Photographs & Interviews/information gathered from Fueled Society

Photographs & Interviews/information gathered from from Fueled Society

After visiting a large car show near to me at Nostell Priory Leeds I began to think more about the subject area of Car Shows. There are many different sub trends within the whole umbrella of Car Shows, there seems to be a trend of the following.

Interview with Jim Novak who started the Event up.
Had a brief few moments to ask Jim a few questions about the show, he was extremely busy though so it was very brief as he was constantly checking up on all aspects of the event as it wasn't just a car show it was a full weekend event with music, comedy tents, food stands, fair ground rides, a market/stalls and all sorts of other things. 

Me: When did you start the event.
Jim: 3 years ago, this is the biggest turn out yet though!
Me: What was your main aim for the event.
Jim: Well I run a car shop providing enthusiasts with bespoke parts and help people create original car projects, so it started out as a sort of promotion for me as it was only a small get together of friends and friends of friends. But it went on from there and I wanted to bring together all of the coolest and most desirable automobiles of different eras. Bring together different cultures, different people, different age ranges. I wanted to unite all lovers of the cars allowing people to share there individual styles and projects while having a fun weekend.
Me: It seems you have an amazing location, Nostell Priory is full of history it must cost alot to rent this amount of beautiful greenery?
Jim: Yes this was never a business opportunity, I did it for enthusiasts and for people to share there projects and have an overall good time. 

Old Show Cars in the form of well restored classics. 
There are a range of sub categories within the show car scene, here are some examples of my favorite cars with more classic origins, to qualify to be classic the car needs to be 25 or more years old. I went round trying to find owners of some of these cars to gather a little more information on there projects along with my personal opinions on the cars.

I couldn't find the owner of this car but my observation of the car says to me that the owner wanted to stand out from the crowd. To do this he restored an old BMW to its original spec, a very clean car with linear lines and angular body features. But the twist here is the wheel choice and color change, the wheels to me don't look "stock" they look an aftermarket choice probably a modern reproduction of a classic 1980s style split rim wheel. Combine this more contemporary recreation of a wheel with the contemporary pastel mint green color scheme with contrasting white wheels gives the whole car an individual and modern twist. A nice combination of modern and classic design elements. One of my favorites of the show. 

The owner of this car just created a very clean restoration of a classic VW Mk1 Golf, concentrating on keeping it looking very very clean and original in its appearance with refurbished standard BBS wheels that came on these cars originally. 

A very well restored Shelby Cobra a classic American Muscle car in its original color scheme with contrasting twin stripes down the centre of the car, the car screams classic American Muscle through the excess shiny chrome elements giving this classic sports car a very high end finish. These 1960s cars can fetch over £80'000 the equivalent of top end luxury cars today. 

A beautifully restored 1980s Austin Mini, with an OCD attention to detail with the cleanliness of the engine bay. By the looks of things every bolt, every part of this car has been restored to brand new parts. It looks like it would have done rolling out of the show room.

Loved this car, really wanted to find the owner to find more out about this. He or she really put a twist on classic aged show cars. Usually they restore them to original appearance but the owner of this Toyota, a Japanese car really went against its cultural routes with the styling. Japanese cars like Germans are known for the efficiency and build quality within there cars. practical cars. 

This car has been modified to emulate a style similar to the cult classic film Dukes of hazard, with the number on the side. Combine this with the other the top dramatic engine modifications like the externally mounted oil cooler, drag car/american muscle tyres and the extreme modified engine bay to give the car a very race bred appeal.

But again it kind of is still all for show, looking at the car it was immaculately restored and the ride height of the car made it impractical to do any sort of high speeds. This Show car/Race car hybrid seems to be an up and coming trend. 

These two old VW camper vans were my favorite classics of the show. I love the contrast of well restored and well used between the blue and the grey vans. It shows a sort of journey and both cars have there own personality. The more "used one" shows its history and emulates VWs excellent workmanship for a car that came from the 1970s to be still running to this day.

Got speaking to the owner of this E30 BMW. A car produced from 1981-1991 its original intended use was to be a compact executive car for the high end car market. The car was fully restored to almost new condition with the addition of E30 M3 body parts. The E30 M3 was the sports model, the race bred model at the time so adding a few of these parts give the car a slightly sporty and aggressive look which lends itself to the cars angular lines and squares off bumpers, combine this with the Estroli Blue respray a Colour code found on modern day sport BMW gives this classic car a contemporary twist.

