eurocars.euroculture.eurotrash.

2012- Here we come....

2012-01-26T23:12:00.000-05:00

2012, the year the world is supposed to end. For the third or fourth time, I've lost count.

But alas, There is good news for 2012 too. All of us here at teameurotrash.com are really excited for 2012.

Let me tell you why. This is by no means a comprehensive list of what we'll be up to this year but more of a sneak preview of sorts as the roster is bursting at the seams and there is no way to fit it all into one post.

First off, as always we will be kicking out fresh new designs, and bringing back some of the classics.

Eurogirl will be turned up to ten since it had such a warm reception in 2011 with some new stuff for the ladies. Look for more dresses, handbags, I'm hoping for undies, and more.

We have also rolled out the Drive to Fight Cancer. This one folks will make a difference to more people than you can imagine. Here is the info for it:http://www.team-eurotrash.blogspot.com/2011/12/rally-for-reason-2012-community-coming.html Lets get together and make difference folks! We are looking forward to seeing all of you out there on the drives!

Ooooohhhh and new products! Most exciting for us is a line of skateboard decks. shown here is our first design, printed on an american maple deck. We are currently seeking out parts vendors so we can also sell completes. Also keep your eyes peeled for a long board that will be introduced soon. We will be showing up at skateparks wherever we are on show weekends and our local parks and having a "highest ollie" contest. We will also be doing it at shows. Pretty simple concept, whoever ollies the highest gets a new deck. Sweet...

And shows. Q:Where can you expect to see Eurotrash this season?
A: Everywhere we can get to!
We have always maintained a presence in the midwest and out east as well as in the south. All the usuals for sure, We will be at Sowo, Scooters in Milwaukee, Eurowerks in MN this year, Dubs in the Valley in Oshkosh WI (title sponsor) Waterfest out in Jersey, of course h2o, And many more that we normally attend (sorry if I missed you this round, we are putting together an actual schedule right now, there are alot of places we are going to be) and one that is being added this year, since we haven't been there yet is Wuste out in Vegas. Pretty excited to get out there since we send alot of stuff out to that side of planet America, it will be nice to get out there in person and hang with some folks in person!
Something new is we will be merging this blog with the website: www.teameurotrash.com so you can go to one place to find out what we've been up to and what we will be up to.
Like I said, this is just a preview, keep your internets peeled for news, events, new products, old products, etc. We are looking forward to hanging out with all you folks this year as that is why we do this. We love the scene, the people, the cars, and the overall experience. Till next time, see you soon....

Euro car scavenger hunt. Louisville,ky 4/21

2012-01-24T10:48:00.001-05:00

Ok people, sick and tired of the same old boring events? sick of the drama that makes people clique up at shows? Eurotrash will be holding a All euro car scavenger hunt in louisville,ky on april 21st. This will be after the backyard bash car show (which you should also be attending). $10 a car to enter, must have 2 people in the car and a cell phone that takes pictures. There will be some seriously funny shit you have to do which will be awarded on a point system. When completed or just out of time you will return to final destination where we can have some food and drinks and finalize the point totals and announce the winners. Come join us in our 2012 campaign to smash the drama

VWclub.bg

2012-01-21T12:33:00.000-05:00

Video by Yavor from sin city euros out of las vegas, Nv.

VW Meet, Rojen 2011 from RATED(R) on Vimeo.

2012-01-10T21:54:00.001-05:00

Billboard Wars.

2012-01-08T13:13:00.002-05:00

Billboard Wars

Audi Dealer’s Brilliant Billboard Warns Of R8 GT Sale

A Chicago-area Audi dealer has pulled off the rare hat trick of combining a manufacturer ad, a public-service announcement, and some serious ego gratification for an R8 GT customer by putting up this billboard.
Here's how achtung697 explains this image over on Reddit.

My friend's dad got himself the new Audi R8 GT. The dealership he bought it from decided to make this billboard ad. They are doing it right!

Audi has played games with cheeky billboards before, but this may mark a new high in public customer appreciation. A quick reminder about proper lane discipline is never a bad thing, either.
If you're in the area, here's a picture of the Audi R8 GT with the billboard. You've been warned.

Rally for a Reason. 2012. A community coming together.

2012-01-07T20:56:00.000-05:00

Miles, so important for so many reasons. Voiding warranties, watching fuel economy, distance to your friends and family, helping cure cancer? Yup, that’s right, What if every mile you drove to shows or GTGs helped fight cancer? How many miles do you think you drive in a show season? What if those miles added up to making a difference to people affected by cancer, help people stay well, help fund research, And help create laws to help protect people who are having problems due to the illness?

Interested yet? Here at Team Eurotrash we felt a need to help bring people together for a cause. A rally to fight cancer? Sounds good to us.

Although this has started amongst the european car community, everybody is invited to participate. If you are a car guy or girl and want to help, its all that matters in the end. We will set up places like the Facebook page and the blog for people to share their funny or not so funny road mishaps , keep track of highest miles traveled, longest trips made and where you can find more info on GTGs and drives to events with people from your area. We will also be setting up a forum at www.teameurotrash.com. Let’s make this happen. Every mile matters…

Here’s Brad to fill you in.

Brad, tell us how its going to work and how you came up with the idea:

I lost my dad to cancer years ago and it made me just hate hearing the word cancer and even worse, the stories that can come with it but i also loved hearing the battle back stories. I never really knew what i could do to help so i started looking for ideas.

This idea started when Dinah and i were adding up how many miles Team Eurotrash travels to shows each year. I thought how could we turn this into a positive? a $1.00 a mile? we cant afford that, we go everywhere haha. a $.01 a mile? Although affordable, doesn’t seem like enough does it? Maybe we could get more people? I started thinking about all the people that we meet and hang out with at these shows. They drIve from somewhere right? Adding up the number of people at shows, how many miles they must have traveled and how many shows there are each year and the numbers are staggering. Then it was Do you think people would want to do it? How can we keep track of this? These were questions we had but we thought it could work. i was stuck on using a $.01 a mile so everyone could afford to help.

Anyway here’s how it will work...

$25 and you’re good for the year. That will get you a t-shirt, 6” round car magnet for shows, a sticker pack, entered into the end of the year raffle and the packet shipped to your door and $10 donated to the american cancer society right from the get go.. So even if your not going to drive, get a grab bag with a cool shirt and show your support. Imagine 1000 people signing up. $10,000 already donated and nobody drove a mile? Sounds pretty great to me, imagine how its sounds to the people who need it.

How you help as a participant ... its a $.01 a mile going to shows, who can’t afford that right?

How much will it cost? Here’s a couple scenarios

a. drive 2000 miles for year. Donated $30 total ($10 from initial sign up). if that was split between 3 shows you would pay in about $7 each time.

b. For the heavy hitters, if you drive 5000 miles for year. Donated $60 total ($10 from initial sign up) split between 6 shows you would pay in about $8.00 each time.

As you can see its affordable for everyone but with a real chance at making a big difference. Strength in numbers, yes that applies here.

We will have a donation button/ page set up thru paypal so everything will be kept track of by someone other than ourselves. No checks and no cash sent directly to us. We do not want the responsibility of handling that. If you don’t have paypal, its pretty simple to set up. At the end of your show weekend add up your mileage and multiply by a $.01. Send that amount to the designated paypal address. There are no penalties or obligations for not paying in after a show. If you simply can’t afford to after a particular show, no big deal. You are already entered into the end of the season raffle by the way of the grab bag.

Back to the raffle ticket, at the end of the year we will have a raffle for all the participants with what will hopefully be a great grand prize. More on that in the future.But if i had to leak a hint, I’m shooting for something with sun and sand to relax after a long show season.

That my friends, is pretty cool. A cause, supported by something you already do.

So there it is, lets get together and touch some other peoples’ lives. I hate to sound grim, but in life, you just never know. Pay it forward, or in tribute. Have some fun and be part of a great cause. I look forward to seeing all of you at different shows. Anything reachable for us will be covered as part of the Rally And as always your submissions are always welcome.

Do it for fun, Do it for a friend, do it for a family member. Hell, do it for somebody you don’t know that needs help. Just do it.

Let’s make a difference..... Pre reg list has been started. email drive2fightcancer at gmail dot com. thanks!

Water by the Bridge. Louisville,ky. March 25th, 2012

2012-01-06T19:48:00.013-05:00

With all of the new shows popping up lately, it's nice to go to an established show where most of the kinks are worked out. "Water by the Bridge" is in it's 3rd year under the new name and location, but I can remember going to the Grossman shows as many as 8 years ago! Now i know what you're thinking...Grossman show? that sound's like a spectacle. Well if you've made it to some of the pre parties, that's exactly what it is haha. Thing's are sure to get out of hand with a bunch of hardcore gear heads coming off months of nothing to do. The Following day was the show with local vendors, the first smell of a charcoal grill, burning rubber, screaming exhausts from the Dyno Dynamics dyno, and all of the local dubbers you hadn't seen since last season. It was always a great time, but in 2009 the show outgrew the local shop. Enter Water by the Bridge.

Grossman Tuning was started by John Grossman in 1996 in Louisville, Kentucky. It quickly became the premier spot for all things euro. The annual get together was always held in March just as the weather started getting warmer. It's a great opportunity to do a shake down run on those winter projects.
(www.GrossmanTuning.com).

The first annual "Water by the Bridge" was held in 2010 down by the Ohio River, still in March. With added advertising, more vendors, a DJ, catered lunch, and a much larger venue. Needless to say, the show was a hit. People came from Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Miichigan and who knows where else. The pre-party is a great way to meet the out-of-towners and learn a little about our local scene. Louisville has always had a pretty good group of enthusiasts. Louisville is the home of Grossman Tuning (seen at shows all over the Midwest/East Coast), C2 Motorsports, and of course, yours truly, EuroTrash.

The show was even bigger and better in 2011, and will surely be a great time in 2012 (official dates coming soon)! So support the scene and come to Louisville for a killer start to the show season!

2011 vid

2010 video

Louisville rocks it out

On Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Water-By-The-Bridge/119884884747921

Grossman Tuning on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Grossman-Tuning/363394715499

Michael Emsenhuber - VW Corrado - St. Anton 2011 (Onboard)

2012-01-03T18:36:00.001-05:00

I love what Hillclimbfan's have done. It's a channel worth subscribing to.

-K.Osborn

Adaptec Speedware.

2012-01-01T23:25:00.000-05:00

The 1st annual Vag Invitational.

2011-12-15T09:39:00.000-05:00

The 1st annual Vag invitational. Open to all vag cars. Winner gets a GoPro Motorsport 1080p kit and the coveted peoples champ trophy. Wondering how to enter? Send 1 high quality photo of your car to eurotrashinvitational@gmail.com. This will be a playoff system. After each round winners will be be able to send in 1 more picture for the next round. Mod lists will be added after the 2nd round. We will pick what cars get in, people will vote who moves on. Every match up will be posted on FB with a poll. Cars will be drawn at random to start the brackets. We will email all contestants what date their car will be up. We will have prizes from other vendors as well. No key rings i promise. Last 2 will have a one week voting period and winner will be announced on super bowl sunday. Good luck, send in those entries and pass this around!!! Deadline for entry is Oct 29th. Contest starts first week of Nov.

Freaking hilarious!!! 2 corvettes crash

2011-12-08T23:27:00.002-05:00

Mechanical Synfonica

2011-12-08T14:18:00.002-05:00

MECHANICAL SYNFONICA from FORMAT67.NET on Vimeo.

EBI4 cruisers

2011-12-06T21:42:00.002-05:00

If you live in Europe you should probably go to this show...

Love,
Keith

Profile- JJ Custom Interiors

2011-12-06T21:25:00.001-05:00

So in our adventures of building cars, we all strive for the things we want that makes our builds unique. Be it custom built brackets, or pieces you had machined to your specs, bodywork, engine set ups, etc. The list is endless. The caliber of work in our scene is astronomical. Any scene for that matter. Everybody is on to the next best thing with an emphasis on originality. Hardly a thing goes untouched when building a car, including the interior.
When faced with the interior though, many draw a blank. Not only is it one of the toughest aspects of design, so easy to accidentally go over the top and look silly, or be to understated so it looks like you did nothing, but it is always time consuming with an atrocious trial and error process for many operations as it just isn't very mechanical, but much more artisan and very few of us have much if any experience doing it.
In a search for cool stuff for the interiors of an upcoming Eurotrash project, we came across JJ Custom Interiors. They specialize in Recaros, but from the sounds of it, can do just about anything in your car. Interested, I sent Ron at JJs an email with some questions and a request for some pics of their work. I was not disappointed in the least. Send them your seats, whatever you want done, or buy out of their stock. Regardless, from what I see here, it would appear your goods are in capable hands.
And now onto some words from Ron.....

TET- Nice looking stuff! Tell us about JJ Custom Interior.How long has it been around, Who is in charge, how many employees, etc. Youknow, tell us about the business.

