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Harrisburg, PA – For the past few years we’ve been growing a relationship with the people behind the scenes at the Pennsylvania Motor Trend Auto Show. We started off a few years back just supplying a few custom cars to fill a display space left vacant by past contacts. After providing positive results the past few years, we’ve now grown this showcase to more than 6,000 sq. ft.  – keeping great company with the likes of Maserati, Dupont Registry, and the AACA Museum as the main attractions within the North Hall. The extra space gave us plenty of room to feature 16 cars from the region – ranging from a 1941 Willys truck all the way up to 2017 Hyundai and Ford models that recently made their debut at the SEMA Show.

Crowds packed the Farm Show Complex for four days while we showcased some of the best of what PA and our region has to offer. R Miller Autobody brought out two unique vehicles. Tony Kertulis’s Ford Focus – featuring AirLift Suspension and some aggressive Rotiform wheels and a beast of a Wounded Warrior Edition Jeep. We’re used to seeing them bring out the cool Volkswagen builds so this was a nice touch to switch things up and let the people from the area know that they can handle any task. Plus we know they have some pretty cool VW build stuff up their sleeves that we will no doubt be talking about soon enough. Ben, Caitie and Tim brought out some clean aired out current VW’s – and our old pal from the WRteam days, Otis Thomas dusted off a cool mk4 Jetta he keeps in storage for a little reunion of sorts. Legacy Innovations from York, PA were kind enough to bring up their brand new Ford Fusion that debuted at SEMA just a few months ago – and we were also able to talk them into bringing up the amazing one-off Corrado they built along with Steve Nodarse. We recently chose this RHD, R32 swapped Corrado as our Top RealBuild of 2016… so it was beyond fitting to have it on display to kick off and preview 2017.

Lightner Motorsports also brought out some cool stuff that they recently debuted at SEMA, They had two OEM builds that they partnered with Gurnade Design with for Hyundai USA. The Tucson SUV sports a clean and simple style and features a cool electric skateboard theme. The Veloster build is much more aggressive and it features a set of VelosterFlares.com fender flares to match. It’s great to see friends of ours continuing to work with Rotiform Wheels on their current SEMA projects. Dave also helped out on the classic and hot rod culture aspect of our display, transporting an amazing Factory Five Cobra rep built by his wife, Juliet’s shop – Majors Select Collision Group. When this thing made it entrance on set-up day, everyone in the building just stopped and watched in awe as we found its display placement.

We also had some of our friends and favorite builders from around the area on display within our showcase. John Coleman brought out his super clean 240, which has come a long way in the few years since we first took notice to it. Fabian Purini brought out a new toy of his, an R33 Skyline that is sort of a work in progress, but was still looking clean and stunning for the auto show thanks to the guys at Urban Werks. Cassidy Kennedy brought out her fan favorite 400+ HP Civic for the display as well. Terry Goodman – Baked Goods Creative poppa – stopped out with one of the Willys from his collection as well. It was very cool to see good people with much different tastes in vehicles come together and have a great time.

We also want to give a shout out to our partners, whom we had as special guests for RealBuilds Row at the Auto Show, The Circuit Podcast. The fellas came out and walked around the event, watched some car culture tv shows in the booth with us, and they even managed to live record a fresh episode of the show over the course of the weekend during the event. You will definitely want to check that out to hear more about what we had going on at the show, as well as interviews with Scratch from RMiller Auto and our very own Shawn Baker – who talked about all things eJudged & his other venture the JunkStyles x LowLifeStyle Brand. He may have dropped a ton of new info about the upcoming spring and summer.

Check out The Circuit Podcast – Episode 51

The PA Auto Show was a perfect way to get a glimpse of what 2017 has to offer. We’ve got so much in store and so much positive energy in our plans and discussions for this year, we are beyond excited. Just a little weekend in the middle of winter to get the blood flowing and the creative ideas flowing. While we’ve got a couple of Powered by eJudged app usage events coming up already, we still have a month or more until we hit the road for some events. After this past weekend at the PA Auto Show, we’ve got to say we’re looking forward to it!

