The Car Show Collective's 'Show of Shows' 2015
Words & Photos by Henry Phull
Jack Williams first introduced himself to me back in September last year at Players Show, I had heard of his project ‘The Car Show Collective’ and what it was about.. his vision was simple – to provide an online calendar for car shows throughout the UK. It’s the place to go to see what’s happening in the means of automotive events, and I’ve always thought it was a great idea and much needed within the community to keep track of things. In less than a year, Jack and his family have gained a pretty big following, so when he messaged me to let me know he was already planning his own show, I was super stoked! Like myself, Jack is usually at a car show every weekend. He knows what works, and what doesn’t work – so I had full trust in him to organise something awesome and welcoming to everyone. Named the ‘Show of Shows’, the idea was to create a car show that allowed other car shows to exhibit their shows in one place, at the same time, along with a show and shine, trade stands and food & drink stalls. With the support from Gumball 3000, FittedUK, Low Collective, SS Autowerks, Fueltopia, Wheel Whores and many more, it was looking to be a great turnout.
Of course, with a debut show you never know what to expect.. But from a handful of images circulated throughout social media, the venue itself looked incredible. They managed to secure the grounds of Penshurst Place in Tonbridge, nestled in the Kent countryside, so I knew it was going to look idyllic. As soon as I pulled up into the public car park I was instantly blown away by the location, more so than I expected. A quick glance at the cars and it was clear that there was a wide variation of vehicles on display. If you’re into cars, no matter what sort, you would’ve found at least a handful of cars you’d of liked.
Anyway, let’s get into it with my highlights from the day, and start off with cars entered into the Show and Shine. Beginning with Laurence Turner’s BMW 1600-02, it was such a gorgeous example of this rare vintage beauty. It even had a rear Louvre which I don’t think I’ve even seen on one of these before.
A couple of cars down, and I stumbled upon a Plymouth Roadrunner in fantastic condition. See what I mean about variation…
Let’s not forget a bit of Japanese stance, with Fyse’s static Honda Integra DC2 on a set of CCW LM20’s
I’m glad I finally captured a head-on shot of Joey Hazell’s BMW E36 ‘vert on hydraulics.
Two bagged BMW’s is always an awesome sight on low-cut grass.. Check out Matt Clifford’s 840ci along with Joshua Hay’s E92.
Rory Hamilton’s Mercedes-Benz W115 240D has made it into a lot of our write ups recently, but this was the first time I genuinely had a chance to take a proper look around it, and it’s certainly impressive. Those gold centred BBS Mahle’s really pull the car together, and you may notice some newly added twin chrome exhaust pipes.
I still love the Zender Phase 2 Turbos / fans on Abi Clarke’s Polo Coupe, which is is also rocking CBR600 bike carbs.
The WatercooledIND MD1’s suit Connor Smith’s bagged B7 Avant so well, something a bit different to the norm.
What a duo, Michael Ralph’s Mk4 R32 and David Sanders’ Mk5 Edition30 bagged Golfs laid out on the grass.
This is a car that I shot frequently last year, Tallis Godfrey’s bagged E36 M3 Evo ‘vert. Amazingly, this is the first outing I finally caught him at so far in 2015, and it’s now sitting on a rare set of OZ Executive splits.
Harpal Choda rocked up in his Mercedes-Benz 190E Limited Edition, running Air Lift suspension with AccuAir management, and a stunning set of AMG split rims which totally transform the car.
One of my favourite E30 M3’s has to be Tej’s Santorini Blue example on ACS, a classic choice.
Gold CCW’s are a match made in heaven on Ian Linthwaite’s Jetta, bagged by the guys at Plush Automotive.
In addition to the Show & Shine, there was a nice mixture of trade stands positioned around the venue. Our friends at Wheel Whores had lots of U.S. muscle on display, plus a rather murdered out Ford GT owned by Lee Fulford. So much want!
Only Charged Dubs had Joe Yip’s Mk6 Golf on display, showing off one of their stunning boot installs in addition to some beautifully stepped up BBS RS’s.
Opposite, I loved Danny Mellor’s B8 A4 on Vossen VLE1’s. Check out the install on this one, including the air tank fixed to the top of the boot.
Moving on to the FittedUK stand, Jake Hilling’s 1965 Beetle on Air Lift was looking picturesque in this setting.
Matt Clifford moved his E31 840ci a bit closer so we could get a better look.. Now running 19″ Rotiform LHR’s with gold centres to compliment the velvet blue paintwork, he’s also just had a full stainless steel exhaust fitted by Torqueflow to finally make the most of that 4.4L V8, and it sounds awesome.
