DRIVEN 2026 started early for the Synthwave SVX. Roll-in was scheduled for 10:00 AM at CF Sherway Gardens, which meant getting organized long before the show opened to the public. The morning was spent with the Rex’s Customs crew, helping unload their purple race car for display, then rolling into the show together like a tiny neon parade.
By the time the boxes were unloaded, and the models were all dressed up, there was still an hour to go before the gates opened. These DRIVEN guys know how to organize an event! Eveyone who was working a booth at the show, or displaying their car in the hoped of bringing home a trophy, had an hour to enjoy the show themselves. No crowd, no customers, just a cool meet.
The event was mostly funded mostly by corporate sponsors and vendors like LiquiMoly, Yokohama Tires, Ray’s Wheels and RAUH-Welt (RWB) which are all big players in the car scene.
By 1:00 PM, the garage had transformed into a full car-culture carnival. More than 300 modified, JDM and exotic cars filled the venue, giving spectators six solid hours to take in the machines, meet the builders, and stare at details that only car people understand.
There were personal moments mixed into the day too. Alice came by for a while, lunch happened at Eataly, and after too much pasta, the front seat of her car became an accidental nap pod. Luckily, the phone was loud enough to wake me when my neighbour Trevor texted to say he’d be arriving in 15 minutes. Otherwise, the SVX owner might have slept through his own car show.
The afternoon picked up again with Trevor, who came to support the day and talk cars, including plans for the 1986 Toyota Corolla GTS waiting patiently in his garage for restoration. That’s the sweet spot that DRIVEN hits. Sure it’s a car show, and there’s pretty girls around, but this is the kind of event a gearhead can use to connect with aftermarket parts suppliers to help get a project completed.
Awards for Best in Show and Best in Class went to well-deserving competitors with serious builds, machines that put the SVX firmly in its place: a cool, retro Japanese cruiser with vaporwave visions in its dreams, still happiest as a daily driver, not a trailer queen.
So cool!
🙂