Ultimate Dubs 2023

There's no denying that Ultimate Dubs is a huge deal. The official season opener brings with it a whole host of amazing cars and premium builds, many of which having been completed over the winter to make their show debut right here. It goes without saying too, that we break out the big guns for our display, which sits pride of place right in the middle. We always show up in force with a whole load of project cars, and even more top detailing products.

The reality of course, is that the show prep starts well before the weekend, all the cars are thoroughly detailed by the team at The Detailing Academy, before loading up and rolling out ready for a few more finishing details on the morning of the event. And don't even get us started with the amount of vans packed full of detailing products that have to be ready to roll, too.

The challenge, as you can imagine, is making sure we never run out of essentials during the event, so everyone gets the chance to get their hands on everything they need. But then again, we've got the logistics down to a fine art nowadays anyway, with plenty of the team mucking in to make it all happen. We also had a little extra help from TeamAF USA, with Sam (one of the top guys from our Auto Finesse USA) who was over for a spot of training and to see one of the big UK events in full swing.

As one of the main sponsors, let's just say that we make sure we put on a little show of our own. This year we brought with us, not just our AirStream Land Yacht pop up store but more of our Auto Finesse builds than ever before. In fact, not only was our new BBS-clad Porsche making its first outing but our OG MK1 Caddy and Caddy V2 projects were joined by our latest Caddy Project, which had been freshly pinstriped just a few days before. Yep, that's three little VW pickups - have a look at our AFTV section to see more on that one. Oh, and because we drafted in a massive HGV transporter to ship them all up to the Telford Exhibition Centre, we even had room to chuck in the Metruck Scooter which matches the Caddy V2. It's always a pleasure to get that one out for sure.

As always we get ourselves up north on the day before the show, just to make sure we have time to get the cars unloaded and on the stand, and everything stocked up ready to go.

On the morning of the event, it's an early start for all staff. First, we bestow our cars a few finishing touches and open the stand early so the other exhibitors can get the essentials for the finishing touches on their show cars, too. We're always happy to help in that respect, and even lend a hand with the buffing, or a little advice on how to make what they've got on display look its best. All part of the service you might say.

The early morning also gives us a chance to have a look around all the cars, take a few pics and start deciding which one we'll be giving the coveted Auto Finesse Sponsor's Choice Award later in the day. Never an easy task that one, there's always plenty to choose from.

And all this is before the gates are even open to the public…

As for the actual show? Well as you can imagine there was a lot to love, with car after epic car on display. This year we also laid on a special preview of our exciting new launch - our range of Professional Series Compounds, Machine Polishing Pads and Hand Polishing Pucks.

After more than 3-years of development, strictly speaking, these aren't available until April, but we decided to give the car detailing hardcore a chance to grab some early before the drop. To find out more about these products, you can check out our article - The Auto Finesse Pro Series Range.

Aside from that, the rest of the show was, as always, something of a blur. Here's a whole load of our favourite cars and other antics from the day…

Phew, what a hectic show eh? As you can probably guess picking a winner for our Sponser's choice award wasn't easy but after much deliberation we chose Benny Mansfield's R32-powered Mk1 Golf. What a well-finished stunner this one is, eh? A worthy winner and no mistake.

Well, that's the show season opener for 2023 done and we're all looking forward to what the rest of the season has to offer. Keep an eye here on the Shows section of our blog for more show coverage and you can find out more about Ultimate Dubs, including how to enter your car for next year, on www.ultimate-dubs.co.uk