Steel Dreamz Show n’ Shine
The Steel Dreamz show n’ shine presented by Charlesglen Toyota is a charity event hosted annually - this year being their sixth iteration. While it has been around for some time now, this happened to be the first show that I’ve attended. I was asked by Nick to bring his Porsche to the show as he wasn’t able to go himself. I may have misled some people at the show by showing up in a vehicle that did not belong to me and answering questions like it was. It was one of those scenarios where I felt that it was easier to play along rather than explain the backstory… I’m sorry if you happened to be misled by me cause it was not my intention…
Anyway, what’s great about many car shows throughout the year, including this one, is that proceeds from registrations, food, raffle draws, etc. are donated to charity. This year the Calgary Police Youth Foundation was the charity recipient. It’s always nice when there’s a beneficiary from an event.
Vivian and I started our morning by picking up Nick’s 911 GT3 and then afterwards meeting up with Issac, Jackie, Kenji and Punit at Top Gear carwash where we unintentionally formed team USA…
Everyone admiring Kenji’s freshly finished Mazda RX7 in Innocent Mica Blue, paying homage to the Spirit R. This has been a project of Kenji’s for the last few years, and something he just completed earlier this year. It’s quite awesome to see him and everyone else enjoying it.
A sample of the engine powering the RX7. Kenji took no shortcuts here to ensure that the rotary engine stays reliable with all of the supporting upgrades. Kenji told me what turbo he’s running but I’m not turbo-savvy so I forget, but it’s a large turbo capable of large numbers.
Kenji took the effort into exchanging all of the OE exposed (and unexposed) hardware fasteners in favour of TiBurnt titanium hardware. The hood latch sporting titanium nuts and bolts…
Pretty much any bolt that TiBurnt offered, this engine bay has.
The interior looking equally as pristine as the exterior. Kenji personalized the interior with an RE-Amemiya steering wheel, Greddy gauges in the center dash pod, all metal OE FD3S drivers foot pedals and dead-pedal as well as a matching kick plate in the passenger footwell.
OG Desmond Regamaster Marquis Promada in white… A holy grail set…
Upon arriving at Charlesglen Toyota, one of the first things that caught my eye were these classic Toyotas parked infront of the dealership. Included here from front to back are; 3rd gen Supra, 1st gen MR2, FJ40 Landcruiser, and an FJ55 Landcruiser. Also pictured in the back behind the FJ55 is the Calgary Police Services new mobile command center which they allowed spectators inside to see.
Another of the FJ40 Landcruiser as this is a favourite.
Another angle of the FJ40. Here you can see the frame and the wheel well. I’m not sure how much of it is original, but it’s in near-perfect condition. Inside on the seat were original Toyota owners manuals. I would love to own one some day. If you’re into these Landcruisers as well, I’d recommend heading over to The FJ Company to check out the incredible work they do to resto-mod these trucks.
A closer look at the FJ55. I really enjoy the colour scheme on this Landcruiser which I do believe came like this from factory. To me, it’s not as attractive as the FJ40 series, but it has historical value as it’s what Toyota considered to be it’s first “station wagon”.
The front end reminds me of what a Japanese robot from a kid’s TV show would look like…
Starting under the first row of canopies we had the ProColor Collision group - also a sponsor of the show. On display they brought out this BMW E30.
However, it is now LS swapped… quite the sleeper.
The interior was very clean and well-kept. All of the seats and door cards, front and rear, were (I assume) re-done with in a Houndstooth pattern - I thought it was very well done.
Close up of the driver seat showing off the Houndstooth patterned fabric.
I somehow missed getting a full shot of this Chevy C10… I was probably just to into looking over it that I must have forgot. I did get a few close ups of this truck to show some of the many details.
It’s no slouch either. Under the hood was a Magnuson supercharger bolted up to a Chevy LS… Not entirely sure what I was looking at here, but you can tell that there is an extensive amount of work done within this engine bay.
The interior of this Chevy. It’s odd to see an OBD connector in something of this vintage. Without being able to look under the hood, it’s a dead giveaway that there must be something modern in the engine bay…
I really enjoyed this piece painted on the glove box door. Quite unique and a great addition to the interior.
One minor inconvenience about the venue is that most of the cars were parked under the parking lot canopies which made capturing the rear of those cars difficult. They did provide the much needed shade for the attendees, however… I tried capturing the truck bed, but wasn’t carrying my wide angle lens that day so here is a crappy shot trying to highlight the work done in this truck bed which was beautifully done in hardwood. This truck ended up winning the best truck. Very well deserved.
