auto show events ( import tuner / lowrider )

The introduction:

I've been attending import shows since late 2006. Mainly checking out the import tuner shows and finding myself going to the lowrider and then the DUB shows in southern California. It's been fun and relaxing just walking around taking pictures and now video!

Original article found at: http://hubpages.com/hub/auto-show-events

Visitors and car owners to Import shows and lowrider shows are predominantly Asian and Hispanic in that order. Event organizers and models are more likely to be Asian or Hispanic but it looks like some of the organizers have been bought out by bigger corporations. Yea, it had to happen now that these shows are becoming a bit more mainstream.

However, most of the models claim to have mixed blood. For example, Lisa Angeline is Mexican-Irish, Leah Dizon claims Chinese, Filipino and French while Alicia Ann Whitten... well, she basically claims.... Vietnamese, German, French, Irish, Dutch, Spanish, etc, etc, etc.... and you know what? That mix sure blended really well. Because man, they're HOT!

Crowd control as in security tends to be on the extreme end of things with metal detectors, body searches, police on horses and walking enforcement tours abound at these shows. I haven't seen a fight yet. Is it due to the enforcement or because guys attention are towards the cars and the hot import models?

Ticket prices are generally between $15 to $25. Parking usually is between $10 to $15 bucks. Food is insane at double to triple the cost of your average burger or drink and most of the time not as good. Just think of High School cafeteria food but at triple the cost. Yea...

Detroit, MI - Cobo Hall
Saturday May 30 2009
4pm - 9pm

Dallas, TX - Dallas Convention Center
Saturday June 6 2009
4pm - 9pm

Phoenix, AZ - Phoenix Convention Center

Saturday June 13 2009

4pm - 9pm

Charlottte, NC - Charlotte Convention Center

Saturday June 20 2009

4pm - 9pm

Well, if you want to see customized automobiles, hundreds of lowriders and trucks, this is a must see event. WARNING! Get there early, you don't want to wait hours in line - same goes with HIN events.

UPDATE: Unless you arrive 3 hours early, expect to wait in a long line or buy the more expensive VIP ticket and skip the line. I got to the DUB show in Los Angeles one hour early and there was a big mother of a line! Around 4pm, I came out of the show and checked to see if there was a line outside, and there still was a big damn line to get in!

________________________________________________________________

Scranton, PA- PNC Field

June 6

4PM - 12AM

Pleasanton, CA - Alameda Fairgrounds

July 18

4PM - 11AM

Columbus, OH - Ohio Fair Grounds

September 11

4PM - 12AM

Austin, TX - Travis County Expo Center

September 18

4PM - 12AM

____________________________________________

Lowrider Tour
San Bernardino, CA
June 7

Going to be held at National Orange Show in San Bernardino, CA. This is a mother of lowriders. There's a big lot of cars, a bikini show, rappers, all that shtuff. Check out the link to be taken to the Lowrider Tour event page with the flyer!

SpoCom - Long Beach Convention Center
Long Beach, CA
June 14

The 3rd SpoCom import tuner car show held in Long Beach. Every year it looks like it grows bigger. More models, better looking cars and bigger crowds. A lot of eye candy around this show. If you missed HIN Los Angeles or DUB Show Tour, come to SpoCom! Bring cameras dudes!

The big shows in Southern California are Hot Import Nights, Boostmobile Nightshift at the Pomona Fairplex and the Nisei Week Showoff Car Show in Little Tokyo. Extreme Autofest does shows in Los Angeles and San Diego and these are fun because of the hybrid lowrider and import tuner aspect of their shows. Then there is TruckJam in Irvine that has tons of lowriders. Formula Drift comes along later in the year around the Long Beach Convention center.

A new import tuner show that appeared in 2007 is SpoCom which is held in Long Beach convention center. This is now a yearly event with tons of models, bikini contests and dance wars! 2008 SpoCom event was bigger than the previous year and 2009 which will be held at the same location looks even better. This is the show to equal Hot Import Nights and Nightshift! You need to go to this show if you live in Southern California, so much eye candy!

In southern California, import tuner and lowrider shows start showing up February and by summer, there are almost weekly car shows! By the fourth quarter, the modified tuner and lowrider car show circuits starts to slow down and the big general car shows start to appear. First to appear is the Orange County International Auto Show, followed by the Los Angeles International Auto Show in November and at the end of December, the San Diego International Auto Show.

