Kentia Hall – dubbed The Garage this year – at the Los Angeles Convention Center is literally the basement of the complex, and for years has been a sort of ‘Penalty Box’, a place where the delinquent children of the automotive world are sequestered, lest their ingenuity, garish colors, oversized wheels, and general badass-ery infect the more staid corporate offerings upstairs.
Here you can find every custom and modified vehicle under the sun – lowriders, hopped-up Smart cars, Italian supercars that have abandoned the autostrada for Fast & Furious LA, and, of course, dreadnaught-sized pickup trucks mounted on chassis so high you could camp out underneath them.
There are also the usual collectible dealers and automotive accessories booths, as well as eager fresh-faced product evangelists ready to convert you to the righteous path of appropriate chrome polish and antifreeze.
A walk through this weird and wonderful world is refreshing after the slick corporate presentations by the suits upstairs. It makes you believe in automotive culture, and reminds you that the car is a very personal, artistic thing. It’s impossible to document everything in “The Garage”, but here are a few highlights:
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