kvisser
10-13-2011, 10:28 AM
Some of you may know, I work for Discovery Communications, aka The Discovery Channel. We just launched our automotive channel, Velocity, on October 4th. I photographed the launch party up in NY where we had some of our talent, Ryan from West Coast Customs, Wayne Carini and Dana Mecum to name a few. It was a cool vibe held at a fun space on West 36th St called Skylight West. They had a Tesla, a Murcielago and an Italia plus some very cool motorcycles including Billy Joel's Vincent Shadow. But as I told Wayne, just wait till you see what I have at headquarters tomorrow. Wayne was on his way to Hershey and couldn't make it but...
Ever since I first heard about Discovery doing a car channel 4 years ago, I immediately came up with a plan to have a physical car show at headquarters to herald the event. 4 weeks before the launch date of October 4th, 2011, I was given the green light to put it together. I didn't have much time to pull together what I thought should be a signature event.
I couldn't have asked for a better day weather wise and car guys wise. Its really a tribute to the quality of the car guys across all genres that my show was quite successful. This was not a judged show, more, it was a showcase for the passion, creativity and ingenuity of the DC Metropolitan car community. I wanted to show the staff of Velocity the resources that we have available in this area.
And if you came, you were guaranteed to see several cars you had never seen before. I had originally told the Velocity and Events team we were looking at around 20 cars. I had one of the Montgomery cops we had on scene come up to me "you know, even though I graduated from the Montgomery County Public School system, this is more then 20 cars..." I had a bit of mission creep.
From a Pebble Beach award winning 37 Talbot Logo to the world's fastest street car - a 2400 hp 63 Vette. From a one of four in the world 54 Maserati AG6 to a tube chassied mid engine 48 pickup truck. I really wanted to cover as many genres of vehicles possible and I think we achieved that goal.
What was also fantastic was the teamwork and camaraderie of our hobby. I had guys jump in to get the hold harmless agreements signed (legal dept and insurance guys mandated I do that). I had help with parking the cars. My good friend Dave ran my shuttle service to the trailer parking 2 miles off site. The Discovery Global Events staff were on the sidelines wondering if there was anything for them to do. It all went very smoothly.
From the Velocity standpoint, this was a great event as well. It captured the imagination of the entire building, raising the stature of the new channel. Its one thing to see a bunch of posters heralding the creation of a new network. Its a totally different scenario to see, touch, smell and hear a 72 El Camino with a blower on top and 4 inch straight pipes spilling out the back! I walked the SVP of our international division all around so he and his staff could get a taste of the craftsmanship that was on display. And then our talent, Ryan, from West Coast Customs came out and got to ride on a 41 Willys mini cart. That put a big smile on his face. I know he left understanding that we have some skills on the East Coast.
So my thanks and gratitude goes out to all my car friends that came by to make this a very successful event. I hope that I get a chance to do this again.
Ever since I first heard about Discovery doing a car channel 4 years ago, I immediately came up with a plan to have a physical car show at headquarters to herald the event. 4 weeks before the launch date of October 4th, 2011, I was given the green light to put it together. I didn't have much time to pull together what I thought should be a signature event.
I couldn't have asked for a better day weather wise and car guys wise. Its really a tribute to the quality of the car guys across all genres that my show was quite successful. This was not a judged show, more, it was a showcase for the passion, creativity and ingenuity of the DC Metropolitan car community. I wanted to show the staff of Velocity the resources that we have available in this area.
And if you came, you were guaranteed to see several cars you had never seen before. I had originally told the Velocity and Events team we were looking at around 20 cars. I had one of the Montgomery cops we had on scene come up to me "you know, even though I graduated from the Montgomery County Public School system, this is more then 20 cars..." I had a bit of mission creep.
From a Pebble Beach award winning 37 Talbot Logo to the world's fastest street car - a 2400 hp 63 Vette. From a one of four in the world 54 Maserati AG6 to a tube chassied mid engine 48 pickup truck. I really wanted to cover as many genres of vehicles possible and I think we achieved that goal.
What was also fantastic was the teamwork and camaraderie of our hobby. I had guys jump in to get the hold harmless agreements signed (legal dept and insurance guys mandated I do that). I had help with parking the cars. My good friend Dave ran my shuttle service to the trailer parking 2 miles off site. The Discovery Global Events staff were on the sidelines wondering if there was anything for them to do. It all went very smoothly.
From the Velocity standpoint, this was a great event as well. It captured the imagination of the entire building, raising the stature of the new channel. Its one thing to see a bunch of posters heralding the creation of a new network. Its a totally different scenario to see, touch, smell and hear a 72 El Camino with a blower on top and 4 inch straight pipes spilling out the back! I walked the SVP of our international division all around so he and his staff could get a taste of the craftsmanship that was on display. And then our talent, Ryan, from West Coast Customs came out and got to ride on a 41 Willys mini cart. That put a big smile on his face. I know he left understanding that we have some skills on the East Coast.
So my thanks and gratitude goes out to all my car friends that came by to make this a very successful event. I hope that I get a chance to do this again.