Houston Texas is a funny place. Thinking about it, I should know that Houston isn't filled with cowboys and rednecks--I did live there for a handful of years. But every time I go back to Texas, for some reason I expect my trip to be filled with pickup trucks and bow-legged cow folk. Instead, I always find myself surrounded by civilized and highly impressive customized cars.
I found myself deep in the heart of Texas this past April thanks to an event Club Hot Water (www.clubhotwater.org) was hosting. Hot Water Blast, as the show is called, is a fairly annual event that pulls stunning VWs and Audis from all over the gigantic state for a one-day car show. April 2002's show took place at Advantage Volkswagen, just off the 610 loop near uptown Houston. The show took place on a Sunday, but the fun started the evening before.
The Night Before As a very unofficial pre show, a group of VW and Audi enthusiasts met up on the West side of Houston, at a grease joint fronting onto the 10 freeway. After filling up on cholesterol, we headed into uptown Houston near the Galleria to check out the street racing scene.
Houston's street racing is something to be marveled at. The parking lot we pulled into was packed with Vipers, Porsches, Corvettes, a handful of serious looking Hondas, and then all our VAG cars. From this lot, conversations were started, and periodically you'd see several cars pulling out of the lot and heading to the freeway for a high speed pull. Eventually, the group I was with opted to head out with 15-or-so other German cars.
On the freeway we quickly made several friends, among with where an S2000, a slightly modified WRX, and several American muscle cars. Luckily, most of the cars in our group had at least nitrous, with most packing aftermarket turbos, too, so the German cars cleaned up quite well. Even a trick Scirocco I with the factory 1.7L 8v from Dallas kept up with the pack, causing quite a few people to do a double take.
The Show After running high speed on the freeways into the early morning, it was hard to get up in time for the show. Once I made it to the show, I discovered most everyone was relaxing in Advantage Volkswagen's parking lot discussing the night before.
The show was impressive in and of itself. Piled in the dealership lot were many modified German cars, all featuring wildly different mods. Some of the more extreme modification came in the form of a Mk IV on airbags, a full Siedl widebody Audi S4, and a Jetta IV with a Plexiglas roof that reminded me of a concept car design better left in the '60s.
There was slight drizzle throughout the day, but once the trophies were handed out, and the surprise visit by APR's Audi A3, it was time to head home. With a full weekend under my belt, I drove to the airport, past many fields filled with wild mavericks, rowdy cowboys, and thousands of pickup trucks, and flew back to "normal" Southern California.