If you frequent StanceWorks whatsoever, you’ll agree that Jay Borcena’s TL is a regular. He makes his way to show after show, doing his part to support the scene he loves. He’s even graced the homepage in a feature of his own almost two years ago. But there’s a special side to the car you won’t ever know by attending a car show: the car is an embodiment of a relationship between father and daughter.

Jay has been wrenching on cars since he can remember. From Hondas to Nissans to Subarus, he’s played the game in more ways than one. But with the birth of his daughter 4 years ago, he knew it was time to make some changes. He sold his Legacy GT to buy the TL, a car he knew would be much more suited to a growing family. Jay had to outgrow the days of loud exhausts and the smell of 91 octane everywhere he went.

Young people enter the car scene each and every day as the car enthusiast gene is passed down through the generations. At the same time, some deem it time to leave their hobbies behind as a family and a “real” job consume too much time. Often you’ll find most people with the passion are dedicated to making it work one way or another. Sometimes it means less of the budget goes to the machine in the garage, but for so many like Jay, it means a change of pace entirely.

Jay used the opportunity try out the VIP scene, and purchased the ’08 TL brand new.

The car began life in an entirely different color- pearl white. As Jay worked his way through the car, widening the fenders and bringing it closer to earth, he decided the deep metallic purple was a perfect fit. Since the last time his car was featured, he’s made countless changes to details of the car, from trim pieces to headlights and tail lights; stuff he insists no one would ever notice but makes all the difference to him. It’s also hard to miss the gold VIP Modulars that fit perfectly with the new air ride.

Jay has made the necessary changes to his lifestyle to stay active in the scene. Team Praxis, or more simply put, his second family, gives him more than enough reason to stick around. As for what’s next for Jay, there’s quite a bit in store, from a full interior to some extra ponies.

For everyone else, let Jay go to show that big changes in your family don’t mean giving up your passions- it just means changing things to make it all work.

When it comes to SW feature cars, they all hold some type of value. Armand Pranadi’s MR2, however, hits home for us in a rather different way. These days, an MR2 is not something I’d typically take a liking to, but there’s something to be said about this one in particular. Between the oversized fenders, the bright red paint, the massive wheels, and the extravagant looks, it is exactly what would have been on my wall as a kid. It has all of the bits and pieces to remind me exactly what sparked my interest in modifying cars to begin with. It captures the imagination with its toy-like proportions and its race-car style. It’s one of those cars you see pass the school bus on the ride home as a child, and it changes your world forever.

But to add to the thrill of the pseudo-exotic is something truly impressive: Armand’s MR2 pushes the limits of wheel and tire fitment with some of the most gnarly clearances we’ve seen to date. The car’s stance was impressive enough to take home our Best Static Stance award at AutoCon 2011, and if we needed any more reason to share this car, it’s that Armand drives it every single day. It left us scratching our heads in confusion as we wondered how anyone could realistically pull that off. One small mistake and a dusty explosion of fiberglass wheel arch is bound to happen.

Armand’s enthusiasm began as early as the best of them, growing up with a father who was a Toyota enthusiast himself. At the age of 12, he recalls piloting his father’s car around the neighborhood as he steered and his father controlled the throttle and brake. When he was 16, he had saved his pennies and purchased a 1986 Toyota Corona. By 18, he had swapped out the 4A-FE head for one from a 4A-GE with TRD 280/288 degree high lift camshafts, 45mm Webber carbs, and oversized pistons. Its no surprise that today, he’s enamoring us with his SW20.

His path to his current car has been a long one. Armand moved to the United States after he turned 19, and facing heavy college tuition, he had to let cars fall by the wayside. However, through the years, he had managed to set his heart on the mid-engined MR2, and was constantly on the lookout for the right one. In 2004, he managed to pick one up and begin his modifying frenzy. Unfortunately, as we’ve come to learn, history always repeats itself, and Armand had to sell the car to afford his masters degree.

But true love always finds its way home, and in 2007, Armand bought the MR2 you see before you. After a year of owning it, he made things official. Armand sold his daily driver and committed to driving the MR2 day in and day out. He bought the car with 137,000 miles on the clock, and now, four years later, he has spun the odometer to a staggering 219,000 miles. I suppose it is important to add that throughout those miles he has cranked his boost up to 20PSI and lays down just shy of 300hp at the wheels. Impressive to say the least.

Throughout the years, Armand’s interest in perfecting the way his car sits has lead to countless modifications, several of which are rather unique. Stacked roll-center adjusters, custom coil-overs, and modified camber plates only scratch the surface. He even radiused his rear arches himself to squat the rear of the car down. His absurdly wide (18×10 and 19×12.5) Meisters are measured to perfection, clearing the insides of the car by a mere paper’s width, and the outside by seemingly the same amount.

