Ultimate Dubs UK 2020: Glistening display of cars draws crowd of 5,000 to Telford

The Ultimate Dubs UK 2020 event brought more than 5,000 visitors to Telford's International Centre over the weekend, with a showcase of stunning VWs, Audis, Seats, and Skodas – along with the odd Porsche thrown in for good measure.

The hugely popular show has been taking place at the venue, across three giant halls, for 15 years.

Visitors were greeted to the spectacular sight of a car park packed with lovingly modified vehicles and blaring dance music before you even get to the show floor where the major efforts, and potential prizewinners were on display.

For many exhibiting at the show their cars are an obsession, a labour of love, requiring years of painstaking work and thousands of hard earned pounds.

Glistening chrome, carbon fibre detailing, stunning colours, stereo systems that look like they could power an alien spacecraft, the effort and craftsmanship is truly impressive.

Darrell Allsworth, 52 from Wiltshire was one of those exhibiting on the show floor.

He and his wife, Karen, 50, were showing off her MK7 Golf – a futuristic vision of carbon fibre, three piece gold wheels, and space age hydraulics.

He explained that it was the first car he had ever modified, and that over the course of three years he spent more that £30,000 on the vehicle, with the wheels costing £6,000 alone.

Impressed

Visitors to the show were equally impressed, with every aisle and every car being snapped on smart phones by hundreds of passers by, while scores of video crews were capturing the efforts.

Paul Gardner, 45, from Rugeley, was showing off four cars modified by his firm, Airtek Automotive, which he runs with his two sons.

He said that the quest to improve their vehicle could become an obsession for some owners.

Paul explained that while many start out as a 'daily' – a car you would drive to work or to pick the children up from school – the amount of money invested can quickly turn them into a vehicle which only comes out on special occasions.

He said: "Some of these cars have gone from being a daily car to coming here on a trailer."

Paul added: "When you look at some of the vehicles here, they are obsessive."

Referring to spectacular work he and his sons carried out on a customer's T4 van, which involved cutting a window in the back floor so the air suspension is visible from the back of the vehicle, he said: "This is his obsession now, it is not a daily van. It started as a daily van and it has become a showpiece now."

He added: "It becomes an obsession like anything."

Paul explained that although he has a full time job, he started the business with his sons, after falling ill seven years ago.

He said: "I have always worked with cars but in 2013 I was diagnosed with cancer, I was ill for three years and had an operation to remove 70 per cent of my stomach. It gives you a distance and a different outlook on life.

"The kids were getting interested in cars and it got to the point where you think 'life is too short'."

He said they then took the decision to set up the business, which specialises in installing air ride suspension systems.

Gary Oldham, one of the show's organisers, said they were "very pleased" with the event, and were are already looking forward to their next event Ultimate Stance, showing off lowered vehicles, which takes place at the same venue on November 1.