It’s May of 2018 - my wife and I have moved from Southern California over to Arizona, following Tokyo Auto Salon I’m desperately trying to keep my momentum going by shooting absolutely anything I can get in front of my camera, and I’m becoming intimately knowledgeable about every mile of I-10 between Phoenix and Los Angeles because I’m making round trips to shoot cars more often than I still care to admit.
At this point I’ve been folded into the media team of Autocon, a now-defunct car show and event coordination group putting on shows in Los Angeles, San Jose, New York, and at a few different Formula Drift season stops. One of the biggest builds at this time was the Baller Hauler, and it’s companion AE86, built by Miles Shinneman. Everything about this pair of vehicles screamed rad - from the matching livery and fully metal bodywork on both vehicles to the functional tilt tray towing kit and the fact that the truck itself was bagged and V8 swapped.
After a weekend of shooting Formula Drift for Nitto (one of my better motorsport photographic outings, IMHO), Justin and my fellow Autocon media dudes met up and moved the Hauler onto the same track that had been thrashed all weekend, making for one of the more surreal shoots I’ve been a part of in my career. The decision to stay an extra night in Long Beach and head home after this was a no brainer and I’m very lucky that I was in the position to be able to do so.
Below is the gallery fully re-edited with eyes and tastes 6 years more mature and - hopefully - it’s just as great to look at as it was back in 2018.
Click the images below to view in a Hi-Res Lightbox.
