Last night I took a trip down to Middletown for the weekly cruise in at The Hills. As we pulled up, I noticed plenty of familiar faces and rides, like the World Rally Blue STI that decided to slide through the gravel lot a few times before his exit. I think the best part about the owner, though, was that he brought along his son, and was showing him the other cars. Future car fanatic in the making? Possibly. There was also a beat up Nissan 240sx with rear 30mm widebody fenders and vast 8 inch Pirelli tires. The owner, Aaron, explained the damage with a confident grin.

"Yeah, it gets pretty beat up," he says. "There's a drift competition coming up here in April, and I'm teaching myself how so I can enter. Hopefully I'll be ready, since I've never really tried it with this configuration on the car, and I've still got mods to do before then."

Mods indeed! Lined up for his SX are a full t25 turbo kit, new tires and wheels, and a few surprises that he wanted kept secret.

"All I can say is I'll be making plenty of power by race day. Nobody's gonna get in front of this beast!" he laughed.

There was a huge variety of cars, ranging from brand-new, to restomods, imports to domestics. A 1969 Chevelle was parked next to a 1999 Volkswagen Golf. Some of the other interesting cars of the night were a silky, midnight black Infiniti G35, perfectly slammed and complemented by silver-on-black Ruff rims, a 2010 Mustang GT with a wannabe driver (he got showed up by our pal Aaron in his 240sx later on that night), and a slew of Civics that went from rice to nice, and one hatch that even looked track-bred. Sporting a custom 'graffiti' paint job, it certainly turned heads, but maybe not in the way the owner hoped.

"That piece of sh*t is just a ball of rice," one driver scoffed. "I don't know why he keeps bringing it."

Hate, hate, and more hate. Could it be jealousy? Perhaps. But whether or not everyone appreciates the car, it still carries its own VERY unique style, and that's something to be proud of. It will never be duplicated or imitated, and I have a feeling that's just how the owner likes it.

As the night pulled to a close, a lady at a nearby intersection decided she was going to take a chance at taunting us. "Haven't you fuckers got anything better to do on a goddamn Saturday night?" The roar of engines drowned out the shouting replies, and as she sped off, the parking lot was filled with laughter and jeering. I guess the hate is just part of the scene, sometimes, but what's a game without some competition?