Once again, the international auto show is here and I took a quick trip to check out the fresh and new rides that are close to or have already hit the dealerships. A pretty decent show again, and for those of you that are too lazy to go, here’s a few shots for you guys to look at for free. 🙂
My favorite car was easily the new Lexus GS350 F-Sport… such a crazy sedan with so much promise!
|Shop: Concept-1
|In The Car Industry For: 15 Years
|Location: 18 Highfield Circle SE Calgary, AB
|Website: http://store.concept1.ca/store/
|Contact: info@concept1.ca
|Telephone: (403) 287-8549
|Crew: Ken (Owner), Curtis (Manager), Andrew (Service Manager), Aaron (Sales), Tracy (Sales), Matt (Technician), James (Technician), Louis (Technician)
With as many Japanese import tuning shops in the city, it is a lot harder to find ones for the Euro crowd. And even then, it gets segregated between the individual brands themselves. One of the big (if not the biggest) names in the Volkswagen/Audi/Porsche scene in Calgary is Concept-1.
Specializing in Volkswagens (air and water cooled) and Audi, and also dabbling in a bit of older Porsches, Concept-1 has a 6000 square foot main showroom and service facility in which to work on your vehicle with 5 hoists, and a 2WD dyno. Add to that a newly built second 6000 square foot warehouse behind the main building to house a few cars and stock tons of parts and accessories for your needs, and you see these guys are serious about helping you get what you need in a timely matter.
Concept-1 is an authorized dealer for KW suspension, FK, Brembo, and the newly announced/released Volkswagen Racing line. And also, by the time you read this, Concept-1 will be the master distributor for APR in Canada. But don’t think that those are the only brands that they carry, they can bring pretty much everything in.
In addition to satisfying your aftermarket tuning needs, they also stock many OEM VW/Audi parts, and do full maintenance an service on your vehicle, old or new, water or air-cooled. They can get hard to find/discontinued parts at great prices. They also do safety inspections on vehicles in case you find a used car that you want, but just aren’t sure and want someone to look it over.
Concept-1 also has a few shop/demo vehicles that they use to advertise their services and what they sell. Still on the fence about getting your 2.0T tuned? They’ve got a MK6 GTI that they can take you for a ride in to show you what the tuning does and how it feels. They also have a 2011 Touraeg test vehicle, as well as many older VWs that you will see in the pictures. And coming soon will be their 2012 APR Golf R which will boast over 500+ HP in a daily driven setup coming directly from APR.
So make sure you visit or call Concept-1 for all your Volkswagen/Audi needs. Their friendly and knowledgeable staff will be there and ready to give you a hand.
For those who have never been, the Edmonton Auto Show can be a tricky showing to evaluate without actually going to formulate your own opinion. While it doesn’t play host to may “legitimately” modified cars ( which most of our culture tend to expect/hope for), there can be a few jems found amongst the crowds of consumer orientated cars. That being said, the shows intent isn’t really to show off local, and out-of-town modified talent: it’s designed around the various auto-makers being able to display all their current, or up and coming vehicles, and allow consumers to familiarize ( and in some cases even sit inside) with something they may eventually intend on purchasing. Show-goers can chat with salesmen from the respective manufactures, and possibly even strike a deal on the show-room floor. There is also a selection of exotics present, mixed amongst the various booths for exotic deals, as well as in the auction room and the Auto Emporium area. The action room features a fair selection of vehicles, varying from old-school muscle to exotic rarities, that are for ( you guessed it) auction. In the Auto Emporium area, you’ll find booths slingin’ parts, showing off paint work and customization, or just plain showing off.
With the 2012 spring/summer season slowly on the rise, we are discussing the possibility of another road trip this upcoming season. Here we decided to take a look back at some pics we snapped from our first group road trip, which was to Vancouver for the DTP 2011 Show. Have a look back at a few more pics of this crazy track prepped STI which won best of show!
