Thanksgiving 2021

Gary Wang May 23, 2022

Thanksgiving Monday was the final amalgamation of our friends’ 911’s for the year. A total of 5 vehicles were present, including a recent acquisition by Jason (@aznbboytse) in the form of a 997.2 Carrera 4S in Carrara White (basically, a nicer, newer, higher spec version of my car). Rounding out the squad were the usual suspects: Terence’s 993 and 996, Tim’s 997.1, and my 997.2

We wanted to catch the morning sunrise, which resulted in a early alarm as well as somewhat questionable driving conditions. Near 0°C and a bit wet made things a tinge hairy for Pilot Sport 4S tires, but slow and steady won that race. After meeting up, we cruised to our first location, the East side of the Kingsway Mall Parkade. I chose this location due to view of downtown Edmonton and the sunrise behind it. The parkade itself was recently refinished, which made the photos come out that much better.

I feel the photos came out well and we had plenty of time to shoot in the otherwise empty lot. There were quite a few light posts that obstructed the view, most of which were removed in photoshop.

After exhausting the morning light, we headed to the second location around Government House. I had shot in this area with Larry (my boss) in the past, but decided to use some other locations around the area since it was quite scenic.

To finish it off, here are my two favorite photos from the shoot, focusing on Terence’s 993.

The morning was capped off with a cruse back to TT Automotive and takeout dim sum from Jumbo. Not a bad day to be thankful.

Cheers,
Gary

Back from the Ashes

Gary Wang December 19, 2021

Although the title of this post is sort of clickbait, I almost retired my 911 in early September for the season. Generally, I run the car pretty late into the season (Thanksgiving if we’re unlucky, Halloween or later if we’re lucky) before parking it. However, I unfortunately encountered an issue with a giant chunk of metal being lodged in one of my rear tires, causing it to be completely flat by the time I noticed. Thankfully, it held air fine during the drive home and only became an issue while parked in my garage. I thought about replacing the tire vs getting it patched and due to the insane cost ($580 for one rear tire), I decided patching would be the way to go.

I ended up dropping off the tire at TT Auto a few days later. Terence noticed that the hole was pretty large and the tire would have to be unmounted, patched from the inside, and then remounted. They took the wheel to Central Tire, who did a great job. The tire holds air and they were even able to re-mount the tire without having to move any wheel weights. For someone who cares about stuff like that, I’m ecstatic.

Since my car was once again roadworthy, Tim (Red 911) and I wanted to do a photoshoot of our cars, especially since I haven’t shot both of our cars since the year previous. I also asked Terence, who brought himself and Theresa in a Black 993. Alan (Terence’s brother) came in Terence’s other Porsche, a silver 996.

Our first meet location was the 102st Parkade on the top floor. Although the exterior and interior of the parkade had recently renovated, the top level was blocked off, ruining our plans to shoot there. Thankfully, we had planned for other locations just in case. We then drove to our second location, which was a secluded street right behind the Jubilee Car Park at the U of A. I have shot multiple times at the parkade itself so this time I wanted to shoot around it, especially since there are some interesting buildings in the area. It was also practically deserted, which helped us avoid blocking other drivers.

At this point, the shooting began!

After this, I decided to be a bit more creative and pose each car in a different location to try to “showcase” it a bit more. Sort of like staging a car. I also had Tim bring his LED light to try some light painting. First up was Terence’s black 993, which is a recent acquisition. It’s a Targa 4S on reverse mounted BBS LMs in his signature color (which is the same color as the wheels as my Camry)

In this photo, we used the LED to highlight the car as the location was quite dark and the car is black. I love the highlights and how moody it makes the photo look

This shot took a few tries to do, as it’s pretty hard to write 911 backwards and reversed in 10 seconds. The end result is very cool though and Terence told me that this one will be printed and hung up in his shop. Awesome!

Next up is my own car. We highlighted the curves of the car and the bronze wheels. This photo is one of my favourites out of the set and I’ll definitely be printing it off to hang in my own home. The framing, colors, and setting are perfect.