Lotus Super Seven open wheeler in attendance.
Exposed front suspension. Lotus designed, meaning small, simple, and lightweight and only using the necessities.
You can see that simplicity also lives inside the interior with only the bare minimum. No extra storage pockets, cupholders, or other distractions that would keep your focus off the road. Being an open wheeler, the interior is bound to collect all sorts of dust and debris while driving as you can see here. I would bet the owner of this Lotus enjoys it. Very cool. I believe this Lotus was awarded the best tuner.
Ferrari Tessarossa. Absolute classic.
Andrew’s ISF looking clean as always.
One of Viv’s favourites from the show was the Calary Co-op GMC 100 Pickup.
I’m not sure what model Jeep this is, but I thought it looked cool with the original patina.
One of my favourites from the show was this Chevy Bel-Air Impala.
All of those old school diners were for sure modeled after this interior.
Kenny’s 3rd gen 4Runner built for wheeling. An impressive build with an intensive modification list. This won best Toyota at the show.
Balance Auto and Speedfactor lineup.
Awesome looking Tacoma with truckbed camper.
AE86 Corolla looking very clean.
1st gen Rav4 in amazing condition. This one with a TRD theme, I think?
This Toyota Pickup was literally showroom condition. I was so impressed with how mint this truck was and was perfection in my eyes. All of the chrome still looking brand new, the tires cleaned but not overly dressed, not a single swirl in the paint... no detail to big or small overlooked… Viv posing for a picture after admiring the interior.
I mean… this thing must be brand new, right? Has to be.
Rad Datsun 510. Nice colour choice.
Mint mint mint Acura Integra RS on Enkei RPF01s.
This is very reminiscent to me…
This skeleton passenger sitting in a PT Cruiser…
Pin-up girls in a domestic vehicle. The North American equivalent of anime girls on a Japanese vehicle.
Ken and his GR86. This sweet man chatted with us for a few minutes to share his story. He was a race car mechanic back in Japan, working on several high performance vehicles and has since moved here in Calgary with his family and is now fulfilling his dreams of driving across Canada in his GR86. He’s on Instagram and Youtube, documenting his journey. Please go check it out if it compels you. It is quite wholesome.
This family in Scooby-Doo cosplay posed up infront of their Subaru WRX STi having a picnic. They seem to be quite the Subaru fans. Cute.
VIP/anime styled Toyota Celsior on some work wheels.
Fan of Sapporo I assume.
Klean Concepts rides with matching heart angel eyes.
Heart shaped side marker on the Forester. Neat as it followed the heart theme found throughout the rest of the car. There was also a heart shaped steering wheel as well.
A unique headlight set up. RGB halos.
A relic found on the back seat arm rest of the Klean Concepts Celsior.
Also had a chandelier hanging in the back…
USDM x JDM. Ford Mustang on TE37 Sagas. This Mustang looking quite sharp with the bronze on blue. The owner expressing a bit of humour with the “crowd control” tire stickers, playing into the Mustang joke.
Gorgeous orange colour on this Ford Mustang. Also A&W themed.
Neat window tray.
Loved this interior from a Ford Thunderbird, redone in leather and red stitching. The cluster does not look period correct to me, almost looks too modern for this era but I could be wrong.
The rear seats also reupholstered in black leather and red stitch.
Rear of the Thunderbird. Looks bad ass. Could be a super villian’s car.
Again, not to knowledgeable about these vintage Fords, but I believe this is a Ford Model A Town Car. This one being an incredible example of one.
The interior looking quite bare, but that’s a given for a car of this era. Also not sure what all of the levers on the floor do. I don’t even know if I’d know how to drive and operate this thing.
The interior was definitely of an era. The seat bench looking like a regular sofa couch and curtains on the window that look like they could be for a house window.
Incredible to see something from the 1920-1930s era in today’s time looking as new as this does. Stunning to see.
Cool looking Jeep. Never seen doors like this before.
Becoming a rare sight is the Celica GTS. This one looking quite nice.
Making our way back around again.
Levi’s R32 Nissan Skyline GTR.
Punit’s Integra, K24 swapped with ITBs sitting on Mugen M7s.
