ILB x AF at The Detailing Academy

If you're seriously into your online car culture vlogs and videos, we've no doubt that you'll already be more than familiar with the wealth of content from the guys at the ILB Drivers Club. In fact, we've been big fans of the brand from the very start, and we always look forward to their crazy reports from all over the world. So, when they popped down from their home base in Belfast, Northern Ireland, mooting the idea of putting together a cars and coffee event one summer Sunday, we were only too happy to play host at The Auto Finesse Detailing Academy.

To keep the numbers on the right side of the law we'd have to make it an advanced ticket only affair of course, but we made sure that the price of admission was fully redeemable against a product or two in our flagship store. As you'd expect too, the tickets sold out pretty damn quickly, and before we knew it, the Sunday morning rolled around and the gates opened…

It goes without saying that we made sure we laid on quite the reception, not least with our project fleet out in force. Our freshly prepared Chevy Stepside and immaculate R32 GT-R took pride of place in the detailing bays, proving as popular, and insta-photogenic, as ever. Our duo of tasty BMWs - the old skool E28 M535i and thoroughly modern M2 Competition track weapon - were also in attendance, placed right out front, to offer the perfect welcome to ticket holders. We even managed to bring along our battered and bruised Twingo Challenge cars, fresh from the thrills, spills and… er, even more spills of the latest Cadwell Park trackday, which took place merely hours before.

Oh, and just to make sure that everyone had the opportunity to grab their detailing kit and collab products without the wait, we also shipped in our bagged and fully loaded Airstream Land Yacht mobile shop… yes, that's right, two awesome stores in the same place. You can't say fairer than that, can you?

Of course, with such a fantastic collab kicking off between Auto Finesse and the ILB Drivers Club on the event, it was only right that we collaborated on a few extra special products, too. These included an extremely limited-edition blend of ILB x AF "Snappy' Quick Detailer, along with exclusive T-Shirt and keyring designs… and naturally, all these were solely available on the day, with these future collector's items selling out fast.

Even though the weather was sure to cause of a little tension at the start, it was soon clear that the classic British summertime rainfall would hold off and, if anything, that made the atmosphere even more laid back than usual… and it's pretty chilled here to start off with! As the cars piled in, filling the entire area around The Detailing Academy, everyone had the chance to relax and check out an extremely diverse collection of vehicles, along with all those sublime little details and talking points that make the British modifying scene the finest, and most imaginative, on the planet.

Inside, the vibe was just as laid back as you'd expect. We even had a couple of special guests, including the stunning JP Performance Porsche 911 front and centre - always a pleasure to have such a legend in the building!

ILB's recently-detailed E28 was also on display, slammed on bags and polished BBS splits. This has to be one of the lowest out there and is currently winging its way back to Belfast after a huge tour of the UK. It's also the perfect demonstration of why, in our minds, retro BMWs can only ever get cooler as time goes on.

Granted, our new Caddy project was a little tucked away around the corner in our build bay, but as most of the visitors we have on a day-to-day basis will testify, "this build in progress' always proves a popular attraction. You'll be seeing much more of this particular VW pickup very soon.

One of the things we like most about ILB is that they're extremely inclusive, whether you love cars, love bass, or love wheels and whatnot - everyone's always invited. This as you would imagine, brings with it quite the variety of different cars - everything from modified daily drivers, to something just for the weekend, and even the odd racy little number. Here's some of our favourites from throughout the day…

Thanks to everyone who bought a ticket and came along to the event. Don't forget to look out for the upcoming video on ilbdriversclub.com, and we'll catch you all at the next one!