Fluid MotorUnion’s Epic BBQ Weekend

10 Oct Fluid MotorUnion’s Epic BBQ Weekend

This past weekend has been a whirlwind of activity, as Fluid MotorUnion both hosted its own barbecue and stopped in at Zero Clearance’s Stretch Your Legs.

The FMU BBQ was an absolute blast, and allow us again to thank everybody involved — both everybody that worked during the BBQ and everybody that came out for some free food and some good times. The line to hop on the dyno, as we predicted, started growing immensely, and while everybody couldn’t be catered to, we hope that gives you all reason to come back again soon! Your humble narrator was also running around making sure everybody was having a good time and facilitating some of the events of the evening, so while pictures are sparse, we tried our best to snag as many as possible. Matt Magnino of JDMChicago and Greg Szoda of Glock Photo both took some great nighttime shots, so thankfully we don’t feel to bad that the FMU photography gave way to more work as the nighttime hours pressed forward. Either way, everybody had a blast, and Miles + Fabel were still hanging out around FMU until about midnight, so a long afternoon turned into an even longer night. Enough of the gushing, though, let’s take a look at some pictures!

Waldi was the hero of the day, as he came to fix the E90’s side dent before enjoying the barbecue. We owe him a big thanks for that one, and hopes he will enjoy his gift for such a great job on the M3!

Mike’s Evo had one of the nicest engine bays at the entire show. And he does all his work himself! Props, Mike. Props.

This Audi had a perfect mix of a black exterior with these shiny Mercedes wheels. You can’t take a bad picture of this car.

Your humble narrator is a sucker for canards.

Finally, Zach, we managed to get a picture of your Infiniti that wasn’t blurry!

This Volkswagen was one of the biggest attention-grabbers of the show. Not just because of its clean exterior mixed with a gorgeous drop, but also because it managed to make it onto and off of the dyno without a single ride height issue. This car is made of magic, we’re pretty sure.

The Starion crew said it themselves — it wouldn’t be a car show without a Starion being worked on.

Before Saturday’s festivities kicked off, we found ourselves with a few friends swinging through the shop – a Dodge Viper, Ferrari F430, Lamborghini Gallardo and a Lamborghini Murcielago.

Next was the Stretch Your Legs meet, put together by Alex Krieter and Vegas Wilson. These guys host various SYL meets throughout the season, starting in the snow and ending when it starts to get chilly again. Thankfully, there wasn’t any snow to deal with, but there was plenty of action not related to frozen bits of water. Downtown Chicago was packed, thanks to the Chicago Marathon taking place earlier in the day, but traffic on Lake Shore Drive was mostly manageable, so nobody got held up for too long on the way there. Montrose Harbor, on the other hand, was packed like a Japanese train on a weekday, so parking was at a premium. Thankfully, when you change a parallel parked car to a hard parked car, you gain a few spaces, so SYL was able to accomodate quite a few cars in a small area. As time went on, people got the idea and gave the meet some room to stretch its legs (see what I did there?). Everybody wandered around in the piercing sunlight, waiting for that big bright ball of picture-ruining to lower its position in the sky. Between the constant smell of barbecue and the occasional interesting piece of drama, the show was a great success, and everybody we talked to had a fantastic time, ourselves included. Big thanks go out to Vegas and Alex for yet another successful SYL. Can’t wait for next year!

This may be the greatest shirt ever printed. Not too sure why, but it’s pretty damn awesome. You should look that guy up. He’s a keeper.

If we had a boat, we’d party on it too. Perhaps for our next project, we’ll turn a Ferrari into a boat. Top Gear did it, so it can’t be too hard, right? Right?

Simply put, it was a beautiful day outside.

Between the NOS crew, Miles and Vegas, everybody was in stitches for most of the meet. Entertaining stories never stop at a car meet.

The men behind the RBM x FMU Black Series, Mitchell (left) and Joe (right), express their happiness to be driving the M3 around town. Like two little kids on Christmas. There is related video of their later hijinks on our YouTube channel.

Just behind SYL, there was a couple who’d renewed their vows and were getting some second-wedding pictures taken in front of the downtown skyline. Great location, and from the looks of it, they looked quite happy, as well.

Obligatory boat-and-skyline shot.

And then the accident happened. The Camry was growing impatient with the hold-up on the street (people were parking their cars for SYL), so they tried to go around the line and create a shortcut. Sadly, that shortcut was directly through the front fender of another non-show car. The Focus then rolled into the Miata behind it, and the owner of the Miata was a bit shocked, to say the least.

Thankfully, there were plenty of witnesses, and also plenty of people yelling, “Ohhhhh shit!” But the CPD was on the scene quickly, tickets and paperwork were filed, and both parties were on their way. Let’s hope to see them both again at the next SYL!

Alex’s Audi was looking good on a set of Mercedes wheels…

…While Vegas’s Cressida is looking pretty mean in its current bosozoku/Yakuza aesthetic.

The Junkhouse FD also made an appearance, with its Enkei NT03+M wheels painted in the most interesting color at the event. The owner called it “Disco Barney,” which we think suits it perfectly.

While the E90 and Genesis made an earlier retreat, Krystian and Burroughs’ E36 stuck around for a quick photoshoot with JDMChicago’s Matt Magnino, the results of which should be posted up soon. This is another car that you just can’t take a bad picture of.

All in all, it’s been an epic weekend. Joe and Mitchell have thoroughly enjoyed their stay, thanks in part to Cedar Hotel’s punch bowl, and also in part to seeing the Black Series a couple steps closer to completion. They’re still hanging around the shop today, fitting the Varis carbon/fiber rear wing and helping arrange the Weistec supercharger install. Everything’s coming together quickly, so there will be plenty of pictures to check out. In the meantime, check out the video the RBM crew shot last night at the link embedded into this sentence.