Nick’s 911 GT3 on BBS E88s. Mine and Viv’s loaner for the day.
Issac’s FC RX7.
Brandon’s RSX, clean as always even after track duty just a day before.
Kenji’s FD3S RX7.
Jackie’s NSX - no stranger to the car scene here. Jackie took home car of the show.
Skeleton passenger princesses are a thing, I guess??
Tacoma looking sharp in red.
Pauline’s trail built Rav4 hitting a little flex parked up on the curb.
WRX sitting on gold RPF01s.
A Harlequin themed Audi S4.
This Civic was a bit of a time capsule built for I.C.E (in car entertainment). Reminds me of something out of the Midnight Club or Need for Speed Underground video games. Being a car audio guy myself, I had to take a closer look to see all of the work that was done.
The back seats were removed to fit these two massive 18” subwoofers. Full Skar Audio all around.
Fiberglass enclosure on the lower door cards to fit additional speakers. Each speaker had an LED strip surrounding.
The trunk of the Civic housing all of the amplifiers with more speakers and a TV on the trunk lid. I understand that this may not be to everyone’s taste I can attest to the amount of work that something like this would take and that in itself should be something to be admired. Much of the work many of us don’t see as well is all of the work hidden away, such as all of the wiring, cable management, custom fabrication for all of the speaker housings, and even potentially suspension upgrades to support all of the additional weight. While I do think some of the execution could have been done better for a more seamless look, overall it’s quite the impressive audio build and still cool to see today as car audio is slowly becoming a lost art. You can bet this Civic sounded unreal though - it was tuned very well and had a very balanced sound.
Bagged Infiniti G37 on Work VS-XX. Colour choice of the body and wheels looking great together. Matching skateboard is static, however.
This bagged Audi RS7 is super clean and looks awesome.
This bagged TT-RS is also very nice. The light rose gold Audi Rotor wheels are a nice touch.
The body of this Toyota Pickup is all original. The owner even went as far as to seal in the patina with a ceramic coating in order to preserve it in it’s current condition. It’s always cool to see a fully restored vehicle, but something about an all original paint, no body work vehicle in good shape is special in a different way.
Interior still looking sharp. A very well taken vehicle and also still very much enjoyed.
Close up of some of the wear and tear (patina) shown on the hood and fender.
Another clean Toyota that is considerably old. This one being a right hand drive Landcruiser with an all original body as well. There are some areas of visible sun damage like faded trim pieces if I’m being extremely picky, but otherwise it’s immaculate and shows very well.
First thing that actually caught my eye about this Landcruiser were these shades in the rear passenger windows. I learned at the show that these were a factory option and even have a Toyota label attached to them. These look as if they’ve never been drawn closed cause they look new.
This Celica Supra had a 2JZ engine swap.
A very clean swap at that too.
You can tell that this Celica Supra was put together with a high attention to detail. All like-new looking hardware, trim pieces and weather stripping.
A pristine E30 looking just as good as it did when it first left the dealership lot.
Nice blue on this Mustang.
I was quite drawn to the interior of this Dodge 440. This was also something I learned at the show, but this Dodge 440 is unique in the sense that it’s a Canadian variant meaning that the exterior body is a regular Dodge 440, however the interior was taken from a Plymouth. This one was also a convertible making this specification quite rare.
One thing I especially liked about this interior were the gauges. The font type specifically. This isn’t something we see very often anymore - a font type that has character and has that hand-drawn styling. Not that there were digital typographies available back then… Modern day cars are all quite similar in this regard, using clean and simple sans serif style fonts which I also do enjoy, but it’s neat to see these types of details in older classics.
Another close up of this instrument panel. I love the design of this. It’s truly an art piece.
Under the hood was this “windshield washer solvent” bag. Another example where car design allowed more freedom and demonstrates the quirks from older cars. Of course I forgot to take a photo of the car though…
Another few shots of Kenji’s car.
There’s usually some nice cars tucked away quietly that aren’t part of the show so I usually take a walk around spectators parking to see if I can catch anything else that wasn’t part of the show. Parked along the road is Aldrich’s IS300 looking clean.
This Release Series 1.0 FRS was also parked along the street looking good.
That is a wrap. Thanks again to Charlesglen Toyota for hosting and bringing together some more unique and classic cars that I don’t often get to see. I’m usually around more of the tuner crowd so it’s cool to change it up by seeing the domestic classics. Looking forward to next year.
