Mario James, Contributor
HOTT WHEELZ is back again with a vengeance. Slated for the first weekend in July, the Kolors & Koncepts production team is doing it bigger and better than ever! Koncepts Managing Director, Chris Baldie, has gone into grey matter overload for this one, with features so wild it'll make your head do an imitation of a Revolutionz spinner!
The overall concept is what grabs you, focusing on all comers. 'If a hot bicycle's out there, we want it in the show,' says Mr. Baldie. An avid car freak, 'Hott Wheelz' started out from humble beginnings in 2003, when the venue was the Caymanas Polo Club. This show was not a commercial success, but its planning and preparation steepened the learning curve to the point where the 'Koncepts team were able to put on one of the most successful events last year; certainly the biggest car show to date!
CAR BASHMENT
Jamaica's first real car bashment, Hott Wheelz 2004, was an all encompassing event, with only the speed freaks left out of the mix. Billed as a family fun day (complete with bounce-a-bouts for the kids) that transforms into a car show, and held at Cinema 2, competitive categories included Best Paint Job, Best Custom Paint Job, Best Body Kit, Best Female Owned Ride, Lowest Ride, Most Outstanding Ride, Most Outstanding Motor Bike, and of course, a Car Stereo Competition. This year's itinerary basically remains untouched the event will be staged over two days (July 2 and 3) with two stage performances added to the
line-up along with the de rigueur fashion show.
Unfortunately, due to the rowdiness of the crowd during the staging of the Car Stereo event, the axe has fallen on that category. It has been replaced by the 'Car Stereo Exhibition' event, which focuses on the installation and 'fit 'n' finish of the sound in your ride. The local DeeJay
royalty will be showing off their rides in earnest as well! Prizes and surprises abound; those with serious car knowledge will finally profit from all that seemingly useless trivia? automotive pop quizzes will be given, so come with your brain loaded for bear. Imagine! You can get paid for knowing what the firing order for a Ford 302 is! Ain't life just grand?
This year's event will be held at the National Arena; so come rain or shine, this event will take place! Booths will be placed upstairs, which will leave the entire first floor for your unencumbered, uninhibited, unlimited purveyance of cars. Automotive nirvana!
CREATIVE AND SAVVY
Mr. Baldie's automotive
experience is not superficial; Kolors & Koncepts is actually an automotive repair facility, with a production arm created to organise the show. Well, actually, its more like a rib? Mrs Baldie now oversees the organising details, and her creative input and marketing savvy are held in high regard by her husband (don't cha like it when a team comes together?). Remember the Top Less crew-mobiles of the 90s? those convertible pickups with murals and Testarossa side strakes? They were the brainchild of this young artisan. As Mr Baldie's automotive tastes have matured, so have his projects; witness the Dayton-spoked Buick 4-4-2 that was the star of the show last year. This year he's doing it again with a 500-cubic-inch Rat motored Cadillac Eldorado. The ultimate pimp mobile. It be bad, baby!
All in all, if last year's
instalment of the Hott Wheelz franchise is anything to go by, this should be the exclamation point on the 2005 automotive calendar. Automotives will keep an ear to the ground, and as this scene develops you'll be the first to know. Keep tuned!