The wheels as well help give the car a much more sporty overall feel and strengthen the high end luxury restored appeal of the car. They come off a Ferrari 308 a luxury Italian sports produced during 1975-1985. The cars ride height is another obvious styling modification, it sits right on the ground. Extremely low, this is achieved by a new trend arising called "Air Ride" a suspension system controlled by air compressors and air bags that replace the original suspension allowing the user to alter the ride height. 

A sporty refurbished golf with a sporty appearance through the bright orange tone, chunky wheels and tyre  combination and a sports exhaust system. 

Love this white on white color scheme here used on the wheels and paint works. Creates an ultra clean and minimal car appearance letting you appreciate and strengthen the simple lines of the cars body panels.

Modern show cars.

Onto the more modern cars, they focus on individuality through unique and one off styling modifications like wheels, different use of materials, colour combinations. Unlike classic cars they are styled to appear alot more high impact within the aesthetics rather than subtlety and a focus on a quality finish through perfect restoration of body, paint and wheels on the classic show cars. They make much more of a personal statement. 

A contrast of old and new "luxury" german cars with similar color schemes. The more modern Audi TT on the right using a more dulled down tone of a more khaki green hue. 

Got talking to the owner of a car Audio company called RadioWorld. He had an amazing collection of cars having seen a few at other car shows these were the 2 he brought to this event. A race bred Lotus Exige and another example of the uprising trend of show car and race car hybrid with his Subaru Impreza STI.

We got talking about his Subaru and whats changed from its original spec. Which is a large portion of the cars construction been replaced with modifications and upgrades it was no surprise to hear from him that over £40'000 was spent. With over £7000 on carbon fibre parts, light weight body part replacement like the wind mirrors and the huge rear spoiler. These all help emulate the whole "race car" appearance. 

To strengthen the race car concept of the car we got talking about the wheel and brake combination. While looking aesthetically pleasing to help maintain that show car image, the £2500 wheel and brake combination is there to stop the car from the ridiculous speeds it can reach. The large amount of visible brake is not only there to show off the amazing engineering and build quality of the AP racing brakes wich are used on Touring cars and Race cars. The space between the multi spoke wheel helps allow air circulate round the brakes keeping them cool to stop brake fade wich can serverly effect braking performance. 

The down side
Onto another important aspect for both race cars and show cars, the suspension set up. The suspension system is what really ruins this car in my eyes, it has all the engine modifications of a race car, the brakes of the race car, the body parts of a race car and the useless Airride suspension system. The air suspension system I mentioned earlier is used on this car allowing it to achieve that super low ride height and aiding that overall aesthetic appeal of the car. But while completely adjustable it still doesn't convince me that it would be any use on a race track wich this car is built for.

Absolutely immaculate paint work and wheels, no stone chips, no defections it looks like brand new. A common show car shine.

Racing steering wheel, loses the option of an air bag as when racing a helmet would be worn. Again another impractical element of this car but looks cool.

Wheel Trend examples at Fueled Society

I noticed that all the modified cars at this show all followed similar design styles when it came to there visual modifications but the one thing that stood out to me the most was the individual creative stamp the owners put on there car through wheel choice. 

The main concept throughout all the modified cars I saw was subtle and clean visual body styling with attention drawn to extravagant, subtle or colorful wheel designs. 

So it seems a good idea to go on from here and collect individual wheel pictures from the other shows and race events I go too.

Some owners merged more than one concept within there car builds. Carrying on from an interview I made with Dale the I will review his car and the most common cars that  combined the typical car show modifications in my opinion impractical modifications on a car that original intentions were for speed and handling. A sort of road going race car made into a show car.

• Impractical ride height ruins the use of speed.
• Upon speaking to the owner I found out this car was over 540bhp, this is a similar power level to most modern day supercars like Ferraris, Lamborghini's etc. 
• Immaculate paint and wheels show that this car has never really been driven like it was intended to be. 

• Huge brakes suggest the amount of power this car has needs substantial stopping power.

• Over the top aerodynamic car parts, upon speaking to the car owner in carbon fibre extras alone the car has over £7000 spent on it.

• I loved this car but couldn't find the owner to talk in more detail about it. By the looks of things though they have fully restored a classic Japanese car to show and shine condition while again adding race style modifications to create a high powered car along with tyros that were intended for straight line drag racing.
• I feel its again defeating the intentions of the car but It looks like its another sub-trend under the show car scene thats arising.