We have been collecting Recaros foralmost 10 years now and started doing upholstery work several years back. We formedJJ Custom Interior in January of 2011, it consist of me and my fiancé Jessicawhom the company is actually named after. JJ is short for Jesse Jayne and our original name was actually going to beJesse Jayne Custom Interior but we decided to abbreviate it to make thingseasier.

We started doing upholstery after seeing that there weren’t many shops inthe United States that we felt did quality work at affordable prices. The fit and finish of recovered Recarosseemed to be especially poor in most cases and we wanted to change that. Wealready had a fairly extensive knowledge and passion for the seats and wantedto put that to good use.

TET- What is your training? (or whoever does the fitting work)It seems that every kickass upholstery person I know has been doing it aloooong time. It really is a skill….

Jessica had went to school for upholster. I myself have had mostly hands onbackyard training, years of breaking down seats and trying to fix them with theused parts I had available. Once we started doing upholstery professionallyJessica helped me learn the correct way to pattern and fit but mostly I justtake credit for her awesome work.

TET- From the looks of what I found on the big big interwebz,it appears you have moved to a new facility. Will this allow a larger volume ofbusiness or is it simply better living conditions?

The new shop space is actually just a place we can use to do fullrestorations, installs, headliners, storage and things of that nature. We still actually do most of our work fromthe downstairs of our home that we have converted into an office and productionarea.

TET-I see lots of tasty Recaros on your website. Do you tryto just keep that as your business, or do you do other stuff? (motorcycleseats, boat stuff, etc)

We do specialize in Recaros and automotive restoration but we try to coverall bases. We have previous done work on everything from jet skis to bicycleseats, some home furniture and soon will be releasing our own line of clothing.

TET- What is your favorite sort of project? Custom interiorwork is no small task, what part of it is what keeps you doing it?

Honestly we love being able to get creative and go over the top withRecaros / Auto Interior. Everything that we do is made specifically to the customersspecs so we are not always able to fully show off our abilities but when we canwe def. enjoy it. Also the satisfaction of seeing seats and ideas come togethernever gets old.

TET- Random Question- Was there a defining moment that youbecame a VW enthusiast? What was it?

To be honest i didn’t care for Volkswagens when I was younger, it wasn’tuntil around 1997 when I picked up a 91 coupe from a family friend that Ireally started to appreciate the styling of mk2’s. That car, which I still ownto this day is actually responsible for just about everything that we do withour business today. If it wasn’t for the coupe I doubt I would have everdeveloped the sickening obsession I have now with these seats.
Nice! Thanks for taking the time to check this out. You can find more info about products and services here at their website:http://www.jjcustominterior.com/ or on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/JJ-Custom-Interior/182298998462014

A super car crash.

2011-12-05T14:36:00.000-05:00

Static -vs- bags- Opinion.....

2011-12-01T16:13:00.001-05:00

We all hear it all the time, the battle between static lowering or airbags. It's pretty clear what we are fans of here at TET but I would like to elaborate why this is the opinion.
There is no doubt about the fact that a bagged car when done right looks the business when sitting at rest in the show, or in a parking lot, or where ever. They look great! But what about when you drive them? Oh, that's right, you can't. Well you can, but you will more than likely destroy your arches, or tires, or more. Not without raising them up to a point where they look like a scared cat! So the question in my mind is " is that really low?" It seems a little like cheating but that's just me.

Then you see the car that has got to be on bags you think, that looooowwwwww ass thing sitting there looking all badass and then somebody just hops in and drives away. Nice! No messing with ride height, no adjusting pressures, just jump in and drive. There is probably more engineering in that car to be able to drive it at that height than you know. Love it. That constitutes truly low to me. No cheating.
Sure, you might bust a lip, or bash your oil pan, whatever. Do you have a car to baby, or to drive? I have them to drive them personally. If I choose to drive it pavement scarring low, so be it. If it's gonna look cool, It's going to look cool all the time, not just at shows or get togethers. I have driven many very low cars and with the power of some common sense, haven't had alot of problems with them.

Sure the ride is raw and bumpy, what are you 80? Deal with it. I've heard low is low several times and agree. Adjustable low however is well, adjustable low. Only low for show? Well to each their own I guess, I'm ok with a bone crushing ride in my dumped ass car and rock it with pride because I ain't skeered of some bumps.....
Make sure you check out our Pro Static designs at teameurotrash.com. Supplies are limited, get there now to pick up a pro-static shirt for the badass you know who isn't afraid to wind down their coilovers and drive a car that is "truly" low!

Hot Dang!

2011-11-29T22:15:00.001-05:00

Found this on youtube via a friends wall on facebook. I know this video had heavy circulation already, but it sure looks good. Treasure at the end of a trail of clicks. And now on to the show.....

http://youtu.be/5QmHi21PXI4

Inspiration for my next project

2011-11-28T19:49:00.000-05:00

As i get ready to start another project i started thinking about what dictates the cars we choose to build and the look we are trying to achieve when we do it. Personally for me it certainly starts with other peoples cars. I'll take styling cues on what i like and what i think works while adding my own personal touches to make it my own. I am getting ready to start an air cooled beetle project powered by a Gsxr 750 turbo motor and i thought i should post up pictures of cars that i will be referencing in my build (flared fenders, wide wheels, cage, race inspired) Hope to have this done by Southern Worthersee May 2012.

Nice! One more thing for the x-mas list! Killer Jetta Wagon!

2011-11-26T17:58:00.001-05:00

So being a lover of all things wagon, this thing caught my eye. A 270 hp all wheel drive wagon. And The Clouds Parted While the Angels Sang Hallelujah! Based on the Jetta Sportwagen platform, this will one to be watched and almost certainly need to be rented on your trip to Europe as if it ever makes production, we will more than likely not see it here in the states. Read on, Thanks to www.volkswatch.com for the story.

Volkswagen's RaVe 270 concept showcases the enormous potential of the automaker's award-winning 2.0T engine.

In current production form, in vehicles such as the GTI and Jetta GLI, this turbocharged four-cylinder generates 200 horsepower. At most, it puts out 230 horses in Europe's 30th-anniversary GTI. In the RaVe 270, however, the 2.0T churns out an impressive 270 horses.

This is VW's most powerful four-cylinder ever.

Modifications were made to the turbocharger, intercooling and engine electronics.

With 4Motion all-wheel drive, the Jetta SportWagen-based RaVe is approaching high-performance territory occupied by Subaru's Impreza WRX and Mitsubishi's Evolution.

From zero to 60 MPH goes by in less than 5.8 seconds, VW says. Top speed is 155 MPH.

One drawback is that the engine requires super-grade fuel.

Other innovations of the RaVe 270 include a 1,400-watt sound system with 13 speakers and subwoofers, sport seats, Biscay Blue paint, an extended hood over xenon headlights and LED daytime running lights, LED taillights, quad exhaust pipes, rear diffuser, 19-inch alloy wheels, 18-inch Brembo brakes, lowered suspension, plus numerous exterior styling bits.

The RaVe 270 is on display at the Essen auto show.

Story found and moved from here:http://www.volkswatch.com/ Thanks!

Black friday @ Adaptec Speedware

2011-11-25T10:24:00.001-05:00

Check out this sale...25% off thru sunday night, the 27th. Email them at sales @ adaptecspeedware dot com or call Brad at 909. 800. 4195 to complete your transaction. There are a lot of no name companies out there trying to capitalize on this market machining cheap spacers in their garage but nobody carries a life time warranty like adaptec speedware or meets the high standards they have set. Dont miss out!

Part 2- Fixxfest

2011-11-22T16:39:00.002-05:00

Short video using Adaptec Speedware adapters

2011-11-22T14:24:00.000-05:00

by Tommy Manasco

Event coverage Part 1- Fixxfest, Bradenton FL

2011-11-21T00:08:00.002-05:00

Ahhh, Palm trees, sun, 70 some degrees. This is the life. Wait what’s that noise? Confusion here folks, what happened to the sun AAAAHHHHHHHH! I’m still in the Midwest, 40 degrees, clouds and rain daydreaming about the conditions in Florida that were described to me over the phone by Brad as he was telling me about Fixxfest as well as sending me pictures of palm trees with captions that read”lol, sucks to be you”!

This is the 8^th annual fixxfest, Held in Bradenton Florida at Bradenton Motorsports park, It boasts to be the largest European enthusiast event in the Southeast and it is pretty big. A huge get together, with a car show that has a best in show class. It also has something that I am a sucker for. Add ten bucks to your entry and take as many runs as you can fit in on the dragstrip. Awesome. That is the business right there. Reports tell me that was a huge draw for the event with a steady stream of cars making passes down the track all day. Ten bucks is a good deal to just go make unlimited passes….

As far as turnout goes, Via reports from Brad, the numbers provided on the website were close. Of course he didn’t walk around and count the cars but beyond the judged cars, general parking was a sea of cars. Good times. I am going to try and make it to this next year. This is the worst time of year to be in my part of the country and a weekend in FL with cars making passes on a dragstrip sounds pretty damn good right now.

All in all, sounds like a helluva weekend. Sun, Cars, Drag racing. Definitely worth checking out. I’m waiting for my t-shirt from Brad that says “Brad and Dinah went to Florida and all I got was a bunch of pictures of cars"….

Wow, this looks familiar, almost like I've seen a similar design somewhere. Oh yeah, EUROTRASH lowlife. Cheaters.

So this concludes our base event coverage of Fixxfest 8. Look for some videos of passes down the track from some pretty impressive cars that Brad was sticking the gopro to as well as cars from the show area. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next time....

Meanwhile, to get full stats on the show and updates on the next one, check out their interwebs page:http://www.fixxfest.com/

A few cars of the Vag Invitational.

2011-11-17T07:26:00.000-05:00

If you don't know about the Vag Invitational going on, click the fb logo and check it out.

The toast with the most

2011-11-15T21:01:00.003-05:00

Floating around on the innanets I discovered this gem. A VW toaster! You have got to be kidding me. Just when I thought you couldn't accessorize any more POW right in the kisser! This thing is flippin rad as all hell and I want one and I must have one. On that note I can't have one :( they cost over $200 and well...I'd rather spend that green on mods/restoration parts for my 62 Beetle. However if you were inclined to purchase one you can find them, simply search the Googles for "VW Toaster". Regardless it's cool as cool can be and would make a really stellar addition to any kitchen. Seacrest out.

-K. Osborn

Hey Ladies! Check this out, Eurogirl!

2011-11-13T21:42:00.001-05:00

It's tough being a girl in the car scene. And even harder to get any respect. Sad but true. Open up a magazine and what do you see? Pictures of scantily clad ladies hanging their wares all over a car. That's great if you are a lesbian, but for you straight ladies it might not be so exciting. Same thing at shows. Almost all of the marketing is targeted at the 18-50 year old male( I upped it to 50 because I'm pushing 40 and I don't want to feel old) How much fun is that? Yes, you still get to see the cars and hang out with the boys but there really isn't much tailored to you.

Thankfully, you are not alone. Dinah from Team Eurotrash had that same thought not long ago and now has you covered with the new line in the Eurotrash brand: eurogirl

Eurogirl. No definition needed right? I guess depending on your perspective of the world, the mental images that word could invoke in ones head could be veeeerrrry different. Fortunately for us, the use of this word today is used to name a new line of clothing from Team Eurotrash.
What's cool about Eurogirl is it's not just ladies cut t-shirts with all the same designs that the guys shirts have, but designs tailored with the lady enthusiast in mind. Mind you, some of the more popular designs will make it onto ladies shirts of course, it would be silly not to. But this ladies, is for you.

Team Eurotrash has been making rounds at carshows the last few years with a line of enthusiast t shirts and stickers quickly gaining in popularity due mostly in part more than likely because it is not the usual drivel you see on t shirts. Fresh, funny, with the times and usually dead on. I'll get to more about the Eurotrash standard brand in a different post. For now, I'll let Dinah, One of the founders of Team Eurotrash and the brain behind Eurogirl fill us in on what it's all about. Not just t-shirts, but a lifestyle.

TET: Hi Dinah, fill us in on Eurogirl and how/why you created it.

Hey Joe D! EuroGirl is a line from EuroTrash just for car girls. I just started it last year, and have already seen a huge following. Its more than just clothing, its a place for euro girls to feel welcome and show off their love for euros. Being a girl in the car scene, I know what its like to hear people say "Oh, that must be her boyfrineds car" or "She probably doesnt know anything about cars". Going to as many car shows as we do, I started to notice more and more girls that wanted to be part of something like EuroGirl. The connections I made with girls in the scene over the past few years has been awesome, and so rewarding. I also started it because I know what its like to go to car shows and not have many choices for euro inspired clothing for girls. I have hand sewn dresses, made undies, shirts and will be coming out with much more next season!

TET: How many designs do you have for Eurogirl right now? Care to sneak preview any new stuff since you have our attention?