Original article found at: http://hubpages.com/hub/auto-show-events

The big shows normally don't have the go-go dancers or the import models. If they do, then it's separated from the rest of the show. The Orange county car show has the Hawaiian Tropics Bikini Contest and the San Diego car show has a fashion show and a b-boys contest above the convention center. The Los Angeles International Auto Show has a modified car section but none of the good stuff like a fashion show, bikini contest or even one Go-Go dancer or Import Model!

The Los Angeles International Auto Show does have the concepts, the exotics and well, it's in Los Angeles. If you have nothing else to do, it's cheap entertainment. Don't expect an import tuner show or a lowrider event.

Late December, the San Diego International Car Show is like a little brother to the Los Angeles Auto Show but without the exotics and the concept cars. Like a small brother, it wants to show up the big brother, so it has an import tuner section of the show upstairs! Yea!

What it has is a hall full of modified cars and lowriders. Vendors hawking their wares and a few models at vendor booths. Not a lot, but you can't complain.

What's the big deal? Well, there's always a couple of fashion shows and maybe a bikini contest thrown in every year. Always on Saturday, one early afternoon and one early evening, remember that! Then there's the hip-hop dancers and rappers in-between the fashions shows. It's pretty good!

There's also the regular car show downstairs for you guys looking to buy a car.

These are the car shows I know about in Southern California. Most have their own focus - from Japanese imports to European imports to Lowriders and the big shows that target the general public.

List of car shows in Southern California.

All Toyotafest - Car show focusing on Toyota vehicles from modified Scions to racer tuned Lexus vehices. Also showed old school Toyotas past and present. All Toyotafest was held at the Long Beach City College's Veteran Stadium in 2008. Parking was free! There was about four promotional models around the big lot.

Autocrave - these guys have tons of models and bikini contest and focus on the import tuner crowd. Previous shows have been at Pomona Fairplex and recently the Eurocrave event in Long Beach.

Original article found at: http://hubpages.com/hub/auto-show-events

Garage Keizo - Street Machine Battle - This was a new car show open to any Japanese imports only. It was in a small lot in Torrance. Last year was the first show and from taking a look at their website, there will be a round 2 this year!

Truck Jamboree Plus - Truck Jamboree is held every year in Irvine near the water park. I think all of the lowrider clubs in California attend this meet. It's pretty cool and laid back. The food is pretty good and not that expensive. Not a lot of models. Last two years, I haven't seen a bikini contest.

D1 Grand Prix - It's back! The first event was May in Anaheim stadium. There was drifting all day and with a car show right next to it. Tons of hot import models, lowriders, and modified cars all over the parking lot. No bikini contest, no fashion show which sucked. Food lines were ass long all day.

Dub Show Tour - Mix of lowriders, trucks and modified vehicles. Dub has shows in Staples center in Los Angeles and the San Diego Convention center. No bikini contest. Tons of nice looking models. Things sometimes get really nasty if your lucky enough to be in the right place.

Dubwars - This is an all European import show. They also have a track where you can race other drivers. The only issue I have is that it's located in Willow Springs. It's a far and hot drive from Los Angeles. Wasn't much models. But a lot of leggy Asian girls walking around... with their boyfriends.

Extreme Autofest - Have shows throughout the year. They set up the Urban Ridez Expo event at the San Diego International Auto Show. Events include bikini contest, fashion shows, B-boy battle. This is a import tuner show.

Hot Import Nights - The big daddy of import tuner shows. Mainly held at the Staples center in downtown Los Angeles. Tons of hot models, modified cars, bikini contests! Come early to avoid the long snaking line.

Nighshift - The sister event of Hot Import Nights. Nightshift is held at the Pomona Fairplex. This is an outdoor event. Bikini contests, go-go dancers, more hot models and theres also sportbike stunts.

LA Auto Show - This is a general car show held at the Staples center every November. Cost is $10, and don't expect the energy from an import tuner show.

Lowrider Tour - The Lowrider show is big. A lot of lowriders and a hopping contest. There is a bikini contest. Not a lot of models, but they are there. You just have to find them.

NOPI - NOPI was at Carson in 2007 and it was pretty good drifting event. The bikini contests were really good. The NOPI chic girls were hot! It was a great 2 day show! Too bad NOPI didn't come back in 2008. Update: I think NOPI is dead, the link died.

Orange County Auto Show - A car show for the general car buying population. The saving grace is that they have 2 bikini contests. One bikini contest on Friday evening and the Hawaiian Tropics bikini contest on Saturday afternoon.

Original article found at: http://hubpages.com/hub/auto-show-events

San Diego International Auto Show - A car show for people looking to buy a new car. This show has partnered with Extreme Autofest's URE, so there's fashion shows, B-boy contests, bikini contests and modified cars at a seperate hall.