Enjoy the rest of our photos from the event:

Joshua Allen of Mint Films paid a visit to our RealBuilds Row showcase at the PA Auto Show and decided to grab some footage of some of the high quality craftsmanship that we had on display. Thanks for putting this together! We hope to see you at events all around the area this year.

Whaleyville, MD – For many in the car scene, ourselves included, much of the year is spent anticipating the H2O International weekend in Ocean City, MD – which is capped off at the end of the week/end by the official H2O International VW/Audi event a short drive across the bay at Fort Whaley Campground. This event has always been super influential and important to VW/Audi enthusiasts across the whole nation. In recent years, the weekend has also become a favorite to pretty much everyone else in the automotive scene as well. Over crowded Ocean City streets full of over-zealous “import racers” and amateur drifters has made the first weekend in October quite an interesting one. We were lucky enough this year to receive an invite from our good friends at the JunkStyles x LowLifeStyle brand to a cool meet/GTG that they had planned. The Big Easy Meet took place on Coastal Highway and 60th Street – at an amazing bar and restaurant called The Big Easy. The meet was open to “all OG’s and Outcasts” and the one and only rule was to come and act like an adult. Be a part of the solution instead of part of the chaos. We’re happy to say that we were on hand all afternoon and evening and there was not a single incident that occured during the meet, not even a visit from the police… and we might add that the front porch/deck of the Big Easy provided a great grandstand to watch all the cars cruise past.

Onto Sunday and the actual H2O event. We’ve got to say that this was one of the biggest and most surprising yet. Now, this event survived a hurricane weekend in 2015, so it’s tough to come up with any surprises. But when we arrived for a brief operations meeting on Saturday – over half of the showfield was under water. It had rained for days in advance – and in fact the rain never stopped until Saturday evening’s Big Easy Meet was scheduled to kick off. More show cars turned up for the show that we can remember in recent years, and the event staff had to improvise and find new cool spots to put rows of cars. While it was a mud fest, it made for a pretty cool and different event than we normally experience. We even ended up having our booth set up right in the vendor midway, mainly because finding safe ground to keep our Ford Transit Battle Wagon afloat was quite tricky and we had a judging session to operate! We’ve got to give it up to Jay Shoup and the rest of his amazing crew for adapting and improvising – and at the end of the weekend another job well done. And speaking of well done, we’d also like to thank the group of judges that we worked with this year. This was truly an historic H2Oi event for eJudged as the process was smoother, quicker, and more accurate than we can ever remember. We see a lot of the same faces turning up  year after year to be a part of the judging, and we are grateful to work with people so passionate and helpful in the community.

After another year for the record books, we cannot wait to see what H2O International 2017 has to offer. We’re about to book our vacation house now and start counting down the months, weeks, and days already!

Boston, MA – The eJudged “Dream Team” made the trip to Boston, MA for a weekend to see what the city had to offer. We had the opportunity to work with Javier (AKA Electro) of Import Evolution with his event at the Seaport World Trade Center. The eJudged crew was on site with their Ford Transit Battle Wagon to promote its brand and also to provide some general assistance for the judging staff. The Battle Wagon was parked in the perfect location, situated between the main stage and model lounge keeping the team entertained all day long with non-stop events, which included the team tug of war, a bikini contest, bands and rappers.

The event exceeded our expectations as one of the most anticipated events of the year, providing some of the top cars in the northeast ranging from Pennsylvania to Toronto. There was some fierce competition in Boston, but it was Drew Evans G37 that stood out above and beyond the rest to Import Evolution judges winning Best of Show. We have seen this car at a number of events this year and we still continue to find new modifications week after week. Great to see a dedicated builder like Drew reaching new milestones with this car at events all over the east coast.

Thanks to Electro and the crew – and the great city of Boston – for the hospitality and look forward to returning to Import Evolution next year.

