If you’ve read our previous article dealing with basic automotive photography techniques, you would have encountered one key point that we could not stress enough: Everybody has their own perspective of looking at things. This is ultimately the beauty of creating photographs and general content, knowing the fact that there will always be something new to see from another person’s point of view. This sentiment goes for all of us here at Street63, and to keep the ball rolling during these quarantined times we also want to see what you, our dear readers, have to offer in terms of stories. Our local automotive landscape surely has a plethora of stories to tell that our team has yet to touch on, and we hope that you can also tell us a few things about them.

This brings us to BeStreet63, our latest spiel for submitting your memorable photographs and short stories. Below you will find our format and guidelines for submitting your curated automotive stories in a concise and orderly fashion.

STORY SUBMISSIONS

1. Compose an email with the following details:
   • Use “BeStreet63 Submission” as the email subject.
   • Indicate the topic, car, event, etc. (anything automotive related can be accepted) that you want to feature.
   • Include three (3) to five (5) sentences to describe your feature.
   • Include three (3) properly taken and edited photos about your feature.
2. Submit the entry to submissions@street63.com. Entries submitted through our social media platforms WILL NOT be entertained.
3. Give us time to screen and verify the submissions.
4. If approved, you will receive a confirmation email from us along with additional instructions on how to continue the article.

GUIDELINES

1. Submitted text must be ORIGINAL – we do not tolerate plagiarism.
2. You must provide your own photos and text. If the photos or text came from someone else, please make sure to ask permission from the photographer/writer and submit to us the proper credentials.
3. The content you submit MUST NOT be published on other websites/social media platforms.
4. The submitted photos MUST NOT have watermarks. We will be providing watermarks for the submitted photos.
5. If you plan on submitting more than one (1) article, please send separate emails for each submission. Approval for one article DOES NOT guarantee instant approval for other articles.
6. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us through our email (contact@street63.com) or social media pages.

Once you’ve submitted your stories, we will select the ones that make for great stories and get back to you with more details. Ultimately, these stories will be shared on our site for all to enjoy as well.

We’re hoping to see some nice stories from you through this program. Best of luck!

The second week of January marks the “holy pilgrimage” of every JDM fan boy: Japan’s famous Tokyo Auto Salon. Spanning twelve halls full of every tuning car and genre you can think of, TAS is effectively a 3-day ultimate sensory trip for its attendees. Show grounds aside, countless events are always held around Tokyo during the weekend – completely bringing japanese street car culture to life. We’ve been covering the show for a few years (once during 2019 for S63), however due to the Coronavirus, the show was cancelled for the first time in 37 years.

To somehow celebrate the bond and fond memories formed through attending various meets and trips to the show, we held a small gathering of friends at the Crossroads parking lot last January 13, 2021. Following local COVID-19 guidelines, friends from Stance Pilipinas / Manila Fitted, Legends of the 90s and Buzzhype gathered at the “home turf”.

While it’s a far cry from the automotive mecca that is Daikoku PA, the BGC Crossroads Carpark, also known as ‘The Turf’, is as much the equivalent of a local automotive melting pot – meaning this would be the best place to stage a small gathering of folks that share the likeminded ideal of being inspired by the Tokyo Auto Salon.

Most of the cars present during the evening are inspired from our trips to the Land of the Rising Sun. As parts are individually flown in by its owners straight from Japan, the vehicles here are a healthy sampling of what could possibly be encountered out on the infamous highways of Tokyo.

Quality over quantity. A proper representation of the culture that set our imagination on fire. Here’s to hoping the Tokyo Auto Salon will be back on its feet for next year.

Slowly but surely, life is somewhat returning to what we once knew as ‘normal’ even amidst the pandemic. Last year it made perfect sense not to take any chances with going out for meets, but as human beings going on long stints without interaction with others isn’t too healthy as well. In the context of cars, this becomes a bit more difficult for the owner of a rotary vehicle. We may be able to chat with others at meets and spread the word of the magic triangle, but still there is a part of us that isn’t well understood by other folks – and that is why we must gather this year to celebrate 7’s Day in some capacity.

