V8 Builds Event Coverage

Celebrating the V8 as only Southern California can.

While LS Fest is an amazing celebration of all things LS, there is another event that’s taken place in Southern California since 2016. It’s the V8 Builds – a celebration of all things eight cylinders. Here, you won’t just see domestics hard parking at the car show, but you’ll also find them running down the cones at the autocross as well. You’ll also see quite a few other classic GM cars and trucks ranging from low riders to track chasers to show stoppers. If you want V8 in any flavor, you’ve come to the right show.

V8 Builds was founded by Antonio Alvendia, a man with a passion for all things fast and fun on wheels. He’s normally associated with the Toyota AE86, a classic Japanese car with roots in the drifting scene, but he’s into anything that he can turn a wheel with. He’s also built on the success of the younger generation and is trying to bridge the gap between the typical domestic guy and the typical import guy with shows like this. V8 Builds doesn’t start at the crack of dawn and is friendlier towards the show goer who remembers his or her import days but has moved on to four more cylinders. The types who stay up later and wake up well after the sun is up.

That’s not to say V8 Builds doesn’t have something to offer the classic domestic guy, though. You’ll see a lot of tattoo’d people about half your age but you’ll also find they have started to appreciate those classics you grew up with. You’ll find low riders with amazing paint jobs, thundering hot rods, pony cars, and even a truck or several. You’ll also find they don’t just go fast in a straight line when you venture over to the autocross.

Here, young and old meld together to create cars that look good standing still, but will fly by you while holding corners you didn’t think were possible in a Nova or Chevelle. Yet, here they are, carving corners and eating a cone or two as they all compete for the fastest times of the day. It makes you wonder why you didn’t find this sooner.

However, if you’re more into good looking cars there was the car show and vendor displays. The show had some of the finest V8 powered cars and not all were domestic. There were LS-swapped BMWs, Nissans, and others as well. Vendors were there to help you find a way to do a swap, make your car or truck faster, or stop better. Towards the end of the day, raffle prizes were given away just before the car show and autocross awards were handed out.

If you want to see what the kid down the street is thinking about when it comes to V8s, it’s changed. He or she might want a Honda still but they aren’t afraid of eight cylinders anymore. However, they aren’t building them like you used to, hot rod, they are building them faster and better than before. Don’t worry, you aren’t too old to learn how to drive fast in more than a straight line and soon you’ll also be at the 2018 V8 Builds Show and Autocross.