The yellow wheels on Lee Patterson’s Mercedes CLS55 AMG tie in nicely with the FittedUK branding, don’t you think?
I really have a soft spot for a good Mk2 and Chloe Crew’s example looks the business.. running Air Lift bags it now sits perfectly on gold centred (yes, more gold!) Schmidt TH Line’s.
Right in the middle of the show field there was a bowl full of Lowriders to make the afternoon even more interesting…
It was awesome to catch up with SS Autowerks, who were out in force with their trade stand and Alex Wrights static E36 on super wide ACS’s and overfenders. We’ll be taking a closer look at this car very soon.
Christian Chapman also had his aero kitted Mk5 Golf on display, this is all amounts of crazy – just what I expect from SS Autowerks!
More show stands included Fueltopia and Shining Monkey UK…
Plush Automotive’s 700hp RS6, on AccuAir and HP Drivetech suspension and ADV1 wheels is everything you could want from an Audi Avant.
Matty Loveridge’s Mk1 Swallowtail (that I shot back at Early Edition) looked mezmerising laid out on the Low Collective stand. The new additions of Compomotive Turbo’s and Air Lift suspension put this car at the top of my wishlist.
Jon Lott’s custom built Porsche 911 GTH was getting a lot of attention, which is no surprise.. just look at all the details on this stunning build.. Those widened arches and Fuchs make this car menacing, along with an eye-catching Aero Green paint job and beautiful yet contrasting purple interior re-trim to finish it off.
Sam Wookey’s Polo is certainly one of the nicest Mk1’s out there at the moment. An incredible amount of attention to detail can be seen throughout this build, check out that bay for starters!
Over on the RollHard stand, ‘Bricky’ the Volvo was holding down the fort as per usual!
Samuel Torr’s bagged VW Polo GTI looked tidy on Alfa Romeo wheels, and shows that splits aren’t always needed!
Thom Williams is currently winning at the fitment game with his bagged BMW E46 on widened BBS RF’s. It looks so mean from the front and rear.
Our friends from LikeHell Design were also parked up with RollHard, Jordan O’Sullivan’s Mini Cooper S on Carline CM6’s.
And Josh Mussell’s static Nissan 350Z on WORK Meister wheels.
Chris Phillip’s static Lexus IS still blows me away, I’m still unsure how he drives it anywhere, but it does look incredible on those stepped-up BBS RS’s.
I love that we are finally seeing more and more Japanese cars in UK ‘stance’ culture, like Martin Picker’s Lexus LS400 running custom bags, Air Lift V2 and Cosmis Racing XT-206R wheels.
Continuing the Jap trend, here’s Nath Howell’s bagged Subaru Impreza that I snapped recently at Early Edition. He’s certainly been turning a lot of heads recently with this beast, finished off with a set of wide WORK Meister’s.
Prestige had Simon Wilkinson’s awesome Volksrod on display.
This little Trabant was cruising about all day and breaking necks, such a cool sight!
Kristin Grayson’s bagged Astra GTC on 3SDM’s was sat over on the Formula Clean stand – nice to see people modifying cars we’re not used to seeing.
Towards the end of the day, the Show & Shine winners were driven through the show ground and lined up ready to collect their prizes from the stage.
The Gütenstance guys decided to collect their prize for best Clubstand together!
Whilst most were watching the prize giving, it gave me another chance to photograph some more cars without distractions… Check out Neville D’mello’s clean E30 M3.
Shaun Grazette’s bagged BMW E92 335i on Blitz Technospeeds.
I finally had the chance to look over Alex McKenzie’s little Lupo, I’ll try and capture the boot build next time!
It had been a while since I saw this one, HTS Motorport’s bagged E30 Touring featuring an M52 engine conversion and the recent addition of TH Line splits.
A lot of people I spoke to throughout the day mentioned one of their favourites being West Donovan’s E30 chromie on SSR Formula Mesh’s.
Finally, Matt Woodgate’s Imola Yellow B7 A4, looking classy as always.
Well, hopefully you enjoyed looking through my show highlights… But I’m sure you are wondering, how was the show itself? Was it successful? In my opinion, for a debut show, Jack and the team absolutely smashed it. Somehow they managed to nail that ‘chilled out’ vibe that everyone craves at a car show. In fact, this was the first big show I’ve been to recently in which I’ve managed to actually talk to people for more than five minutes. Plus, the turnout was pretty damn impressive. Of course it wasn’t completely full, and there were a few empty spaces – but this was to be expected. It’s certainly been a learning process for them but now they know what will and won’t work for next year, but I personally think it’s going to be huge! Congratulations again and thanks for having me down, Slam Sanctuary will be back next year for sure.