Showoff Car Shows - These guys plan the JDM vs DTM event in Chinatown every year and the Nisei Week car show in Little Tokyo. The Nisei Week car show is big and has a lot of models. The shows normally do not have bikini contests.

SpoComUSA - The new kids on the block. The SpoCom has just finished their second year, and it was a blast! Bikini contests, hot import models, sweet modified cars, a dance competition. This is a good show based in Long Beach convention center.

Streetlow Lowrider show - Heavy on the Lowriders! It's a smaller show than the Lowrider shows and is based in Costa Mesa. Not much models but the bikini contest is pretty good. I'd say it's wilder than most bikini contests!

Formula Drift - Total drifting mainly located in Long Beach and and Irwindale. There's also a side show with modified cars and hot import models. Sad to say, I didn't see a bikini contest.

Toyota Grand Prix - This is at the Long Beach convention center. There racing all day long. There was also a drifting event this year. Big car show inside the convention center and you get to see the Tecate girls and some hot models.

Lux5 Events - These guys are focusing on the exotic luxury segment of the market. This year's Lux5 event was in Santa Monica. Mainly a fashion show and some promotional models. There were a couple of women doing some acrobatics, and that was pretty cool.

Battle of the Imports - This was held in Fontana. Man this was a far drive. There was some great drag racing, ca modified car show, and a bikini contest.

Dubfest - European modified cars. Tons of VWs for some reason. Some import models but this was mainly focusing on the cars. The show was in Irwindale at Toyota Speedway.

FunkMaster Flex - In Anaheim. A lot of the lowrider crowd were at this show and on the other side of the hall was the import tuner crowd. I was at the back of the crowd when the bikini contest started, but the girls looked good in their bikinis. Import models were really hot!

JDM Theory J's Gathering - Northern California import tuner show came down to show their love for Southern California. There was racing around the track in Fontana and a line of modified cars next to the track. A few umbrella girls and some really hot looking import models had attended.

Car And Model covers a lot of the shows in Southern California and the rest of the country. Pictures of modified cars and hot models.

Pure Hot Models focuses on the hot models! Eazy and correct description!

Babe Blvd is all about hot import models. All babes. All pages!

AutoImportCraze is similar to Car And Model. Tons of free pictures of cars and models.

SHIFTR another source for news on the import tuner scene, modified car pictures and more hot models!

Original article found at: http://hubpages.com/hub/auto-show-events

Streetlow focuses on the lowrider scene. There's also a Streetlow event in Costa Mesa every year. This is a smaller show than the Lowrider show that was held in San Diego earlier this year, but I think it's more focused. From watching the YouTube video of the bikini contest, it looks better! I want to go next year!

autoshowevents is a site that primarily photographs the hot import models, the modified cars and anything else at car shows.

Here's a list of some import tuner car clubs in Southern California.

Team Sadistic - http://teamsadistic.net/

Team Hokori - http://teamhokori.com/html/home.html

Team Transport - http://www.teamtransport.org/

Team Hybrid - http://www.teamhybrid.com/

Original article found at: http://hubpages.com/hub/auto-show-events

High End Performance - http://www.highendperformance.net/

Emperor Evo Club - http://www.emperorevoclub.com/

Scion Evolution - http://www.scionevolution.org/forum/index.php

RL2 - http://www.rltwo.com/phpBB3/index.php

Here's a list of some lowrider car clubs in California. I couldn't find some of the websites of the car clubs, so I put down either one of their myspace pages or a youtube page.

Nokturnal Car Club - http://nokturnalcarclub.org/

Street Clownin Car Club - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=384084789

Head Twisters Car Club - http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.channel&ChannelID=231120195

Original article found at: http://hubpages.com/hub/auto-show-events

Just uS Car Club - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.channel&channelid=47654731

Still Tippin Car Club - the webstie no longer works!

Ruthless Car Club - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=437720187

Compared 2 None Car Club - http://video.aol.com/video-detail/compared-2-none-car-club/4080055733

NIGHTMARE CAR CLUB - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=68411142

Ballerz Inc - http://www.ballerzinccc.com/HOME_main.html

Hi-Limits Car Club - I can't find any websites for this club!

Hitting Hard - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWmqht1LC1U

Cali Drifters Custom Rides - website gone!

Wicked Lowz - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=135111050

Royal Riches - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=127114038

High Image Car Club - http://www.highimagecarclub.com/

Original article found at: http://hubpages.com/hub/auto-show-events

Connected Car Club - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=239848161

Latin Bombas Car Club - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=111858651