THE CLASSIC AUTO SHOW RETURNS TO L.A.

THE WEST COAST has long been known as a custom car mecca. With the famous Route 66 ending in Southern California, it brought travelers to the area in cars and trucks. For residents, vehicles are more like a representation of their identity since they spend on average more time behind the wheel than drivers in any other city.

With an abundance of vehicles in the region, many are customized. Given the fact that Southern California is so rich with custom cars and trucks, Los Angeles is the perfect place to throw a decent-sized show. In 2017, The Classic Auto Show partnered with Velocity channel and held its inaugural event at the L.A. Convention Center, and it was an instant hit.

First-time shows usually have some kinks to work out, and this one was no different. After the 2017 event, the team learned from the experience and made plans to go even bigger. For the first year, the Classic Auto Show was contained on one floor of the convention center. For 2018, the show expanded with two levels jam-packed with breath-taking customs. During the weekend of March 2-4, there were more than 1,000 classic vehicles and 30,000 spectators in attendance. Since it was a wet weekend, this was the perfect way to stay dry and enjoy some wicked rides.

As if that wasn’t enough to get you motivated to fight downtown traffic, there were appearances by plenty of wellknown automotive celebrities, including Chip Foose, Dave Kindig of “Bitchin’ Rides,” Mike Brewer of “Wheeler Dealers,” Donald Osborne the classic car appraiser and host of “Assess & Caress with Donald Osborne” on Jay Leno’s Garage, and Wayne Carini of “Chasing Classic Cars.” New faces also included Stacey David of “Stacey David’s Gearz,” Dennis Gage of “My Classic Car,” Bogi Lateiner and Rachel DeBarros of “All Girls Garage,” Kevin Mack and Mike “Horny Mike” Henry of “Count’s Kustoms” and “Counting Cars,” and professional wrestler and automobile aficionado Bill Goldberg.

We were impressed with the expansion of the event for 2018 and had a blast checking out all there was to see. It was another successful year for the show, and it has been announced that 2019’s event will be held on March 23-24 at the same location. For more info, visit Theclassicautoshow.com. ST

THE CREW OF RMD GARAGE FINISHED THIS F-100 IN TIME FOR OUR COVER SHOOT AND LOADED IT UP FOR ITS DEBUT AT THE SHOW.

TIM SHARP’S ’57 CHEVY WAS A LOCAL BUILD THAT CAUGHT OUR ATTENTION.

WE RAN ACROSS BOGI LATEINER AND WERE WOWED BY HER BMW-POWERED CLASSIC CHEVY.

THE LEGEND HIMSELF, CHIP FOOSE, WAS PRESENT ON SATURDAY TO SIGN AUTOGRAPHS AND CHAT WITH FANS.

THERE WAS AN ALL-STAR CAST IN ATTENDANCE, WHICH OFFERED A BIG OPPORTUNITY FOR FANS TO MEET THEIR FAVORITE CELEBRITIES IN PERSON.

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