Flintstone, MD – In mid-September we made the short road trip down to the Cumberland, MD area for one of the most laid back events of the year. We had worked with Jonathan and the Dubs at the Gap event in the past. Last year they started using our iOS app to help streamline their judging process. But this year we were both excited to have an open weekend in our busy travel schedule so that we could bring down our Transit Connect Battle Wagon. Rocky Gap State Park creates a perfect atmosphere for a laid back VW event – and the nearby lake provides a great backdrop for the cars as well as a nice place to take a walk or skip some stones across the water. While a lot of the vehicles were impressive, a certain flawless 21 window micro bus caught our eye – and apparently the judges eyes as well, earning Best of Show honors. We had a great day being a part of Dubs at the Gap – great event, great park, and a great little road trip in the wagon. We can’t wait to see what this event has to offer in the years to come!

Elysburg, PA – As the busy summer schedule slows down a bit, we always look forward to one of the most laid back events of the year. Our friends at LowLifeStyle LLC and CounterKultur clothing brands team up each year to organize the Knoedown event at Knoebels Amusement Park. It’s a unique mix of car show, supporter appreciation picnic/cookout, and a fun day at the park with friends, family, and pets. This year’s event brought in over 600 vehicles – ranging from show stoppers to daily drivers – in all makes, models, styles, and eras. This is a rare event, because despite the variety of styles in attendance, everyone gets along and everyone seems to be right at home on the giant showfield. There’s not a hint of that “elitist” attitude that so many events these days feature. We had our Ford Transit Connect Battle Wagon there and the fellas used our iOS digital judging app to help them select the Top 25 cars as well as 6 very cool custom awards. And even though this show is all about having fun… there were some serious builds that battled it out for those awards. Job well done to the JSxLLS & CK crews on another major event. If you haven’t attended one of their collabo events before, you are seriously missing out on what this car scene is all about. We can’t wait to see what they have up their sleeves for 2017.

While at the event, our very own Shawn Baker got a chance to sit down with our friends at The Circuit Podcast. They were under the pavilion, recording a live episode during the event. They talked with Shawn about the event, our upcoming schedule, and the history/future of the eJudged product. Be sure to check it out: https://soundcloud.com/user-390455932/episode-40-we-attend-knowdown-4-and-record-live

Photos by: Josh @ Freshy Entertainment.

Syracuse, NY – In late August, we made the short trip north to Syracuse for the Street Scene event. 2016 has been good to us. We’ve had a number of great new events join the eJudged digital judging revolution. We’ve been able to attend a bunch of new and exciting shows that we had not attended in the past. It’s cool to get some new perspective on the scene, compare different trends in different regions, and to expand our network more and more each year. We’ve got to say that Chris and his crew were a pleasure to hang out and work with. The event was located on the outskirts of town, in a huge park along a lake. It provided a cool laid back atmosphere, as well as shade and scenery. But the car turn out was the real wow factor. The VIP area snaked thru the trees around a windy path, and out front the showfield was filled to max capacity with several hundred cars on display. We don’t know their final car count, but it was huge! Congrats to Chris and the rest of the Street Scene crew for another successful event, and we are proud to have helped them streamline their judging process. We can’t wait to see what they have in store for 2017!

York, PA – It’s great to see good people who work hard and provide a positive example for the car community achieve lasting success. We can’t say enough about Cory Sterling and his VagFair car show. We’ve known him for nearly 20 years as one of the true pioneers in the VW scene. It’s hard to believe that 10 years has passed since the first VagFair was put on in a little tiny corner of the York Fair grounds. Fast forward to 2016 and The VagFair has been one of the biggest and most laid back events in the scene. While some VW/Audi events have become super corporate, and others have become super elitist – being vocal that they do not want to include the general car community into their event… Cory has embraced the change and growth in the scene. He continues to provide a great weekend for Euro enthusiasts to interact, hang out, buy cool gear from some of the top brands in the industry… and the event is welcome to the non-euro crowd as well, as long as they don’t cause trouble on-site or throughout the town doing typical scene boy things. The show completely engulfs the fairgrounds race track, but the highlight each year are the Madness on the Midway builds. On the Midway, attention-to-detail, insane engine swaps, shaved bays, rare parts, and pure custom fabrication are on display. This year’s winner was no surprise to us – as we picked out Steve’s Corrado – built locally by Legacy Innovations – as the odds on favorite to win this competition all the way back at SEMA 2015. The Wishard bros brought home 2nd and 3rd as well – which was not a huge surprise to us either. We had both of their cars in our eJudged display at the PA Auto Show last year in an effort to showcase some of the top builds in our region. While it took us some time a few years back to convince Cory to make the leap of faith to paperless judging, we’re in full swing now throughout the day and we’re happy to be able to relieve some of the stress that he has on his shoulders throughout the event. And as a nice bonus, we were able to  have our Transit Connect Wagon on display in the JunkStyles x Lowlifestyle booth along with some of our great friends in the scene. We hope to make it up to his Vacationland VagFair event in Maine soon as well. In the meantime, cheers to another job well done and we are glad to see the community embrace this event year after year as one of their all-time favorites.

