Big SoCal Euro Gathering 2014

Words by Matt Willis

As with each previous year, time seems to be accelerating faster and faster. This year quickly coming to a close, as this summer’s events wind down and move forth into the holiday season. The 2014 SEMA Show is also just around the corner, so be sure to mark your calendars for that too…

Like most, I’ve been very busy lately. I’m back at the books as of recent — just a couple of classes — but on top of work and a laundry list of other things going on, getting out and shooting anything is becoming difficult. I’ve also been trying to get more into aviation, both photography-wise and also slowly working towards getting my wings. I hope to bring more of that content to our sister site, Novus Machine, very soon…

I was able to make it out to the recent Big Socal Euro Gathering here in San Diego a few weeks ago, along with Tim, to cover this year’s event. Tim has covered this for the past few years and has really seen it expand, so I was curious to see what this gathering has grown into.

I have to say, going through previous years’ builds, I was underwhelmed when I had left. The turnout was big, but it seemed a little weak. I don’t know if it’s the “euro-” community in general, or if we were too early to the event, or what. While there were definitely some top-notch cars, many of them looked like they had just driven off the lot and recently got the wheel-and-suspension treatment (if even that). I suppose the same could be said for the import community, or the entire automotive network for that matter. It just seems like that sort of “half-building” technique happens more and more with midrange European cars. People are going out and purchasing brand-new vehicles to what seems like just bring them to events and show it off as-is, to make the point that they have a moderately expensive car with a nice profile. At the same time, I feel that the overall variety in the Euro scene has become quite drab as well – not just at this particular meet, but overall. Maybe it’s copycat syndrome, I don’t know. But I honestly can’t tell you the last Euro car that really blew me away. It was probably a track build…haha…

Circling back to SCE, the event still had a lot of really great, quality setups. As I mentioned, there was a great turnout, and there were a handful of exclusive vendors on site too. We had only stayed for a little while, but the cars seemed to be continually coming and going. There were some “sub-organizations” out in the parking lot, with different car clubs, owners, etc that we checked out as well. I’ll let the pictures do the talking from here…

The SCE Gatheringis held in the Qualcomm Stadium northwest parking lot…

Beautiful BMW M3 from Global Motorsports Group…

Flanking the E30 M3 was this GMG A4 touring car. I always love seeing touring car builds like this.

A British classic, the Jaguar XK 140 Coupe…

Tim and I noted this EF Civic, which was slightly out of place here, but a nice build nonetheless…

BMW E21 Coupe.

Audi S4 on beautiful HRE wheels…

Audi R8, also on HREs…

The new BMW M4…

More E30’s….

The Audi RS7 has to be my favorite Audi, or at least in close second to the ’06-’08 RS4. It has such beautiful lines. The bevel around the headlights that follows the fender, the sharp angle on the rear deck, and wide profile all make this car for me.