Wheels Day 2014
Words & Photos by Henry Phull
One of the most anticipated car shows of the year, Wheels Day is organised by the infamous Surrey Street Rodders, and is known to feature a huge diversity of vehicles, more so than any other event I can think of. This year the Rodders were celebrating their 40th anniversary and anticipating a much greater turnout. To cater for the increased attendance, they moved the venue to Dunsfold Aerodrome (home of the Top Gear test track). Sadly, there have been numerous complaints about the organisation of this years event. They anticipated an attendance of 6,000 people, however the actual number on Good Friday was in excess of 18,000!
According to posts I’ve read online, there was traffic chaos for most the day, with people not paying for tickets and never-ending queues for facilities and people just generally getting fed up. Luckily for me, I didn’t experience any problems whatsoever, bar a small bit of the traffic when we left in the afternoon, so personally I had a fantastic Wheels Day!
If you’re a fan of American hot rods, this is THE show for you. It’s like being in an episode of Fast N’ Loud, an absolute dream. Who doesn’t like a line up of Chargers?
This Mercury was stunning and drawing in the crowds all day.
The bagged trucks were just on another level to what we’re used to seeing.
…As well as some old school Jap cars!
And of course a fair share of air-cooled.
This Ford truck was the exact definition of ‘laying frame’. Wow.
Like most car shows, Wheels Day featured a whole lineup of trade stands, perfect for finding those rare parts.
This Audi Quattro LWB was absolutely mint, and looking completely standard. Nice to see.
At first glance, this may look like a normal E21. Look again and you’ll notice the drag wheels.. this BMW was packing a small block Chevy V8. Insane.
I can’t think of another show where you’ll see stuff like this cruising around. It was almost too much to take in!
Having taken you through the main strip, let’s move on to the grass area of the show…
You’ve gotta love a bit of patina!
One of a few Speedster replica’s spotted throughout the day.
Onto the Muttley crew, starting with this Ford Zodiac estate…
The Coltech Classics Dyane on a beetle pan was certainly getting a lot of attention.
That concludes our photo coverage. Unfortunately there were just too many cars to capture everything.. I probably missed out on a lot of stuff, but hopefully you’ll get a general feel of the show. According to the Surrey Street Rodders’ website, they have decided to call it quits. There will be no more Wheels Day in its present form. This is such a shame, but I’m glad I was able to attend my first and last ever Wheels Day! Hopefully the organisers will come up with something similar for next year, good luck guys.