Chicago Auto Show 2026

2026 marked the first year for Chi Town Alley, a new exhibit at the Chicago Auto Show. In the past, the show has mainly been a showcase for manufacturers to display their newest models and concept cars. In recent years, the organizers have made attempts to broaden the appeal of the show by featuring indoor course demos for Jeep, Ford and EV manufacturers. This year, they included a special area that showcased local car clubs, including the Chi Town Exotic Car Group, a Mustang Club, the lowrider club, a booth promoting the Drifter movie, as well as the FullyDrivn car club, whose display included my 1990 Nissan Skyline GT-R. It was an honor to be a part of the Chicago car scene during this inaugural event!

I started hanging out with Serg and the crew at FullyDrivn in 2025. The first FullyDrivn event I participated in was the Jordan NASCAR event. Serg remembered me describing my GT-R project, and asked me if it would be ready to display at the Auto Show in February. Suddenly, I had a firm date to complete the car! Thankfully, Dino and his team at Custom Cars Unlimited were able to get me the car back in January so I could finish fitting the interior and the last few trim bits to get the car ready for the Auto Show.

The GT-R shared the FullyDrivn space with a group of amazing JDM tuner cars, including Fish's RB26-swapped MK4 Supra, Dave's Midnight Club RX7, Orlando's AE86 Corolla GTS, Chob's S15, Mike's 95 Civic, Brett's LS 240Z, and Elliot's Honda Del Sol. Serg managed to pull together this collection of impressive builds from true enthusiast owners in Chicago.

Directly across from us was a group of 6 cars whose owners had submitted a video to be included in the exhibit. Throughout the show, the owners promoted their cars on social media and petitioned votes. In the end, the yellow E36 BMW won the vote.

On the other side of our display, the Chi Town Exotic Car Group included three RWB Porsches in their group, as well as as a RUF Porsche, a Mercedes CLK DTM, a Lexus LFA, and a KTM X-BOW GT.

On the first Saturday of the show, right in front of the FullyDrivn display, the Drifter movie booth was packed. Sung Kang and Rutledge Wood gave press interviews and signed autographs. I introduced myself to Rutledge, and I asked if he would pop over and take a pic with me and the GT-R.

To my surprise, Rutledge not only recognized my car, but had driven it before when the first stateside owner took delivery of it in Georgia in 2015. Small world! He was a super nice guy, and we chatted for a while. Turns out, he has a collection of Nissan Skylines of his own.

Clay and I got to hang out all day Saturday and chat with a lot of cool car enthusiasts. After all the work restoring the GT-R, it was amazing to see it shining brightly under the Auto Show lights.

Later Saturday evening, we got invited to an exclusive after party at the Gridlife HQ. Besides the refreshments and cool lighting, the owners had a cool collection of cars on display, including a handful of drift-spec Nissan S Chassis! Alex's red AE86 would later be featured in a photo shoot with Sung Kang and the Chicago skyline in the background.

Each car owner in the FullyDrivn display was responsible for watching the booth for one day during the show. Cindy hung out with me all day Tuesday as we answered questions about the cars and soaked in the Chicago car scene.

I also got to hang out with my friend Joe Krelle and his team at Chi Town 4X4. Joe has had a display at the Chicago Auto Show for 5+ years now, and he has even helped expand the area with other vendors in the Illinois Overlanders area.

From lift kits to rooftop tents, Joe can outfit your truck to be ready for any kind of adventure. It's cool to have friends that support the Chicago car community. Joe has worked hard to build his off road business, and his achievement is truly impressive.

More than 10 days of Auto Show excitement went by pretty fast. Many thanks to Scott at STP Towing for getting the GT-R to and from the show safely. It looked mighty cool sitting there on the truck!

After 4 years of work, the GT-R was finally parked in my garage! I had a moment that evening looking at the car sitting there with the Integra and the Mini. Summer 2026 can not come fast enough. I am looking forward to having more fun with this car.