Park and Polish 2017

It’s currently one of my favourite times of the year – no, not Halloween, but SEMA! Keep your candy and costumes, all I want to do is start going through the content from the show! Anyway, as with years prior you can expect some highlights from the show (read: Ford builds) to go live here on officialTHREETWENTY and I’m already starting on preparing those, but in the meantime I have photos from another annual event (and personal highlight of the year) to share with you all – Park and Polish!

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For newer readers or those just unfamiliar with the show, Park and Polish takes place each year near the end of the season, and serves as a great way to bring together plenty of local enthusiasts and builds for one more big show before winter preparations begin. While the vehicles all get sorted (roughly) into a few different categories, the show is a great common ground for the different genres of the automotive world. From your iconic imports like Civics and Integras to exotics that cost more than most houses, there will be something for everyone. There’s even games for those who wish to partake, or for those non-car people that find themselves getting dragged to the show and are looking to pass the time. Haha

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Anyway, for this year’s coverage I decided to streamline it a bit by combining it into one post instead of splitting it up by the different categories like I had last year. It also seemed that the show was a bit smaller than some previous years so I wound up with less pictures, but the attendance was still great and the selection and variety of the metal on display impressive as always. Let’s begin!

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Naturally I took the Focus (leaving the Grand Prix at home) while my mother decided to give the S13 a turn this year. I had said, when it was unveiled last fall, that it’d be getting used and it certainly has been! Over 3000 kilometers were added to the little Nissan’s odometer this season from taking it to various shows and other events around the city.

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The card you saw me holding in the last photo was my door prize ticket, and once our cars were parked and clean I made sure to wander over and drop it into one of the draw boxes. That took me through the Exotics section where I was of course overjoyed at the sight of not just one, but two 675LTs. One of these sits right at the top of my list of totally unnecessary and over-the-top life goals….alongside a stable of S15s of course. On an unrelated note, does anyone want to buy about 30,000 officialTHREETWENTY t-shirts?

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Since their roofs were down, it would have been rude to not grab a photo of one of the interiors…

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A little further down in that lot, Vex could be found with a booth and a few of their projects on display. One of the vehicles that they brought out was the Factory Five GTM and it gave me the chance to grab a better interior photo than the one I had from World of Wheels in February.

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One nice surprise at the show was this new NSX (incidentally parked next to a new Giulia). I happened to spot a black NSX out on the road not too long after Park and Polish; perhaps it was this one? I imagine there can’t be too many of these in customers’ hands just yet.

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Of course I can’t do Park and Polish coverage without photos of the awards; those who have read previous years’ coverage (or have been to the show) will know the organizers utilize old race car parts to make these up, and instead of having more typical categories will make those unique too.

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This approach makes for some rather fun awards, and I think it perfectly suits the atmosphere of the show; it’s not a ‘serious’ competition like at other events, everyone is just out for fun, to enjoy the lifestyle, and also support a good cause (MADD).

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My personal favourite had to be the award for the Best Euro. I’ll assume that due to the smaller size of the salvaged part they added the Park and Polish logo on top, which was a really nice piece on its own.

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And now let’s get back to the cars – not everything with funky doors was something exotic; there was also a DeLorean! As a BTTF fan I will always admire these. Can we please get these in Forza Horizon (preferably with the full Time Machine getup)?

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I really hope you guys like this shot of the 720S because I had to wait quite a while to get it. Haha. I had actually seen this out and about on the road just a few days prior to Park and Polish which surprised me, but it is indeed a privately-owned car now!

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Unless we’re talking about the AMG GT R specifically, for me it’s SLS over the newer GT every day. Apparently there actually is a GT R in town now too, which I found out when I saw photos of it at a Cars and Coffee event that I missed. It was one of just a couple that I couldn’t attend this season and I believe it was the only time the GT R participated. Sad face. Add that to the 2018 ‘hunt down’ list.

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Across the aisle sat a Lancia Delta HF – and not the same from last year (unless a number of changes were made to it). It was very cool to see another one of these around!

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I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again; I really wish more owners and builders displayed information on cars at shows. Another great example was these two Minis. I can’t say I know loads about original Minis but these two looked special from the start with their flared arches and other parts; these were ERA Mini Turbos, modified versions of the car produced by Engineering Research and Application Ltd. Apparently only a few hundred of these were ever built (from ’89-91) so to have two together was really quite special.

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Over in the corner of the main ‘tuner’ lot were JC’s CT and his father’s Celica; two very different cars built very different ways (by different generations), but from the same manufacturer, and because of the same passion.

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This ’71 Javelin is owned by Randy and Bonnie, whom we also know through model railroading – how many of you guys knew that was one of my hobbies? We see them most springs during an annual model railway society event, and then throughout the year we’ll see them many weekends when we’re at car events together.

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Other club friends at the show included Geoff and Christine with their Thunderbird convertibles…

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..as well as Ian and Janice with their ’62 Thunderbird and Corvair.

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We also found Dave and Joy’s Comet Cyclone, next to J.J.’s Magnum.

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The Nissan 300ZX – I swear I couldn’t go anywhere this year without seeing one of these. I always notice them anyway so remove any mental bias skewing the perceived popularity of these; everyone and their dog seems to have picked one up this season. It wasn’t just at car shows either, as I’d even randomly find stock ones in parking lots while getting groceries or grabbing dinner, and plenty of them were LHD too. Keep in mind though, I’m not complaining…just wondering where on earth they all came from!

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I had the chance to catch up with Aldrich and some of the others too when I ran into them later in the day; naturally Merlin was there too and he soon found a spot on the grass where he could relax.

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A lens change was a perfect excuse to grab more 675LT photos. As if I needed one.

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Yup, I forgot to get a full exterior shot – I double checked. I’ll wait for the hatemail.

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At some shows – Park and Polish especially – I’ll wander through the spectator lot since there can be some gems hidden in there too; after all, a car show attracts car enthusiasts! I made a quick lap nearer the end of the show so there wasn’t too much this time around, but there was a familiar-looking DC5 parked behind some little Fiesta…

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As I wandered back to the show itself, a look around the corner reminded me of just how well these Park and Polish events bring together a variety of enthusiasts and cars. GT3, Golf, AE86, Mustang, Continental…what others can you spot here?

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Another shot of the GT3 for good measure, with less fence.

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Each one just slightly different than the others.

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The B5 generation of A4/S4 is almost certainly my favourite, so this clean example caught my eye. A clean, understated design that is aging well.

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Once the awards had been called (that door prize ticket I had? I won a gift card to a local shop!) and the show began to wrap up, I popped across the street to try for some rollers as a good way to end the day’s photos. I started off with a small target – one of the ERA Mini Turbos.

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Ian headed out shortly afterwards in his ‘bird.

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Of course we all followed the 720S with our cameras. It looked so good in motion.

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The Staniloffs then departed in their Viper and Continental – the Viper being the same one that regular attendees of this year’s Menace Meets saw out at some of them. Just before it had to be parked for winter, Jeff actually took me for a spin in it and boy was it fun; it’s one of the most powerful cars I’ve ever been in and with their spec, has plenty of satin carbon fiber trim inside.

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And last but not least, a GT3RS and what is one of my favourite shots from the day. That’s a wrap on this year’s Park and Polish coverage; I imagine it won’t be long before little ghosts and pirates and astronauts and so forth start ringing our bell and hoping for candy, so I guess I’d better sign off and get prepared! Thank you all for reading!

-Bill

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