This small 7’s Day gathering was held at one of Makati’s more welcoming areas for sunday activities – Rada St. We’ve been seeing some folks hang out here, and considering the downtown district is somewhat of a middle ground between north and south it made a perfect spot to gather rotaries from around town. With shops opening for breakfast with outdoor seating, this made for a perfect spot to admire any cars that arrive.

7’s Day festivities around the world would see dozens of rotary cars in attendance, but here in Manila it’s already quite rare to see two rotary-powered vehicles in one event. For this gathering, we had a healthy sampling of 6 cars, with an FC, 4 FDs, and an RX-8 in attendance. Despite the relatively small number of attendance, there’s still something to appreciate in each vehicle’s build.

Andy’s red US version RX-8 is actually his second car, the first being a bagged gray example that’s under the knife again for more cosmetic upgrades. He instead brought his full Mazdaspeed-spec RX-8 – a rather rare kit even by global standards. To be able to build this, a full Mazdaspeed non-runner donor was sourced (found lying around somewhere in Quezon City) and the whole kit transferred to a perfectly running US model car. Perhaps the only missing piece to this is a prohibitively expensive set of Mazdaspeed MS-01s. Can’t put it past Andy to pull the trigger on one of those, being a diehard Mazda fan and all.

This black FC3S was originally from Cebu, and it has since been brought to Manila last year by its new owner, Ej. Being an NA S4 unit, the route that this example will take is that of an all-motor screamer. Now sporting a bridge-ported motor, it made quite a racket for early morning breakfast. Nothing like a loud bridge port to sing the song of our people, right? This build ought to see more wrench time as it is still an incomplete project. We’re definitely looking forward to its progress.

That wingless red FD actually changed hands a couple times and is now owned by Nelanne, a guy who willingly traded a properly built S14 to take a crack at building his dream car. Compared to that Silvia he’s pretty much starting from scratch, but we’re sure he’ll slowly build it up to spec over time.

Goldwyn’s RE Amemiya FD has made its rounds here before, yet it’s still a sight to behold every time it makes an appearance. Sporting the iconic Amemiya light blue as well as the full AD GT kit with an N1 ‘02 bumper, it always gets everyone in a Hot Version/Gran Turismo mood whenever it turns up.

Y’all know too much about this green FD already. Let’s just glaze over this one and move onto the other cars that dropped by to celebrate Dorito Day with us.

Our builder Lito just recently sold his black FD, and he brought the reason why he sold it. 620+ RWHP on pump gas with methanol on a custom Garrett G-Series turbo kit by Profab PH. (730WHP with E85 and flex fuel as of publishing – Ed.) The car only recently had a new Pure Drivetrain Solutions transmission fitted so they could go big with torque, so once the car’s tuned for that we ought to see some crazier numbers. Still, he’s the only guy in Manila i’d trust with building a rotary, so he’s very much welcome to this gathering.

There would have been another silver FEED FD in attendance, but Stephen forgot to hook up the trickle charger after his last outing and the battery on his FD died. Ah well, C63 it is.

Some friends from Mazdatech also joined us with a solid trio of NA Miatas that sported a host of obscure JDM pieces that only Miata diehards would know of. It’s great to see that rotaries gather folks that share the same passion for building cars, and perhaps that is why these cars tend to make for a great centerpiece of car culture around the world.

The local guys brought their fair share of fine machinery as well, perhaps the E39 M5 being the most heavy-hitting among the set. We’d like to extend our thanks for letting us celebrate at your local spot!

It was quite refreshing to celebrate 7’s Day again this year. Hopefully with more projects coming out of the woodwork we’ll see more rotary-powered vehicles in the future. Trust that we’ll do our best to keep these things running in good order here in Manila.