Ultimate Dubs 2022
Published March 17th, 2022
Words and Photography: Michal Fidowicz
First post and first show of 2022 – let’s get it; come on. For those who are new, hello. I am Michal, I created Candy Showroom in 2015 and have been running it on my own since then. What I do here, on my little chunk of the internet, is walk around car shows with my camera and capture the shit I see. In-between the photos I then natter away and share my thoughts on the stuff I see and do. Some of you probably know this, but it’s been a good while since I posted so it’s smart for me to introduce myself for those who are new. If you’re new, welcome! If you’re a regular, I’m glad you’re back for more.
With that out the way, let’s talk about the show. First and foremost, thank you to the Ultimate Dubs team for giving me a media pass for the show. Fuck me, 7 years it took me to get a media pass for Candy. Seven! I know I’ve made it in life when I can rock up to sexy Telford 7 hours before everyone else and strut about inside the venue like the dog’s bollocks. No, honestly, it felt awesome. It meant I could walk around the show before the crowds got there and speak to owners who did not want to speak to me because they wanted to crack on polishing their cars before the sun settled.
The only catch now is that I now fear I can’t say anything bad about the weekend. The organisers hospitality was really nice and I want to come back again for Ultimate Stance at the end of the year. In fact, that brings me onto my first criticism. I feel like the team should open up show season with the big, mac-daddy Ultimate Stance show in March instead. Come on, cash in on that show calendar opening hype. Sure, it’ll piss off a LOT of T4 owners. They will be raging, in their 3 quarter length combat shorts… but, BUT – surely the real money now is in luring the in the wannabe S chassis-dreaming tiktok kids. There’s a lot of those out there and they will be all over Ultimate Stance. There is still space for the dubbers, of-course. Give them the November show.
You know what, that’s actually my only criticism. It’s not even a criticism either, just another opinion to consider I guess. The general show recipe, venue and organisation is nailed in pretty nicely now. For those who don’t know about the Ultimate Dubbers show, it’s in the Telford International Centre. The place is pretty nice and the general layout of the surrounding town was designed in a way to pivot off of this venue. Big indoor halls, loads of hotels in the surrounding area, a few restaurants and a spoons pub.
So far so good, so let’s jump into the cars. I’m happy to report, the stuff I saw indoors was great. Absolutely dominated by trade stands but money makes the world spin round, now more so than ever. The good bit about this is that the traders choose what’s on their stand. This is great again, because a lot of these traders have far better taste than a Volkswagen, so they bring something sexier. A W124 500E lets say. The bad bit about that is, a lot of these traders suffer from what can only be described as sever boredom and run their own products, hence why you end up with Ken Block 3SDMS on said 500E. You therefore end up with some crazy, 2012 style shit scattered in certain places. I understand why, don’t get me wrong I do. A lot of it works too, but some of it puzzles me. One trade stand had a car on it where the owner wrote their own name on a sun strip AS WELL AS the centre caps. Part of me thinks that’s fucking hilarious and part of me now wants centre caps that read Michal Maciej Fidowicz. I just suddenly remembered that Ali-G also had the same idea…
Equally, my favourite car of the weekend was on a trade stand. Credit where it’s due, Tucked’s very own Lee should get props for having the best car to on his stand- and a car keeping in spirt of the weekend’s Dubnation theme. Josh’s Scirocco is awesome and looks like what a Testarossa would look like if it had to be a Volkswagen. Don’t argue with me here. Fully white’d out exterior is awesome, and whilst he had white TSW Venoms on before the show I think the shine of the Gottis breaks its up perfectly. The wheels are the icing on the dubber cake that I fed on all weekend long.
BBS kit, +20 points!
Wish I got more photos of the interior. There was brown involved, very 80s/90s and very much my cup of tea
Clear BBS rear valance and lights, +200 points. In theme with the clear fronts – just fantastic. Best car of the indoors
That sill is so clean it’ll give Lewdeak a heart attack
I need one of those suckers for my coupe. Who’s the plug?
Rotiform got their big throbbing corporate balls out for the show and imported a bunch of interesting shit in from America for the whole weekend. Very presidential-esque in their delivery, their trade stand was a nice reminder that they run the stance ship and are one of the biggest aftermarket car companies in the world. I’m surprised they didn’t try to land a jumbo jet full of aero discs on the outside car park. Perhaps they’re saving that trick for Ultimate Stance at the end of the year.