Currently, we have 4 designs and like I said before, we are always working on new items besides just shirts. I will have new dresses, shirt designs, stickers, and possibly some cool purses next season!

TET: Eurogirl seems to be turning into much more than some apparel, How do you feel about that and what are some expansion plans for the future. I know you have a lot of submissions of Eurogirls and their cars on your facebook page, pretty cool stuff! Anywhere else they can submit to?

EuroGirl, like EuroTrash, is more of a lifestyle. Its about being proud to be a girl into cars, or even just supporting your boyfriend by going to car shows or showing interest in euros. I am so excited about the enthuiasm and support we've been getting, from guys and girls. In the future I plan on having get togethers, photo shoots, more expansive clothing line and possibly our own website/forum. I started a "EuroGirls Featured" section on our Facebook friend page (TeamEuro Trash), and have gotten a great response. Ladies can submit info and pictures directly to us via private message on Facebook.

TET: Any words of wisdom for the masses reading today? Or just a shout out?

Words of wisdom...hmmmm...Probably just to all the EuroGirls out there. Dont let the boys get ya down! Brush off those annoying creeper pms, jokes about not knowing how to change your oil, and the infamous "Shes only into cars to get guys" comments and represent! ;) Just gotta give Brad a quick shout out for always helping with the euro girls line and giving me a chance when I was just a euro girl trying to start Team EuroTrash. And, of course to everyone who has given us EuroGirls props!

TET: Where can we buy the Eurogirl stuff? I’m thinking about a nice tight t-shirt, but I don’t think I would help the brand at all by wearing it. Tell all the lovely ladies where to find Eurogirl swag and apparel please to prevent my debaucherous tight ladies t shirt antics…..

Well, maybe you can just wear some EuroGirl swag next year for your "drag race" at Dubs in the Valley haha! Ladies can find current merch on our website (www.teameurotrash.com) and our Facebook page. We also post pre-orders for upcoming designs and projects.
Nice! Thanks Dinah! Lets not forget your Facebook addy here:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-EuroTrash/177306288966133

Profiled: German Auto Parts

2011-11-05T15:03:00.000-04:00

So if you have ever ordered parts from German Auto Parts you may have wondered who they are and where they come from. Located in Halfmoon NY, they started as an internet parts house in 1994. They stock what they sell in a warehouse so they are not your typical fly by night drop ship operation. Real people selling real parts to real people. I like that. Judging by the facility photo here, there are some enthusiasts working in there. Even Better. I'll let Justin Malloy from GAP tell us the whole story.......

TET- How long have you been in business?
We have been in business andonline since 1994.

TET- Do you also offer service?
No, while we do have a lot oftechnically knowledgeable people here we do not have any service bays here inour facility.

TET- What got you started in the parts business?Personal need, saw a gap(no pun intended) to be filled? Handed down from above?
We originally started as adealership and service facility and our parts business grew from a need for OEquality parts at reasonable prices for our own shop. In 1994 the parts businesswas launched as it's own entity and went online, shortly thereafter wediscontinued sales and service and concentrated all our efforts on just parts.

TET-You handle several different makes of car, whatis the decider on what makes you service parts for? Our roots are in Volkswagen and Audi but we have apassion for all German cars and over the years we have expanded our lineup tocover all German and Swedish lines.

TET- Do you keep parts on hand or do you do moredrop shipping?

We're a real brick-and-mortar(well, mostly steel actually) business with our own warehouse. This is veryimportant because it give us control over the quality of what we sell. Oftenthere are many manufacturers of a given part, and sometimes the quality andpricing varies widely. We sort out the good from the bad so you don't have to,and we offer the best value possible. If we wouldn’t put a product on our owncars we won’t sell it.

Having our own warehouse alsogives us control over the shipping process. Our top-notch warehouse staffstrives to ship every order as quickly as possible (most ship the same or nextday) and every order is double-checked for accuracy and carefully packaged toensure safe delivery. Although most orders are shipped from our own facilityhere in NY we do have the ability to drop ship many items from other locationsaround the US if required.

TET- What is your best performing parts line?

While we do handle someperformance upgrades our main focus has always been on original equipmentmaintenance and replacement. Consumable maintenance items such as brakes,filters, spark plugs, fluids, etc as well as common replacement items likeclutch kits and suspension parts are our fastest moving items. However we alsocarry a full line of parts for repair and restoration as well.

TET-How do you keep your prices somuch lower than other suppliers? I know that if I shop your prices I am hardpressed to find a better deal.

We have a long-term focus oneverything we do. We focus on selling the customer what they need rather thanmaximizing the sale. If we can provide quality parts at a great price then wewill have happy customers for years to come. Our volume and relationship withmanufacturers also allow us to get better pricing which we pass on to ourcustomers.

TET-If you could change one thingabout GAP, what would it be?

We try to support older models and will continue todo so but many parts are becoming increasingly hard to source. If we couldchange one thing it would be to keep these parts on the shelf and available forpurchase. It is hard telling someone a certain part for his or her car is nolonger available. Recently we have begun having several parts that are nolonger available produced specially for us. In the future we hope to expandthis program to bring back more obsolete parts.

Thanks for that Justin. If you guys need to get ahold of GAP for your next order, here is a little contact info for you:http://www.germanautoparts.com/
Phone:
Mon-Fri 8:00 AM-6:00 PM EST
518-899-7807
Toll free 1-877-4GERMAN (1-877-443-7626)

Btw, I have never spoken to anyone there who did not seem happy to help.....

E2S4 Type 3 Variant

2011-11-04T21:29:00.001-04:00

E2S4 Type 3 Variant
^CLICK^

I've been having a Type3 hard-on for a few days.....I love this AWOL vid.

-KO

Smoothies.

2011-11-03T22:55:00.001-04:00

Smoothies., a photo by heymynameispaul on Flickr.

Yes please....I'll take two...

Last day to enter, Oct 29th.

2011-10-29T09:31:00.002-04:00

Last day to enter for the Vag Invitational. Top 5 prizes.
1st. Has choice between GoPro Motorsport kit or $200 gift certificate for Adaptec Speedware.
2nd. see above
3rd. 1yr subscription for Performance Vw or BMW
4th. $100 detail bucket from Detailers Domain
5th. goodie bag from Wheel Whores

Open to all european cars. To submit send one pic of your car to eurotrashinvitational.com

Wondering how to enter? Send 1 high quality photo of your car to eurotrashinvitational@gmail.com. This will be a playoff system. After each round winners will be be able to send in 1 more picture for the next round. Mod lists will be added after the 2nd round. We will pick what cars get in, people will vote who moves on. Every match up will be posted on FB with a poll. We will email all contestants what date their car will be up. Last 2 will have a one week voting period and winner will be announced on super bowl sunday. Good luck, send in those entries and pass this around!!! Deadline for entry is Oct 29th. Contest starts first week of Nov.

LSPR Part 4- The Final Post, Arvon Tower coverage

2011-10-29T01:03:00.001-04:00

Ahhhh, Saturday morning began with a text from Mike telling me to hurry up, at 1 AM the previous night he didn't seem so sure about any morning activity, caght a bit by surprise I recieved instructions to meet him in L'anse for the parc expose to see who had made it through friday and was still running today. So I threw on what by this point of the weekend was calling my "woods clothes" and jumped in the golf, got some gas and started out on the 50ish minute drive to L'anse.
When I got there there were significantly less cars than Friday which only emphasizes how hard this event really is on a vehicle. I swelled a little with pride when I realized most of the VWs were still in it. From the bug to the mk4, all that was lost was the blue ABF swapped 85 Jetta. To be completely honest, I still dont know what happened to them.

After speaking with some of the rally organizers, I threw my gear into the Quantum (which I think I will forever call the battlewagon) and headed out to Arvon Tower. I'm not sure I have ever had a better spot to shoot pictures from at any motorsport event. I will let them speak for themselves.

From there we tried to make it to the next stage but just couldn't cut it timewise so we pushed on to the 30 minute service in L'anse. Lots goes on at the service point. This was 30 minutes meaning you have 30 minutes to fix your stuff and get back out or the race is over.It's amazing the stuff that can be done in 30 minutes I'll tell you.From minor adjustments to duct taping a windshield from a different kind of car into yours, incredible.

After service, the racers headed for the time control to finish the last few stages and I headed back to camp to get a little rest and start pouring over all the photos and start trying to organize the weekend in my head so I could do this.

Thanks for checking this out! Feel free to leave a comment. You can check the final standings from this event as well as the whole series at the Rally America website:http://rally-america.com/

Remember, this is a sport that is supported almost completely by the competitors. Build a car, get out there and have some fun! Otherwise find an event and go to it. It is definitely not something you see every day. And besides that, the drivers appreciate the fact that people are there to see them run. It's alot of work and time to do this. Till next time....

Profile: Mobile One- Glenview IL

2011-10-26T22:22:00.000-04:00

After running into Jay from Mobile One in Glenview IL several times in different capacities, and seeing some of the stuff that has come out of his shop, I figured it was time that Eurotrash pinned him down to dig in a little deeper as to what really goes on in his head and his shop. So I fired him off some questions, and he fired back some answers. Definitely worth the read because as with any independent shop, There is a story to tell and it is of course, interesting to say the least. I strongly recommend looking into Mobile one as a resource next time you need a hand with your car and you are in the neighborhood. Be it getting tuned on his dyno, or basic maintenance, these guys have you covered.

I spoke with Jay briefly over the phone about his theory behind cars. I want to say that I respect his views on cars and share them myself. He stated that he wants to put the Motorsport back into our scene. Bravo, because that is what it was when I started out in this here joint too and as much as I love pretty, stanced out cars, purpose built vehicles are still my favorite. Thanks for your time Jay....

TET- What is Mobile one? Parts, repair? How long have you been in business? How did you get your start?

We originally opened a little over ten years ago with the intent of doing primarily aftermarket automotive electronic installs like remote start systems and high end car audio, with VW/Audi repair on the side. After seeing the market change direction, we slowly changed our focus to general maintenance and performance parts installation for all German cars. Our strong electrical background has definitely helped us stay ahead of the curve with many cars having complicated electronics integrated into the total package. We often get cars from other shops, and sometimes the dealership when it comes to hard to find electrical gremlins.

TET- What is your specialty? I see all kinds of cars on your facebook wall. Most of us have seen your work with VWs, But what else do people bring into your shop?

We do a lot of BMW and older Porsche along with a sprinkling of Japanese stuff. I would say our specialty is definitely VW/Audi, but we’ve had all kinds of stuff come through here over the years. Supercharger install on an Integra, Jap spec engine swap (right hand drive) in a Toyota Tercel, standalone engine management tuning and auto to manual swap on an old Mitsubishi Starion just to name a few..We also do a lot of tuning on our in-house dyno for all makes/models..We recently finished a Saturn with the supercharger kit from the Redline model retaining the stock ign system and running it all off Megasquirt.

TET- Tell us a little about your Jetta if you could. I know it has caught more than a few people by surprise. I personally am fascinated by the amount of work you have into it.

First off, thanks for the kind words. I’ve had this car for over 13 years, buying it after a city street sweeper totaled my previous red MK2 Jetta. I remember for the first few years of owning it I was adamant about not cutting anything off/out of the factory sheet metal in order to keep it factory-original. Not even to mount larger rear speakers. Well that’s pretty much gone out the window hehe. The Jetta has pretty much been a reflection of the shop’s current focus and skill level. It went from a tuned 16v2.0 making 145 whp, to a stock 1.8T swap (one of the first in the Midwest), to a BT 1.8T and 6-speed 02M, to grafting the AWD system from an R32. We are one of the few MK2 cars that have all the suspension components from the R , not synchro with a cradle for the Haldex system. We have ~ 400 hrs into the AWD system done over a 3 month period after hours. It puts down an even 400 whp on 93 octane at the moment.

TET-If/ when there is a free moment around the shop, how do you guys pass time?

I am pretty much a workaholic which is super easy when you love what you do for a living. If we ever do get a break in the flow of customer traffic there’s always something to do to the Jetta! Haha.

TET- Are you developing any products to sell, Or just fabricating one off stuff as you need it?

We pretty much fab stuff on a one-off basis. I have thought about making jigs for some of the stuff, but we’re usually just too busy to pursue getting into the aftermarket parts sector. I do have complete set of jigs/templates for the AWD system on the MK2 if we ever need them again!

TET- What plans do you have for Mobile One in the future. I’ve been noticing a lot of track time on your FB page. Perhaps some more racing?

I remember what got me super into the car scene and V-dubs back in the day…And that was road-racing. I’m getting super-motivated to become more aggressive in that area. Time trials and such, possibly racing in the NASA series next year. They have a class where they basically weigh your car, and measure it’s power output and class you that way. This way it allows me to explore new go-fast ideas without being restricted by strict class rules. It really is a blast and covers so many different aspects of tuning there’s always something new to look into as far as making the cars faster.

TET- Anything you want to say to everybody?

