SouthFlorida.com | City Link Magazine

Some people might describe the event being held Saturday night at the Miami Beach Convention Center as simply another car show. But that would be about as accurate as describing the Super Bowl as just another football game, because Hot Import Nights, or HIN, is so much more than a mere display of tricked-out rides.

The cars are, of course, a main draw. Some 400 South Florida car enthusiasts have entered their wheels in competition at HIN in dozens of categories. Winners will receive cash prizes, but they'll also earn bragging rights for beating competitors who have sunk tens of thousands of dollars into and toiled countless hours over every inch of their metal babies.

But Hot Import Nights is not your father's car show. It offers plenty of things to keep a car buff's eyes bugging out after looking at modified car after modified car. This year, the Irvine, Calif.-based show is offering three bikini contests, fire-breathing go-go dancers performing on a laser-lit stage and local dance, MC and hip-hop competitions.

Rico Rodriguez, the 30-year-old marketing promoter for Good Roads tire store in Fort Lauderdale, attends car shows throughout the country. "It's like going to a nightclub," he says of Hot Import Nights, "but you can take your car with you."

"Whether you know about cars or not, what is really going on is a blend of technology and art, because these are not your average vehicles. These are extreme tuners," says HIN marketing director Dave Gonzalez, who helped create this national touring extravaganza seven years ago with a group of tuner-car-loving buddies in Southern California.

For the clueless, tuners, or the people who love tuner cars, are the contemporary equivalent of car fanatics past. Unlike the hot rodders of the 1950s or the motorheads of the '70s, tuners don't get their hands greasy by tinkering with carburetors in order to add muscle to their engines. Beginning in Southern California in the late '80s, tuners turned away from souping up Chevys and Fords and instead focused on modifying foreign imports. They transformed four-cylinder, slow-as-molasses Japanese compact cars into road monsters by hacking into the computer chip in the engine that regulated the fuel-intake system.

While old-school motorheads laughed at the trend, the tuners kept plugging away, creating what is now a multibillion-dollar industry. Last year, tuners spent $3.2 billion on such after-market upgrades as rear spoilers, customized rims, neon-lit packages and nitrous oxide power boosters, according to the Specialty Equipment Market Association. "How even the wires are laid out in the car can be an art form in itself," Gonzalez says.

Rodriguez, who is also president of the national car club AfterMath, knows HIN is not every car lover's idea of a good time. "The guys who show up are only into imports, and that's just part of this whole market," he explains. "So many younger people are into it, because it's so mainstream. You see [tuner cars] in the movies and on videos all the time. But you aren't going to see them getting into [modifying] trucks or whatever unless you see Ja Rule riding in a truck."

Still, Rodriguez offers nothing but respect for the guys who created the event. "As an art form of customizing cars, you can really appreciate it," he says.

Gonzalez and the other founders of HIN understand that tuners are interested in much more than cars. So they created a car show designed to capture the ambiance of a nightclub. At first, they had difficulty booking entertainment for the show. After all, car-show promoters usually hire skimpily clad models, bands and other acts to appear at their events.

But HIN's creators realized that the distinctiveness of their event allowed them to charge acts to perform. "We found a crossover market," Gonzalez says.

The market has grown so large that in addition to the expected automotive sponsors, pop-culture entities are seeking sponsorships. MTV2 came onboard this year and has been airing news segments on the different tour stops. (No word yet if the network will visit the Miami Beach Convention Center.) Playboy, Finish Line athletic shoe stores and celebrities such as Shaquille O'Neal, who donated one of his cars for display on the tour, all have become enamored with HIN.

Besides the cars, the biggest draws are probably the "racing queens," models who circulate at the show, posing for photos with fans and generally giving the male attendees the chance to pant over a flesh-and-blood body kit. Among the models who will be on hand Saturday are Roxanne Siordia, a Maxim magazine poster girl and motorcycle racer, and several Playboy playmates, including Colleen Shannon, who will be DJ'ing for part of the show.

The event has become large enough that lesser-known models looking to make a splash in the tuner world are paying HIN to become part of the party. Saturday's show, one of 16 this year, is expected to draw about 40 models.

"We've found that in the import scene, people are specifically creating their own economies," Gonzalez says. "Our program works differently because we are charging a good segment of the girls to be a part of the M-Lounge, the selling lounge. They are there to make money, no doubt about it."

He says South Florida is a medium-size market for tuners and expects 14,000 people to pay the $25 entrance fee. A big market, such as Southern California, can draw more than 20,000 fans.

"California tends to be the leader of everything cars," Gonzalez says. "But it's funny how territory dictates the build. For example, there is an East Coast styling and a West Coast styling."

On the West Coast, he explains, the emphasis is on sleek, aerodynamic lines and large engines. "East Coast styling is about the bling," he says. "It's all about the music, chrome and larger wheels. Florida is a pretty developed market that has blended some of California with some of the East Coast trends."

Gonzalez says organizers had no problem getting enough contestants to enter the dozens of competitions at the Miami show, proving the tuner community is strong here. "Usually, the first 100 guys are really eager to showcase what they just built," he explains. "The second 200 or so guys understand the circuit and want to see who is competing before they decide if they want to compete."

Of the 400 people who entered their cars for competition, at least another 100 were turned away. Some cars were not modified enough to meet the judges' criteria, while others didn't make it simply because their owners waited too long to sign up. But many rejected drivers will still appear hours before the event, hoping against hope that a registered competitor won't show up, therefore freeing up a spot for someone else.

"All those people will be there," Gonzalez says, "because they believe they have something to gain at the end of the day."

Talking cars

If you plan on attending Hot Import Nights and aren't very familiar with the tuner scene, you might want to memorize the following slang words, as you're sure to encounter them throughout the event.
BLING: a flashy add-on
BUCKET: a lame car
CHIPS: engine computers that regulate the fuel system
DUBS: oversize rims
HOOPTY: see "bucket"
ICE: in-car entertainment, such as stereos, TVs, PlayStations, DVD players and satellite systems
JDM: Japanese domestic market
N.O.S.: A system that injects nitrous oxide into the engine for maximun horsepower
RACING QUEENS: models who work the crowd during the event
SHOES: ultra-performance tires
SLAMMED: suspension lowered to the point that it's kissing the pavement

Meet the ladies of HIN

DJ Diamond: This trance and hard-house DJ has appeared on HBO, E! and Telemundo and was featured in an April 2004 Playboy pictorial. She has brains, too -- a bachelor's degree in sports medicine -- and will be spinning 6:40-7:40 p.m. Saturday. Visit her Web site at www.dj-diamond.com.

DJ Lady Tribe: Before becoming a club DJ, Lady Tribe was a prolific graffiti artist in Los Angeles who became known for her daring tagging of moving city buses, busy overpasses and tall billboards. She was also a model for some of the characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Catch her performance 9-10 p.m. Saturday and check out her Web site at www.djladytribe.com.

Colleen Shannon: Playboy's 50th-anniversary Playmate, Shannon will DJ at HIN from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. She prefers vinyl to CDs, and her main interest is music, not modeling. She is a recurring host of Showtime's The Red Carpet, on which she interviews celebrities. Find her on the Web at www.djcolleenshannon.com.

Roxanne Siordia: One of Maxim's "Final Five Hometown Hotties," Siordia won Stuff magazine's recent Wilhelmina Model Search. She is a motorcycle stuntwoman and, like Shannon, appears on The Red Carpet. Saturday night, she'll be serving as guest hostess on the Mazda Stage. View her Web site at www.roxannesiordiaextreme.com.