I wasn’t planning on writing a post on this. Because well, it was just a car Meet and Greet in London. Many people attend and many people take photos. But as I got there nice and early, whilst it was still relatively quiet, I had a chance to actually meet the designers of this stunning car. I guess that’s the point no? Meet the owners? or just to “meet” the car. Anyway…

The two men behind Oilstainlabs are Canadian born twins Iliya and Nikita Bridan. When I asked what started their dream of building a custom car, Iliya told me, that as kids, they would always draw cars for fun. And that one day they wanted to design and make cars for real. 

Against their parent’s advice, they pursued their dream and at 14 moved to Italy to study car design. Cut to today, they have worked for multiple companies such as Toyota, Honda, Genesis and GM, and have now built their own dream car named the ‘Half 11’. Why? Well because from the middle to the front, they chopped up half an old Porsche 911 and used that as the chassis. 

For me, photographs aren’t just about the photos themselves, but instead the story that comes with them. What did you go through to get that photo? who did you meet? What emotions does it bring up? what is the story behind the subject? 

The twin’s story made the Half 11 build that little bit more romantic and beautiful. From young boys drawing cars, to driving their own build from LA to New York, and over the Atlantic to Goodwood FoS to do a Hillrun. I love to tell stories like this to go with the photos I take. As viewers, it hopefully makes it more interesting to you too.