I want to say thanks to everyone in the community that has given us business over the last 10+ years, helping us to pursue our dreams, and do what we love for a living! And especially to team Eurotrash for giving us the chance to say a few things about the shop! Thanks!

Heres a link to the Mobile One Facebook page so you can get ahold of them....
http://www.facebook.com/MobileOneInc?sk=info

LSPR Coverage- Part 3

2011-10-19T07:34:00.018-04:00

Ral-ly (Ral'e) -a competition in which automobiles are driven on public roads under normal traffic regulations but with specifications as to speed, time, and route.
Most of this is correct except the special stages involved throughout the event. I would almost prefer to call this "closed road racing" as the stages are closed for a preset time period via the organizers working with local government and residents of the area.
What I saw this weekend easily in my mind can be described as one of the most extreme motorsports I have seen. It was a grueling 2 day event that pushed both driver and car to extremes. rough terrain, driving wind and rain (at least it was cold too), overcoming huge obstacles to push on to the finish. I want to start this by saying grats to all the drivers. Some were taken out early due to mechanical failures and I saw some go out from circumstances beyond their control but the sheer mettle shown by the competitors was inspiring.

My weekend started out Thursdsay with the check in, investigating tech and watching these guys (and girls) practice up at some land just off the Houghton county airport. To spectate is one thing. You are confined to some relatively safe areas for obvious reasons but will still recieve a great view. I had a media pass and could go anywhere. This is my account of the lake Superior Performance Rally 2011........

First thing I noticed as I headed into the Country Inn and Suites parking lot was my buddy Steves old scca spec Rabbit on a trailer all set up for rally with med sweep stickers on it, meaning it would be used to run the stage at the end to check the course for stragglers. Cool. There were several mk2 rally cars in the lot and my spirits soared. My contact for the media pass wasn't around yet (who would have thought the media liason for an event like this would be busy today?) So I headed over to check out Tech inspection.

Tech for a race like this is a little different than most motorsports as all functions for road use need to be operational. It was hard to get used to watching inspectors check turn signals and horns lol since what I'm used to is having them make sure the battery is fastened down, the seatbelts work and there is nothing loose in the car. After checking out the inspection on the car driven and owned by Dave Grenwis, who will also be providing us with some in car footage in the near future. Daves car is a group 2 (anything goes) prepared front wheel drive car. A 1987 GTI with a full ABA swap that is without question built with a purpose. Full cage, Race seats and harnesses, hands down far more more built than I had anticipated. These are fully race spec cars no fooling. I'll stop blathering about racecar now and keep rolling here.....

The practice stage is a great way for a guy like me to get familiar with the rest of the weekend. It is run like a regular stage with time controls at beginning and released in the same fashion as an actual stage. Cars are released once a minute from a time control depending on what is radioed back from the corner marshalls. When the time control says go, the clock starts and stops when you come out at the end. There are alotments for different spans of time for different hazards but overall, get through it as fast as you can.

Transit time is the time allowed between stages. If you get to the next stage to fast, you are penalized, if it takes you to long you are penalized. There is a prescribed route that needs to be followed from stage to stage. I learned rally is about control. Everything is controlled, time to get from stage to stage, when you leave the stage, when you get to the stage, time in service. Strict rules that need to be followed or you will be penalized.

Friday started with the waking memory of smelling gear lube as I drove back to my camp for the night on thursday. I pulled into the super 8 to meet Mike to head out to shoot the start of the rally I popped my hood, and looked down and noticed my passenger side axle was pulling out of the transmission, and immediately began to pray that the bearing hadn't egged itself up. Thanks to the help of The Scray brothers (car #510, ironic that thier car is a early 70s Datsun 510) and their jack and some tools, I made quick work of jacking it up and popping my axle back in past the seal. fixed. Nice, let's get this day started.

We started out at the Park Expose , a carshow for the rally cars that I learned saturday would be valuable for finding out who made it out of the woods Friday. Meeting the people behind the cars is the coolest part of any automotive event and the Expose is the perfect place to do that. Everybody is hanging out showing off their cars and making chit chat about the weather, and catching up on whats new since the last time you saw other friends you generally only see at these events.

From there is was a jump up the highway to the Beacon hill stage. We decided to skip the Gravel pit and head right into the woods. The caveat we face getting into the woods is we need to be in place on the stage at least 40 minutes ahead of the stage start. Hence all the stages we could not get to due to travel time.

Rainy, cold and windy was on the plate for us today, oh yeah, mud. lots of mud. The stages are made up of logging roads and fire lanes. Our sporty little 87 Quantum synchro with an Audi 5 cyl swap with some nice meaty snow tires on it proved to be an ideal ride for our purposes this weekend. Nice work Mike!

After driving the stage from finish to start scouting spots to shoot, I decided on a nice sweeping left hander for the cars to hopefully be sliding around when I snapped em. Some spots were awesome but ruled out, like the big log pile just after the apex of the same turn. I could have shot down on them and gotten some kickass shots but when Mike ran the car by for a test fire, I had the foresite of a car careening off the road and into the base of the pile. As I didn't feel the need to take that ride, I decided to set up on the inside of the corner......

After Beacon hill, we decided to head down to the kenton area and hit the Passmore stage. Here we encounter rookie media guy mistake #1. We needed fuel as we came out of the woods from Beacon Hill. Crap! Passmore was 1.5 hours away and we needed to be off the road and set up in 1.3. Rip out the friendly road Atlas and start beelining for the closest spot to get gas that was the least amout of time/miles out of our way. Needless to say we got to Passmore about 1 minute after car 0 went to clear the stage to make sure guys like us were out of the way. Awesome. So we moved on to Farpoint, the next stage in the race. Luckily we made it at the last second, literally. we rushed down th stage looking for an ideal spot to shoot from as it was getting dark and needed a crative vantage point for photos. In a last second decision, we picked a 90 degree right hander to snap from as I could stand right on the corner since if the cars were flying, there was a large clump of trees and a stop sign(would be avoided at all costs, nobody wants to pay for a stop sign) between me and them. So we got set up as night fell, 0 car went through and we waited. And waited, and, well, you get the point. Apparently somebody piled their Subie up on Passmore so Farpoint was delayed. At least it was cold, windy and rainy lol. Great night to be standing in the woods in the UP....

When the cars finally started coming through, I felt a pulse of adrenaline. I can't quite say I've ever seen anything as cool as a small glow starting in the distance of the trees and growing to ufo purportions about the same time you can actually hear the cars. Awesome, all of a sudden I wasn't cold and ready to fly with it. As the first car came by I was cursing the gratuitously wet weather as my flash wasn't firing. Many expletives came out of my mouth as I realized my pictures were a blurry black mess with a bright spot from the light pod on the car and virtually unrecognizable. I will save them however in case I ever need some artsy crap. I took the flash off and went with plan B and used the on body flash and moved a little closer in. You tell me how they turned out. I won't be offended.....

So with the end of that stage we headed to the Kenton service (unfortunately, the combination of 40 degrees, pouring rain and then jumping into a warm car reeks havoc on an slr body. Therefore I have no photos from the Kenton service as my camera was rendered useless by foggy lenses and just major moisture in general) for some chilli dogs at Hoppes and the check up on all the racers and how they faired. The Scrays who had helped me out with the use of their tools early that morning had blown something right after they passed my spot at far point, so I'm pretty pleased I caught them as they went by because right after the corner, we heard a miss, then another and then their light pod was immerssed in steam. Sucks but that's racing. They had no diagnoses by the time we saw them but there was plenty of other mayhem going on in the pits. There was a group of cars that was not yet back in from Bobs Lake, the stage immediatley after Farpoint and our guy D Grenwis was one of them. We waited around for him and he came in with about 6 minutes of his 30 minute service left. He got stuck with several other cars behind a car that was really stuck bad at Bobs lake stage. We did a quick repair on his wipers as the are the standard mk2 wiper arms (crap) and were starting to wipe when they felt like it. Good. Done. Back to Houghton for the night. Early day tomorrow considering it's 11something PM and these guys need to run Passmore, Farpoint and Bobs Lake 1 more time before heading in. I opted to skip them and get a shower, food and some warm.

Check back soon as I will be back with part 4- Parc expose @ L'ance saturday morning and the one you guys all want to see shots from, Arvon tower, first time through when the air time was not anticipated so you were all balls in the wind over the kink!...... Thanks all!

P.O.R " Press On Regardless"

2011-10-16T15:21:00.009-04:00

So now that I'm home safe and warm with the UP's Norwegian aphrodesiac smell of the woods (mud and wet leaves) washed off it's time to start telling you guys about the weekend.

Shortly after arriving in Houghton and speaking with drivers and officials, I realized in short fashion that to really cover this event and the legend around it, it would have to be far more than some pictures and a few paragraphs. I owe it to you the readers, an inside view of this event because when I started talking about going to this I had a few questions to the effect of "is it going to a car show?" Oh boy, no son, that's not really a rally. That is really just a group of cars driving together to a show.

A rally is a timed event. All of it. From getting from stage to stage to when you drive in and out of service (pits) Stickers do not make a rally....

I owe it to the event because it really is a legend in itself. I am doing this now because as I was starting to go through pictures from this event I found a story that will help me explain it better.

The LSPR was originally called POR (press on regardless) Due to the nature of the event. and the mettle of competitors.Rough terrain, held in late fall in Michigan so the weather can do anything. I'm not sure when it became the LSPR, but I do know many still call it POR.....

I found this video (thanks for the tip Tim) on youtube from 1973. 73 was it's 25th year. Unreal...

http://youtu.be/9JZ6zWCFD6c

Hence being dubbed "The oldest Meanest Toughest Rally" And it is tough.

After watching some of those old videos, not much has changed. Service points look the same, just with newer vehicles, and the regulations are probably a bit tougher. But overall, the similarities are astonishing from then and now.

First car out on stage 1 on Friday is 1 PM, First car out on the last stage Friday is 11:53PM, and that is an hour away from Houghton where everything is based. Total mileage with transit (travel between stages) for friday- 306.54 Miles.
First car out saturday morning ( after needing to be in L'anse at 9:30AM, 50 minutes from Houghton) is 10:52AM and first car out on the last stage saturday is 6:13PM. Total miles with transit for Saturday- 525.67. It's tough just to keep up with it...

My Friend Mike who was my guide through the weekend said several times to different drivers "Just keep it together and finish. If you finish you just beat half the other drivers" And he was right.

Where the press on regardless falls into place is exemplified by this story for me. It stands for do whatever it takes, just make sure you finish. No matter how crapped up your car is, go if you can until you can't go anymore.

Saturday afternoon in the first run of the Arvon tower stage, #841, an mk2 Golf driven by an american/canadian team flew of the kink in true rally fashion......

Looks good.....

Little kittywampus.....

"I think I got it" and back on the throttle....

But a big muddy rut on the left hooked the back wheel and sucked it in

And spun the car so the front went in

And turned it over. Reach for the sky tires! Race over right? Pfffft....

Turn it over, nicely ask the next guy through to help drag it out of the mud since it runs and make tracks getting to the finish.....Although they finished the stage, it turns out that the windscreen was to cracked for safety officials to be comfortable and the right rear quaterglass was shattered. Race over right? Pffft to that too. This is POR...

You walk around the pits(remember, this is only a 30 minute service meaning you have 30 minutes to complete repairs or you are done) And beg and plead anyone for anything that you can use for windows. I guess a windshield from an evo fastened with several rolls of strategically placed duct tape will work for now. and clear packing tape will work for a quaterglass I guess.....

All that counts is it cleared safety.

HAHA, that is too awesome but I really feel like it exemplifies the spirit behind "Press On Regardless"

Team Conte/Chernick finished 8th in the Max attack at LSPR this year. They overcame the odds and finished the series. "press on regardless" Nice work guys....

Day 1- Lake Superior Performance Rally

2011-10-13T20:27:00.009-04:00

Ahhhh yes. Fall, a picturesque time of year when the leaves are turning up the optical heat and people flock to well known areas that exhibit the best colors. Chairlift rides to the tops of ski hills for the best views, fall color tours, etc.
Enter Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It has all the ingredients for a spectacular fall extravaganza with all of the aforementioned things as well as many other fabulous attractions.
I last night was one of these people driving for hours to see something that the Keweenaw peninsula held for me. However, although I will be spending my weekend out in the woods, and will be enjoying the color of the leaves celebrating fall, it will be with cars rocketing around corners and flying through the air....

The Lake Superior Performance Rally was originally an SCCA event held from 1973- 2004 and taken over by Rally America in 2005 to current. The rally has seen some changes over the past few years such as, it is now held only on the lower portion of the penninsula and not out east of the bridge. It is also now a regional competition, no longer a national event like it was in years past. None of these things pose a problem in my eyes as there is no shortage of people who are completely gung ho on getting out on the stages and pounding on their car.
Based in Houghton MI, the rally continues to exist and if anything I saw today was an indicator, will not let me down for a kick ass time.

So today was mostly a set up day for the rest of the weekend. Pick up credentials, racers signed in and ran their cars through the technical inspection (safety) and then went out and hit the practice stage for a few runs. Without a doubt in my mind, although somewhat merciless non stop running from stage to stage while chasing the race, this weekend will absolutely kick ass!
Don't expect to hear from me until early next week as the first car leaves at 2PMish Friday and it is going to be gogogo! until Saturday afternoon.

We will also have a camera installed in the 1987 ABA swapped Golf owned by Dave Grenwis From MN. I'll also provide a little bio on him so we can get familiar with who we are cranking through the woods with.
I also want to give a shout to Mike Merbach, My guide through the rally event and the guy who is on hand to also pull me out of the way if my dumb ass is to busy taking a picture instead of paying attention. The coverage we'll see would probably not be possible this year without his help since I am somewhat unfamiliar with the situation and would be grossly inefficient at getting around. Thanks Mike!

So now I'll shut up and move on to some pictures to keep you occupied until full event coverage is up......
/\This by the way is our driver for the weekend. Thanks for the help Dave!/\

PROFILE: Monkey Business

2011-10-13T18:22:00.023-04:00

Car: VW Beetle(branded with a 74 pan under a 69 body)
Owner: Jon Haas
Occupation: Tattoo Artist/Hobo

This car is and has a unique blend of awesome. The rat look might be the first thought; in reality it's more of a Oldskool Racer as Jon explains it. Sometimes we just love a car for the car, regardless of the mods or caliber of restoration/build in terms of money spent. Sometimes...we just stare because it's not like every other build. Honestly I could care less about "what" this car has done. It's a mix of parts from the pan to the engine, a homogenization if you will. Recently Jon has spent a lot of time on this "Daily Status" Beetle. Friends gather, paint cans fly, wrenches turn, spaghetti gets eaten. It's the kind of build we all want, with our friends til the end.

Now...this wouldn't be much of a profile if we didn't at least touch base on work completed. The obvious is paint. The night after leaving Midwest Volksfest this car began a new transformation with it's touches on the exterior. This Beetle went from being a ragged satin black beater to something that pops anywhere it's at. White paint, red wheels, it looks like a Hotwheel car in motion. Underneath is has nothing special other than the Low mods. 2.5" drops spindles, 2" narrow beam and a couple clicks on the rear plates to give it the aggressive stance it has. Engine is a semi worn out 1600 single port that wont win any races; it will drive across the country without any issues so 5 points awarded for reliability? Despite being built from spare parts this car is extremely solid, no rust, runs and tracks smooth.

Jon himself has quite the build sheet when it comes to autos. Other vehicles in his stable; a VR6 swapped Caddy and maybe a bike or two. Tattoos for a living, build cars with friends, carries a sock monkey around, stories that could make a great movie. It's what makes Jon...Jon and his cars different from the rest.

Stay fresh <3

Words and photos by: Keith Osborn

Lake Superior Performance Rally- Oct 14-15

2011-10-01T09:45:00.002-04:00

http://lsprorally.com/

So I will be up in the scenic Upper Penninsula of Michigan this year, City of Houghton for the Lake Superior Performance Rally. Just applied for my Media Pass and have hopefully aquired a spot in a passenger seat to blast through some woods at breakneck speeds once or twice.
All that is certain is Eurotrash will be there to take some pics, talk to some drivers and cover the event in general. Always a good weekend, lots of fun folks in town and a ploethera of cool cars, all decked out to ram through the woods. If you can clear the weekend I strongly recommend it. See you there!

Just a few minutes of your time sir.....

2011-10-01T07:28:00.003-04:00

I recently had a chance to catch up with Mike Olson of the mk4 "Frankengolf" fame. If you are not familiar with Mike or his car, you are:

A) New to the scene

B) live under a rock

C) Do not know what a mk4 is (but have probably seen the car in a magazine, the Vortex or a carshow)

D) Do not read PVW, Eurotuner or the Vortex and do not know where the midwest is.

E) All of the above.

So since most of us are familiar with the car, I thought it would be interesting to ask Mike about his roots and influences. Gypsy parents? Hit in the head at an early age? Grew up sleeping in the backseat of a car at the local dirt track as a child?

So I shot Mike a few questions and he shot back some answers. Without further Adue....

ET: Hi Mike, Tell us about yourself, most if not all of the folks reading this know you and/or your car. Can you clue us into your roots? Where you are from, or what influences you to build your car the way you do?
I am originally from here in Minnesota, but have been all over the united states, for different reasons, at different times. I grew up around cars, my dad being a late model, then later a hobbyist circle track racer here locally, as well as being a hot rod guy. So I have always been around some sort of motor more or less my entire life. I might build VWs, but cars are my passion. So you will see me geek out about any sort of vehicle that has a noticeable amount of passion and energy involved in it. And as such, I take a lot of influences from outside the euro scene, etc, for my projects.

ET: Your car has gone through several major transformations on a pretty regular basis. Is there a plan when you tear into your car or are you just throwing it all up in the air and seeing where it lands?
More the latter. I cant sit still, and am not much for the social scene. So it keeps me busy in the winter months, waiting for the snow and cold to go away. I just get an idea, and it more or less runs away on me from there to be honest. I am in talk with a pal about working on his this coming winter, so that I will leave mine alone, and maybe be able to get to one of my other projects as well.

ET: What is/ has been your favorite version of your car?
I would have to say its always been a progressive movement, so to me it keeps getting better and better. Though cosmetically I change it quite often, usually there is more going on then meets the eye, and its usually the cosmetic stuff that keeps me from being idle waiting on hard parts for other things that aren’t always seen. So like this year theres a lot of powdered parts. But a lot of people don’t realize that I also built up, and swapped in a six speed from a 24v? so theres always a level of R&D that I might have going on, that I just don’t always get asked about.

ET: What else besides cars?
Tattoos, old motorcycles, R/C cars, skateboarding, breaking stereotypes. I am more or less a big kid haha.

ET: Future plans?
Maybe one day get my Triumph chopper project going

ET: Thanks for your time. Anything you want to say to everybody?
Do what you love, and you will never work a day in your life. Easier said then done sometimes, but then again, my Pops says it best, “those who never fuck up, are the ones that done ever try”

And an updated response to the "what's next" question.....

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5445601-FS-FT-quot-frankengolf-quot-tattoo24v-s-03-GTI-3.3-VR6T!-a-decade-in-the-works..http://

And if you really aren't familiar with the car, check out all the supplied links in the thread. It really has a history of setting the pace if not just in the mk4 world but in the enthusiast world in general.

Adaptec Speedware. Endless Possibilities

2011-09-30T01:49:00.002-04:00

Over the past few years, there has been a influx into the world of aftermarket automotive centered around wheel fitment. It’s not that wheel fitment is a new concept, or that’s its been re-invented, but rather has evolved into places that hold no bounds. Wheel companies have progressed to offering aggressive fitments tailored to the millimeter of a customer’s liking, but typically that means shelling out a few more bushels of wheat then you might be accustom to.

read full article here...

Classic.

2011-09-28T15:47:00.000-04:00

H2O before H2Oi

2011-09-27T19:44:00.007-04:00

Representation. Upfront is Chris Balich who made a pit stop with Brandon Medley and Jake Altick on the way to H2Oi to see H2O in concert downtown NYC. H2O before H2Oi WOOT!

Click here for more

<3 K.Osborn

Baller Status 80's Style

2011-09-20T17:49:00.006-04:00

In case you were wondering, you were baller if you had a clean GTI or GLI in the late 80's...Just ask Q-Tip. I remember reading about this in one of those terrible grocery store magazines a few years back, you know, the ones next to Cosmo and Teen...Do people even buy magazines anymore? With blogs and the intrawebs I read about the builds before they even make it to print. In the 80's they didn't even have the ability to post pics, however they did get one thing right....Oregon Trail.

-KO

Midwest Volksfest 6

2011-09-18T21:30:00.023-04:00

Held in Indianapolis IN this show is 6 years old and has seen a lot of changes as it evolves into one of the Midwest's premier events. Traditionally this show is held in the early part of the season when everyone is itching to get out to see friends and convoy throughout the region just to have a different hang out spot.

TeamEuroTrash was there representing what this scene is made of; hard work, blood, sweat and tears(into our machines) This years event saw a few changes mainly the date which has been moved to September. The trike races had almost everyone on the grounds watching riders compete for the covenant trophy of extreme awesomeness. Bagged participants had the opportunity to take part in the can crushing event which helps save the earth and recycling and junk.

Overall the MKII's really dominated this year. They rolled in deep and really shined with classic styling that never gets old. Among my favorites were the ITB's RS'd GLI rolling hard on a static drop that would make most baggers cry(no hate) and the silver VR6 MKII GTI with an ultra clean....everything. Being an Audi guy at heart I drooled over the variety. Old school coupe quattros to B6 S4's sitting oh so pretty. Overall quality of participants was substantial in my book.

Uberdubs did a fantabulous job this year, the spread was a little too far out, however the weather was great; with a few minor sprinkles you really can't ask for a more relaxed event. Numbers were down a bit this year. Seems the likely cause was H2Oi being the next weekend and an unfavorable weather forecast; don't let it hold you back from this event next year. Check out the pictures of who and what attended this years event.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICS

-KO

Treffen 2011. Chicago,il

2011-08-27T18:15:00.001-04:00

Dubs in the Valley 2011.

2011-08-10T13:41:00.005-04:00

Our weekend kicked off with a 260 mile trip in the wrong direction to get a new rear axle - less than 24 hours before we were scheduled to leave for Wisconsin. I got it installed out of town (big thanks to Grossman Tuning in Louisville, KY) and we started on the 550 mile trip to Wisconsin. After a luckily uneventful drive we arrived to just what we remembered from years past - A good crew of good people hanging out and drinking. To us it was the perfect way to unwind from the hectic 24 hours prior.

Saturday morning arrives and before you know it, it's show time. Once they opened the cars started pouring through the gates like whiskey on St. Patty's day. One of the highlights of this show is the annual "Blow Me" car. This years car was a 2.0 passat and it didn't last long. This year the Stag, who is the Stig's brother, manned the throttle and I think it was somewhere in the 4 minute range when it seized. This year they also reintroduced "drag racing", not much to explain, see photos below. Beckett's restaurant provided cold beer on site and great food inside. Chris (co-owner) is a car guy himself and goes out of his way for us to have a good time and succeeds every year. Good times all around for sure. I don't think you would find one person that had a bad experience at this show. Even the poor Iowa guys who had another catastrophe before the show left with smiles on their faces, including one guy that lost half a foot. Overall, this show is too much damn fun.

A quick shout out to Ryan Reel for going to get some spring compressors for my own issues so i could make it home safely (rear axles rubbing perches in back) and Joe D and Justin for lending the extra hands and tools.

Big thanks to those that sponsored the event... great bunch of guys at Further Performance that came with some sick cars including Mike olsons ridiculous GTI, (Twin Cities), Jay at Mobile 1 (Chicago), Ben at Ben's Vee Dub Shop (Madison), Team Eurotrash, Becketts Restaurant and Joe D, Ben, Justin and the rest of the Madspeed crew for putting this event on. One last really special shout out to the supreme douche bag who stole the BBS center caps, you know who you are, you'll probably read this, so fuck you! Can't wait for next year, see you in 2012.

Event coverage from the "drag" racing. This was a 2 outta 3 contest that was won pretty easily. There was one wreck and of course the Eurotrash crew was on hand to catch it.

Racing action.

and the crash.

Clearance shirts. $12.50 shipped!!

2011-08-09T21:14:00.000-04:00

You will also be automatically entered into the Scott Taylor t-shirt giveaway that we are running. If you don't know who it is, check out Southern Worthersee's facebook page for details.

no smalls left on " i hate nutswingers "

All sizes but very limited.

No larges left in " Salute to static rollers "

15 minutes with Detailer's Domain.

2011-08-09T15:08:00.003-04:00

Sitting down with Phil Yiu, owner and founder of Detailer's Domain.

1. Who are you?

Philip Yiu – Owner of Detailer's Domain

2. Any particular reason that you got into the detailing business?

From an early age I was always into cars. I started out by detailing my parents cars when I was 13 and moved on to their friends cars. I was always into trying out the latest and greatest products. At 17 when I got my license I got a job at a local Honda dealer.

3. We see you on every forum, why do you feel your products are superior?
After all these years of playing around with products, I feel I have a good idea of what products work with what cars. I have got to say I don't know it all and I'm always learning. There are a ton of great products, we carry many of them but there are others out there.

4. Whats your number one selling product?

Our microfibers are the best selling products we have, for chemicals our top sellers are Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner, Adam's Detail Spray, Adam's Car Wash, Adam's All Purpose Cleaner, einszett Glanz Wax, einszett Spray Wax, einszett Cockpit.

