Spring '15 Open Day at The Wheel Specialist Fareham
Words & Photos by Henry Phull
I do quite a bit of work with The Wheel Specialist in Bournemouth, seeing as they’re local and always do some incredible wheel refinishing, but today’s blog post takes us a bit further down the road to the Fareham branch, whom I’ve heard equally good things. The guys at Studio Incar mentioned to me that Olly and the rest of the crew were putting on an Open Day, and the turnout was expected to be rather good. Being just an hour away, I decided to head on down the M27 on a surprisingly pleasant Saturday morning. It seems that Summer is finally on the horizon.
I only arrived about an hour later than the event was scheduled to begin, and the whole industrial estate surrounding TWS was already taken over by modified cars. It was clearly going to be worth the trip! The first car that caught my attention had to be Olly Snow’s Mulberry Mk3 VR6 on some mint BBS RS and rocking a Vento front end.
Over the road, I spotted Ben Fisher’s awesome Golf Rallye van on a set of fully white BBS RS with gold hardware and centre caps, making them somewhat different from the norm, but suiting the car to no end.
A look inside the TWS headquarters, and Mike Allen’s gorgeous Chevy truck was on display along with Roy Allen’s Mk3 pickup on Image 3pc splits.
Sadly Mark Harbour’s Beetle decided to not start later in the day, but it was nice to get the chance to shoot his beautiful air-cooled example again.
Jack Ashley recently added a lovely set of OZ Fittipaldi splits to his Mercedes C Class wagon, it’s great to see this project coming together.
Josh Hawker’s Mk4 R32 Golf was looking super mean on a set of 18″ 8.5j/10j XXRs.
The award for ‘Best Wheels’ had to go to Chris Phillips and his incredible Lexus IS 300 on stepped up BBS RS. BBS aren’t always easy to pull off on a Jap car, but this works incredibly well. This thing is static and sits crazy low, big respect!
BBS Mahles suited this Mk2 Golf GTI really nicely, it shows you don’t always need to spend big bucks on a set of splits for a car to come together.
It’s always a pleasure to catch up with Carl Levy and his super clean Mk1 Caddy, which I hadn’t seen since the Westside show last year when he was running black centres. This year the BBS RMs have been refinished in a clay brown which matches his chopper in the back, very cool.
Steven Doe debuted the car a couple of weeks ago at Ultimate Dubs, but I was so happy to finally see his BMW E21 outdoors to check it out properly. A lot of fabrication has gone into getting this sitting perfectly on the AccuAir suspension and CCW wheels. It’s already fast becoming my favourite car of the year.
Our friend Nick Sahota turned up in not one, but three cars.. including his Ford RS Cosworth!
Plus, his breathtaking “318” Chromie, which features an M60 manual engine swap which sounds and drives like an absolute beast. I also love all the rare parts on this car like the rear louvre and heckblende, which sets it apart from other E30s, along with a set of polished Schmidt TH-Lines.
Of course, the car everyone knows, Nick’s E30 M3 was there alongside the Chromie. If you’re still not aware, the M3 is hiding an E46 M3 “S54” lump under the bonnet, and he’s just installed a centre lock conversion in order to fit a set of BBS Motorsport Bugatti wheels.
Richard Wint had a bit of an unfortunate incident when leaving the event in his E36… luckily I managed to get a shot in before the aftermath.
I loved Joe Saunder’s TFSI-converted Mk3 Golf on OZ Turbo splits which was also sitting spot on.
Although still on his winter wheels, Stevie How also turned up in his Mk3. I’m looking forward to seeing what he has up his sleeve for the Summer.
The cool thing about smaller events like this is the variety of cars that turn up. It’s always worth a few rounds up and down the surrounding estate until you come across some gems…
Looking super shiny, Carl Shakespeare’s E39 M5. These are cars you really don’t need to touch in the cosmetic department. Along with renewing the suspension components, a subtle drop and refurbing the wheels, he’s ended up with the perfect do-it-all vehicle.
Latham’s wrapped RS4 Avant pulls off these BBS LMs and meaty tyres so well, resulting in a proper aggressive machine.
What a perfect way to spend a Saturday, catching up with mates, awesome cars and even a raffle to top things off. The Wheel Specialist Fareham certainly have a great bunch of supporters, which is no surprise seeing the quality of their work demonstrated on all their customer’s cars. These guys know how to put on an event, and I hear there may be some sort of Summer BBQ on the cards, so keep an eye on the TWS Facebook page and stay up to date. Until next time!