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____Hot Water Blast 2006! I had never been to a Hot Water Blast since this year and had a great time. The trek up to Houston to see some of the sickest dubs in Texas is always worth the trip. I wanted to make sure this year I didn't go alone so I posted it on the forums and made sure that there would be a few of us making up there. We ended up rolling into Houston with 9 cars which isn't too bad but there is room for improvement next year.
____It ended up taking us 4 hours to get there because of all the pit stops we made, including the obligatory stop at good ole Buckee's. But it was nice to get out and drive the whip. I haven't been out on a long trip in my GTI since I brought it home from Florida and it was good to get it out and get some fresh air. It does get kind of tricky though when you are trying to drive with 10 cars and keeping everyone together.
____Once we got there I was immediately amazed. The quality of cars was something you don't typically see in San Antonio and the amount of hooked up dubs was something never seen in San Antonio, at least by me. European Auto Gruppe and Club Volkspeed showed up in usual fashion. It always amazes me to see Club Volkspeed coming to almost every big car show in Texas even when they are all the way from McAllen. Those are some real troopers for ya! And
EAG, not surprisingly rolled in with about 40 or so cars. And they don't just fill those numbers with normal, everyday rides either. These are some high class cars that they are bringing, almost none of them in stock form.
____It was also a good surprise to see so many new Mark V's at the show. I haven't had a chance to see any of them up close in San Antonio yet. I have seen a handful of GLI's driving around but have yet to see a Mark V GTI. The one you see on the left was from Club Volkspeed and already have a Reiger front lip, side skirts, and rear apron on it! The only complaint I have about the new V-dubs is that they are sitting so high in stock form! But I guess you have
to expect that from Volkswagen, they have been doing it for years. That just leaves you room to slam it though! I also wasn't too hot on the wheels but I think I could deal with it if I needed to. :D
____Didn't take me long to find some hardcore MK3'ers either. I love to see a creatively modded MK3. I mean what you see in this pic might not appeal to everyone, but I love it! I mean who thinks of painting their hood with chalkboard paint so that people can leave comments on it? Brilliant I say! His buddy sitting next to him and another white MK3 GTI were also modded very nicely in following the "Rat Stylez" look. There were other MK3's that didn't follow the
"Rat Stylez" look but were equally as beautiful. The red MK3 GTI that won best MK3 GTI was absolutely gorgeous with so much done to it. Kelly's Corrado rarely makes car show appearances because it is always under the knife but it was present at this show and was simply amazing sporting the very rare BBS RN's.
____There was no shortage of hooked up MK4's either. Everywhere you looked you saw another MK4 that took your eyes off the one you were currently looking at. The one you see on the left though is truly amazing. I might be a bit biased on this one because I absolutely love the Imola yellow and I love 20th's but this was just one amazing car. Just the attention to detail on the car was amazing. This was the same with most of the other MK4's around the
show. They all seemed to be fitted with at least some nice wheels and good suspension. Many of the MK4's were fitted with some tasteful body kits, boser hoods, front mount intercoolers, intake, exhaust, chip, and too many other things to go through. One car that really caught my eye was the black GLI with the BBS CH's on it. Wow! I mean this car might not have had all the crazy mods that everything else did, but those wheels, color, body kit, and a few other things really did it for me. The picture I took of it didn't come out too well but if you look through Zerin's photos you will see a picture of it.
____There was also a very good mix of different cars that you don't usually expect to be there. Take a look at the blue Beetle on the right over there. Why does it have so many trophies, it is just a normal Beetle right? Wrong! This thing had a laundry list of modifications, none of which were cheap. This was a 4-motion, Stage 3 1.8 turbo monster. I couldn't believe the attention to detail and the quality of work that went into this car. This was definitely the best
custom car I have seen in a while. There were other notables though. Rich's VW caddy was so great! I loved the "Dub Force" stickers on the side, MK2 Recaro seats, and the rat in the center console. There is nothing like an old school dubber out there reppin' his old school V-dub.
____All together I had a lot of fun at the show. I got to see a lot of Houston peeps that I hadn't seen in a while and got to see their rides really transform into something nice. Take a look at Ramon's right over there. I remember when he first bought this ride and it was all stock. It didn't stay stock for long, and is not sitting with some Lambo doors, supercharged, and almost every other mod you could do to this car. And the amazing thing is he had done all the work
himself! But the same was with most the other cars I haven't seen in a while, all different from the last time I had seen them.
____Hopefully next year will be just as good and we can take more people along for the ride. We won one trophy this year and hope to do better next year. But it scares me to think of what the rides will look like next year if they are already as tight as they are. Oh wells, gives me more inspiration to make that money and mod that whip! Till next time guys, happy moddin'!
   
Here are some pics from the ride up there, the ride back, and pics from the show. More pics can be found on the links below as well.