It is always the same. As soon as I travel from my beloved Bavaria in our neighboring state of Baden Württemberg I will be welcomed by the first of a countless number of radar traps. You see the first place-name-sign of a little village and some meters behind it – a very expensive radar trap photo shooting is waiting for you. Just step from the gas and let your car role a bit is not enough, most times it is way cheaper to brake really hard. Well, the german Polizei (police), your fried and helper. But I don`t want to slander about those guys because a little bit later, arriving at the city of Heidenheim at the big summer meeting of the Tuningszene Süddeutschland e.V. another kind of police is waiting for me.

Well to be truthful, the police here looks a bit more like the american police and they came with the support of a Swat team. Suddenly I feel an urgent need to get arrested. Some of you may know, last year I had the pleasure to participate in a real Swat training and I remember a loud yelling drill instructor, uncomfortable helmets, push-ups, crackhouse raids and lots of male sweat. But this here – it is kind a different in a very positive way. They also brought some real cars with many more horsepowers the the regular german police cars. Wonderful, were can I sign in?

So, the first impression was really positive and it continued like that. The weather was a bit sticky but at least it did not perform „end of the world“ like it did the last weeks on regular basis. There have been many exhibitors who were in a very good mood and who were willing to pose for pictures, they had a big food-court and a lot of extras like: a car evaluation at the show-mile with trophies to win, db measurement, performance measurement and optimization, a mini-competition and some more. This all was framed by the beautiful, historical city of Heidenheim which was really great!

The dominating brand of the meeting was probably made in Wolfsburg. There have been countless Volkswagen, from some upscale advertising vehicles of different companies to the classics of the last decades. People of my generation could find many great memories with all these 16V, G40 and G60 Polos, Corrados and Golfs. Well, if you are more into Japanese and American cars you needed to take a closer look but the bottom line is – there was something to see for everybody. Really cool Airbrushes, a completely well designed „Ice age“ motto car, the „Böhse Onkelz“ Corvette, many good and sometimes some strange looking car wrappings, perfect car hifi enlargements with some heart shacking bass, classics, VIP style cars, some rats – you name it, they got it.

The bottom line is – the long distance drive was worth it. And an additional advantage for a writer like me is, that at all those car meetings close to my hometown of Munich you see the same cars over and over again. But if you drive into another state, everything changes and you will find a lot of new and great cars and people for new pictures and stories. I can only tell all my friends from the car scene around Bavaria, Heidenheim is a good location to go. So, just in case the Tuningszene Süddeutschland e.V. will make another summer meeting next year – don`t miss it! But beware of all the radar traps and the police, better look forward to meet the „american police and Swat girls“ at the car show!

Text: Andreas Leffler
Pictures: Andreas Leffler