On February 12, we were lucky enough to be in Honolulu and attend Hellaflush Hawaii. Produced by Fatlace from Northern California, the Hellaflush show series is taking the United States by storm showcasing the best cars with a focus on ‘the art of wheel fitment’.

This trend has united Euro and JDM enthusiasts with a common goal of obtaining the lowest and widest look.

Ultimately, the trend started with the Euro scene but we’ll let that go for now. Hellaflush Hawaii drew hundreds of cars to Aloha stadium. There was also plenty of lowriders, bikes and break dancing thrown into the show’s dynamic.

To our delight, it was easy to see several Euro influences in the Japanese cars - from shaved engine bays, smooth bodywork, stretched tires and more. We even saw some Euro wheels on Japanese cars such as the best of show winner Lance Akagi and his ’95 Honda Accord wagon. Slammed on Air Runner suspension, the wagon featured rebuilt Mercedes MAE Crown Jewel wheels measuring 19x9.5/10”.

There were some notable Euros at the show. Most particularly Kimo Jarrett’s ’01 BMW M3. Painted a rare Oxford green metallic, the E46 was stanced out with 19x10/11.5” Work Brombacher wheels. Also equipped were 355mm and 345mm rear Brembo big brakes, AST coilovers and Vorsteiner body work.

We also liked Lorrin Gacusan’s Mk4 VW GTI slammed on Brocks.

Overall the show was a success and it was quite entertaining to see the Hawaiian scene first-hand. With a population close to a million, the island of Oahu doesn’t have many roadways. You can drive around the entire island in two hours. There are also no road courses or drag strips which explains why the number of performance cars was lacking. The scene is more about show, stance and cruising the beach. But we must give them respect. They are some of the friendliest enthusiasts we’ve met and are super passionate about cars.