Tucked At The Park
As UK events go, witnessing a whole load of the UK's freshest cars parking up in the grounds of 19th Century stately home that seems to be straight out of a VHS recording of Downton Abbey is, we admit, a little less than typical. But, as unusual as it is, this jaw dropping venue is extremely fitting because Tucked At The Park has to be one of the most laid back shows out there. Imagine this one as a bona fide lesson in slowing down, chilling out, smelling the roses and putting your feet up. And why not? Life is short, sometimes you just have to relax and savour it! And trust us when we say that Tucked always have plenty up their sleeves to savour.
So, with the promise of one of the most easy-going events of the year on the horizon, we packed up the fleet and made our way to Shuttleworth House in leafy Bedfordshire…
When faced with an event like Tucked, and offered a nice prominent space in the showground, there's only one thing you can do - break out some of the lowest (not to mention most "tucked') projects on the fleet. This included such old skool crowd-pleasers as Project Unknown - our monster turbo, 20V Mk2 Golf - along with our immaculate, static dropped E28 M535i. And, let's not forget the heart of the operation - the only bagged Airstream Land Yacht in the whole of Europe. Suffice to say that our rather epic mobile store went down amazingly, in more ways than one.
Apart from setting up a full display of perfectly detailed goodness, we also decided to team up with Tucked to cook up a very special, one-off collaboration product. Helping to support our favourite British automotive brands is something we have the utmost passion for, so we came up with Show Field Shine, a super-limited edition, premium quick detailer that was only available on the day. We also thought it only right that we gave away a free bottle to our first 50 customers, too!
It goes without saying that this event is all about the amazing metal on display, but being so laid back, something of an all-encompassing modifying family affair, and in such a docile setting, there was a few other unique things going on, too. For a start we can't think of the last time we saw a full-on half pipe at a car show, complete with a whole load of pro skate and BMX guys to take all the risks in the art of instantly winning over the crowd. Add that to a free Ferris wheel for the quirkiest of vantage points, and even a few aerial aerobatics laid on by the organisers, and we certainly found this event to have an eclectic style all of its own.
As for the actual cars? Well, even though Tucked is something of an all-inclusive lifestyle brand where everyone is welcome, it's true to say that there was a distinctly retro flavour on the day. This of course included plenty of those cars that can only come with one of two responses - the ones that make you say; "wow, you don't see many of those nowadays!" Or, perhaps, if you're a little younger; "what actually is that?!" It's not every day you see a fully modified Austin-Healey Sprite or Retro-style Nissan Pao, after all.
In fact, you'd be forgiven of you didn't immediately recognise every single car at Tucked - it's been many, many years since most of these were a common sight on the road… and some of them were never all that that common in the first place! There's rarity value aplenty here, but that's not to say that there wasn't a few examples of sweetly modified modern metal thrown in, too. Not to mention a whole mixture of different marques from around the world, modified in their own unique styles. There's almost too many to mention, but here's just a few of our absolute favourites from the day…
As you can imagine there is many a trophy to be had at on the main stage at Tucked, all picked up by worthy winners we might add. But, an extra special mention has to go out to the jaw-dropping Porsche 356 from James at Outlawracers, which picked up the most prestigious Best Of Show award. This stunning classic is all about the details - it's bagged, tucked, painted and trimmed to perfection… and, naturally, was buffed to perfection, too, with our AF x Tucked Show Field Shine.
Thanks to everyone who came by the Airstream for some help or advice, or of course, for a few of our products and a bottle of Show Field Shine. We'll see you again, at the next one with an equally special collab, so keep an eye on the Auto Finesse social channels and www.tucked-automotive.com for updates.