Sitting around reminiscing about 2 years of posts and how we got here it peaked my interest in what exactly you guys keep coming back to see. Pulled some of the site stats and figured it would be cool to post up the top 10 most popular posts since we started out 2 years ago. Some of the post have been active for a heck of a lot longer than others but that’s fine, there a nice mix of old and new stuff. There is even a couple very recent posts that are destroying it in the hit department.
#10 – iM Feature: Cee’s Honda S2000
This S2k might not be one of the most highly modded cars we’ve ever featured but the photos are on point and the rolling shot in front of the massive Bow high rise is one of my favorite shots ever.
#9 – iM Feature: Gabes 1990 Civic EF Hatch
It’s not surprising that Taylor’s feature of this ultra clean boosted EF hatch made the list. It’s one of the nicest features to come out of Vancouver and thank again to Taylor for holding down the west coast.
#8 – iM Highlight: Ger’s 350z
Was also nice to see one of Galens features make the list. He’s sent us tons of great coverage from the Toronto area and this Nismo 350z is no exception.
#7 – iM Random Snaps: Redlyne’s MR2 x Fall Shoot
We have shot Ryan’s car a couple times but the picture perfect autumn setting made this one of the most popular sets of pictures we’ve ever posted. These pics were reposted and linked all over the net within hours of it going live.
#6 – iM Feature: Dicken’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X
Lime green wheels, giant GT wing, roll cage…… the neck snapping parts go on and on. It’s no surprise this feature made the list. Continues to get tons of hits even to this day almost a year later.
#4 – Godzilla’s Special Child – R32 GT-R Nismo Edition #181
We covered guest contributions from Vancouver and Toronto already so what about Edmonton? Kevin’s feature of this ultra mint GTR was posted way back in 2010 and has been stacking up hits ever since then.
#3 – Gangster D Honda S2000
Daniel’s S2000 not only comes in this high on the list but this feature is right up there for most hits in a single day for any post we’ve ever made. When it was initially posted it spread like wildfire on facebook and vimeo and rightfully so. This post has only been active for a couple months and already is one of the most popular features ever.
#2 – iM Feature: Alex’s Turbo Integra
Alex’s insane turbo Integra is one of Calgary cleanest cars, it also doesn’t hurt that it’s ridiculously fast! It hasn’t been seen at too many events but that hasn’t stopped you guys from continuing to visit his feature. Can’t wait to see this car around this year.
#1 – iM Feature: Reggie Mah’s 1998 Acura Integra GS
Probably one of the best sets of photos we’ve done for any of the cars we’ve shot in the past. That combined with the aggressive styling and stance means people continue to check out this 2010 feature and it tops our list for most hits. Reggie has since moved on to another Integra which is mid-build right now, can’t wait to see what he has in store this time around.
And with that in mind, everything illmotion is today would not be possible without the continuous love and support of our most loyal fans, friends and family. This of course, being all of you.
In the last two years, we’ve met a lot of people who are as passionate, if not more, about the lifestyle we live. It’s because of these amazing people our scene is what it is today. With the diverse styles of modding/tuning that has evolved over the years, one thing remains the same: It’s the passion that we have for our cars that ultimately brings us all together.
Our illmotion Features, Highlights, Shop Spotlights, Event Coverages, Random Snaps, etc. would not be on this site without the positive enthusiasm of the respective car owners, shop owners, event hosts, photographers and bloggers alike.
As illmotion continues to grow every year, expect nothing but bigger and better things in the future as we promise to keep delivering quality content, participate in local events and give back to the community.
To commemorate two amazing years in the game, we would like to present you all with a brand new decal. With the recent success and positive reception of the iM Era hoodies, we present you with our new iM Era decal.
Decals are available now in the store so cops yours now!
We cannot thank you guys enough and tell you how much we appreciate everything you guys have done to make illmotion what it is today, and what illmotion will be, in the years to come.
Here’s to another season under way! We hope you are as excited as we are to get the Spring/Summer season rolling. Until then…