In 2018, Spocom, presented by Falken Tire, took a chance by staging an indoor/outdoor car show in San Diego. This city has previously held several events all year long thanks to a blossoming import performance scene that swept the city in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Until suddenly slowing down and demand waning, effectively ending the yearly spectacles, Import Showoff and Hot Import Nights were highly anticipated annual events that drew in thousands.
It wasn’t until Spocom decided to host a show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in 2018 using a sizable hall and its adjacent outdoor sector that the car show tours you follow today made their first foray into the area.
The group planned a comeback but had to postpone it for a few years because of the pandemic’s anti-gathering regulations since their 2018 performance, despite being light compared to their L.A. and Norcal appearances, hit a nerve.
The program made a comeback in 2021 and had expanded a little, but it wouldn’t return in 2022. When Spocom confirmed they would return this year, the locals readied themselves, and registration was sold out before the weekend. The “on again, off again” event had seemed unsure of itself.
There was a wide selection of JDM and Euro builds on exhibit, some of which were in full show gear, some were booth demo vehicles, and some were tidy, functional street cars doing double duty. If you look hard enough, you might find a few racing cars and imported and modified Japanese defections.
A smart approach to stand out at Spocom is to arrive in a BMW 1 1/2. In addition to having the same flares and skirt treatment as its cousin, the trailer’s cut rear end also has a smoothed front cap with a makeshift window and matching HRE wheels.
This truck bed-converted M4, which we’ve seen before but was then wrapped in chrome blue vinyl, was just next to the trailer display.
These Hayashi D Sturm model wheels, which are of German origin, are a throwback. This exceptionally clean JDM Civic sedan has been refinished, increased in size, and given a deeper, polished lip. The color combination contrasts well with the dark paint.
A complete Veilside Fortune equipped RX-7 FD and a 370Z with a magenta wrap were displayed next to the SOS Customz stand.
Big Head’s 8th-generation Civic sedan drag car is back in action after a few years of sleep, and it found its way to Spocom to give showgoers a glimpse at an all-motor monster.
The Autozam AZ-1 was a Mazda product Suzuki made in the early 1990s. It included exotic car-inspired features like a set of high arching gullwing doors. Despite the perplexing labels and branding, it’s one of the most distinctive production cars to ever come out of the intriguing kei automobiles of that era.
The collecting halls at the Del Mar Fairgrounds don’t have flooring like those in a regular convention center. They lack the sheen that other structures frequently have since they are essentially untreated concrete on top of a structure. An RHD MkIII Supra owner did it by putting his car atop a stretch of crimson material to add some flair.
The twin-turbo MkIV Supra’s under-hood cooling and intake superhighway is paved with a labyrinth of bespoke titanium pie-cuts.