Car Shows & Meets

Protective Film Solutions Open House

Normally if a few supercars turn up at a car show, it’s considered a great turnout…but at Protective Film Solutions, mere supercars were hardly noticeable as dozens of multi-million dollar hypercars piled into to their new Headquarters in Santa Ana to make this a truly one-of-a-kind event. The PFS Open House benefitted Tilly’s Life Center and registration was $150 per car and limited to only 100 cars, featuring many of their high-end clients in the Orange County, Los Angeles and San Diego area. The event was done right with tons of security to guard the cars and make sure no one got too handsy, as well as a DJ, food, VIP area, and much more. I believe it was one of (if not THE) biggest gathering of Paganis and Koenigseggs in the US, not to mention an insane turnout of Bugattis, Ferraris, and other cars you rarely if ever see in person, yet alone all at the same time.

The car I was most interested to see in person was the new Bugatti Chiron…the yellow “Hell Bee” above is the first Chiron in the US, and it was cool to check it out in person. From the rear it is absolutely menacing, from the front it is more familiar with the previous generation, yet the sleek LED headlights give it a nice facelift while all of the other lines of the car have a more modern and aggressive cut.

Parked next to it was a Mansory tuned Bugatti Veyron. The body is all exposed carbon fiber, with gold accents. It’s not subtle, but who buys a Bugatti to be subtle?

Across from the bugs was a Ferrari Enzo, Ferrari LaFerrari, and a Ferrari F40; arguably the three best Ferraris in the last three decades. I personally had never seen a LaFerrari in person, and it is a lot better looking than it’s silly name would imply. The Enzo remains very timeless for a car last produced when I graduated high school (2003), and the F40 is still my all-time favorite.

Another favorite in the front parking lot was a Lamborghini Centenario finished in Blu Cepheus. Lamborghini produced just 20 of these (and another 20 in roadster format) globally to commemorate the 100th birthday of its founder, Ferruccio Lamborghini. Each one is estimated to cost roughly $2.3-2.5 million dollars, but given their rarity it takes more than just money to buy one – you’ll need to have a well established collection of Lamborghinis, too.

Also outside was three McLaren P1s, showing Germany and Italy that the Brits aren’t playing around either. In person the P1 is even better than in pictures, they are low, wide, and sleek as possible. From a purely aesthetics perspective, I think the P1 is still the best looking of the bunch – and the performance data seems to suggest they’re among the best to drive, too.

Inside was where it got really interesting, with a handful of ultra rare Koenigseggs and Paginis, as well as a few Ford GTs for good measure. The Koenigsegg Agera RS was one of my favorites with a stunning livery of grey, orange, and exposed carbon fiber.

There were also several Pagani Huayras on display, a car limited to just 100 units worldwide and worth over $1M when new. Given their rarity, they were roped off and had PFS employees guarding them…but even without getting too close, you could tell they were something special.

The slightly less rare, but still pretty insanely rare Pagani Zonda was also on display, with three of them forming a circle in the middle of the room. Roughly 1,000 Zondas were produced (compared to 100 Huayras) but many special editions of the Zondas and unique finishes such as the blue carbon/kevlar above.

The new Ford GT (and previous gen GT) were also on display, and was another first for me seeing it in person. Ford did a really great job, but competing with how exotic and eye popping the most rare cars from Italy and Sweden are, they were a bit overshadowed…especially in a plain silver finish. It’s crazy how quickly you normalize to exposed carbon fiber bodies and bright colors like the Zonda below!

Moving back outside, there was still tons to see – and I was only there for an hour. Tons of PFS customers showed up, as well as some of the neighbors like Vorsteiner, GMG, Lamborghini Newport Beach, McLaren Newport Beach, and the like. Orange County doesn’t mess around…

Below are a few more of my favorite pictures, or you can skip to the bottom and view my full Flickr gallery to see the rest.

Flickr gallery:

Protective Film Solutions Open House 2017

Nick Roshon

Nick has been an Audi owner and fanatic for the last 10 years, and started Nick's Car Blog in 2009 to share DIYs and pictures of his A4. Currently he drives a 2012 Audi TT-RS, and has previously owned a B7 S4, B7 A4, and an 82 Audi Coupe (GT) LeMons race car. In his day job, Nick is a digital marketer and lives in San Diego, CA, USA.

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