Tim’s car was parked down a bit further down at the entrance of the cooling plant at the U of A. I love the symmetry of the photo with the two lights. Tim’s car is quite dark as well so using light to paint the side helps the car pop from the background.

This 996 4S is Terence’s latest “new” car, with the intent that it will be a winter beater (yeah…). We sort of stumbled on this location but the photo worked out really well. The painted 4S stands out against the darker right side, while the left has 4 windows, mimicking the 4S moniker of the car.

At this point, there was one more area at the U of A I wanted to shoot at, but unfortunately it had multiple police cruisers there, so we decided to cruse to our next location. We chose a longer drive down to the Hertiage Valley Transit Station as it has been recently constructed and was not very busy. The drive down was hilariously fun, with a lot of downshifting and exhaust noise. Smiles all around.

Once we arrived, I realized how empty this place actually was. There was not a single car in the whole parking lot, allowing us to park our cars however we wanted. The only thing lacking was any background scenery, as the lot is surrounded by, well, a whole lot of grass and not much else.

This is one of my favourite shots at this location. There was a smidge of rain while we were out and it looks like dew on Tim’s car. The color is also highlighted against a background of black which gives good contrast.

The last photo I have is a bit of a “squad” photo. I generally do not photograph people, although I do wish I did a bit more to highlight the owners as much as the cars. A great idea came up during shooting that we should re-create the iconic Beatles Abby way album with us walking in front of our cars. I gave the camera to Theresa and told her to fire away, resulting in this masterpiece!

I call it “Carrera Way” and you’ll be able to see this in glorious large print format at TT Auto soon.

Next up to round out the blog posts for the year will be another special Thanksgiving shoot featuring our 4 Porsches and 1 new one! Stay tuned.

Cheers,
Gary

Small 911 Update

Gary Wang October 6, 2021

This year, the 911 has not had much done to it. For the majority of 2021, it has been well enjoyed thanks to the dry summer. However, as with any project, there are always things to improve. For my car, it was largely maintenance and cosmetic/quality of life improvements. Terence at TT Auto helped with some fluid changes, checked/cleaned the soot from the DFI engine with Seafoam (not much to clean, thankfully), and sent off my rear bumper to be repainted due to a paint crack that had bothered me since I owned the car. Once all the maintenance completed, I had Kanji, someone I met a one of Travis’ meets help me do a wrap on the bottom part of the 911 rear bumper. Kanji works at First Detailing Studio and his 9-5 is doing wraps and PPF so he was the right guy to ask. He came by after work and helped me put a piece of 3M satin black wrap on the bottom of the bumper, mimicking the look that 997.2 GTS’ came with from factory. Then of course, photos.

Now living in the West End, a quick and easy place to get photos is the Lewis Estates Transit Center Park and Ride. The lot is huge and recently built so quite clean and well kept. There also isn’t a huge ridership in that area, so the lot remains quite empty, especially at night. Perfect for me, then!

The rear black accent in satin gives the car more contrast in the rear compared to the white

I’ve also been playing with tones during night shots as I find the image tones can be super strange from the camera due to the lighting. I went with a cooler white balance with blue tones in the blacks/shadows and a bit of orange/yellow in the highl… — I’ve also been playing with tones during night shots as I find the image tones can be super strange from the camera due to the lighting. I went with a cooler white balance with blue tones in the blacks/shadows and a bit of orange/yellow in the highlights.

The 911 has no shortage of bright lights to illuminate the road during night drives. LED DRL’s really make the 997.2 front look incredible. The DEPO side markers look great too compared to the stock incandescent bulbs.

