This year's summer is very busy for me. Because of that not only I missed this year's edition of the Goodwood Festival, but I also could not go to the Mornay Festival¹.

However I had some time on August. An advertisement on instagram about a tuned cars exhibition made me curious. This event would be focused around the Stance movement. While not familiar with this automotive sub-culture, I decided to give it a shot. Bought my ticket on Risenation²'s website and on d-day I was ready to go.

When I arrived there it was crowded and even more people arrived as I finish to park my car. Automotive professionals, bikers, enthusiasts or even regular people like me gathered that day.

It only took me a few minutes to understand what "Stance" really is about. A common aspect of all cars present that day was this:

A stanced car is generally defined by 2 things:

• A lowered suspension
• A negative camber, so that the wheels can fit under the arches

What's interesting with that configuration is it can be applied to a lot of chassis. Sedans, hatchbacks, wagons, trucks and so on.

A variety of projects were exposed and I was baffled by how people were involved with their cars.

At some point I ended up in front of this:

I had no clue what even the base model was. When asking the owner about the build, he answered:

It is a Volkswagen Caddy and I swapped the engine. I am an auto body professional and I've cut the hood because the engine bay view is worth it.

That was indeed a good explanation, and despite being clueless I was glad I could gather some info about this person's project.

That's a clean Eclipse. It gave me NFS Underground⁴ vibes.

Several replicas were also exposed. So far I've seen great copies, including Jesse³'s Volkswagen Jetta and even Han's Mona Lisa⁵.

Overall I was glad of my sneak peek over this event. I saw my favorite models (Toyota Chaser JSX100 and two BMW E34) and could not be happier.

Here's my conclusion about this:

I understand this movement is connecting people around their passion for automotive in a growing scene. I also understand for a lot of people it can be seen as an enhancement of their build, which turns a standard model into a gorgeous car. While this trend is attracting more enthusiasts, I cannot stop thinking about the potentially bad handling and tire wear.

I will (for now) personally continue to stay away from the "form over function" way of thinking when it comes to cars. I've excluded all of the slammed VW Golf/Kia Rio/Opel Corsa from this post on purpose. Installing custom rims on that kind of base is like equipping legendary wheels on a starter car in a video game. Style maxed out, stats stay stock.

I've seen great projects. My favorite car that day was the Nissan Bluebird with the Nardi⁶ steering wheel.