One Big Thank You

25 Mar One Big Thank You

The other day, we received a letter from our good friend, the man who created StanceWorks, Mike Burroughs. And we thought it deserved an entire blog post dedicated to it.

Our friendship has been one that was not spawned out of business interests, or potential profit increases, but out of a genuine love of all things automotive. Before meeting at MFest (the year we debuted Gold Wheels), we knew very little of each other, with encounters taking place solely within the realm of bimmerforums. However, as these things tend to progress, Burroughs’ forward-thinking stance-based movement within the BMW community became the subject of much polarization amongst bimmerforums’ denizens. Eventually, the time would come when the haters would have to be separated from the group, and Burroughs split from bimmerforums to focus on creating his own website, a playground for all things related to stance, where pictures of dented oil pans would be met with applause and laughter, not horror and denigrating comments. That would grow to become StanceWorks, a massive forum with tens of thousands of members that are actively involved with the aesthetic stance movement, regardless of make and model.

Before StanceWorks took off, though, both he and we went to MFest in Las Vegas. Fresh off a 25-hour drive and a 19-day build session, Gold Wheels was turning heads and catching the attention of just about everybody at the show, including Burroughs. After the initial meetup, we went off to shoot some shots of Goldie, and that shoot eventually culminated in our first magazine feature, standing out on the cover of Performance BMW. The man knew no bounds with a camera, and was limited only by the unbreakable rules of physics. The quality of his work was beautiful while seeming effortless, professional without the egomaniacal aspect. He was, in a few words, cool as hell. And we knew that our meeting of the minds at MFest was only the beginning of an empire. And that’s exactly what’s happened so far.

When Burroughs approached us and mentioned that he was splitting from bimmerforums with the intent of starting his own website, we jumped at the opportunity to sponsor his endeavor. After all, stance was only truly popular in the VW community at this point, and had no singular website to bring everybody together. As pioneers of the aesthetic in our own right, we knew that something could be built from this. And, as previously mentioned, things have worked out great so far. StanceWorks has exploded and the scene has taken off; yes, haters are still all over, but that’s how art functions. Not everybody will get it, but those who do will take something special from it.

Since our first photo shoot together, Burroughs has clicked the shutter on various other FMU vehicles, like our E90, the M Roadster, Marilynn’s M45 and Dick Cook’s X5. His photography skills have helped us achieve notoriety in both the quality of the cars and the quality of the photo shoots. We have achieved so much due to the other, that we feel this is a partnership that will continue as long as we both continue to do what we do. We thrive off one another, help each other grow, and are constantly striving to push the envelope to the brink of sanity.

In short, Mr. Burroughs, you deserve just as much thanks as we do. Our success as a company wouldn’t have been without you, and our future success will undoubtedly include you as well. From the photo shoot that started it all, to this year’s MFest, it’s been one hell of a ride, and we don’t think it’s stopping anytime soon.