This is London. Early in the morning. Far too early. The reason for waking up at an ungodly hour on a Sunday? Players Show 5.0 had landed.
Players Show is in it’s fifth year and is fast becoming the show to attend to see the best cars the UK has to offer. There are several reasons why if you can, you should definitely get yourself down to a Players in the future.
First off is the setting. North Weald Airfield in Essex is an active airfield but for players they make vacant two of the huge aircraft hangers ready to cram them full of stanced, floor scraping cars.
Second of all the variety. Everything from old air cooled Volkwagens…
….to smoothed and dumped air ride Euro hatchbacks….
….and high end performance and VIP rides. Players welcomes all.
The criteria for entry into one of the hangers? Presence, thought, taste and charisma.
The ability to drop jaws to the floor helps too. Low is a lifestyle.
Not all of the cars have to be polished to within an hour of their lives. The weathered look a popular one with the aircooled crowd. It just works so well.
Getting there so early had it’s advantages, I managed to grab some time in the hangers with a couple of cars before they filled with people and more motors.
The bright yellow of this 911 GT3 just popped in the dim hanger light.
I’ve got a real Porsche ‘thing’ at the moment and I wasn’t helping my cause shooting this.
Car Audio Security’s Audi A4 Avant squats down on air over a set of Rotiform BLQ.
American readers are probably unfamiliar with the car above. Fiat Puntos aren’t really popular in the fitment scene, but this one looks pretty amazing on Rotiform NUEs.
As more and more cars rolled in it was clear that the turnout was going to be pretty impressive. Out came the polish and elbow grease and the finishing touches are applied. It must be love?
The amount of work that goes into some of the cars is phenomenal. The Type 2 Detectives’ Golf believe it or not….is static.
I kid you not, I watched it drive in and park like this. A closer look around reveals it’s true identity.
Underneath the shell and LHD interior lies an aircooled chassis and heart. Amazing craftmanship saw it take away a ‘Best of Show’ award.
The VW K70 is a pretty rare sight nowadays. This facelifted version was only in production for one year from 1973-1974. Pretty cool to see one lowered over polished Porsche Fuchs wheels!
One of the most iconic shapes ever to roll off the Volkswagen production line for me is the Karmann Ghia.
Especially when they sit like this!
OK enough aircooled love for now I promise. I’ll pull myself away from them for a moment.
Some of you will be glad to hear that zero lip still hasn’t gone away. Rotiform put together some custom wheels using BBS centres for this Golf on the Meguiars stand. You may remember the car from our Edition coverage.
It’s all about making sure you’re wheels match your……knuckleduster? Ok maybe not.
Gold and polished BBS wheels and a substantial drop are the only touches needed on this E21. Perfect as it is.
This also carries true for later BMWs. This F6squared E36 rocked up on E34 M5 ‘Throwing Stars’ with a few M3 touches.
Josh’s from Lowdailys E46 runs a Havair airbag setup and a mint set of Gotti 3 piece wheels. Josh followed my into the show on the motorway and this thing looks ridiculous in the rear view. It looks like the car has sunk into the tarmac!
As the show filled out a greater variety of cars started to park up, even Postman Pat showed up. He’s recently realised the importance of fitment whilst doing his rounds.
This freshly presented Mercedes C63 was put together by the guys at Squared Wheels for the show. Pretty damn classy.
Players was a dangerous place to be for wheel magpies.
I’ve come out of the worse of my addiction, but even still at times I felt a relapse kicking in.
Some wheels felt the need to hide. I think they could ‘feel’ my eyes on them.
It’s all in the details. So hopefully these shots are conveying the quality of finish accepted as the norm at Players.
You have to stand for minutes at a time and observe each car to truly take it all in.
It’s the level of completion that surprised me. Not part is left untouched. For many of the cars it isn’t about form over function, it’s about form and function in harmony.
Meguiars hosted the Players 5.0 awards. A pretty impressive collection of prizes and trophies. The time and effort that went into the cars on show was reflected in the quality of the awards I think.
Another cool thing about Players is the atmosphere and attitude. I am a relative newcomer to this ‘scene’ and everyone is pretty welcoming.
Chilled is the best word that comes to mind. Everyone was there just to have a good time, check out some amazing cars and enjoy the last of the British summer.
Even on the fringes of the show some gems could be found. This floor scraping Bora on BBS CHs looked well.
Players 5.0 could definitely be counted as a success. In a year which has seen show numbers dwindle in the UK it has brought back a breath of fresh air to the show scene. It just goes to show that with some thought and preparation and an ethos of quality shows can still draw the crowds.
Other show organisers should sit up and take note, there is a new Player in the show scene.
