The best modded car show of the year?!
Us MAXERS boys have been to our fair share of awesome shows over the years. Your Max Lives, Donny, Santa Pod, Ace Cafe, and many more have all delivered some kickass shows. But, there's a new (old) kid on the block, and his vibe is spot on.
Laid back, friendly, and inclusive - the Reunion Show - celebrating the Max Power era - was a turbocharged tonic to the many friendly Maxers we had the pleasure of meeting on Sunday. Big up to all the boys and girls that stopped by to say hi to us. Selfies? Completed it mate! :)
Millsy, my old Max Power magazine mate, has written some heart-felt and insightful words about the Max scene below, so I'll keep it light and airy - just like Millsy's favourite frilly knickers! He's also highlighted some of his fave show cars. Let's take a butcher's at mine first.
@MATTW138 GT TURBO
I'm going super-nostalgic right from the off with Matt's gorgeous R5 GTT. My first Max Power magazine project car was a mighty 5, so when I see one as neat as Matt's I'm all over it. Light, low, caged, and with dreamy touches like the steel wheels and bonnet louvres, I bet she rips the lanes an absolute treat.
CARBON EVO VIIII
Next up we have this all-business carbon EVO. If the Devil liked to cruise he'd be tunes up in this! In typical Dan-style, I shot the car, said "yum" to myself and then sauntered off to the next cool car, so I'm going to have to find out who owns this tasty Jap motor and shout them out. Back soon! (So, that'll be @evo420rs, then?! - Millsy)
@suprabranners SUPRA
Chosen because it's a wide 'n' lairy Supra that always gets a crowd round it, but also because this shot of it (and owner? Sorry! - Dan) couldn't have come out any better :) Car shows are about hanging out and appreciating other people's creativity, and the Reunion Show took us right back to those good vibes. I'm getting a bit misty eyed writing this!
@k20ray CIVIC EK
My boy Ray's K24 Civic speaks for itself. Function over form, but still well pretty, and with all the choicest go-faster goodies - this EK, long-term built by the man himself, is a major head-turner and boat-floater.
@That_purple_cayman CAYMAN
Cool cars are all the cooler when there's a cool, and real, story behind them. Built, not bought, and daily driven, Tom's Cayman was a long, sometimes slow, but ultimately satisfying project (in a wide, kickass purple kind of a way!). That eBay rear wing looks spot on, mate.
@maxpowerdan K24 EP3
Just real quick, imma put in a pic of the mighty K24 Civic Type R! She's my current project and this show marked her very first appearance since some major mods. Full update on the Civic to come, but a quick, big shout out to all those awesome people that helped me get the car to the show looking HOT! She'll be fully done for the next Reunion Show.
I'm going to take a break from car pics now. How about this lads pics instead?! Top bunch of Maxers this lot. We had a few beers at the pre-show party the night before and they were more than happy to get in some cool shots for us MAXERS boys despite our large collective hangover. Pics of them and their beloved rides in the HUGE gallery below. (Is this an excuse to get out of writing about more cars?! - MIllsy. Yes! - Dan)
Take a look at the pics and see if you're in them. If you couldn't make it (major FOMO!), take some comfort from our sun-kissed photos. See you at the next Reunion Show, chums. (Do we know if there will be another show? - Millsy. Fingers crossed, mate! - Dan)
MILLSY'S PINK M3 - BABE WASH
Here are the rest of the ten cars that stood out to us. Obviously, about 720 cars stood out to us, including those we've put the spotlight on before, but that article would be longer that Dan's IOU list at the bar. So you'll just have to do with ten (Sort of, Millsy cheated with the Cossies - Dan):
@tommy_kaira_gc8 IMPREZA
Top Secret and Smokey Nagata are legendary. Every time a new car gold car comes out, the modified car world takes notice. But what would old Smokey do to an Escort, a BMW or, in this case, an Impreza. Roy figured he'd have a stab at trying to imagine what the latter would end up like and we reckon he's done a pretty sweet job!
@_M4DVX ASTRA VAN
Never got a chance to speak to the owner, but rumour has it there’s 751bhp sat under that bonnet. We saw it drive in and it made a load of noise as the sun bounced off the purple paint that was lavishly soaking those fresh custom arches. When cars that have had this much time, thought and effort roll in then you know you’re going to have a good day! Also, it’s a van… and who doesn’t love a van!
@shitbox_fez_94 FIESTA RS
This is a proper throwback. The build started from a £350 Fiesta and turned into this widearched, whaletailed Ultimate Green beauty. It looked right at home next to some of the famous old builds.
COSSIES
There were too many cool Cosworths to pick from. @adam_faver’s sequential-boxed Q-plate Escos, @simonfox99’s mint Polaris Grey one with a lovely mix of carbon and matt black under the bonnet, @rs_del78’s always stunning Violet Escos and @ch33kyrs’s lovely 3-door (although the pink Focus RS would have been a welcome sight!). There was even a 3-door Cossie in what looked like Porsche Crayon Grey that looked epic and almost reminded me of the old Sapphire.
@killer__zilla R33 Skyline GTS-t
At a show like this it's pretty easy to walk past a car that you'd be creaming yourself about if you saw it drive down your street. Reckon Lee's Skyline is a prime example of that...mainly because it's sooo black. The owner used to work with us on Max Power selling the ads, but we knew him before that as he ran a Nasty Racing car club and was a seasoned cruiser. His 500+ bhp Skyline deserves more attention!
MILLSY'S VIEW
This show was pure passion. And creativity. And fun. And togetherness. Pretty sure 99 per cent of the cars there were owned outright too! It felt like Max Power, it felt like MAXERS. Let me explain.
A lot of car shows you visit have a whiff of ‘look how much money I’ve got’, and you suspect plenty of ‘builds’ are there for internet fame only to be punted on once the likes have dried up. Probably at peak Max Power a similar thing happened… people spent serious money to get in the mag or win shows, to go one better, and not only made their cars undriveable in the process, but moved the bar to a place others didn’t want to go to. No wonder people moved on.
It looked like the vast majority of cars at The Reunion Show made it there under their own steam. They were old school Maxers who either knew how to build something modified and useable, or they own cars they’ve modified, loved and lived with for years. This show let them come out and shine away from the prejudice some sex-starved people liked to hold against the Max Power generation. And these guys undoubtedly had a freaking giggle on the drive there (which we all know is half the fun!).
Or they were the guys who would have been reading Max Power now but missed out first time round. People who go to bed at night thinking about their next mods, who do what they can with what they’ve got just to make sure they can stick two fingers up to normality on the grey and soul-less roads.
No matter what you drove there, nobody was going to turn their nose up at it. You may not have liked everything you saw, but you respected it. No snowflakes, no snobbery, just having fun, arsing about in cars and flicking a V sign to conformity. That was the ethos Max Power was about, it's the ethos that MAXERS is founded on and it was the ethos of this show. As you might be able to tell, I'm a fan.
Big shout out to Mark (@maxpowerreunion) for having the balls to put the show on, to Jamie Shaw for making so many peoples' day (and night), to Richie Don (djrichiedon) for getting the vibe going, to the girls that put on a show with Jenni and Gemma (@babesofthereunion) and to all of you who supported it. Roll on next year!
In the meantime, relive the good times in the two videos below:
