Uprising Vegas Automotive Culture
We arrived at the McCarran airport at 9am Monday morning. The infamous Las Vegas heat immediately hit us as we exited the automatic doors and hoped into our rental car. The dry desert heat instantly fueled us to start filming even though it was drastically different from the West Coast humidity of Vancouver that we were used to.
Our mission in Vegas was clear and simple – connect with the local European auto enthusiasts and hear their stories. We knew from past Speedline Film Werks trips that the Euro scene was a small but growing community. Our first major experience in Vegas happened while we filmed our video series for “Wuste 2011: A Desert Gathering”. Filming that event really gave us insight into the lack of local euro builds and made us wonder if a scene would emerge in a city known for its blatant tourism and somewhat plastic feel.
Upon entering the depths of the Las Vegas strip, we met up with the guys from the Who Cares Crew over a period of five days. The Who Cares Crew is a group of young car builders with an attitude reflective of their name. They simply build what they like without worrying about other people’s opinions. Over the five days of filming it became clear to us that these guys were as tight knit as it gets. They were there for each other no matter what. On the second day of production one of the guys got a flat tire on a busy highway just outside of the city. Instantly five guys showed up in three cars with a jack and put on a new tire and spacer to get him going again. We literally had to stop filming an interview with a few of the crew so they could go help him
The next few local interactions came about with our good friend Paolo Luna. We first met Paolo and his C320 at Wuste Fest 2011 and have been following his ever-changing build since. He’s been in the scene forever and gave us a ton of insight into the local culture. It was interesting to see his ever-changing perspectives on the way things are when it comes to Vegas cars.
Shelbi Clark was the next and last build on our radar. Her experience as a girl in the Euro scene was a story we wanted to capture. It’s a rare occurrence for us to see girls in the scene let alone with a build as astounding as hers. She shared her stories and then we were on our way back to the airport after an extensive five-day journey.
Back in Vancouver and finishing postproduction at the Speedline and Pixel Motion office, we noticed a single common theme – these guys were all family. They all had the same passion for cars that connected them so closely together and created a tight knit bond. They were willing to help each other out no matter what the circumstances and isn’t that really what any car scene is about? But don’t take our word for it, go check out the film and see for yourself!
