It’s been a few years since we initially dipped our feet into the cool, clear waters of this online magazine called Front Street Media. At first, Turn 14 Distribution’s involvement was meant to remain hidden, as this venture wasn’t to hinder on the parent company’s customer or vendor base. We have since let the world know who was actually responsible for all of the great content our readers view on a weekly basis.
Dealing only in business-to-business, one thing missing from the wholesale distribution side of the business was a relationship with the end-consumers. In order to clear up some of the public confusion about just what it is we do, Turn 14 Distribution teamed up with ARP and renowned blog Canibeat.com for the inaugural Open House Car Meet at its new ultramodern 234,000 sq. ft. warehouse in Hatfield, PA.
Months of internal planning had come to fruition as the day started just after sunrise with approximately thirty Turn 14 Distribution employees—including myself—arriving at the warehouse. While the event’s official start time wasn’t until 10am, the grounds needed to be cleaned, parking spots needed to be measured out, and many other various tasks needed to be completed prior to arrival of any vehicles.
Vendors including AutoCouture Motoring, AWE Tuning, BG Racing, Canibeat, Fabspeed Motorsport, Gear One Performance, Mackin Industries, Mishimoto, Project Kics, Project µ(Mu), RAYS Wheels, RavSpec, R/T Tuning, Thompson BMW, TurboXS, Vorsteiner, Wheel Mate, and Yokohama Wheels were invited to showcase their latest parts and demo cars in their very own booth space at the front of the building.
By the time the clock had struck 9am, the vendors were completely set up and cars started filtering in ahead of the proposed start time. One of the most interesting parts of the day was watching the array of vehicles enter the property. There was no specific demographic or type of vehicle that outweighed the other, and the organic variety created became fascinating.
In the automotive world, there are a few ways to exhibit your car for others to see. There are auctions if the directive behind getting the eyes on the car is more business oriented. There are car shows if the standards for quality need to be controlled, as most of these require an acceptance process and admission fees. The last being the tried-and-true car meet, where vehicles are free to come and go as they please, and the event’s success hinders merely on popularity of the event.
Adding to the open atmosphere of the day, Turn 14 Distribution employees were on site offering walkthrough tours of the warehouse space to the public. Explaining all of the technological advances implemented throughout the new facility granted a greater understanding about a side of our automotive world—and just about every other business in our lives—which is usually shrouded in secrecy and misunderstanding.
Two of Turn 14 Distribution’s sponsored drift drivers Dai Yoshihara and Geoff Stoneback were also present to interact with fans, pose for pictures, and enjoy the event for themselves. Geoff even brought out a couple of his personal S15 Nissan Silvias. With one parked inside the large warehouse, and the other parked directly out front, there was no shortage of pristine right-hand-drive goodness for attendees to enjoy.
Cristian Loza, co-founder of the meet’s co-host Canibeat, showed his new Acura TSX with a complete Mugen aero kit affixed to the various panels of the car. Using airbag suspension, the body is lowered just slightly overtop of bronze Volk Racing TE37 wheels for the perfect aggressive look and stance.
You might remember Drew Evans’ one-off Liberty Walk-equipped Infiniti G37 from our feature. In the time since he’s been hard at work perfecting the details of the chassis, including fitting new lips to his Work Meister wheels to bring the rear wheel width out to 14.5 inches. That’s just crazy!
Some of our more veteran readers might remember our facility tour of AWE early last year, where their Mercedes-Benz program was still in its early stages. The program has now grown through its infancy and into a popular solution for fans of the German marque.
Porsche purists, look away now!
R/T Tuning brought out the big guns with the display of their customer’s early model Porsche 911 with HRE wheels. The entire car is extremely well built with custom touches found throughout including the rear windshield ducting, but it is what’s found inside the engine bay that’s sure to stir up some controversy.
Much to the dismay of many Porsche enthusiasts, a turbocharged Honda K20 engine powers the Stuttgart sportscar. In an effort to enrage said enthusiasts, the owner chose the Japanese engine to prove that the powerplant manufacturer doesn’t need to match that of the chassis.
Even classic muscle cars made the trek out to the warehouse to take in the scenes and display their flawless period-correct paint schemes.
One of a few imported GT-Rs circulating the grounds, this particular BNR32 chassis with Rays Gram Lights 57CR wheels belongs to salesman Colin Rogerson at Turn 14 Distribution. Its spotless exterior and interior made it attractive, but the fact that it’s 100% legal to drive thanks to the 25-year importation law made it a favorite of the day.
Continuing with the employee cars, the variety of vehicles present at the event didn’t stop. With everything from BMWs to Mazdas parked within the lot.
Pictured here is a group of modified cars, which would be hard to find together anywhere else: A classic hotrod, two Hondas, a track-ready E90 BMW M3, a new Mazda MX-5 Miata, a new lifted Toyota Tacoma, a new Nissan Maxima, and a 20th Anniversary Edition Volkswagen GTI. All of these were modified tastefully, and all could be found within feet of each other. If variety were a goal for this event, I’d label this a success.
One of my favorite scenes of the day, were the collection of off-duty Police officers hovering around this 991-chassis Porsche GT3. Regardless of occupation, we can all agree the 991 GT3 is an awe-inspiring vehicle.
There were a fair amount of cars spread throughout with Recaro babyseats in tow. As our generation of enthusiasts continues to grow older, the stages of adulthood are shown in these clues on their cars.
Our loyal readers will recognize these cars from past track day and feature articles. The silver Civic’s swiss-cheesed interior—its most defining modification—continues to garner attention from any onlooker.
The Harlequin Golf is actually a limited-production Volkswagen, which was manufactured with mis-matching colored panels from the factory and multi-colored interior as seen here. This owner of the rare hatchback took it one step further, by sourcing a Momo Benneton steering wheel with pad. That’s a lot of color.
Is that an Ontario license plate? Speed Academy founders Peter Tarach and Dave Pratte drove the Turn 14 Distribution-sponsored project vehicle, “Mullet Mustang” nine hours through rural America to be at the event. They have their own in-depth photo coverage of the open house already on their website, and will be producing a video for their YouTube channel shortly.
Gear One Performance brought their Subaru BRZ endurance racecar, HRE-equipped Porsche Cayman, and one example of their newest endeavor a Superformance Cobra.
While circulating the property, Dai Yoshihara stumbled onto this imported Nissan Laurel and asked the owner to drive it around the building. While he took a couple laps, I found out this same generation Laurel was the car that Yoshihara originally used to learn drifting techniques in Japan. I’m sure it brought back a ton of memories for him to take a spin in such a personally influential car, and he looked like he really enjoyed himself.
Maker of high-end carbon fiber aero pieces and forged wheels, Vorsteiner shipped this M4 GTS across the United States from their headquarters in California to exhibit at the event in Pennsylvania. Clad in protective matte vinyl and their newest foray into carbon exterior pieces for the M4, this car was a showstopper for attendees.
As the clouds began to loom overhead and the afternoon hours ticked away, cars began to vacate the property and the meet drew to a close.
The event was a complete success. An incident-free open house showing the world how Turn 14 Distribution is pushing the forefront of warehousing technology in the automotive world, in turn making the transition from manufacturer to end-user that much more worry-free. Pair with that an insanely unique lineup of cars, food trucks, chill music, and giveaway bags, and it turned out to be one heck of a meet. We’d like to thank everyone for coming out to this inaugural event and hope you’re already setting your calendars for 2018’s iteration.
Gallery