Carlisle, PA – We spend a lot of time each spring and summer on the nearby Carlisle Fairgrounds. They do a ton of cool events for car enthusiasts and we’ve been helping them out with the judging process of a few of those events for years – for some even before we developed our digital judging app. So we enjoy watching each event progress, adapt, and grow from year to year. This past weekend was our third consecutive year operating the showfield judging for their Truck Nationals event. We had our Ford Transit Connect Wagon and a large tent for the crew set-up right on the Midway & Show Field for the festivities – posted up right next to our partners at Ford and Magnaflow. As has been the case for a lot of Carlisle’s events recently, the weather forecast called for rain. But there were literally only a few drops late in the morning as the clouds broke and we instead endured 90+ degree heat all day long as our contracted eJudged certified experts combed thru the competition row by row, class by class. It’s a rough job – especially when the competition is tight – but we enjoy getting a chance to see the time, effort, and craftsmanship that are put into these builds. Over the past few years, the trends have progressively changed more and more to the bigger, current model full size trucks – away from the mini-truck scene that we used to see take over the fairgrounds. But we are suckers for a full size dually slammed on gigantic wheels and tires, so we aren’t complaining. We like it all. With that being said, the fairgrounds was covered with thousands of trucks, Jeeps, SUVs, vans, and even big rigs all weekend long – while the judged competition featured nearly 400 vehicles. Another fine event put on by the Carlisle Events crew. We are grateful that they continue to ask our crew and our eJudged app to be a huge part of their summer series of events.

Oaks, PA – This past weekend we rolled out to one of the most anticipated events of each and every summer – Tuner Evolution Philly. These days the Tuner Evolution crew has grown in size, strength, and popularity. What started out 10 years ago as a parking lot car show is now taking over convention centers and ballparks for Tuner Evolution shows and Panda Junction meets in Philly, Charlotte, Baltimore, and Daytona… and word on the streets is that there are a couple other big markets in their sights in upcoming years. For us though, we enjoy the Philly event the most. Because we can bring out our Ford Transit Wagon Battle Wagon and witness one of the few events where the competition aspect still brings out some of the scene’s heavy hitters. This show is now the “go to” event for some of the builders that used to really take the car show game very seriously. And for the younger scene kids that come out to the show – well there’s a fair share of camber, car show models, loud electronic music, and hip hop performances to keep your attention all evening as well.

We had the opportunity to set up stage left, right next to our friends at Performance Bodega & Ferrer Motorsports, and up close and personal with all the action. Just a few feet away was the Legends Display which showcased some of memorable builders from the past decade. It was cool to see some of those cars on the showfloor again. This new era of car builders should take some notes on the attention-to-detail and craftsmanship that went into some of these timeless award winning builds. We had a legend of our own sharing booth space with us as we had the RMiller Autobody S4 powered VW Corrado as a special guest judge in our booth. Still one-of-one after all these years. We also got to spend a good bit of the day hanging with the crew from The Circuit Podcast and our friends at DieCut Culture. The Circuit Podcast guys always make us laugh and they bring a cool new element to this car scene. Give them a listen on SoundCloud or iTunes. Tuner Evolution overall this year, was all about celebrating 10 years in the industry, and we’ve got to congratulate Jay Martinez, Manny Olivo, and the whole TE crew for reaching that milestone. Cheers to another 10 years in the game!