Actually quite a trendy car this
Right this is actually pretty sick. There’s this American fella called Jamie who has been in the Dubnation community for a while now. Big famous bloke. This year, he’s taking his American VW… whatever it is, Atlantic or something, he’s taking it all around the world to different countries and car shows and to UD he rocked up with a matching Harlequin MK3 on a trailer behind it. Car enthusiast day-dream material. And yes, that is his actual number plate. He rocks about England like that. Along the way, he’s making interesting tiktoks of VWs for his Instgram audience – but actually good ones. He’s like a weird blend of Nardwuar, Supercar Blondie (without the annoying shit) and Doug Demuro. It works and I advise you to go take a look. Good stuff to binge when you’re on the toilet.
GranTurismo sun strip for the true racer
My mate Lewdeak’s E28. Super proud of him for growing out of the 12 year long Lupo phase and trying a new car. Who’d have guessed he’d be having such a fun time with it eh…
This car is amazing; proper BMW nerd material. A true, numbers matching ACS e39, rocking an M52 (one of 6 made!) an ACS diff, 3 piece rear spoiler and actual E39 size style 5s with the bigger centre bore. I want it!
These kidneys need chroming out though
I drove past this on my drive home after the show, usually bagged cars look ridiculous at ride height but actually this e24 looks super period correct. Great work from CAS
3dr R32, nicely fitted. Brilliant
Wow hot rods
Not sure about the wheels on this one – need some mesh! 500E is a crazy, crazy car though
This is SICK. Love rare bits me, full Hella kit!
Mmmm lovely machine. Lane hogging on the M40 on the way home though…
I’m getting these doors for my 330
What a fantastic number plate frame. This owner of this car must be super happy and attractive
Another really cool car, needs some Audi rings on the back though. Taking the rings off an Audi’s bootlid is like photoshopping your nostrils out of your Instagram photos
If this car was a person it would be Arnold Schwarzenegger
Very trendy MK2. Loads of brown, as mentioned, my cup of tea. Also shout out Period Correct for making nice car themed clothes that won’t make you look like a goth when you go to the pub
What a fantastic machine. 1 of 75 made in this funky limited editon colour/spec. Owner is a gent too
The guys in this 997 flew past me on the motorway en route to the show. Both of them looked like rockstars, and probably felt like some too sitting in that thing. One day Michal, one day…
Fun fact, I’m actually colour blind. Two colours that are similar blend into one for me, such as dark green and grey, purple and blue, and so on. So I had absolutely no idea this 6n2 got repainted until my friend pointed it out to me. I would say nice job bro, but I can’t tell you what’s new. Does look good anyway though!
This thing is bonkers and I will be writing more about it later on in the year
Another super, super clean MK2. One of my favs. I like these type of dubs
This car is just fantastic. Lovely gent who owns it too
And now we move onto the outside. I don’t have much to say about this bit. The outside is traditionally a place for club stands so there’s a lot of standard junk there that I just don’t care about. These people are the foundations of the show though so gotta respect that for what it is. Even if it, is a rat look MK5 Golf or a matte pink rattle canned Skoda Octavia wagon. Right, keep scrolling,
… is… is that a Pringle MK4 Golf?
Reminds me of that one meme of…
Look… LOOK. SEE. Look how good shit is when you broaden the scope past the fucking Volkswagens
This motor is rotten but looks awesome. I had one of these once and it was terrible to drive after I lowered it
A clean little Golf. Wholesome
Great parking spot and I’m glad it was taken by something interesting!
Guy just went and put my childhood on his passenger seat. Respect
Fuck me it’s got scissor doors!! I need to know more…
Yeah no words for this, had to share it with you though
That’s my car! Fastest car in the whole car park, cheers
And last but not least, the best car from the outside. 17s, camber, tight fitment and a wagon. Love it
Right my friends, I’ve saved the best till last. The carpet hall. This is the place where people with loads of cash get to show off their immaculate stuff and I’m here for it. Some truly nice stuff in here.
Silver 996 with a dark blue leather, pole positioned interior. Again, stuff of dreams. Specs like this cost a LOT of cash once they’re old and even more desirable
What a cute little book. I want one for my BMW
Loads of carbon fibre in stock. Very posh
Very cool, looks like a baddies car from a children’s cartoon
Aaaaaand that’s it. That’s your lot for Ultimate Dubs 2022. Everything I really wanted to cover I mentioned above.
I have no clue what the next show is but I’ll be back here soon with more content for you to get stuck into. If you enjoyed my ramblings may I please invite you to check out my other work over here and here. Some would say it’s more interesting than Candy!
And finally, if you want to support me further and tell the world you have a great taste in creative content, consider buying something from my store here.
Thanks for tuning in.
