Manny Moe & Jack kicked off the grand opening of first Pep Boys Speed Shop located in downtown Los Angeles May 30-31 with a SEMA-style car show, vendor product demonstrations, giveaways, and good, old-fashioned fun.
The parking lot at 1200 W. Washington Blvd. was transformed into an all-car car show featuring lifted trucks, lowriders, imports, and hot-rods from all over SoCal (yours truly was on hand showing off the Mini Cooper as well.) Gale Banks was one of the honored guests who took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday. The world famous Banks Duramax-powered Sidewinder Chevy S10 was on display with its massive turbos glistening from the engine bay. We spotted FinishLineWest's lifted Toyota Sequoia sitting on a hillside, which we had the pleasure of taking off-roading a couple weeks ago. (Stay tuned for more about that adventure.)
The weekend was filled with celebrity appearances from Barry Meguiar, host of "Car Crazy" TV/Radio and president and CEO of Meguiars, the "King of the Kustomizers" George Barris, Adrienne "AJ" Janic, co-host of TLC's "Overhaulin'," and host of "Hot Import Nights," Casper Canul, the first professional Latino drifter in the Formula D series, Genevieve Chappell, "The Queen of Cars," known for hosting on ESPN and the Speed Channel.
"We are thrilled to open our first Speed Shop, as this extension of our business is a natural fit for Pep Boys," says Pep Boys senior vice president of merchandising and marketing Scott Webb. "There is a high demand for specialty performance products, and we are excited to combine our retail automotive knowledge with our service expertise to make this Speed Shop a truly one-stop shop for our enthusiast customers."
The Speed Shop featured the latest in performance products and accessories from musclecars and hot rods to sport compacts and imports to trucks and off roaders for Southern California's automotive enthusiasts. Customers can find the performance parts they need and have them professionally installed on site in one of the location's 22 service bays.