not, a few years ago I remember being here with only like two other photographers, getting some amazing sunset golden hour shots of the cars leaving. Guess I shouldn’t have shared those online!
And dinner stop on the way home, because well look at them. It’s like the 80’s all over again!
