Big SoCal Euro 2014 Event Coverage

The Big SoCal Euro Gathering has been my favorite car show for the last two years (see 2013 coverage & 2012 coverage) and this year was no exception – another incredible event of all makes and models set at the massive Qualcomm Stadium parking lot here in sunny San Diego, California. The show had something for everyone, ranging from full-on race cars like the GMG LMS R8 to wild show cars like the Vollkomen Design Porsche above, as well as plenty in-between.

Like previous years this “Euro Gathering” had many of the pros of a good car show without any of the cons; there is no judging, no politics, and no drama…just a bunch of cars all showing up in one place and a bunch of owners with a common interest in European cars.

I parked with the San Diego Audi Club once again, and the Audi brand had another great showing; one Audi that particularly caught my eye was this brand new A3 above sporting a prototype set of Solowerks Coilovers, custom Fifteen 52 Wheels, TTRS brakes and a handful of other goodies, owned by my good friend Brian McCauley back in Arizona.

The show had vendors from all over Southern California and beyond, such as Vorsteiner with this beautiful McLaren MP4-12C you see above. Other local heavyweights like TAG Motorsports, Eurocode, Pure Motorsports, GMG Racing, HGMS, HRE Wheels, VMR Wheels, GIAC, Avant Garde Wheels, ACG Automotive, Mod Bargains, Elite Finish Detailing and many others also had exhibitor booths setup, and each vendor booth was crazier than the next.

Like past years, the GMG Racing crew was a must-see. This twin turbo R8 was particularly amazing, and I love that they left the rear bumper off so everyone could admire the fabrication work that went into this. Also of note was the B5 S4 you’ll see later on in this post, which is probably my favorite of the show (I’m a man of particular tastes).

Another car I was particularly excited to see was Jeremy Serra’s B7 RS4 on a fresh set of AG Wheels in a crazy red color. The finish on these wheels was incredible, something my pictures cannot fully capture but it’s stunning. Red wheels seemed to be a trend at SoCal Euro this year, and I have to say I’m quite cool with that.

The new M3 and M4 were both out in full force too, and these cars are super rad. This particular car done up by TAG Motorsports and sporting forged HRE wheels was particularly jaw dropping, as were a few others in attendance. The rear fenders on these cars would make Kim Kardashian blush.

Another favorite was this E63 AMG by TAG Motorsports. Audi if you are listening, Mercedes is killing it with the high performance wagon game, while you’re not even bringing them here anymore 🙁

Dennis Tang’s B8 RS4 conversion was out and looking hot as ever. The lighting was perfect to catch the great fender lines, so I’m happy to have caught a decent photo of it above…

Speaking of factory widebodies, this WTCC BMW was nothing short of stunning. This car is tracked all over Southern California, so don’t mistake it for another show scene wannabe 😉

Speaking of legit track stars – perhaps my favorite car however was the GMG Racing B5 S4 known as “Sophie” built by Quattro GmbH. What an incredible machine, even after all of these years…this car is no ordinary B5 S4, it was custom built from the ground up as a race car and has very little in common with the street version you see so frequently.

This Audi 50 was also a really cool find, looking as if it were brand new just yesterday, yet made between 1974-78 making it almost 40 years old…

Last but not least, the Liberty Walk 458 was neat to check out in person; I had seen tons of pictures of it before, but I liked it way better in person – the color combination works, although not many cars can pull this off (don’t try this at home, kids).

Check out the rest of the gallery on my Flickr gallery for the event, over 150 photos posted!