Armand has gone to great lengths to tailor his car to the way he envisions, from a color change from white to red, to the beyond-custom wheels, to every tidbit he has touched to make it “work.” He has managed to fall in love with his car and truly make it his own; and best of all, he drives it. As he said to me, “It’s like the Mercedez Benz commercial: ‘Love what you drive, drive what you love‘”. That’s his message. Ours? Just as simple: Be like Armand.

And because we know everyone is wondering what has happened to the spoiler on the car, Armand tells me the wing is a unique one-off modified Corolla TRD wing adapted to fit the MR2. Unfortunately, someone thought it looked like a great spot to lean against and snapped it right in half.

“I would like to give shout out to Steven Pan for his tremendous help and knowledge with my car’s stance. Also shout out to Tee Giang for his knowledge and inspiration to get me where I’m at.”

The term “Family Reunion” is one that is typically followed by the onset of mother-in-law hatred and the frustration seeing people you’d rather not. People you object to being related to, but you put up with it for loved ones and those you care about. Perhaps it is a positive term, and you enjoy it when it happens… For us though, it’s a bit different. Our family is spread out, with thousands of miles separating us all, but when we come together, I remember why I wouldn’t trade my friends for anyone or anything under the sun. This is why we’re here, this is why we do what we do, and this is what drives our passion as car enthusiasts.

The day I moved away from Tennessee and the “House of Stance” was no more, I knew that we wouldn’t be seeing each other as often. As it was, for us Tennesseans and Georgians to meet up, it was 250 miles at minimum, and that still left out everyone else. When we found reasons big enough for all of us to come together, it always concluded with the sentence “that was the best weekend ever.” That’s part of the trouble with the friendships we’ve all found ourselves with today. We can thank this community for the greatest people in our lives, but we also owe it the frustation of putting distance between us. That’s why I’m confident none of us had any idea what was in store for the third weekend of December.

The initial plan was simple. Ryan Sermonet’s showroom-clean E30 was due for an engine swap. From baby six to the big six, an M30. Ryan and the rest of the Georgia crew, Kasey, Jeremy, Alie, Josh, CJ, and Erin would put in work to get the swap wrapped up. By complete chance, Nick Nikolov was in town from Connecticut on this very weekend, meaning the presence of a familiar and missed face. Rachel and Rodney figured they’d head down from Tennessee to join in on the fun and get a bit of a family renunion going.

The humorous part is that we have a bit of a habit of trying to surprise each other. At H2Oi, Ryan decided to fool us all and tell us he couldn’t make it, and since then, it’s been a constant battle of one-upmanship. I had the unique plan of purchasing a plane ticket to fly in and not tell anyone I was going to show up. As did Charlie. And Kielan. And Cory too. You can imagine everyone’s surprise as we each showed up one by one unannounced. The weekend was only getting better and better as everyone I considered a close friend just happened to have the same idea I did. To ice the cake, after hearing of everyone’s arrival, Brennan and Hunter made the 4-hour trip down to join in.

There’s no question that none of these names mean a thing to you, but that is rather inconsequential. What I know most of you can relate to is the time spent smearing grease and grime all over ratty clothes as you work on projects with friends; the time spent laying under cars busting knuckles as you attempt to make things line up.  It’s times like these I would’t trade for the world. To know the people I care about put in just as much effort to be a part of Ryan’s weekend reassures why we made StanceWorks to begin with.

There’s really no hope in explaining the passion behind it all to people outside of the world we’ve created. From a desire to hang out with people “from the internet” instead of friends from “real life”, to taking vacation days to replace an engine in a car. It may not make sense but perhaps it’s better that way. I’ll take it nonetheless.

We spent Saturday night working quickly and diligently to get Ryan’s car running, and after just 6 hours, we had the engine and the swap completed. After firing it up and running it down the street and back, even the neighborhood security showed up to celebrate. They were kind enough to tell us how wonderfully loud the car was and that it was even loud enough to wake up everyone on the street. It went off without a hitch, and was without question the smoothest engine install I’ve been a part of. His car as a whole is one of the nicest out there now, and drives better than anything else I’ve been in. The M30′s torque and child-eating qualities prove a perfect match for Ryan’s car.

For Ryan, on a personal level, the weekend was a success. His car swap was completed without the least of hiccups. But for all of us, success is hardly fitting. Just when you assume you can’t grow closer to your best friends, you manage to squeeze out just a little bit more. When we’ll all be back under the same car, I don’t know, but I’ll have to be patient until then. In the mean time, Ryan will have to keep us up to date on his build.

Do yourself a favor and bring your family together as soon as you get the chance. Remind yourself why we’re all in this to begin with. And of course, Merry Christmas from the StanceWorks Family.