Though Cleveland claims to have the worst economy in America, the Hot Import Nights fanatics who attended the Cleveland stop didn't show any inkling of financial depression. Even with HIN's overpriced ticket costs, which usually robs kids blind, the Cleveland tuners arrived from all parts of Ohio and Illinois in full force.
It was also the same hard-core tuners who made this HIN more bearable. Kids from Touge Factory showed up in their Silvia-converted 240SXs, validating the entire show with JDM goodness. Beautiful ladies of the Midwest also turned up, especially Elaine from Toledo, Ohio, who is not only a fine example of high-quality Asian genealogy but also a devoted reader of Super Street. And, of course, what's an HIN worth without the Super Street booth, attracting all the breezies Ohio can provide, minus the unnecessary sexual assault allegations.
Thankfully, this Cleveland stop also marked the end of HIN. For 2005, the show to attend is the Tuner Bash series of car shows, bikini contests, and overall debauchery. So let's have a moment of silence for HIN...OK, now let's move on to more depressing news:HIN in the UK!
Scene: Hot Import Nights; Earls Court Exhibition Centre; London
The process of shipping American culture overseas moved up another gear in September (the 11th, appropriately) when HIN dipped a toe into foreign waters. More precisely, it took over the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in central London for a knees-up mother brown. (Is that Queen's English for the Albuquerque Fire Hydrant?-RFC)
The fear was that the Englishmen might be too reserved for the noise and spectacle of HIN, but they took to it like champions. In fact, they seemed to be a couple of steps ahead of us in certain areas, most notably the topless girls and various simulated sex acts performed in some of the darker regions of the hall.
The British organizers are well connected in the music scene and brought out top London DJs Tall Paul and Tim Westwood, who entertained the crowds almost as much as the cars on display-but not as much as the girls did, of course.
With so many distractions, it was easy to forget the real reason we were there: the cars. What was nice about HIN UK was the relative absence of Hondas. Instead, the building was filled to the rafters with machinery from Peugeot, Renault, Ford, Vauxhall, and VW. Sure, there were Hondas, but not in the numbers we've come to expect.
The star of the show was actually a BMW 318ti, only this one had suicide doors, 22-inch wheels, a Peugeot front end, and a Land Rover rear. It was an incredible machine that deserved equal attention with the RC Developments Evo that appeared in the Oct. '04 issue of Super Street. This car is even more menacing in the flesh and under subdued lighting than it was in the magazine.
That aside, there were some outrageous European cars that definitely matched anything on the American scene, and it was great to see how they do it over there.