Last week on a rainy Wednesday evening, my friends headed to the 2015 Vancouver International Auto show at the Vancouver Convention Centre. For out-of-towners, the convention centre is located near the Olympic torch and Tap & Barrel – home of one of the better poutines I have tried in Vancouver.
Realistically, I don’t have much business being at an International Auto Show. It’s more of a general public event that we’re used to covering.
I was pleasantly surprised as soon as I entered the show and found these two cars. To paraphrase the Fresh Prince of Bel Air: “Is this what the people of Vancouver live like? Hmmm this might be alright.”
And much like Will from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, I was swept into a world of luxury and wealth where I didn’t quite belong. These weren’t the Japanese imports I was used to shooting. Having not attended the SEMA show in Vegas in a few years, it had been a while since I’d crossed paths with the six digit cars.
As I reached the end of the first hall, I was quickly re-aquainted with cars that were more West Philadelphia to my Will Smith. Tucked away in the corner was where I found the imports that usually consume my time. However, poor lighting and time restraints kept me from giving these cars the time they deserved. All I managed to do was to capture a single shot of this Liberty Walk R35.
The main hall on the lower floor was where the real event took place. The entire floor was covered with brand new 2015 models from pretty much every manufacturer – and a couple concept cars, like the Subaru pictured above.
The booths bled into one another as we walked from one manufacturer to the next, but sometimes we would catch something slightly askew. Vehicles like this RHD CX-3 were shipped over from Japan for the show because they aren’t sold in North America yet.
Of note, Nissan opted out of bringing the IDx so they could instead bring a very phallic zero-emissions car that seems to be inspired by Ace and Gary’s car from SNL’s Saturday TV Funhouse.
The Auto Show is a great place to go if you’re looking to buy a new car or just want to sit in some higher price cars without the hassle of salesman asking you why you’re sitting in a $90,000 Lexus LS that you have no intention of buying. But if you’re a guy who mostly shoots cars sliding around a track or cars with weird fitting wheels, it’s probably not the best place for you to be gathering content.
At the end of the day, I focused less on the photos and just sat in a few cars and asked my friends to “picture me rolling” – while asking myself how much the RHD version would sell for in 15 years.