I’m the type of individual who’s always wanted to represent their local community as best as possible. Be it bikes, cars, sports, whatever. I’ve also always felt that Ontario, Canada has a rather strong automotive community. If I’m to give the province a pat on the back, we do pretty well considering our fun cars are parked up for around six months of the year.
I get around where I can, but my job of putting Ontario in the best light is always a little easier when so many gather in one area. And at the recent LZ World Tour stop at Toronto Motorsports Park, there was a tremendous amount of awesome in one spot. The only problem was finding the time to run through the show, while also not missing the action on track.
I can feel it; some of you are already thinking ‘No, not another car show post from this silly Canadian’. But don’t run down to the comment section asking for more coverage from Japan just yet.
Hopefully, there’s a bit of something for everyone in this post. If not, there should at least be a few things you may have never seen before.
Pop The Hood
I’m a simple man; I see a hood popped at an event and I look to see what’s inside. Open hoods kill the lines of a vehicle, so if the hood is open that means there’s something worth looking at underneath, right?
We’ve all been skunked by a mess of coloured wiring and a cone filter before, but rejoice in the fact there’s none of that here.
LS motors in Mercedes-Benzes, S52-swapped E30s, twin-turbo V6-powered S2000s, big-turbo Mazdaspeed 3s, just to name a little of what was present.
There were even two J32 V6-swapped Civics three cars away from one another in the overflow parking area. The last time I saw two of something similar in such close proximity was at a Honda-specific event.
Toyota 1J and 2JZ swaps show up everywhere now (for good reason, they are extremely buildable), and the E46 and AE86 both had the handiwork of Mike Catell of GT Custom exhaust under the hood.
Mike’s E46 M3 was previously featured on Speedhunters in 2019. He’s put several hard track miles on the car in the time since, and was on hand at the LZ event to help a few of the teams.
For those tired of LS swaps, is this one creative enough? There can’t be that many V8 Subarus running around, right?
Depending on your age and geographic location, you may have never heard of a Mazda MX-3. These were sold as the Eunos 30X in Australia, the Autozam AZ-3 in Japan, and the Precidia here in Canada. Many of these ’90s front-wheel drive coupes came with a 1.8L V6 under the hood, which was done by Mazda to sidestep some government regulations regarding the taxation of vehicles based on engine size.
This car has one of those V6 engines under the hood where they usually reside, plus another in the rear. Both are turbocharged and can work together or separately. Wild.
Patina Fresh
There is a lot to take in when viewing this ‘BMW 2002′. First, yes, those are C4 ZR-1 wheels on all four corners. Second, again, yes, the car is quite a bit wider than stock in order to accommodate its 9.5-inch and 11-inch-wide wheels. But there’s much more here than wide wheels, box flares and patina. Can you pick it?
No, this angle doesn’t help discern the true chaos, but it does give you a good look at the car’s overall posture.
This angle, however, should give you a clearer picture of the chassis swap.
The car’s base is actually a GD Subaru, while the outside sheet metal is from a BMW 2002. Combining the two is the handiwork of Windsor, Ontario’s Mirm Autoworks.
The story behind the build is that the Subaru body was damaged beyond repair and the 2002 was rotten to the core. A few nights with a welder and this is what emerged. That’s a gross abbreviation, but you can check out Mirm’s Instagram for a more detailed look at the build.
Pull Up With My Ceiling Missing
Like the Subaru, this Nissan also hails from Windsor, Ontario. Clearly, I need to make a better effort to check out the community three hours’ east of where I live.
Nissan S15 Variettas are not very common. Variettas in North America are even less so. These convertible S15s are quite rare, and despite being built by Autech the conversion is considered OEM. Similar to Baur conversions on BMW E30s.
After restoring functionality to the power top and some well-needed maintenance, this particular Varietta’s builder, Nick Craig, added his personal touches to it.
The number of people caught in a double-take while viewing the S15 drop-top was pretty impressive.
But that tends to happen when less than 1,500 Variettas exist in the wild, and far, far fewer have purple flake paint.
Best Of Show
The event’s ‘Best Of Show’ winner was a garage-built, wide-body Corvette C4 slammed on massive off-road wheels. That is such a strange sentence to type, and yet it is completely accurate.
Corvette C4s have come down in price considerably in recent times, and this example was far from pristine when it was picked up. Left neglected and occupied by vermin, Rusted and Busted took a BradBuilds render and made it a reality.
In addition to the kit, suspension and wheels, the car also has a pretty unique dash setup, along with sequential LED signals and tail lights that are retro and contemporary at the same time.
I’m not sure what the traditional Corvette crowd feels about this car, but there is no denying an impressive amount of work has gone into its creation.
If all goes well, only 365 days and one long winter stand between this event and the next LZ World Tour stop in Toronto, which is plenty of time for some fresh wild builds to come together.
Dave Thomas
Instagram: stanceiseverythingcom
Over Flow
Keyword: Off Track At The LZ World Tour Canada