I’ll admit that I am a little late to the party as far as 2011 retrospective posts go, but better late than never- right? I had a great time in the past year, so I want to take a minute to look back!

First of all, I’d just like to thank everyone who follows this blog. I had about 22,000 views last year, which isn’t a ton by any means- but I am overwhelmed by that number. Granted, 10,000 of those views were by me and Kyle, but still- very cool! I appreciate all of the support and random people checking in from time to time.

I don’t have a photo from New Year’s Day, but here is how my car sat in mid January of 2011:

The year started on a high for me that I didn’t think could be matched- my cover/feature had been out for about a month at this point in the January 2011 issue of Modified magazine, and I was still in shock. I still can’t thank Peter, Nate, and Dave enough for everything- an experience I never thought I’d be able to have in a million years.

Since the car was torn apart completely from November 2009 to August 2010, I had no desire to tear it apart for the winter of 2010-2011- so for the most part, I just let it chill in the garage! Winter was spent trying to wait patiently for new parts to arrive from Japan. The biggest changes to the car in the beginning of 2011 were the DMAX coilovers, Defi Advance CR gauges, a Cusco 6 point roll cage, a new Bride Zeta III that somehow found its way to the states right in the middle of the tragedy in Japan in march, and of course- the  Volk TE37s.

Alicia and I took the car out to the GVSU car show on campus at the college we met at and graduated from in April. I used to help organize the show when I was at school there, so it was awesome to see that it was still taking place and whatnot. We had a great time being on campus again and enjoying the weather that day- and I won best import! lol. Pretty silly award, but it was cool to have the car out again.

The new coilovers and wheels brought a smaller tire up front and a lower height overall. Though these were subtle details, I think it made a HUGE difference in the appearance of the car. Again, another accomplishment I never imagined I would achieve- owning a set of TE37s. Some call them played out, but they really are timeless in my eyes. Really stoked I got a chance to own a set- can’t thank Peter Tarach and Brian Duong at Mackin Industries enough for helping me out with this and making it happen! The five month wait was pretty brutal, but totally worth it in the end! lol.

These are the first shots I took with the TEs installed. Brian sent them out to all of the Mackin dealers in the world, which was wild. These shots were reposted on a couple of FB pages as well- always crazy to see them pop up like that.

In June I acquired one of my favorite parts ever- a NeXt Miracle cross bar. I had wanted one of these bad boys since I got my 240, so I was beyond stoked to have this thing. It popped up in a thread full of random junk, which made it even crazier. Thankfully I was able to score it for an awesome price- one of my favorite changes to the car in 2011!

In June I had the pleasure of work with a couple of local guys to organize a local BBQ/meet to benefit the relief efforts in Japan. I made some awesome friends in the process, including none other than 2011 Formula Drift Champion Dai Yoshihara! Though we only spoke on the phone, it was an incredible opportunity to work with Dai. He hooked us up with some great prizes and we raised $17o0 for the relief efforts- one of my favorite memories of 2011 and for a long time to come.

Summer continued to roll on. I added a few Cusco components to the mix, and won my first award at the Eyes On Design show in my third year attending. I had an awesome time meeting people there and seeing some pretty crazy cars- quite on honor in my book to win something here!

One of my favorite shots from the year- cleaning the car up the night before:

That just about did it for the first half of 2011… I think I’ll split this into two posts to keep the size down a bit. If you read the blog year round, none of these things will be new to you- but it’s fun for me to take a look back on the year. Hope nobody minds, lol- back soon with part two of 2011!

Damon