5. We seen you had a Black B8 S4 at Waterfest, what other cars have you owned in the past?

Wow that's a long list I do have some issues with that….here goes

2000 Audi S4 Nogaro Blue – Stolen

2001 Audi TT Roadster 225 hp

2000 Mercedes E55

2000 Mercedes ML55

2000 Audi S4 – Silver – couldn't deal not having one anymore

2004 Audi S4

2003 Audi RS6

1999 BMW M3

2002 BMW X5 4.6

2004 Porsche Cayenne S

2004 Porsche Cayenne Turbo

2006 VW GTI

2007 Subaru STI (had to get the rice out of me)

2007 Toyota FJ Cruise (when we provided mobile detailing services)

2008 VW R32

2002 Porsche 911 Turbo

2007 Audi Q7 4.

2009 Audi Q7 TDI

2010 Audi S4

6. Out of all the car genre's out there, who seems to be the most fanatical about their cars?

Its hard to say, all genre's have a group that care about their cars. But the most fanatical hmm I would say the German car owners.

The products would be all over the board, but I would say Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner and quick detail sprays.

7. We know that you're a devoted family man, any problems with detail groupies?

Nope no problems at all with groupies LOL

8. What do you love most about your job?

I love everything about what I do, its a hobby that turned into something I can support my family with, what's better than that. There are of course bad days like everything else. Overall I'm going to say I'm blessed to be able to do what I'm doing.

We had a chance to meet Phil and the crew at Waterfest as our booths were next to each other and the car world definitely needs more guys like this. If you know Phil, then you know exactly what im talking about. Thanks to these guys constantly charging my iphone all weekend, i could stay online all day haha. You can check out their products here....http://www.detailersdomain.com/

$18 shipped. show that daily driven pride.

2011-07-27T18:58:00.001-04:00

click on shirt link to the right to order.

Profile: Old Skool Vulcan Werks

2011-07-25T22:26:00.005-04:00

So I'm always hunting for stuff to toss onto the blog that folks might find interesting. So in passing my friend Ben mentioned a place called Old Skool Vulcan Werks. Hmmm, so I hopped on the www and looked it up. Needless to say, I was impressed and decided this was definately good fodder for the blog.

Ladies and Germs, I give you a quick interview with Terry Sing, founder and operator of Old Skool Vulcan Werks.....

ET- Ok, let’s start with the name. What, how, Named after what?

Well truth be told, my wife came up with it. I told her I was struggling with what I wanted to call it. I wanted something with strength she suggested Vulcan- The Roman God of fire and blacksmithing. I also wanted something that gave the feel of getting back to our hot rod roots and just making shit happen- Old Skool. “Werks” was added in to finish it off and as a convenient play on acronym “VW”(hence the way it is spelled)

ET- Who is responsible for OSVW? And how long have you been at it? Tell us about yourself…

Responsible? Well this is a one man show at the moment (me in my garage) but “responsible” is not the word I would use. “Winging it” is more like it. How long have I been at it?… most of my life really. I have always been into building trick shit but about 2 years ago is when I started OSVW full time. I was laid off from my corporate retail management “go nowhere” job and after being maxxed out with all the corporate bullshit I decided I wasn’t going back to it. OSVW was officially kicked off.

ET- Neat products, what drives your R&D? Personal need or customer comments? Or is it a good mix of both?

Thank you! As a longtime VW fan I started to notice that unlike the vintage aircooled world, the vintage watercooled world was starting to die. Not die in the way of interest but die by the way of vendors and products. Day by day less and less stuff (replacement or performance) is being made for the MK1’s. And certainly very little new products were being developed for MK1’s. As for R&D, personal needs and customer requests have driven some ideas but mainly it’s a matter of reviewing MK1 scene (worldwide) looking for patterns in trends as well as daily issues we are facing and coming up with creative solutions.

ET- Where did you get your start, this style of craft really kind of breaks away from the “regular” tuning theory and falls back into a time of function over form. Hands on, I would go as far as to say hot rod. Am I wrong?

No… in fact you nailed it on the head. Hot rod is what I am all about. I was raised in a rodding life style. Back in the day when guys got together in the garage and built cool shit with whatever they had laying around. I am just trying to help folks get back to building again without breaking the bank.

ET- All mk1 or are you going to expand into anything else?

You know I get asked that quite often. MK1’s are my passion and certainly many of my products cross over into other models (Passat, Corrado, Scirocco, MK2 and 3…) but for now I plan to stay focused on the MK1’s.

ET- Love the versatility of your pieces. How much time do you spend on a drawing board versus time machining? And I’m not talking about “time machining” like time travel……

Unfortunately I probably spend far too much time drawing… but my OCD’s make me measure 14 billion times and cut once. Truth is I am a self taught CAD operator so it takes me little while to dial in the designs before I am pleased and willing to have it sent out to be cut. As for all the machine work, I farm it out to a great local shop. Not having to cut the pieces allows me more time to design, prototype, and build. That’s a win in my book. Once everything is cut, I bring it back to the shop and assemble the pieces and send them to powdercoat. Everything I build is made on demand and custom for each customer.

ET- Give us some hints at what’s next, future products, plans for expansion, anything. A little heads up so to speak for what,s coming up from OSVW.

Well… got a few things in the fire right now. I’m about to introduce a new rear axle for the Caddys. It can be built to just about any length and will have built in adjustable drop plates for the ultimate in height adjustability. But I am probably most excited to be bringing out a new bolt-in air ride kit for the Caddys. A complete kit for the DIY’er looking to add air suspension to the back of their MK1 Caddy.

ET- Are you a “go fast” or a “go low” guy or both?

Low and slow… is there another way?

ET - Random question: What’s your favorite website?

Recently I would have to say volksrods.com. I am dying to make a VRod and that forum truly embodies what I am all about- building cars and having a good time while you’re at it.

I amost forgot, the website: http://oldskoolvw.com/

Shop Profile: Further Performace, Minneapolis MN

2011-07-24T19:31:00.004-04:00

So having dealt with the crew from Further Performance on several occasions, I thought it would be cool to introduce the community at large to them via the Eurotrash Blog.

Further Performance is based in Minneapolis MN and has been responsible for several cars that just about everybody has at least seen once either at events like h2o(speaking of, what's going on with that? Can anybody clue us in?) or in many different forums on the Vortex, or blogs across the great wide interweb.

I could keep going but instead of listening to me blather about it, I had given Tristan Henderson, proprietor, some questions to answer and this is what he gave back.....

ET- Tell us the story of Further Performance. Who is responsible for it, How long you've been around,etc

TH-I am a 30+ year VW enthusiast. I grew up with VWs in my family, and have a picture of me ‘helping’ my father rebuild his bus motor from about 1979 or 80. I bought my first VW Bug at age 13, had it running within a few hours, and my passion has grown from there. I started Further Performance in a 2-car garage in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in early 2000 where I repaired older VWs for friends and acquaintances. This was also where I started chipping and modifying cars through APR, a company to which we still have strong ties. I started with VW and Audi at a small dealership in Eau Claire in 2001. I came on board as a newbie with barely enough tools to function, but I worked and trained for about 4 years and left for Minneapolis as lead technician. We moved to Minnesota in 2004 so I could advance my knowledge and pursue my career as a technician with Audi, all the while working out of my garage on the side.
In 2005, I found a location 3 blocks from my house and opened up the shop full time. The first year and a half I worked alone, then (Master Technician) Peter Anderson joined the family in 2006. Over the next few years (air-cooled specialist) Kyler Anderson, then (service writer, project manager, and general Get-it-Done guy) Mike Olson joined us adding their variety of skills to our staff.

ET- What is your specialty? We all know maintenance is the bread and butter but what do you guys get most excited about?

TH- We get excited by projects that break new ground, and are unique in the community. Type 3s are a shop favorite, we have 4 on hand (including a rough ‘driveway find’ ’64 Type 34 Ghia coupe which we hope to have at Dubs In the Valley powered by a 150hp 2110cc engine?!?!). We are known for our diverse knowledge of a 50-year-span of German cars and technology, and our attention to detail.

ET- I noticed a pretty eclectic collection of toys around there. Is it more than just cars for you guys?

TH- We are into pretty much anything that consumes gasoline and produces some kind of power, the louder the better too. I like old boats and outboard motors, motorcycles, vintage, custom, and especially driver built! We helped our friend Kramer finish up his ’67 BSA café racer this summer. He got a best in class and was runner up for best of show at an English bike show this past weekend.

ET- You guys have several well known cars flying your flag out on the scene, the MK5 R32, Mike's car, etc. Tell us about something cool you guys built that isn't so widely known. Pictures would be great.

TH- One of my personal favorites would have to be my prior (200hp) '57 Oval Window Ragtop Bug. It was built for a client who in turn sold it back to us. It had a fully built 2332cc engine with Weber 48s (modified to 51.5s), 4 wheel ‘Bad’ disk brakes from Airkewld, a color matched Ron Lummus Racing Chromoly roll cage, AN lines throughout, M&H drag slicks, Line lock, custom interior and 2 tone paint.

ET- I've seen several products that look to have been made by you guys for sale. Anything you want to tell us about?

TH- We do try to use what we learn from different projects, and turn that knowlege into solutions for other projects and parts that we can produce. R32 head spacers are a good example of this. After the work on Jeff’s ’04 R32T, Lyles ’08 R32T, and Mike's FrankenGolf, we have learned of many tweaks that we can reproduce to help with several issues commonly seen in boosted VR6 motors especially cooling. Even though it is based on the 3.2, it’s a solution for any boosted 24v VR6. For those that have already gone further, and went to lower compression pistons, and don’t need the spacer to do so, we can still offer a head gasket with the two additional port revisions as well.
Another project in the works, and actually on Mike's FrankenGolf at the moment, is a new version of a short runner intake manifold, which will work on both boosted and NA cars. A few versions we looked at worked well in boosted applications, but did not flow so well without boost. We'll have more on that as it develops. Just like any motorheads, our gears are always turning, looking for new ideas and new projects.

ET- Random question: what kind of music gets the most play in your shop?

TH- lol, that would depend on the time of day. Most often during the day 89.3, The Current is the station of choice, but what we listen to during late nights and weekends depends on whose IPod or other random device is plugged in. When Mike is here alone, most likely some sort of death metal. We also like having our buddy Teddy Mac spin for us. :)

Nice! Make sure if you are ever in the cities to check em out. Great bunch of guys, and lots of general badassery hanging out around the shop.

How about a little contact info?
http://www.furtherperformance.com/

Further will also be at Dubs In the Valley August 6th with several cars (and yes, the Ghia is on the roster and it really kicks ass) so make sure you get there and say hi!
http://www.dubsinthevalley.com/

Till next time....

Further Built S4

Head spinning mk5 R32

Waterfest 2011. The Journey

2011-07-19T14:03:00.000-04:00

1407.2 miles in 60 hours with a show in between. It started with a phone call to Waterfest headquarters a mere 12 days before show time. We were amazed at the willingness of Dan and the crew to get us in as a vendor and a great spot to boot. Everything was laid out perfectly for us starting at the will call booth. Getting in and set up was a breeze. As soon as you entered the gates you knew you were in the presence of one of the biggest VW/Audi car shows in the world. All the heavy hitters were in attendance like BBS of America, Forged, Eurotuner, Motorsport Tech, APR Tuning etc. The day started at 10 in the morning and we were instantly slammed with customers - and it stayed that way until we packed up at 6pm Saturday night. The chaos you hear about at Waterfest didn't disappoint. Cops had hotels on lock down but that didn't stop the people from enjoying themselves with some alcoholic beverages. Sunday morning started the same way, busy busy busy. The amount of people at the booth was overwhelming at times, but that's a good thing right? Hung out with old friends, made a lot of new friends, can't wait to come back. We love Jersey, and Jersey loves us! See everyone next year!

The Rise of Russia

2011-07-14T17:09:00.002-04:00

By Larry McKurtis

Russia is a country rich in tradition and hungry for progression. No doubts can be cast on the possibilities of a large and proud country that is now 20 years removed from the shadows of communism, Big Brother's vigilant and untrusting eye, and all the repression that defined an era. The creativity that was stifled and forced under the famous Russian stoicism nearly a century ago has begun to blossom, reproduce, and shine openly in the Eastern European sun. Eager to catch up with what the West has been up to, the Russians have spawned a microcosm car culture consisting of strange vehicles like the Lada and the Volga that my paltry American imagination associates with KGB officials and old James Bond films. The influx of German made cars and an increase in Japanese imports have added flavor to the mix. Our Evolve Rep Dmitri of Bodybeat.ru was present at the Picnic OD meet in Moscow, and as you can see from the pictures below it was a diverse meeting of all things auto. Pictures courtesy of Pavel Korotky.

Rust is the new black. And I approve.

And for some more familiar faces..

The car balancing contest. Something I would be way into.

Limbo, or some form of it, being presented in a fashion I find enjoyable.

