A Los Angeles-area Southern Calif. staple for years, Chinatown Showoff struck hard again for 2007. Held in conjunction with the Chinese Lunar New Year's celebration in downtown L.A., Showoff has always been THE place to debut the latest winter show car creations. The first stop on the calendar before Nisei Week Showoff later in the year, Chinatown has always been one event not to miss.
Once again, the most popular trend of the show was pimped out style. The top dog six-foot trophy went towards the winner of the "JDM vs. DTM King" category, which promised to deliver nothing but the finest in Japanese and Euro style. Setting the trend for the show, the rest of the main Japanese categories filled up with JDM entries for Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Acura, Subaru, Mazda and Mitsubishi. The Euro side delivered with DTM-style categories for BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Southern California teams showed up en masse to represent, all of them eager to take both the "Team Showoff" and "Team Represent" trophies.
With trophies, cash awards, Bomex aero and street cred on the line, the competition was fierce at this year's Chinatown Showoff. If ultra-rare Mitsubishi Evo parts, Subaru STi bodywork and anodized RSX individual throttle bodies are any indication, Chinatown Showoff rang in the new year with no signs at all of slowing down. May Nisei Week Showoff continue the tradition; we look forward to it.