East Coast Nationals 2005 - Custom Truck Show

If you take the East Coast and cut it in half, it would be somewhere in the middle of Virginia, which would be the perfect spot for travelers if you were trying to put on a huge show. That is where Ashton Harwood and the rest of the Subculture Worldwide crew decided several years ago to hold their first East Coast Nationals, right in the middle, in Richmond, Virginia. This location gives everyone from New York to Georgia a show that's within a decent driving distance. This year, Ashton moved the show from the racetrack he's held the show at the last couple years and brought it back to the original place a couple miles up the road called The Show Place. This was an old store the size of a Kmart that has become an indoor display area for local gun or jewelry shows. Having this kind of indoor facility was a perfect spot for a car show, because it gave not only parking for those early arrivals to get their vehicles in out of the weather for the weekend but gave all of the spectators a place to get out of the weather and soak up a little air conditioning.

There were plenty of top-notch vehicles inside that showed up on Friday to get a good spot, so they wouldn't have to worry about them for the rest of the weekend. People could also come and go as they wanted, even if they were parked inside, so it was a little different than most indoor shows, where once you're in, you're there for the duration. In front of the building was the other half of the show and several more of the vendors that didn't want to be inside. Vendors such as Drop 'Em Wear?, Graphic Hut, Graphic Disorder, Area 51 Customs, and Island Off Road kept everyone busy reaching for their wallets all weekend. Around midday Saturday, Mother Nature decided to darken things up a little and dump a ton of rain for around an hour or so, but just when we thought things wouldn't dry up, it stopped and gave everyone a chance to dry their show vehicles off and enjoy the rest of the show. During this time, everyone used the indoor section of the show more than they did any other time.

Once the show wound down that afternoon and everyone took off to grab a bite to eat, we headed back to the hotel where more than half of the occupants were already outside sitting in lawn chairs and on tailgates, trying to get the night's activities started. The road that the host hotel was on was pretty much a private road that contained mostly hotel traffic. This created a perfect spot for dragging and partying. There was even a motorcycle that wowed the crowd doing stunts and burn-outs-well, at least until he got a little carried away and laid it down, which only got the crowd cheering more than they had all night. We even heard someone ask if next time he could throw more sparks when he laid it down.

Later in the night-or should we say, early Sunday morning-a couple of guys, who were, let's say, "not operating up to par," gathered some money from the crowd and decided to have a relay race in the mosquito-infested retention pond across from the hotel. Justin from Illicit Customs was even seen doing the backstroke through the water.

Once everyone got up Sunday morning and made their way to the show, it wound up being time for the high/low contest, which brought out everything from door-draggers to a couple of airbagged 4x4s whose doors were about eye level. Once that was out of the way, everyone moved inside to the stage area, where they held the awards ceremony. The Best of Show truck and Best of Show car awards were huge, one-of-a-kind full-billet trophies that almost took two people to pick up due to their weight. The Best of Show truck award went to Chris Voorhest from New York with his box S-10 with a fullsize Chevy front clip, suicide doors, and super-slick paint.

For more information about next year's East Coast Nationals, check out www.eastcoastnationals.com.