Now if I can only talk the boss into letting me have a face to face meeting in Russia with Dmitri....

We Want You!

2011-07-12T15:44:00.000-04:00

So being all fresh and new to the Blogging world, it came up in conversation that we need to find a way to stay in touch with the world around us as it is a big big place and not nearly enough of us to be everywhere at once.

It was decided we should set up a mailbox for you guys to send your cool stuff to, here it is:

eurotrash.submit@gmail.com

We want to hear about your car shows, your badass cars, your new products, general tomfoolery of an entertaining nature, links to stuff you think we should see, etc. Although we can't guarantee it will make it to the blog, it will be reviewed and considered.

I don't want to sound brash, but please no shots from your cell phone unless it is earth shatteringingly cool.

Euro Girl shirt.

2011-07-11T16:29:00.000-04:00

All sizes back in stock! $18 shipped! Order yours through dinaheurotrash@gmail.com.

New Hats! Back in stock.

2011-07-11T16:27:00.000-04:00

Available in Black, Red or White. $28 shipped to US. Order through dinaheurotrash@gmail.com

Evolve

2011-07-11T14:58:00.000-04:00

Evolve spacers are now available through Motorsport Tech and Eurotrash. Evolve is focused solely on European fitment - VAG, BMW, Porsche, and starting today (Monday, July 11th), we are offering same day shipping on select spacers. We'll be stocking several different sizes of our most popular spacers, like 15mm 5x112 and 20mm 5x100. Sizes available are limited as we are just beginning our production run.
We'll be at Waterfest this weekend slanging and hanging. Come have a beer, get some stickers, spacers, a shirt, and talk some shop. Hope to see you all out there!

Midwest Treffen. An interview with Vince Churchill

2011-07-11T13:59:00.009-04:00

We did an interview with the new Assistant Director for CVO to get some answers on the rumored questions we hear every year.

First of all, Who are you and what do you drive?
Vince Churchill, currently drive a 2004 VW R32

What is your association with Treffen?
As Assistant Director and acting Director of the Chicago Volkswagen Organization, I've been leading planning efforts for all aspects of the show since early January

What did you feel Treffen was missing in years past that you can bring to it now?
Midwest Treffen was created to be a much more family-oriented, casual car show for the local midwest community. For 2011 we have made a concious effort in each step of planning to take the show back to those roots and create a weekend full of activities. I want people to not only experience Chicago and a great car show, but also to enjoy an environment similar to a block party with friends. For me, this is the unique atmosphere that Treffen offers in contrast to many other car shows around the country.

The location has always been a bit of a question mark, is there possibly any change in the future?
In a word, Yes. During the initial planning stages there was much thought regarding a location change for 2011. The Treffen Autocross has been relocated for 2011 to Maywood Park as a result of some of the feedback we received last year, and there are plans to make further location changes as early as next year.

The addition of the cruise seem like a cool addition, but why not saturday night?
We're very excited for the night cruise, which will give a select group the chance to enjoy the Chicago Lakefront along with fellow car enthusiasts. We've scheduled the cruise for friday night in order to provide a kick-off to the entire Treffen weekend, as well as to cater to the out-of-town folks that may be looking for a chance to see the city while visiting.

I really like this show but it falls flat for the pre party, anything planned for saturday night this year?
Fortunately we read your mind this year while planning Treffen weekend. Saturday is arguably the busiest of the three days, with the Autocross scheduled during the day and a Drive-In scheduled for the evening. Cascade Drive-In will offer attendees a place to watch movies, enjoy food & drink, and even barbeque in the available picnic area.

Where do you see Treffen in 5 years? Do you see it growing into a powerhouse show?

Our goal as a club, and my personal goal as Assistant Director, is to return Midwest Treffen to the large casual, family-oriented event that it is named for. With the right planning and the right execution, we are well on our way towards meeting that goal. Chicago is a great city and it deserves to showcase a great event for the entire community.

More Show info and registration can be found here... http://midwesttreffen.com/

Rallywerks- June 24th 2011

2011-07-09T18:21:00.000-04:00

About 8 hours, about 50 cars, 1 wreck, a school bus ride to a german restaurant where I tried to kill myself with a bratwurst, more beer than I can remember, and alot of great people and great times...

Epic roadtrip. That is how I would describe just about any Long Ball Rally event I have been a part of. Sometimes people all stick together, sometimes half the pack flies ahead at 100 mph plus. This was Rallywerks and it proved to be as epic as any LBR event.

It all started Friday morning with a check in on the book of faces as I was loading up (take that any way you want) and a post from Kieran the organizer about something being broken. As this was an LBR event it was no surprise to me that something was broken, just that it happened before the Rally even started. (chaos) After a 1 or 2 hour setback, the rally was on the road and our tiny contingent from this part of Wisco set out to meet up with the rest of the group at the Black River falls stop.

We made Black River Falls ahead of the group which turned out to be a good thing as it was pretty magnificent watching all those cars drive in. More than I expected by far. Hmm, I thought to myself, this might not be too bad....

After one little mishap at the truck stop where we were meeting up, a local stopped to see if he could help....

And we were back on the road. There were around 25 cars registered, but at this point there were already around 35. Next stop was Eau Claire. Yes Eau Claire, like the doughnut. We picked up several more cars there and proceeded on to the cities.

Good times! Upon arriving at our hotel in MPLS we promptly pooled our money and rented a school bus. I'll spare you the gory details of the restaurant besides we all drank liters upon liters of beer and several of us attempted (only 2 of us succeeded) to eat a meter long bratwurst with sides!

The bottom line is, it was a blast! You can't plan the things that happen on trips like this, the stuff you see, the people you meet, awesome.

Big thanks to Kieran Delaney for continuing to organize Long Ball Rally events. The end goal for him as stated is to help grow shows by organizing Rallies to them, it appears to be working. Next time, maybe more than half the people in the pack will have registered!

Next up is Rally To The Valley! (Caution: Shameless plug about to happen)

http://longballrally.com/

Go there /\/\/\ and get registered! Also, Registration for Dubs In the Valley will be closing at midnight July 20th, get it done people! you can do this here:

http://dubsinthevalley.com/10/registration2011.php

Pre reg is by far the better deal folks! With your pre registration, on the day of the show you will receive a event t-shirt in your goody bag full of swag from our partners. Check the website to see who these people are.

If you wait till day of to register, no problem. You just saved me some money as it still costs the same amount of money but the shirt is not included ($15.00 value)

Getting pretty stoked! For those of you not going, hopefully I'll see you all on LBR 6 to h2o this year.......

Euro Girl shirt.

2011-07-08T12:46:00.010-04:00

Check out our new hot model! Euro Girl shirts available for $18 shipped.
Order at
click for ET store

VR 6EXY. Tj Ribeiro's clean ass MK2 TT

2011-07-06T19:09:00.002-04:00

VR6 Sexy

TJ Ribeiro was born into a family whose father loved Mercedes Benz so much, he has owned nearly every model at one point or another. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. TJ has taken up his father's passion for European engineering and styling and it shows with his 2008 TT VR6. He didn't start out with this clean Audi though.

"I started out with an MK5 GTI four door... I added some Stage 2 goodies and was just getting going with it. Nine months into the project, I got T-boned. I took the opportunity to jump even more heavily into VAG and I've never looked back."

It was love at first exhaust note when TJ first drove the VR6. "I was literally grinning ear to ear."

He didn't keep the car stock for long. He added a Seibon Carbon Fiber Hood, and had it paint matched to the stock Ice Silver Metallic color with a reverse racing stripe of the exposed carbon fiber left untouched.

TJ has previously run VMR RS4 Reps and Privat Akzents, but called us up when he came across these Land Rover fitment 18x9" BBS RS-II's. We built him some 15mm 5x112 to 5x120 hub and wheel centric adapters.

"I used to be wary of adapters, but now I've learned to trust them."

We're looking forward to what he plans to add in the future, as this little TT is just getting started.

Mods - H&R Coilovers, Neuspeed Rear Sway Bar & Endlinks, TTS Front End Conversion, Seibon Carbon Fiber Hood, Haldex Upgraded Controller, VTDA Intake, Cat Deletes, Sony 770BT Headunit, Stock Turbines, Falken 452's 214-40/R18 with 15mm Motorsport Tech adapters, 5x112 to 5x120, hub and wheel centric. Words by Larry McKurtis

Pictures from GAB 2011

2011-07-04T01:25:00.000-04:00

German Auto Bash. July 2nd, columbus,oh

2011-07-04T00:38:00.000-04:00

For a show that many people thought wouldn't even happen this year (due to negative reviews last year), it was a success.
The show last year, for us, was a letdown. Not including sweltering temperatures and inevitable mugginess, the show was small, the P.A. was too quiet, and the local police were looking for something to do. We (as vendors) were even told that the park authorities said no one was allowed to vend without a permit. But, we decided that everyone deserves a second chance, so we signed up this year.
The show started off a little shaky. We arrived to a rainy parking lot with just a handful of people. Luckily for all of us, things changed pretty quickly. Almost the whole parking lot was full of Euros by noon.
This year the show was held at a local Quaker Steak and Lube, a restaurant chain based on the layout of an oil change shop. It was located right off of the interstate and had a great outdoor bar and patio. People could enjoy some much needed air conditioning, getting out of the sun and close bathrooms. Not to mention, the food was a lot better than the typical vendors you find at car shows. The atmosphere made the show laid back and fun. A big improvement from last years. Euro enthusiasts traveled from as far as Toledo, Chicago, West Virginia, and Fort Knox KY. everyone I spoke to agreed that they would come next year. With fun events such as a guy jumping over two Porsches and a raised MK4, it was definitely a new twist on a car show. And, we can't forget its for a great cause! Check out WWW.germanautobash.com for the full story!
Overall, it was a huge improvement from last year. I would like to thank Justin Riddle and Tony Bozeglav for all of their personal help, and to all of the people who made German Auto Bash possible! Also thanks to all of those that support eurotrash. We could not do it with out you people.

Eurowerks photos....

2011-06-29T23:51:00.014-04:00

E5 (Eurowerks 5, Minneapolis MN 6/25/11)

2011-06-28T23:09:00.014-04:00

:Event Coverage:
E5-June 25, 2011
Rarely do events that cause anticipation and anxiousness in the build up to them live up to what you were waiting for. I for one was full of anticipation and excitement for the Eurowerks show and all that went with it (that’s a couple of other posts though). Needless to say I was not let down as the mix of good friends, new friends, old friends, and a ton of kick ass cars, quite a few which I have not seen yet did not fail to deliver the weekend I anticipated.

From Alfa Romeos to a Vixen 21, there was a little bit of everything. The day started out with a light rain, which was conjuring up nightmares in my head “oh great, hungover again this year and now I get to stand in the rain all day…..” Well thankfully, Ms Nature was feeling generous and cleaned that up, I was afraid it was karma for the odors my roommates had to put up with after eating at the German place......

When the cars started driving in, the weather was doing what it does best on a day like that. It looked ominous. But the cars looked absolutely fantastic. Dropped, slammed, wide, poked, shiny, stretched, flat, rusted, broken, cripes what will they think of next, whoa!
As I started to walk around and check out the cars the vibe of the show was good. Good music from the tables, friendly people, helpful staff, and lots to look at.

I can’t say enough how happy I am that the “show” attitude is starting to disperse from our little piece of the car culture world. I never enjoyed the attitudes that people sometimes held that they were somehow superior because of their car. If that’s you, stop reading now and go to hell. If you like to just hang out with a bunch of like minded individuals and enjoy well crafted cars, get some popcorn and pull up a chair.

Competitions included who could remove and install spark plugs the fastest, a wagon build off, Trivia, and of course, the car show. Good stuff, I’d like to give props to the Eurowerks crew for continuing to hold a well organized event, that really has a great feel to it. I really can’t say enough good things about it. You can tell this was the fifth time they did this as it was pretty slick….

Just a quick note, I had to leave before people really started showing up, but not before getting a peek at the set up the guys from further performance had for the post show party. Man not only can they build some kickass cars, they can throw a party……….

Moral of the story is, if you missed it this year, make a strong effort not to next year.

German Auto Bash. July 2nd, columbus,oh

2011-06-22T09:39:00.000-04:00

GermanAutoBASH - Ohio's European Car show

GermanAutoBASH's inspiration comes from the very core of the VAG community's culture: an event for the people, by the people. GermanAutoBASH was founded on the idea of creating an event to give not only Ohio, but all surrounding areas a laid-back summertime event where the enthusiasts and friends could gather. In our 3 years of doing this event, we have not waivered from this core value that we hold in high regard. We can attest, as can others, that the VAG community has given ud a lot in terms of friendships and camaraderie and this event is our way of giving back to the community. We do this becuase we love the community and we hope you enjoy attending GermanAutoBASH because of our dedication. click here to read more

The Evolution of Thatcher: A Discussion of wheels,adapters and progression.

2011-06-17T13:10:00.000-04:00

We've known Thatcher Shultz for almost 10 years. When he first called us he was a college kid from Maine putting Porsche wheels on a Volkswagen, which, at the time, was rather unheard of. We've built him adapters and spacers over the years as his tastes have changed and his restless spirit has steered him in an ever changing course of fitment and style. Thatcher is now a self-employed entrepreneur living in Seattle. He runs Independent Wheel, which specialized in selling 3-piece wheel parts.

How did you get into the automotive world? What piqued your interest?

I got into cars because of a childhood neighbor who was into them. I always saw him getting something different, modding it, selling it, etc. It seemed fun so I bought an MK3 Jetta in high school and became immediately obsessed. I spent way too much time thinking about Volkswagens and surfing on VWVortex. It was ridiculous.

Hooked at a young age. Where did you take it from there?

I bought an MK3 GTI VR6 in college for which I bought my first set of 3 piece wheels - a set of 5x130 Fikse FM5's. The rear offsets were early Porsche, and they were 9's. Everyone told me they wouldn't fit, but I did it anyway. Jr at Motorsport Tech made me a set of adapters and I made it work with some stretch and poke. Eventually I got sick of that look, and decided to convert the car to a metal abt style widebody.

Unfortunately, it took the body shop a year and a half to get the job done, so I bought a Corrado SLC to hold me over. For this car, Jr made my second set of Porsche adapters for a set of 17x8 17x9 Artec Edition L wheels. Then I bought a set of Kinesis Supercups for the car, and sold the Artec wheels. The rest is history.

History indeed. You've changed your preferred platforms into mainly BMW and Porsche. What transitioned you to that point?

I moved out to Seattle four years ago to work for Speedware Motorsports, which was my first post-college job. I realized there are other cars worth driving/owning besides Volkswagens. I bought a BMW Z3 Coupe, then a Z4 M Coupe, then an E46 M3, then a Porsche 993.. currently driving a Z4 M Coupe. I still appreciate a tastefully modified VW. They just don't get me going like a BMW M car, or a 911.

What is it about these cars that gets your blood pumping?

There's just something about a tiny little coupe that's rear wheel drive...

I agree with you there, a lot of horsies in a lot of nothing. What is it about wheel adapters that you like?

The whole concept of wheel adapters is fascinating to me. Aside from the limitations of width and offset, they allow you to run virtually any wheel on any car; Adapters promote individuality and creativity, and I like that.

What attracted you to rare and unique wheels? What inspired you to jump into the wheel industry?

The wheel industry has a rich history in Europe, Japan, and the US. The industry as a whole is a perfect example of the world's manufacturing tendencies. China has become the go-to destination for wheel manufacturing. It's become incredibly hard to make wheels state-side and actually make it profitable. Kinesis Motorsport started and piqued my interest. The fact that the company was bought out in 2006, which in turn made their parts and wheels nearly obsolete, made their wheels even more attractive in my eyes. It was a terrible buy for Lexani / Asanti, as they've done little or nothing with Kinesis. Bill Spencer of Hartmann / Achtuning, and Alan Baylis of Fikse (former manager of Kinesis), are the two people in the industry who have influenced me the most, and have helped me grow my wheel parts distribution business.

Who is pushing the envelope in the wheel/fitment scene right now?

Today, I think Rotiform is the major trend setter for the VW/Audi scene. Brian and Jason have done a fantastic job of growing their business and becoming major players in the industry. Formula43 is another potential giant, out of Detroit.

interview done by Larry @ MST.

Vinyl stickers back in stock!!!

2011-06-17T11:19:00.000-04:00

White on white

2011-06-16T21:20:00.002-04:00

Speaking of Shows this year.....

2011-06-12T09:45:00.003-04:00

(Taken somewhere in the middle of the eastern half of the country- LBR 2010)

With the advent of show season comes the question of: "how do we get there?"

Well, let me tell ya. The Long Ball Rally has you covered this year! Expanding in 2011 from a trip out to h2o and back every year, they have put together rallies to several shows this year.

Having been on a couple few LBRs in the past, the monicker "Chaos, Panic, and Disorder" ring clear and true! From cops in several states tagging large groups of cars on the way to h2o (the cops in Indiana smelled like weed btw, I just thought I'd mention that), people breaking bones, getting lost in the mountains, broken ass cars with no real solution just a ray of hope and a little bullshit to get it fixed, Painting the Canadians hood Black the night before the Rally started(I did that myself) I have nothing but fond memories and alot of laughs left in my head as well as many friends from the LBRs I have been lucky enough to go on.

So what are you waiting for? Go to:

http://longballrally.com/

Check out the list of events, and get signed up!

Dubs In the Valley 2011

2011-06-12T08:27:00.005-04:00

So here we go with another year of DIV! All indicators ar saying it's going to be another great year full of debaucherous fun. Weather your thing is just sticking to yourself or hanging in a large group of people and slamming beers all day long, DIV will not fail you, this much we can guarantee.

http://youtu.be/5V4ff2wmRjU

This year the blow up contest will be back, our featured victim and old passat, and drag racing will be run on the parking ramps! (bring a dress fellas, this ain't with cars, how the heck would you do that on a parking ramp?) All drag racing is heads up, and the prize is a case of beer and an authentic DIV drag racing trophy.

In its 5th year now, DIV has not let it's participants down for a good time yet. Based in Oshkosh WI, held in a the parking ramp of one of the tightest little restaurants in Oshksosh (http://www.becketsrestaurant.com/) who also happens to be our gracious host I might add.

Pre Registration is open, and strongly recommended since it is such a kick ass deal, you would be foolish not to take advantage of it!

$25.00 to register in advance, this includes a guaranteed spot in the show, an event t-shirt ($15.00 day of with limited supply), and all the swag that comes with the goody bag. You can register here:http://dubsinthevalley.com/10/registration2011.php

If you wait until the day of the show, it is $25.00 for day of registration, and the t shirt is not included. Shirts will be first come first serve that day.

The show this year will be AUGUST 6TH. You can find directions, and all the general info you need to have a successful trip to DIV here:http://dubsinthevalley.com/10/index.php

There will be more events day of, you'll have to be there to find out what they are.

Looking forward to seeing everybody, come out and support our partners this year who thus far are:

Team Eurotrash (you know who that is)

Mobil One- Chicago

Further Performance- MPLS

Bens Vee Dub Shop- Madison

Long Ball Rally- All over the frackin place

Diverse Design- Chicago

Beckets Restaurant- Oshkosh

Hey!

2011-06-11T09:58:00.002-04:00

That building is crooked! What's up Mpls? This was taken at Eurowerks 4 as the day was winding down.

This year it is June 25 at the old Grain Belt Brewery, same place it has been for the last few years. Expect to see a fantastic selection of european makes in this lot. Lots of high caliber stuff here for sure.

I know Pre reg is closed, and day of registration is first come first serve and very limited. So if you are not registered get there early or you might sit in line for a couple hours only to be told to find a place to park off grounds.

Here is everything you need to know about this show short of being there including ever important directions:http://eurowerks.org/show/

See you guys there, look for me, I'll be passing out eurotrash and Dubs In the Valley swag and being that guy in general.....Looking forward to seeing you there!

Roots....

2011-06-08T22:00:00.002-04:00

submitted by Dean in cincy

2011-06-08T18:46:00.000-04:00

Larry loves Static.

New shirt!

2011-06-08T18:01:00.003-04:00

$18 shipped! You can order by sending PayPal to eurotrash.sales@gmail.com

Preorder!

2011-06-08T17:58:00.002-04:00

Pre-order yours today for $15 shipped! Shirt color choices are teal, black or red with white ink! Send payment to eurotrash.sales@gmail.com

British Bash. louisville,ky june 4th.

2011-06-05T10:43:00.000-04:00

More coverage coming later from Dj.

Turbo R32. form AND function?

2011-05-29T20:24:00.000-04:00

EuroTrash won another one

2011-05-29T19:03:00.004-04:00

never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would hear the words:

" You built a hell of a car son " from Col. Bynum (you know Wayne Bynum, the founder of Bynum Builds) as he handed me this...

On the way back to the car my wife and I ran in to the Colonel again and I was further amazed when he asked me to tell him the story of the car saying he liked a good story. So long story short for you guys, I went in to how me and 3 other friends had built my car over the past few years or so and how they are never really done.. And if it weren't for my friends my car would be nothing as this was and still remains a learning process for me.

He was a great person to talk with, my only regret is 1. the main person who has helped me with the project wasn't there to also enjoy the proud moment, and 2. I didn't have more time with a legend..

Tony

Beaters...

2011-05-28T23:33:00.004-04:00

What is it about our beaters? And I’m not talking about the “beaters” people create to be cool. Those people can eat it. I’m talking about the cars we drive when we are not driving “the project” . The cars that are products of their society, that show the lives they’ve led via dents and dings and scratches with little spots of rust poking out of the paint, and at least one panel that looks like the local chop shop painted it, and the work was even crappy for their standards.

When you open the hood every fastener is stripped, there are resistors electrical taped into the wires that somebody thought was going to maybe make it superfast, or just bypass a system with a faulty part to fix it on the cheap.

You’ve seen them, either done some of these things yourself or at the very least bought a car with some of these issues.

But they are natural, real so to speak. Usually picked up dirt cheap from a craigslist ad and brought home on a trailer. Get it home, fix whatever was broken that made it cheap and then just start tinkering, fixing little things, some wheels, and suspension for sure, because beater or not, it’s gotta be low.

New Sticker

2011-05-27T19:40:00.006-04:00

These come in red and will also be available in white soon! $4ea. email us at eurotrash.sales@gmail.com

2011-05-26T22:22:00.001-04:00

Shot on the way to Eurowerks4.

Scooters GTG/ Season Opener- Milwaukee

2011-05-26T21:19:00.002-04:00

Spring, the official shift change between winter and summer. Awesome, time for shows and get togethers and car stuff in general. I don’t know where you are as you read this but I can assure you, winters around here are no fun.

But back to spring. One of the most anticipated events in these parts is Scooters GTG/ Season opener. In it’s 3rd year running it continues to be one of the must attend events in the Midwest. With a laid back, super chill atmosphere, and a fire hot enough to keep you dry in the pouring rain, this year did not disappoint.

I rolled in a little early to get the ET booth set up and hang with the MIL guys who set this up since they don’t have a lot of time while the show is going down. All the talk was rain rain rain. With just a light mist at the time we were all optimistic. I got the booth set up just in time for cars to start rolling in and that’s when Brad called to make sure I was snapping pics for the blog. I said “of course” and after hanging up the phone, going to my car and realizing I had forgotten my camera (dammit! He knows nothing of this until he reads it here) I had to think fast, so I’ve attached a link to a friends flikr for your viewing pleasure. (thanks David Monzigo)
see them here:http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Fdmonz07%2Fsets%2F72157626722178496%2Fwith%2F5720275689%2F&h=c51fa

Right about that time is when the rain started to fall, and fall it did. There was some concern of what would happen with the crowd since it was raining, but the worry was unwarranted. People stuck around and had a good time regardless. Rough guess of cars in attendance: 150ish give or take. In the rain! The fire was lit a little early and thankfully was hot enough that if you stayed near, the rain actually felt good! With a good crowd of people and the right atmosphere, it takes more than some rain to kill a good Midwest party!

I’d like to thank Scooter and the rest of the Milwaukee crew for putting on another fine show! To set up that event and keep it free for the masses is a testament of their dedication to the scene. Looking forward to next year.

SoWo 2011

2011-05-26T19:29:00.000-04:00

SoWo 2011. -Brad- This year really stepped it up in the atmosphere department. Don't get me wrong, previous years were fun as well, but to say that when it got dark that it was no longer kid friendly is an understatement. This was a record year for attendance, and the huge influx of people on this tiny town was incredible. The city was completely over run with euro's and at times it was utter chaos - an absolute blast! For those lucky enough to be hanging out with us by the Bavarian Brook you know what im talking about. The two members of the local police had difficulties handling the situation and even the threat of $1000 tickets didn't distract the hardcore hooligans. This show was a good time. It was quite a bit spread out from previous years which made it difficult to walk and see all the attractions. Really looking forward to 2012.... I can still smell burning rubber.

A6 4.2 6spd

2011-05-24T13:47:00.001-04:00

2011-05-11T23:42:00.000-04:00

We like where this is going

2011-05-10T12:06:00.000-04:00

9.5's on mini

2011-05-09T23:24:00.000-04:00

2011-05-09T11:42:00.000-04:00

Scooters 2011. milwaukee,wi. may 14th

2011-05-06T18:35:00.004-04:00

http://www.scootersgtg.webs.com/

Eurotrash booth under attack at H20 2010.

2011-05-06T18:33:00.000-04:00

click it.

2011-05-05T19:45:00.001-04:00

test

DIV 2010

2011-05-03T18:46:00.000-04:00

2011-05-03T18:45:00.000-04:00