Southern California has always been a mecca of car culture and automotive events, and although the car shows and events have dwindled a bit in recent years, the passion and custom car culture is definitely still alive and kicking! A SoCal staple when it comes to killer truck and custom car shows is the Forbidden Fantasy Show held at the Lake Perris Fairgrounds in Perris, CA. Now in its 18th year, and the 16th year held at the Lake Perris Fairgrounds, this year would mark the final farewell to Perris as the Forbidden Fantasy crew has some new tricks up their sleeves for next year’s venue to help freshen things up a bit for their upcoming 20-year anniversary.
Photos: The Slam’d Mag Crew | Words: Mike Alexander
Although we’ve been attending the FFF Show for quite awhile now, this year was special for us as it was the first time Slam’d Mag setup a booth on our home turf in So Cal. The turnout was amazing as always and we were overwhelmed with the local support. The weather is sometimes a wild card, but this year the sun was out and the breeze was steady making for perfect car show weather. The rides were shined up and when roll-in ended it was time to scour the grounds for the best-of-the-best rides and take aim. This year more than 650 registered show cars covered the fairgrounds, and with a huge SPL event where CT Sounds was on hand featuring live demos, a bikini contest, plenty of food and drink vendors, and of course the best custom car scene vendors in the west there was definitely a little something for everyone.
There were a ton of freshly completed debut rides as this show generally kicks off the show season, and our good bud John Schick debuted his freshly completed ’68 C-10 to wow the crowds and take home the Slam’d Choice award along with Best of Show honors. Thousands of spectators poured through the gates to take in the custom scenery and show rides came from all over the west with some venturing all the way from Texas and even a surprise visit from some very brave Canadians. The usual suspects came out in droves with tons of clubs on hand to represent including No Regrets, Relaxed Atmosphere, Severed Ties, Freaks of Nature, Negative Camber, Sunset, Nokturnal, and more.
Being one of the first shows of the season, it’s always fun to see what people have been working on and the changes made to their rides from previous renditions of their builds. One in particular that made a huge transformation just a few weeks before the show was Ernie Macias’s Silverado that he had built for SEMA a couple years back. Ernie got with Matt Hutcheson to perform a complete revamp and color change on his crewcab to liven things up a bit for the upcoming show season. As always, it came down to the final moments, but El Jefe was bolted together with it’s new “cocaine white” makeover just in time to make the show. I think on some level we must enjoy the punishment that these builds bring, at least some of us do as we continue to punish ourselves year in and year out with similar “crunch” experiences and the dreaded long weeks of sleepless nights. But hey, that’s what we live for right?!
We’ve been attending this show for going on 14 years now, so needless to say it was definitely bittersweet to hear of the location change. There are always pros and cons to every venue and locale, and the FFF crew have become a well-oiled show hosting machine after all these years, so we know that the fate of the show and the new venue is in good hands. We’ll just have to sit back and see what the changes will bring – stay tuned to the Forbidden Fantasy Facebook page for show updates. Make sure to check out our special video coverage below and subscribe to our YouTube channel as we have plenty more surprises coming your way!