I’m very happy with the progress the 911 has made, but there’s still so much to do. The short list includes yellow brake calipers and yellow seatbelts, Rennline front intake grilles, and potentially a radiator upgrade using CSF full aluminum rads. I may even reconsider repainting the front, as Terence and I realized that the front bumper has probably been resprayed and is a slightly different shade than the hood/fenders. As they say, there’s no such thing as a completed project car. Long term goals? I’ve been thinking about the 997 RWB kit but really can’t commit to the cost and time investment. The car is a very clean example and I wish to keep it that way instead of cutting it up. That raises the question if I’d buy a second 911 to get Nakai to cut up, but that’s a distant dream.

Cheers,
Gary

Spring Meets Part 2

Gary Wang October 4, 2021

A little (no, a lot actually) late to write this up, but after the rainy VIP styled car meet last week, Travis / @lsfodirty arranged a second meet open to any quality build. Once again, it was a small group, invite only, and pretty chill. Only real difference was that it wasn’t raining, which is always a bonus when you want to shoot some photos. It also allowed me to get a better look at the cars. Have a look below!

Big Body Lexus Reppin’ @lsfodirty ‘s LS430 on Weds Kranzew Cerebus 3 on the left, @m.varez ‘s LS400 on Work VS wheels (exact wheel model escapes me) on the right.

@lsfodirty and @mrslsfordirty hard parked. Probably the biggest car couple flex. VIP LS and GS and both very unique and well executed.

Another silver LS, this one owned by @jdmccrimmon, on a Fortune Auto Coilover setup with front air lift kit. Also, Work Meister S1 3P wheels (very nice).

Phil @okay.aristo (although now he is @okay.rolla) JDM Aristo V300 with some sick Wald Duchatelets

This was probably the most unique car at the show. @jaymz_88 ‘s Cadillac Lowrider. Custom everything. Uses air lines instead of hydraulics!

Honestly the best part about the meet was that there was no ego. No flexing, no burnouts, no revving. Just a bunch of people hanging out and appreciating cars. This is the type of car meet I enjoy the most and I wish more meets were done like this. Bravo to Travis for hosting these meets and although I haven’t been to many this year, I hope in the future he continues to host them!

Cheers,
Gary

Where are the May Flowers?

Gary Wang May 8, 2021

After a very dry and dusty April, May has so far given us some very pleasant sunny days and also a relentless downpour this weekend. A local car enthusiast/photographer, Travis/@lsfodirty, had organized a little VIP style car get together in a quiet discreet location. AHS had recently implemented stricter restrictions and more enforcement of activities, so this meet was small and quiet. Despite that, and the rain, it was nice to see some familiar faces and new ones and chill outside a little bit. Travis also sent me these 2 photos of the Slamry, which I’m very thankful for. He has a very dark/grunge style of photography and it was nice to see my car shot and edited in a very unique style.

The next day, my SLAMRY license plate came in the mail. This was a long time coming, but I didn’t want to commit on the plate before I could confidently and proudly call my car the “Slamry”. I’m not sure if I had mentioned, but last year I took a pretty big hit and sold my basically new Advan tires for narrower and shorter profile ones to dial in the stance. I also ended up pulling a bit more camber in the rear thanks to double camber bolts (yes, I have camber bolts on the top and bottom slot of the rear struts). The car now sits pretty much exactly how I want to and after having the air suspension for a year, I would say it rides quite well. Definitely softer than my BC Racing coilovers. Initially I thought the air suspension was way too bouncy but I had set the dampening way to hard. After dialing it back considerably, the ride is nicely compliant.

After going to the registry and getting the paperwork done, I threw the license plate on and went out to take some photos!

Bicycle rack or art installation? You decide!

The car has some forward rake but unless I tuck the rear (not possible) I am more than happy with the stance. Especially since the front and rear wheel-to fender set up is ace.

I’m not sure why I don’t do more of these low angle shots, since this one came out so well!

A fitment-focused photo (say that 10 times fast).

Despite the weather, I had a great time chilling and taking some photos as well. With the dicey COVID situation, I’m not sure when I’ll hang out with anyone in the near future, but hopefully it’s soon, with summer approaching. Stay tuned for more content!

Cheers,
Gary