Bit of a rant.
Picked up my newest issue today and while flipping through I saw something I hoped I'd never see—an article focused on perhaps the least GRM guy in automotive media, Mike "StanceWorks" Burroughs. A certified rich kid who bought his way into the euro scene, all braggadocio and attitude. When called on it, he left forums like R3vlimited and VWvortex to make his OWN forum. Took his ball, went home, and proceeded to take an interesting aspect of 90s-early 2000s euro car culture (suspension and wheel fitment) and blow it out into the full-on look-at-me, max out your credit card, fender ruining crapshow the "stance" scene is today. Yeah dude, you showed us. It's not often you can pinpoint a moment when the thing you love has been corrupted, much less narrow it down to a single person, but Burroughs is as close as it gets.
He was an awful little showboat in the forums, and just as awful in person. Hey GRM... I don't want or need an endlessly-funded tryhard "teaching" me about car photography. I post here and I subscribe because this is one of the last automotive groups that still retains the honest, helpful, passionate type of vehicle enthusiasts that remind me of why I got into wrenching. The type of "car people" who are just in it for the limelight, the views, the social media praise—they can keep their elitist attitudes and peacocking elsewhere.
Ugh.
As long as its from legal means, the origin of a person's funds are none of your concern.
Duke
MegaDork
5/22/21 1:36 p.m.
FatMongo said:
As long as its from legal means, the origin of a person's funds are none of your concern.
That is 100% correct. But a douchebag is a douchebag regardless of funding source.
Mr_Asa
UberDork
5/22/21 1:40 p.m.
FatMongo said:
As long as its from legal means, the origin of a person's funds are none of your concern.
Ehhhh.... lots of things that are morally questionable have been legal before they were made illegal. Some things that are morally questionable are still legal and there's no real fight to change that. That's a discussion I won't get into here though.
To OP: Look at the bright side, though. If this guy hadn't done this stuff then a wide group of people eventually would have. Its a big enough scene that it would have grown into that size no matter who started it. At least this way you get to point to one guy and say "there he is, there's the shiny happy person that ruined the thing I loved" instead of just kind of waving your arms at everyone in the scene and yelling incoherently.
I do not know Mike B or have ever met him. I do have a couple of younger gentleman at work that embrace this and seem to be proud of their ruined quarter panels due to stance.
I don't understand, but I don't have to.
It's money into the hobby and car culture. I'm not a huge fan of drifting or NASCAR, but ....
I appreciate ebelements taking the title of the top "what a Dick post" off my back for awhile.
What a whiny useless post.
Car culture has always been big enough to include a nearly unlimited number of variations of people who love cars.
This guy didn't ruin your life or your hobby. He introduced new people to it. New people who truly don't care about the things you enjoy, but car guys all the same.
Look at the bright side.... He's not the one calling you a douche.
I appreciate ebelements taking the title of the top "what a Dick post" off my back for awhile.
Had a bit of a crappy day today, that made me smile. Thanks 
.
What a whiny useless post.
Something like that.
In reply to Steve_Jones :
I needed a laugh, thank you.
I remember reading about his E28 being rebuilt from being effectively totaled 3 or 4 times. That sort of stubbornness seems pretty GRM-y to me. I don't agree with his taste on a lot of things but remember being one of the kids reading about his antics and seeing the hate it garnered. I'm not sure much of it was justified
I hate a lot of what I see done to cars but my level of respect is based on the vision and effort expended. Except hood stacks and coal rollers. Those guys are going to hell.
Mike used to be a regular on the mye28.com board years ago, and I'm pretty sure I met him at one of the 5erFest national meets that were organized through that site. He seemed like an okay guy to me, not that we were anything more than acquaintances. I remember there was some controversy from other board members as his car underwent more and more radical modifications, but I admired his ambition. He eventually stepped away from that site and then started Stanceworks. I like some of the cars featured there, and some are too radical for me, but that's okay - there's something for all tastes. One thing for sure, you can't deny the photographic skills shown on his site.
I've only met Mike once at a BMW car show--he was pretty low key and a little shy about talking about his projects. Not at all the type of 'look how cool my car is/I am' douche that gravitates to car meets.
I'm not the biggest fan of stance culture, but he's a much better fabricator than I'll ever be and has done some pretty noteworthy builds. No reason to resent that.
NickD
MegaDork
5/22/21 7:50 p.m.
Christ, who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?
NickD said:
Christ, who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?
Apparently Mike Burroughs.
The last time someone "called someone out" of sorts on the forum, that dude ended up on my driveway wanting to fist fight me. Hopefully Mike isn't wound so tight.
I like old BMWs. Looks like Mike does too.
Is that the same guy who allegedly burned his own garage down to total his ruined BMW build? I remember that making the Jalopnik/Autoblog circle quite a few years ago.
In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :
