Beyond the Debuts: Other Things To Do & See At The 2018 LA Auto Show

“The Garage”

Tuner & Custom cars, toys and aftermarket accessories – you’ll find them all in “The Garage”.

Custom Cars

While Detroit may be the epicenter of the automotive universe (at least in the U.S.A), Los Angeles is the center of automotive customization. From the rise of the Hot Rod to the vibe of the low and slow’ LA Lowrider scene, if there’s an automotive trend out there, chances are it originated in Southern California. Where better to celebrate that spirit of car culture than at the LA Auto Show?

“The Garage” Photo: LAAS

Custom Shelby Mustang; Photo: LAAS

Today, California continues to influence the automotive world. Although the scene has evolved from chopped Mercs and bagged Impalas to promoting Electric & Hydrogen powered vehicles, the spirit of ‘making it your own’ is still alive and well.  What better way to bridge that generation gap than a dropped / customized BMW i8?

Modified BMW i8; Photo LAAS

West Coast Customs

For their inaugural appearance at LAAS, West Coast Customs is showing off a super-clean restomod Porsche 356 built on a 2008 Porsche Cayman platform. You’d never know there’s a Cayman hiding under that skin.

WCC Restomode Porsche 356; Photo LAAS

Custom Jeep Wrangler owned by Alex Rodriguez on Display at WWC.

Galpin’s Hall of Customs

If you know your Ford history, then you likely know all about Galpin Motors. Besides being the first Shelby dealer in California, Galpin Motors has been ‘Galpinizing’ cars since the 1950s.

Galpin Ford

While they started out modifying, building and racing custom Fords, Galpin has evolved into a full-on customization shop, building cars not only for customers, but also for Hollywood, as well as creating their own ‘Galpin Fisker Ford Mustang Rocket’.

Galpin’s Hall of Customs; Photo: Galpin Motors via Twitter @galpinmotors

If you’re into custom and high performance vehicles, Galpin has assembled a fairly diverse group that includes Salomondrin’s Modified Ford Raptor S, Ken Block’s customized RS200, a Singer Porsche and the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera – just to name a few. We’re sure this will be a popular area to visit at LAAS.

Here’s the Salomondrin’s Modified Ford Raptor in what looks like a screen shot from GTA 5:

Photo: LAAS

Drool..

Ken Block’s Custom RS2000

Two totally different cat’s

Photo: LAAS

See more Garage photos on the LAAS site.

Interactive Experiences

Amazon Gaming Lounge (Concourse Foyer)

If you can’t wait for the third season of Amazon’s The Grand Tour, or simply want to live the life of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, you might want to check out the upcoming Grand Tour Game here at the LA Auto Show.

Want to be the first on your block to try the new Grand Tour game (coming soon to Xbox One & PlayStation), or take selfies with a real-life Porsche 918 Spyder? Just stop by the Amazon Gaming Lounge.

Jaguar VR Racing (South Hall)

Ever want to know what it feels like to race a Jaguar!? Well, unless you’re among the few who practice really hard and earn a spot on a Jaguar racing team, you won’t. Thankfully, for the rest of us there’s Virtual Reality.

Hyundai Racing Challenge (South Hall Atrium)

Good at racing games? You might want to stop by the Hyundai Racing Challenge. There, players (18+) can complete for a spot in one of two daily tournaments and a chance to win an Xbox One.

Hyundai Racing Challenger; Photo LAAS

Pet Charities

Subaru & Best Friend Animal Society

If you’re familiar with Subarus ‘Love Promise’ then you might know all about ‘Subaru Loves Pets’. If not you might take a moment and check out the ‘Subaru Loves Pets‘ website. Go ahead, we’ll wait…

More than just creating a nice commercial slogan and webpage, Subaru is putting their money (and hopefully some of yours) where their mouth is. Teaming up with the Best Friends Animal Society, Subaru will be hosting an adoption event where show attendees will be able interact with adoptable dogs. Come for a BRZ, leave with a dog instead.

If for some reason you can’t or don’t wish to adopt a dog, you can contribute to the Best Friends Animal Society’s work in Los Angeles by making a donation and/or by assembling a rope toy to donate to shelter.

Subaru Loves Pets! Photo: Subaru usa media

Pet adoption schedule:

Saturday, Dec. 1, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Sunday, Dec. 2, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Saturday, Dec. 8, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Sunday, Dec. 9, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Mitsubishi & The Asher House

By now, you might be thinking the LA Auto Show is starting to go to the dogs. You’re right, but in this case it’s a good thing.

Lee Asher started the Asher house with the intent of rescuing homeless dogs from shelters by educating the public about the misconceptions surrounding shelter dogs. Everyday, good dogs have to be euthanized simply because of a lack of space and money to support them in shelters.

As part of its “Drive your Ambition” initiative, Mitsubishi donated a new Eclipse Cross to Asher and his team, who use it to tote their own rescue dogs to various events throughout America.

Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross; Lee Asher & his ‘Pack’

Lee Asher and his ‘pack’ will be on hand at the Mitsubishi booth Friday December 7th, so stop by and meet them. If  you can’t, you can still read about Lee and his cause here. Don’t forget to make a donation.

DoVE Project

It’s one of those things you don’t like to read or hear about. In some areas of the world the dog-meat trade is still a thing… a legally sanctioned thing.

Dogs of Violence Exposed is a non-profit organization that hopes to put an end to the dog-meat industry through rescue efforts, advocacy and education. You can visit DoVE at LAAS Dec. 1-2 & Dec. 8-9 or online anytime https://www.dove-project.org/

Other Things to See..

Transformers Bumblebee

It makes sense that, with his first solo movie set to debut, Bumblebee would be out making the show rounds. Think, “Maybe I can score an autograph.” Probably not. This is actually a full-size model. But hey, one can dream! You can find Bumblebee in the Turo booth. Wonder if he’ll be renting himself out on Turo if the film bombs?

Bullitt Mustang

See the 1968 Highland Green Mustang driven by Steve McQueen on display in the Ford booth, alongside the recently unveiled 2019 Bullitt.  Even if you’ve never seen the movie, you still know the car.

Unveiling of the recently resurfaced original movie car at NAIAS: