Wekfest Atlanta 2018 Coverage
Its been a long time coming, and this year Atlanta has been getting hit with all of the major shows. Wekfest is the one I was looking forward to the most. It has always been the show that most people took serious and built cars just to travel and compete in. My Honda friends would always show me photos of this crazy show in California with flawless builds being held in a parking garage. There was a photo from Wekfest San Francisco 2012 that blew my mind (see it here). I never seen so many people in line to get in a car show. I was finally able to attend a Wekfest in New Jersey ( see post here), and I really enjoyed seeing the quality that they had brought out in the Northeast. So much that I wanted to check out another one, this time we took a trip out to Texas in 2013 ( see post here ) After the Texas trip , I was highly motivated to put some effort into something, and for the first time actually enter a car show.
In 2015, I had been heavy into my Mazda 6 and decided to apply for Wekfest Texas. The car was accepted and we hit the road and drove the Mazda to Texas for Wekfest. It was my first time ever being in a car show (see post here ) . The Mazda 6 did not take any trophies home but, still one of my favorite trips, and to this day Wekfest Texas is one of my favorite events.
Most of us in Atlanta are not used to the back to back shows here and especially in some of the same venues. You would think Atlanta being a major city there would be venues all over to host indoor events. But when it comes down to location and not being far outside the city there are not many options. To me the show was good, the Wekfest team had to deal with some terrible weather conditions and even worse venue staff. When we arrived for roll- in the staff had not even cleaned up or sectioned off the area for the event. So setup was delayed , but the team managed to still open the doors on time at 1pm for general attendance.
From a perspective of someone that has hosted events before. Parking and organization is something that is the most important. With all the problems with the venue and the terrible weather . The roll – in went on without any big problems. Parking and setup seemed to be smooth for the vendors. Pictured above in our booth is Justin Wright’s E36 and Johnny Le’s Mercedes Wagon
I wanted to have something different at our booth. I had always appreciated how Wekfest brings out more then just the typical imports that we see at every show. So I invited Wade to bring out his Challenger for our booth. To our surprise there were a good bit of domestics also in attendance.
Michael Poole’s supercharged and bagged Mustang GT on SSR Professor.
My S Class taking up space at the booth also.
Savini Wheels came out all the way from California and setup a booth along with Butler Tires & Wheels
Butler Tire brought out 2 of their customer cars. This Ferrari F430 on Savini BM11 wheels
And this bagged Liberty Walk Maserati Gran Turismo on Savini Forged SV-57 wheels.
Darris’ Q45
Tae’s S2000
Cool setup on this SR20 powered Nissan Harbody.
Kevin Lam’s BMW M3
Lindsay Murphy’s Lexus SC
Cliff Ridinger’s Lexus GS
Daniel Joffe’s Lexus IS
Jake’s Mercedes 190E
Allan’s Audi S4
Matt Man’s 500hp 1.6L Turbo Mazda Miata
Dan Chi’s Lexus GS
Jason Pham’s Silvia S15 from Team Emotion.
One of my favorite cars was this E30 Coupe.
Another favorite was Dan’s Subari STI from Tennessee
AJ’s Civic Si on the classic Regamasters
Jody’s Subaru STi
The overall show attendance was ok , but it did seem low for an Wekfest. I had heard that the heavy rain had hurt show attendance. I personally think the show needed more promotion leading up to it. I know the Wekfest guys run a tight ship and run on a even tighter schedule traveling all over the globe, but it takes a lot of promotion out here to get a large turnout. Out West you can pack a house out in a weeks notice. A lot of guys I talked to had no idea of the event up until the week of. And also the DJ playing Soulja Boy and Young Jock was completely out of line.. haha . Other than that I don’t have any other complaints from the event, and hats off the whole team.
We took a good bit of photos, but most of them are the same cars that you have been seeing for the last few months at the last few events. I really am proud of the ones that came out and supported Wekfest Atlanta. When events like this come to town for the first time I always try to get the best to come out and support so they can see what we have to offer. We have been showcasing all your hard work to the world for the last 8 years so when its time to show case live and in person we jump in to make sure its done the best way possible.
More photos from the event here on Flickr.
