Let’s rewind the tape a little. I attended my first Subaru Mega Meet at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL a little over two years ago, with my newly-acquired Impreza RS. I remember being shocked at the amount of Subarus that showed up at that Mega Meet. Florida isn’t exactly known for having a large Subaru enthusiast scene like somewhere as Vermont or Washington would be known for. To live in those places, all-wheel-drive is a necessity for the snow and rain, which is why Subarus are more popular in the northern states. I didn’t have much of an idea at how many Subaru owners would show up at this meet. Let’s just say it was way more than I ever would’ve expected. I didn’t really know anyone there. That event is where I first saw Ethan’s (@supwagon) WRX for the first time, but had never actually met him in person – how things have changed since then!

This past year, we all were anticipating the 4th Annual 2017 Florida Subaru Mega Meet. It was a great opportunity for us, MFortyFive, to meet new faces and share the blog we’re all so passionate about. Since there wasn’t a 2016 event, we were very excited to finally have one marked on our calendars as something to look forward to. The day came fast as expected. We met up at a Thorntons gas station with our local Subaru group, 941Subarus, early Saturday morning to get everyone together in one place before heading out to the official pre-meet. After some shake of hands, chit-chat, sipping on Starbucks cold brew, and topping off gas tanks, we rolled out and hopped onto I-75 northbound towards Lakeland. Ethan, CJ, and myself always joke around saying “cruising with 941Subarus is never a cruise, it’s a race.” I’m sure several of you can relate, or participate in mobbing around town with your Subaru pals – just be safe, kids! What’s a Subaru “cruise” if one doesn’t break down though? Just that happened to our friend Mario in his heavily modified Launch Edition 2015 STi on I-75. Most of us were ahead of him while driving since he started slowing down but we didn’t think anything of it. We pulled off to the closest exit and waited for him at another Thorntons gas station (I guess we like Thorntons?)

A few others had stopped with him to diagnose and fix the problem.  Sure enough, twenty minutes later, we were back on the road and running late for the pre-meet. By the time we got there and got out of our cars, everyone was starting to leave. Everyone had to head out at the same time, since we had a scheduled police escort to the main event at Sun N’ Fun, just 15 minutes away.




The last Mega Meet event from a few years ago had an official pre-meet and a police escort as well. It’s pretty sweet being able to drive with dozens and dozens of Subarus while the police are turning on their lights at every intersection to block off traffic and letting us get to the main event together. The police escort ended and we pulled onto the Sun N’ Fun road, which connects to the main gates that lead to the airstrip. Oh yeah – Sun N’ Fun is a private airport, not a water park like we all thought for some reason. All of a sudden, just outside the main gates, another one of our local Subaru friends had some car problems as well. Unfortunately this wasn’t a quick fix on the fly.




The timing belt tensioner broke, so it wouldn’t be another quick twenty minute fix. He had a tow truck come and pick up the car, but he still stayed for the mega meet festivities. What felt like an eternity waiting in line (an hour), we finally made it to the main gates and were directed where to park the cars. It was hot outside. Thankfully they had the event in the winter (unlike most Florida car shows) but still felt like summer, minus the humidity and afternoon thunderstorms.

After pulling through the gate and getting our wristbands, the event staff had us park in a huge grassy field. After doing a quick-wax cleaning job on the cars, we were ready to start walking around and take in the overwhelming amount of all things Subaru.

CJ and my brother, Dan, grabbed their cameras, Ethan and myself grabbed some MFortyFive business cards and stickers to hand out, and off we went. It was 11 AM and we were already sweating – good thing they had FREE Monster Energy drinks to add to our case of water! I couldn’t forget my life-saving straw sombrero hat either. One thing that made this Florida Subaru Mega Meet a little extra special was the Subaru USA being an official sponsor. They brought out an authentic Impreza 22B STi, the new 2018 WRX STi Type RA, the 2011 Isle of Man WRX STi, and a few other noteworthy cars. The 4 of us were extremely excited to see those, so we made our way there first.




The 22B was glorious of course in all of its Japanese, rare goodness to see in person. The WRC-style bulging fenders, gold wheels, and World Rally Blue paint was noticeable 300 yards away. Even in a sea of blue cars everywhere, the 22B stood out from the crowd. Everything about this car was designed for one thing in mind – fun. If only I could drive one someday and experience all the magnificent things a 22B has to offer. CJ went off to take pictures while Ethan, my brother Dan, and myself walked around the grass field observing the staggering amount of Subarus. It was there we saw full on off-road/overland style builds, race cars, show cars, and everything in between.




A few hours later it became apparent to us that parking wasn’t being enforced when we saw owners moving their cars around to get photos of the surrounding areas. We had to participate in the photo shoot fun as well! CJ went and got some pictures of our friend Wigberto’s (IG: @stinkeyewrb) beautiful white hawkeye STi. I first saw Wigberto’s STi at Simply Clean 9 and fell in love ever since. (And so did Ethan)




A Limelight is in our future with this car, that’s for sure. I wish I could talk about every car that caught my attention at Mega Meet – but let’s talk about a few at least! One was Dirty Racing Products’ hawkeye STi Limited. The first thing I noticed on the car was the yellow headlight tint, giving off a GT-spec, racecar style appearance. While drooling over the car, the owner – Robert, walked over and introduced himself. Very nice guy and very outgoing! He talked to me and told me about the molded wide-body fenders, the extremely meaty fitment, the unique color, and several major bits and pieces that brought the car together.

I really, really loved this car. Another one that stood out to me was a newer generation Forester XT. The owner had ‘15+ STi seats, brakes, steering wheel, and whole lot more. The car won best Forester, which was well deserved! (IG: @geselandbirdie).




I also talked with him for a short period of time about eventually coordinating a shoot as well! While Ethan and I were walking around socializing, CJ was getting some photos of the exhaust competition that was going on.




Somehow Ethan ended up at the exhaust competition area as well, while my brother and I were talking to some familiar faces. I got a hold of my good friend Matt (IG: @mattshulmanbmx) and walked over to find him washing his car since he somehow found a hose next to a hangar. I called CJ to tell him to make his way over with the camera so he could do a full shoot of Matt’s WRX for a Limelight article. (it’s live on the blog, you should go read it!)

It was nearing the end of the 2017 Subaru Mega Meet and we were beat from being out in the heat all day. Thankfully, the sun was starting to go down and it was cooling off. We wanted take advantage of being on an airstrip, and it just so happened to be golden hour. CJ shot multiple cars including our own.







We were some of the last people to leave the Sun N’ Fun airstrip, which ended up being a really cool place for a car event! It made for some incredible pictures for sure. We milked our time by getting all the photos we could and enjoying hanging out while the sun was setting. It was 5:30 PM and we rolled out of the venue with smiles on our sun-burnt faces. We drove to the closest Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate and end the day with some beer and wings – a fantastic way to close out an awesome day. Days like these are a huge reason why we do what we do and why we love the Subaru community. Before ending, I would like to say a huge thank you to Paul who organized the whole event – it was truly one to remember. But for now, time to get our cars ready for Boxer Takeover at the Tail of the Dragon in April. We can’t wait for the next Mega Meet!

By Zach Osborne – @momentum.rs