I’ve been to my fair share of car meets, and one thing they all have in common are names. A car meet isn’t a meet until you give it some type of name. Sometimes the names are bland and self-explanatory, and other times they are clever – but the name usually has little bearing on the event itself. So when I excitedly accepted the open invitation to SerialNine’s Block Party, I assumed I would just be attending another car meet with a cool name… To my delight, I was wrong.
SerialNine’s shop had been on my radar of places to check out for a long time. You don’t spend much time in the western Canadian car scene without hearing their name pop up. If you own a RWD Japanese sedan – or know someone who does – the brand might be even more familiar.
The party was scheduled for 6-10 PM. I arrived at 6:10 PM and the lot was already filling up. Chris Scremin, the owner of this S15 and a familiar face, was nice enough to give me some direction on where to park.
Before I grabbed my camera and started shooting, I thought it would be nice to make some rounds and gather my bearings. My first stop was to check in with my friends at Death Squad and their first question to me – aside from a few pleasantries – was “Where is your camera?” So a quick circle around the lot brought me back to my car to fetch my camera.
For some reason, Vancouver is home to some of western Canada’s coolest slogans/one-liners when it comes to cars. Circuit Soul’s “Life’s not hard, you’re just soft” and “This isn’t So-Cal, it’s Vancouver” were coined here. So, it’s not surprising that SerialNine would tapped into that voodoo and came up with slogans like “King of street style” and “The original Sedan Kings.”
As I walked around the Block Party, camera in hand, two things became very apparent to me. The first was that it wasn’t just another generic car meet with a clever name – it was, in fact, a block party.
SerialNine had fired up the grill and provided attendees with some BBQ. Although I didn’t eat, I was more than happy to partake in the free slushy drinks… at least I hope they were free because I really got after them.
Obviously a few hamburgers and drinks don’t make a meet anything more then a meet with meat. For me, it was the people that made this event so good. Don’t get me wrong – attending an event from one western Canada’s signature automotive styling brands was great. But getting to catch up with the people I hadn’t seen in awhile was even better. This includes people like Alex Lee and Spencer Hogg, who brought Alex’s Formula D spec GS on a trailor from Alberta, or Trent Stromkins, who brought his entire family out to the event.
Now that I’ve progressed far from the hard/street style that is SerialNine, I suppose it’s a good time to mention the second thing that occurred to me while walking the lot.
Those clever slogans aren’t just catchphrases or hype – they are, by all means, very legitimate. This became obvious when Kevin Peterson and Gerard de Peralta wheeled out their own personal projects. It reminded me that SerialNine doesn’t just build parts for cars that are often overlooked by other manufacturers, they also build some truly bad-ass cars.
After spending a week on the road covering events in a faraway place, it was nice to come home to an event like this. And that’s somewhat weird, because Vancouver and the scene attached to it have only recently become my home. It was also great to finally shine the spotlight on SerialNine after watching them dominate the sedan scene for years. Earlier I said I realized two things at this Block Party, but I should add that neither of them really came as a surprise.
It may be a cliche, but SerialNine is definitely a company that practices what they preach. It’s always cool to see someone build something legitimate fueled by their passion – especially when that passion is based around RWD Japanese sedans. But I guess that’s just what it takes to be King.