Andrew Lee-sing, organiser of the Heelz & Wheelz car show series, is happy with the event’s recent staging at the Portmore Town Centre in St Catherine, on Labour Day.

“We had a great turnout. The rain slowed us down a bit, but we built back up the attendance as the event went along,” he told the Jamaica Observer’s weekly Auto magazine.

With a slightly bigger layout than the March staging, the venue still struggled to fit all the vehicles participating in the show. The early afternoon rains kept things empty for a while, as many drivers on show didn’t want their freshly prepped cars getting dirty.

Late in the evening, the venue was packed full of plenty of automotive eye candy. Car clubs including Dapper Clique, Team Stainless, Note Nation, Team 1 Accord and dealers such as ATL Automotive through their KIA brand kept the crowd interested.

“We won’t be having anymore pop-up series for the rest of the year. We will be having our annual custom show which will be held at the National Stadium further down in the year,” Lee-sing said.

The rows of high-performance and modified cars indicated the trends on the street and what to expect at the summer Heelz & Wheelz show, one of which is the influx of European sports cars.

“Hondas were already popular, but BMWs are now a staple as well,” he noted.

The traditional upgrades, wheels and accessories are now so commonplace that many have shifted their game to more elaborate personalised options, like under-bonnet murals, LED lighting and customised interiors.

Lee-sing hopes the energy seen at the pop-up series will make it to the summer event and is doing all he can to encourage it.

“The plan is to have a SEMA (Speciality Equipment Market Association) — style edition at our National Stadium event in the Mas Camp parking lot. We’ll do workshops and showcase new auto-related products,” he said.

— Rory Daley