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There are a handful of attractions that have brought fame to Montreal, Quebec, none more beloved than the city's hockey franchise. As one walks down St. Catherine's street in downtown Montreal, street signs, banners, and memorabilia are scattered all over reminding everyone that the Montreal Canadiens hockey club is the most important thing in the world. The red, white, and blue colors of the team are blatantly displayed in every corner of the city, forcing any non-hockey-goer to realize where they were and what these people were all about. Hockey comes first - after that, everything is secondary to Montreal natives.
Before we arrived in Montreal, we were told more than once to assault our taste buds with a bowl of French fries, gravy, and cheese, better known as poutine (poo-teen). We were skeptical at first to the mix of flavors, but we found ourselves chowing down on this amazing meal multiple times throughout the weekend in the concession area upstairs at the home of the 1976 Summer Olympics, Montreal's Olympic Stadium, the city's most famous landmark. However, don't expect to find yourself at the steps of this, the former home of the Montreal Expos, in a cab, unless you brush up a bit on your French. The cabbies know the place as the Stade Olympique.
In recent years, Montreal has also added the Sport Compact Performance (SCP) Modified Car Show as one of the area's major yearly attractions. Starting almost a decade ago, SCP has been known for attracting car show competitors from all over North America. This year, the number of participants who crossed the border from the States was overwhelming. Teams such as New Image and Emotion had their passports on hand as they crossed the international boundary for one of the biggest shows in Canada.
For the past three years, Team ETC and Castrol have successfully unveiled their newest creations for their Top Tuner Tour. In 2006, Tajai Das debuted the Top Tuner Pontiac Solstice, which was followed by Chris Nankoo's stretched Saturn Sky. These two green machines were extremely successful on the Top Tuner Tour and proved themselves by winning countless awards and gracing the covers of magazines all over the world. This year was no different; Castrol and Team ETC unveiled a wide-body candy red Cadillac CTS V for the 2008-2009 Top Tuner Tour.
This Cadillac featured super wide fenders, giant Baer Brakes, Strut wheels, a custom interior, and a crown jewel under the hood, a fully-built race engine that boasts 1,400hp to the wheels! This twin-turbo beast was set up at the middle of the stadium under giant Castrol scaffolding on a spinning pedestal - talk about showing off! The Cadillac will be doing a tour of North America, which includes SEMA and various other stops throughout Canada and the United States.
Another debut from the Great White North was from none other than team TDS. Vince Harjono really did a number with his Lexus IS 300. The luxo model received a complete color change and is now sporting a slick-looking brown paint job. Harjono treated the engine bay with a complete engine harness wire tuck, along with a handful of polished engine accessories which made the vital parts of the engine really pop visually.
The exterior of the Lexus was treated with a complete authentic Vertex aero kit, which includes 20mm flared fenders and a subtle hood wing. The real eye catchers on this Lexus are the 19x10-inch Advan Siena V.2 wheels that sport super-stretched tires sitting under the fenders with camber measurements in the extreme negatives. This Lexus IS 300 has tons of potential and we expect to see big things from Harjono in 2009.
Ontario, Canada, team R Squadron made a strong showing as usual. After an absence in 2007, Mike Tran made his triumphant return to SCP in 2008 with his Top Secret wide-body Infiniti G35 coupe. Tran's Infiniti was fully outfitted by Alpine with a completely insane audio setup that featured a rotating sword as an armrest. The turbocharged engine was built and tuned to reach near 500hp to the wheels. To complete the package, Tran added a set of Project Mu brake calipers and rotors that hide behind the Work VS-XX wheels, which were polished to a blinding shine. Tran took home honors for Best Infiniti, and it's obvious why.
Despite what you may think is a headlight and taillight conversion on this Acura, you'd be dead wrong. For those who live in Canada, you'll already be familiar with the 1.6EL, a model that was not offered in the United States. Equipped from the factory with a 1.6-liter D16 engine, this Honda Civic four-door badged as an Acura 1.6EL is a rare sight to see for so many reasons, like the custom paint job, flared fenders, and aftermarket wheels. But the real sight to see is located in the trunk of the EL.
Yes, this Honda is not only rear-wheel drive, but also rear engine! The Honda V6 engine swap also was the recipient of a custom turbo kit, as if the two extra cylinders worth of displacement weren't enough. A custom-mounted fuel cell takes up room at the front under the hood where the factory engine once sat. This Honda is one of the many competitors from the weekend that included a unique custom fabrication aspect into their build. Thumbs up - we love this!
Falken Tires has really built a strong presence in the tuner scene. Its booth this weekend was proof. Falken Tires always seems to be on top of the hottest trends, which is apparent every year at SEMA where they always seem to make our list of favorite booths.
Falken brought out Autofashion's Lexus LS that is the epitome of Japanese VIP. This Lexus kills it on air suspension, massive rollers, and a custom white-furred interior that just boasts VIP. Other attractions in the Falken booth were its very own drift-ready Mazda RX-7 sporting the traditional Falken colors. The Mazda was rocking fully-polished SSR wheels and a custom fabricated turbo kit that ensures power to the wheels while this FD3S is tearing up the drift track. Falken Tires really pulled out all the stops in Montreal.
SCP Montreal has done it again, bringing out the best of the best from all over North America to gather in one spot in eastern Canada. The incredible exhibition is so impressive, we hardly want to leave each year. Check out the full gallery for the rest of the action from the show.
www.sportcompactperformance.com
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