Event Recap – First Look For Charity

11 Feb Event Recap – First Look For Charity

As some of you may know, on Friday we took a trip to the 2013 Chicago Auto Show’s First Look For Charity. Here’s a recap.

With the Friday sun still hanging somewhat high in the sky, Fluid MotorUnion departed for the Lopez household, which would serve as our staging area while we awaited our ride downtown (Plainfield is approximately 45 miles away from downtown Chicago). After changing into our black-tie getups, courtesy of CAS sponsor Men’s Wearhouse, we collected in front of the limousine for one final group picture.

Now, as we mentioned before, this isn’t just your normal trip to the Chicago Auto Show. This is their First Look for Charity, which is an annual black-tie affair open to whomever is willing to purchase tickets. We chose to go through our preferred charity, Catholic Charities of Joliet, and so our trip to Chicago’s McCormick Place began with a visit to their specific ballroom above the Auto Show, where we chatted with likeminded individuals while enjoying a bevy of food and drink as well as some live music. Once the main floor opened, however, the masses moved downstairs and the real show began.

The floor was set up much like any other day of the Chicago Auto Show, except there were a multitude of food and drink offerings scattered about in various areas. We hobnobbed with many of the friendly folks dressed equally as fancy as we, and thus the evening began. As one might expect, it’s not just current models on display at CAS; there are also technological exhibits (such as Honda’s showcase of their wide range of motors), concept cars (such as Honda’s electric roadster), motorsport offerings (Mazda really dominated this) and premium vehicles of days gone by.

Thankfully, the crowds at First Look for Charity are not as massive as they are during the normal days of the Chicago Auto Show, which allowed us better access to some vehicles that would otherwise have hordes of people surrounding them. Vehicles such as the Audi TT-RS (which are rare around these parts), Lexus LF-LC concept car (the interior of which is below), and Jaguar’s much-ballyhooed F-Type. We’re not sure how we managed to get right up to the barrier for this last one, but once you get up close, you’ll see exactly why all the hype is well-warranted. It’s a beaut.

When we started thinking about what we wanted to shoot at the Chicago Auto Show’s First Look for Charity, we were trying to think about what we could deliver that our readers wouldn’t be able to experience during a normal day at CAS. Then it hit us — the supercars! You see, most every day at the Chicago Auto Show, the ‘supercar corner’ is blocked off from public access. At First Look for Charity, however, the gates were lowered and everybody was invited to get up close and personal with cars that are mostly seen in magazines or on the internet. It’s much like our blog, in a metaphorical sense; we at Fluid MotorUnion have always strived to bring you unique insight into bespoke work of a certain caliber, not only to show you that there’s more work involved than you might think, but also to bring to light something that’s usually eschewed in favor of the end product and nothing but. It’s our attempt to increase appreciation and add value to the work itself.

Supercars are not your average everyday vehicle. More often than not, they’re comprised of exotic materials utilizing nascent technology that has yet to become affordable to most other carmakers. To boot, a good deal of parts on these cars are handcrafted and put together with a level of precision that would make even your average assembly-line robot seem like it’d been drinking before work. Seeing as how this was undoubtedly one of the busiest parts of the show, we weren’t able to get more than a handful of detail shots for each vehicle, but we feel that small details like these are most often overlooked in favor of the big picture. Again, it ties back into how we function as a fabrication shop and what we try to do with the blog; we here at Fluid MotorUnion like to showcase the “little things” that go into our bespoke fabrication work to help reinforce the notion that we put our hearts and souls into what we build, and we don’t ignore the little in favor of the big. We put 110% into everything we do, much like the supercar manufacturers you’ll see below.

It’s the intricacy of Bentley’s hood emblem. It’s the painstaking detail that goes into the leatherwork and stitching on a Continental GT’s seats. It’s the perforated leather lining up perfectly against the Alcantara that comprises the McLaren MP4-12C’s steering wheel. It’s the way that the Rolls-Royce lays out their infotainment navigation (which is probably the most beautiful we’ve ever seen), and how the little bend in the speedometer needle hints at a Breitling-level of workmanship behind a gorgeous wood panel that 99.9% of owners will never see. It’s how artfully Maserati puts together their clock in the GranTurismo Sport. It’s the tiny plaque inside a Ferrari that reminds you that you’re in possession of something unique, something to be enjoyed but also cherished. They leave no stone unturned during their pursuit for automotive perfection, and that’s how we treat our work at Fluid MotorUnion, as well.

As the evening drew to a close, we turned off the camera and enjoyed the last few moments of live music, courtesy of your humble narrator’s favorite Beatles tribute band, American English. As the curtain went down on them, so too it did on our time at the First Look for Charity, and so we huddled back into the limousine for the hourlong trip back to Plainfield. We’re always excited to be a part of this, and we can’t be happier that a good bit of money will be going towards some very worthy causes. We have to thank Chicago Auto Show for putting on such a wonderful extravaganza, as well as Catholic Charities of Joliet for welcoming us under their wing; it’s a time we won’t soon forget, and we look forward to returning in 2014. Have an excellent day, and if you’re able to take a trip down to the Chicago Auto Show this week, we suggest you do so posthaste.