In March 2022, there was a Cars and Coffee meet hosted by MisoFresh in the commercial part of Santa Clara. Santa Clara is a neighboring city of Sunnyvale so it was nice to see that car events were getting closer. Regularly, I would attend car meets in the outskirts of Milpitas or San Jose. Anyways, I got wind of the meet through the homie, Michael, and him, Marlon, and I would attend the meet. It was hosted at a shop called TPS Motorsports that had a dyno machine. People were signing up to have their cars dyno tested and get horsepower ratings. As much as I love hearing engines roar, I’m not the type to really chase high horsepower numbers. That was out of my interest as I was more interested in cars that looked good. Other people who were into that crowded around the dyno testing area and got their fill of octane fumes, smoke, and ear-ringing “pops” and “rumbles”. As for me, I got my fill of some retro imports.

This meet was different because instead of bringing my Civic SI, I asked my dad if I could bring his “garage queen” 1985 Nissan 200SX (S12). His car has been decommissioned due to a blown head gasket on the CA20 engine for some time. He’s had his ups and downs with his baby but around this time, the car was running and registered to legally drive on the streets. Also, another excuse as to why I brought the S12 to the meet instead was because the Civic was dirty…

Enough talk! Let’s get to the content shall we?!

Here’s my dad’s 1985 Nissan 200SX (S12). It has sentimental value to me as it’s the first car I learned to drive in. I got my driving permit that allowed me to practice and eventually led to my driver’s license. I’m glad my dad supported and taught me how to drive manual. The car is stock and only features a muffler exchange. It’s not the fastest car but I felt the coolest driving it. It had a good amount of torque in the low end, independent rear suspension, and a 5-speed manual transmission.

(Photos taken on March 20, 2022)

As mentioned, my boy Michael accompanied me and so did Marlon. I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to snap a photo of Marlon’s Lexus IS250. He got his toes dipped into customizing cars and did a makeover on it. Anyways, here’s Michael’s Tesla Model 3 (or TM3 for short) as we waited for Marlon. Michael’s TM3 has an airbag setup to maneuver the sh*tty potholes and roads in the South Bay. He also has some carbon fiber bits and pieces installed such as his: side mirrors, front lip, sideskirts, and rear bumper diffuser. Lastly, he’s running a set of Work Meister S1R wheels in bronze.

We arrived to TPS Motorsports but the small lot was full and across the street was this overflow lot. Entering into the overflow lot was this lowrider Chevy Monte Carlo in green pearl paint with subtle, contrasting accents from the gold mesh wheels and detailed airbrushing.

Acura RSX (DC5) with Feel’s front bumper, Ing’s N-spec carbon fiber hood, A-spec sideskirts, and Volk CE28 wheels. I like the look of this DC5 a lot – especially with the ride height and wheel and tire setup.

This is an imported Mitsubishi Galant VR4. Mitsubishi was in their bag when it came to their sedans. I love the early 90’s styling. It’s very “OG” to me haha.

Tucked in the back of the lot was this Subaru WRX STI (VA) “air’d out” on a Mag Blue set of Volk TE37 OGs. The front lip is from Chargespeed.

From San Jose’s local car crew, Illiminate, was Kevin Nguyen’s 9th gen Honda Civic SI (FB6). That year he redone his car in a sandstone vinyl wrap and changed his wheels to Kansei Tandems. The front bumper is an aftermarket version of an 8th gen Civic Type R bumper with a J’s Racing-style lip. The 9th gen Civic had different variants depending on the region. Although there was a 9th gen Civic Type R, it came in as a hatchback (FK2) in Asia and Europe IIRC; not the coupe or sedan that would be seen in the streets of North America. Cosmetic wise, there wasn’t that much you could do with the 9th gen Civic compared to the 8th gen Civic with Japanese aftermarkets of course.

Here’s a VIP-built Lexus LS400 (UCF20) slammed to the ground and running aggressive camber to achieve fender-to-wheel fitment. I believe the wheels were SSR SP4 wheels. Also, custom LED taillights were paired with the Aimgain rear bumper. The quad-tip exhaust fits nicely with the bumper.

A variety of cars attended this meet. There always seems to be that one person representing Van Kulture. Here’s a Toyota Sienna sitting on a set of Volk TE37 Ultra wheels in a matte blue colorway. Your average soccer mom mobile could never look this cool.

Here’s a brand-new (at the time) World Rally Blue Pearl 2nd gen Subaru BRZ already slammed and wearing a set of Kansei Astro wheels. I loved how the 2nd iteration of the GR-86/BRZ came out.

In this line-up from left to right, we have a MK5 VW Golf on a set of Bentley wheels. In the middle is a Nissan 280ZX (S130) with a simple setup consisting of Work ZE40 wheels. On the far right, the predecessor to the S130, is this Nissan 240Z (S30) with a Fatlace x AME Fzero wheelset.

From the overflow lot, Michael, Marlon, and I walked to the TPS Motorsport shop to see more JDM goodness. Take a look at this RHD Toyota Supra (A80). In baby blue paint, we see that it’s running Ridox Max Orido front bumper and sideskirts, TRD spoiler, and 3-pc wheels that I couldn’t identify. The wheels almost look like the stock 5-spoke wheels that come with the MK4 Supra.

Behind the Supra was this Toyota Corolla Hatchback (AE86) with a F20-engine from the Honda S2000. To make things more interesting in the engine bay, a Garrett turbocharger is mated to the originally-naturally aspirated engine.

A closer look at the Honda-swapped Corolla’s engine bay…

Ignore the NRG steering wheel and you can fixate on more Honda pieces in the cockpit. The analog cluster has been replaced with a Honda S2000 instrument cluster and the shift knob is from the 8th gen Civic Type R.

I thought seeing a Honda-swapped Corolla was crazy until I saw this Nissan Skyline Kenmeri (C110). Never would I have thought that I’d see a Kenmeri in person. It’s one of those cars I would have to travel to Japan to see in person but here it is on American soil. This is why I love cars in the Bay Area…

This Skyline has some touches added. It consists of the front chin spoiler, fender flares, rear duck bill, and Hayashi Street ST/CR wheels.

I really like the silhouette of the Kenmeri with its liftback design that’s reminiscent of vintage cars in that era…

The iconic Skyline taillights that transcends each Skyline generation…

The homies and I walked through the parking lot, checked out more cars, and decided to call it a day. We started making our way back to our cars and I spotted this old school Mercedes-Benz 280SE in pristine condition. All I have to say is, this car f*cks…

To end this coverage of the MisoFresh Cars & Coffee Meet, here’s a VW Bus with some patina.

The turnout at the MisoFresh Cars & Coffee was fairly big despite how small the venue seemed. The overflow lot was full and street parking was hard to find. As you’ve read and viewed, there was a good selection of cars that attended the meet. I got to chill with the homies and check out some whips, drive my dad’s car, and snap some pictures. I hope y’all enjoyed this content!

Currently, I’m writing this on my day off from work as we’re observing the holidays. I’m thankful to have a platform where I can post my photos and write out my thoughts. I’m also thankful for you who is reading this for taking the time to check out my work and read a couple of my thoughts. With that note, thank you! Tune in next time to revize.blog!