2023 in a nutshel
What a mad year this has been.....
So for us as a brand this year has just been a mad one, from shows, to camping adventures, to new designs and new products it's just been the best year up to now.
Our show season has been a little bit up and down with a few difficulties, and not having much tie to plan shows, or get stock ready, but the shows we have been to, it has been a blast! The main shows we attended this year were:
Modified Nationals - An amazing venue, with so many cool modified cars, and such a chilled vibe, with carnivals, a classic hot rod section, Kevin and Perry??! crazy, and even a tatto convention. It was a great weekend for the car scene, and even for the rest of the family. Unfortunately the rain was a little bit of a downer, with Saturday being raining all day, and a few showers on Sunday, but that didn't stop the raves at night time and the atmosphere being great, deffinately a show on the books for 2024!
RollHard - I keep mentioning this, but this show has one of the best feelings out of them all. The venue is such a lovely place to be, the layout is mad, it's always changing each year, and the weather was just peak time for sun. This year they re-opened A hanger on the Bicester Heratige airbase for us traders to be in which was a vibe, and then had a row of all red cars in the middle, for some crazy reason but it worked, it was like 50 shades of red (and the odd maroon) but was deffinately one to remember... apart from sleeping on the front seats of a Vauxhal Van but who's going to pay for a hotel when you can wake up on site eyyyy.
VW Action - So as a lot of you are aware of a place called Santa Pod Raceway, their drag strip is famous for many a car enthusiast, but Action was one of those shows that wanted to do things different and only using the left hand fields to have their main show set up, and it worked!
So me being me, didn't check the info about trading, and realised the Wednesday before that traders were to turn up for the show on Thursday, to set up and get bits in place ready for the show which was Friday-Sunday, so running round like a headless chicken managed to get time off work, get the van packed and get to Pod on the Thursday, but somehow taken me all day Friday to set up properly which usually takes me like 2 hours usually. Friday was kind of a set up, chillout day anyways so there wasn't much of a rush to be up, just enjoy the sun and see some cars turn up on the field.
Over Friday I was expecting my display car to turn up early and actually have people to hang with, but it being a new project build, decided to brake on the way down, some oil return from the turbo packed in, but my guy Luke (Mechanic and best friend) managed to bodge it up and drive it, probably about 30mph for 50 miles to get it there, meeting up with the rest of the group on the way. So about half 8-9 at night they all rocked up after I did about 10 laps of the show, watched a couple of films on the iPad and had a few naps, but it's not Sants Pod without a few issues!
All in all, with the weekend being hotter than the Sun, it was a blast, some classic splits screen campers, bays, t25's old Polo's and golfs, and a couple of fastbacks, and notchbacks, it was an amazing show for us all.
Ultimate Stance (the last show of the year)
This one was a special one for me, because it was the first show I ever went to, and one that I've been to more than others, it being around 90 minutes from my house, it's aways been the go to show with my mates. This was also special because my bestie had it car in show, my pals from Euro Stance did their biggest stand ever, and I was actctually trading, so I saw the show from a different angle.
The vibes were the same, the cars with amaizing, even the club stands outside were top tier, it was probably the best way to end 2023 in my opinion, having a decnt spot inside, having the wife help run the stand whilst I mingled with everyone else, and just having a decent group of mates there too, it's always going to be the go to show for any car enthusiast.
Summary
There we're so many more shows we trading at this year, Jap show finale, Accelarate, Dub freeze, Kultureshock and more, but the shows mentioned above were the main ones for us, just meeting new people and being out there selling stuff I made in me little office is crazy, and I hope to do it bigger and better next year!