Honolulu

The Hawaiian Islands are known for their beautiful beaches and sunny weather, as well as a variety of cultures. Over the years, the islands have been put on the map by magazines like LRM and LRE for their interest in an automotive sport that started thousands of miles away in California. When the Euros jumped into the scene, the Hawaiian Islands were right alongside of Cali. Today, the Euro scene dominates the Hawaiian Islands' custom car scene. Honolulu, Hawaii, got to see that first hand when Meguiar's hosted the Showoff2K1 at the Neal Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. For each and every day of the three-day event the crowds jammed the floors to check out Hawaii's finest Euros up close. Some of the hard-hitters that flew in from the Mainland to be a part of the show were Meguiar's Ford Focus, Toyota Racing Development's wide-body MR-2 and Ricky Chu's Nissan 240 SX.

The local cars were right up there and beyond with custom body mods, paint, upholstery and details. A majority of them could compare with the mainland "big boys" with their superb workmanship. The judges had quite a time judging 18 classes of awesome Euros.

Like most car shows, some people come to look at the rides while others come to check out all of the fine ladies. At the Showoff2K1 people got to see all of that and more. Meguiar's flew down some fine ladies for the islanders to hang with and meet up close in person. We're talking about Aiko Tanaka, Kristen Muranaga, Shelley Ramos, Christine Mendoza and Aysia Lee.

Hawaii has its own blend of beautiful babes as you can see in the photos. The bikini contest just seems to get better every year. This year the crowd got to droll over 12 of Hawaii's hottest women. The crowd went nuts as the entire bikini babes showed what the island girls are made of. Winning the contest was island beauty Alisha.

Throughout the three-day event there was a lot going on, like the booty contest from 808Rides.com. Define Board shop had a DJ battle and a B-Boy battle. The Electric Food Foundation held the MC battle, and if that wasn't enough, there also was a skateboard demo. Some awesome autos graced the floors, including "Bomber's" wild ride that sports a paint job resembling something from the The Fast and the Furious, while Romeo and Heather Reseda's Honda was looking good up on all fours. Renditions C.C. came down from Maui with their hard-hitting Lexus and Honda that were equipped with air ride suspensions.

Other clean rides included Eli and Mai's turbo Toyota MR2, while German Velasco outdid himself with an '89 hatchback and '93 Acura. Both cars were full-show material. Hiro Tsudo's Toyota Echo also made some noise with its custom Japanese front end and slammed suspension. Show girl Karissa wasn't only posing for photos; her ride was the top winner of its class. Meanwhile, Jessica's clean '91 Toyota also won its class with its slamming looks. Taking the Best of Show honors was Dwight Higuchi with his super-clean '97 Honda Civic.

Showoff2K1 was a big hit for Hawaii, and could not have been possible without the great people who sponsored the show. Meguiar's gives a salute to P.A.T.S., Installtech, Distinctive, Define, TRD, Revtek, Speedhawaii.com, MCA, Hypersports, ESH, Advance Graphics, 808Rides.com, IDRC, Titan Motorsports, Mobile Car Audio and Blitz. So, until the next Euro show from Hawaii, Aloha!