Detailing Academy Xmas Bash

After the strict, and rather last minute, government regulations put an end to our best laid plans of a big Christmas bash back in 2020, it has to be said that we were keeping our fingers, toes, and everything else crossed for 2021. In fact, we just can't tell you how happy we were when the word came down that history wasn't going to repeat itself for this year's festive season… although it was (and still is) mighty close to another lockdown, we think you'll agree!

But, as we found ourselves officially free and clear to open the doors of the Auto Finesse Detailing Academy for one almighty pre-Xmas meet, on the last weekend before Santa loads up his sleigh, we quickly decided there was only one way to go - and that's to make our seasonal evening soiree bigger and better than ever before.

It wasn't just by going completely postal with the decorations or laying on a bevy of traditional festive treats like mince pies, cake, hot chocolate and, er… Italian stone baked Pizza, either. No, we also had the projects, the brand new detailing products and the staff out in full force, once again proving what we always knew anyway - our Academy isn't just a spanky detailing education centre and flagship store, it's a destination!

But before all that, before we could even think about swinging open the gates, there was the significant task of getting the place suitably dressed for such a momentous occasion. Of course, regular visitors to the Academy will already know that our huge setup is something of a showpiece, as well as being a fully operational epicentre of all things car detailing. It always - and we do mean always - looks amazing packed to the gills with cool cars and just about every product in our range. But, to be fair, going the extra mile with the tinsel and trinkets is what Christmas is all about, right?

So, with that in mind, we drafted in a mountain of stock, got busy preparing the cars, and started bringing on the full festive cheer with a truck-load of trees, baubles and twinkly lights. As for any event we attend, getting set up is real team effort (with absolutely no messing about, naturally) but there's nothing quite like doing the job at the Academy, there really is no place like home, especially at Christmas.

Inside, with all the festive cheer, our 200-odd strong product range and our legendary Christmas Promo still in full swing, we made sure there was plenty of opportunity to pick up those last-minute presents for friends and family, not to mention grabbing a free gift, along with a Christmas Pudding Avalanche Snow Foam and Gingerbread Man Air Freshener, but that wasn't all. No, we also launched our brand new winter apparel collection, including three new premium hoody designs, a whole host of lanyards, and a little something extra for the ladies, too.

If that wasn't enough, attendees were also given the first chance to grab themselves one of our strictly limited edition 2022 Calendars. But, don't worry if you missed out - all these new items can be found right here.

One thing that everyone always loves to see is the project fleet, and this time, with only one or two notable exceptions, we had them all on display. This includes all the track cars, bikes and of course, our huge Airstream mobile store.

It goes without saying that there's been more than a couple of acquisitions and big builds since the last Christmas bash in 2019 - the Skyline GT-R, Caddy V2, Metruck Scooter, BMW M2 and Yaris GR to name but a few - but this is the very first time that our 1200hp Endless Racing Nissan S15 drag car has been on view to the public (yep, we have one of those, too). We had no doubt that this monster would be infinitely popular, and we were right! But just enjoy the picture for now - we'll bring you more on this one here in the AF Blog very soon.

So, what else was going on when the cars started rolling in? Well, first and foremost our Academy is a training facility for professional detailers, and we had our instructors on hand to carry out some extra special demonstrations and take customers through the technicalities of all the detailing products in our range - a spot of free personal tuition is never a bad thing, is it?

And was our little event popular? Well, put it this way - we didn't just fill our car park, along with the carparks of the building on either side - we rammed out the entire estate!

As always, too, the variety of stunning cars that turned up was right up there, and as you can imagine, when the sun goes down at about lunchtime, there's certainly a different vibe to any gathering after dark… we kinda like it.

Thanks to everyone who popped by on the day and, despite the current climate, making this the biggest Academy Bash to date.

We'll see you all in 2022, but in the meantime, from all the staff here at Auto Finesse, we hope you have a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!