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Written and photographed by: David Harman
Riverside Chattanooga held its eighth annual car show at the First Horizon Pavilion this weekend. Riverside attracts car enthusiasts of all ages from all over the country into our city.
Spectators with early access passes were given permission to enter the First Horizon Pavillion starting at 9:00 am. Upon arrival, they were met with an enormous line of show-worthy cars awaiting their entry as far as the eye could see down Reggie White Blvd.
The cars inside Riverside’s show are carefully curated to make sure that only the highest quality cars can get into the show. On display were classic cars, race cars, imported cars, and highly modified cars that people built themselves.
Riverside’s staff and spectators are all passionate about automobiles. For some, cars might be a tool, something to get you from point A to point B- not for this crowd. The pavilion and the surrounding areas were filled with highly modified vehicles- cars with flashy paint jobs, custom interiors, and suspension so low that you can’t see the ground under the vehicle.
These VIP interiors were some of my favorite things there.
Along with the cars in the show, Riverside also housed over 50 vendors. There were food trucks, apparel brands, and even car parts manufacturers. Chattanooga’s rich local car community was on display in tandem with people from all over the country.
One local manufacturer vending at Riverside was JD Customs USA, which started in 2016; they’ve grown extremely quickly- specializing in titanium goods. JD Customs handles everything from universal parts to custom engravings to customer standards. John Smith, the founder and owner of JD Customs, was excited to vend to Riverside spectators this year. He expressed why the cars at Riverside are of the highest quality.
“The people that approve or deny the cars are very picky,” Smith said. “It makes the cars that do make it (into the show) very worthy of getting in. If 50 of one car apply, they’ll pick the best out of those, so you see the best one showcased.”
One of the most eye-catching vendor booths at Riverside was BridgeMoto, hailing from Talking Rock, GA. They create custom performance and safety gear for motorsports. Their tables were lined with racing seats, harnesses, steering wheels, helmets, and racing gloves, finished in attention-grabbing neon colors. Alan Newsome, team owner, and lead driver of BridgeMoto, was able to put the reasoning behind the show into perspective. Why would all these people put thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars into modifying their vehicles?
“It’s just like a painting; it’s a canvas,” Newsome explained. “When you go to modify or build a car to your specification, no two canvases are alike when you paint a picture. It’s the same thing with cars. It has your identity and your creativity entwined into one.”
In the center of the pavilion, the MartiniWorks booth was garnering a lot of attention. Coming all the way from Wisconsin, driving 12 hours to attend Riverside, Alex Martinez was excited to announce his new project. As the founder of MartiniWorks, Martinez wants to create a platform in which automotive enthusiasts can educate and inspire each other. Through sharing how cars are built and maintaining unbiased reviews on products, MartiniWorks aims to keep the dream of building cars alive for years to come. Martinez is passionate about the automotive industry and sees it as a way to bridge people together through self-expression.
“The automotive industry is a cumulative expression of people,” Martinez claimed. “It’s a really great way to get out there and meet people… You can connect through a mutual thing; a mutual thing that a lot of people connect through is cars.”
Riverside 8 had an incredible turnout, with people from all over the country coming together to share their passion. Riverside’s event management ensured that everything went smoothly, and hopefully, next year's event will be even more successful. Riverside is a unique car show, and Chattanooga is lucky to be able to host it. Alex Martini explains what sets it apart.
“There are very few events that carry an element of relaxation; the builds here are on a whole new level, but there are no trophies. When you take that element away, competing to win something, instead, you’re here to hang out, and you get to set aside some of the things that make people upset… all these people, they’re friends.”
Please enjoy a full gallery from the rest of the weekend.
Thank you for reading.
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