At a glance
• The Cayman car show returned after a three-year break
• Classic vehicles and modern supercars on display
• Proceeds go to Lions Club cancer charity and karate group
Classic and modern car owners showed off their treasured vehicles as a Cayman car show returned after a three-year break on Sunday, 22 March.
Cayman Auto Show Off 2026 featured a host of vehicles, ranging from American 1950s cruisers to modern high-performance marques such as Porsche and Aston Martin.
James Kay and girlfriend Nahomi Duarte visited the show to soak up the atmosphere and view the gleaming automotive treasures on show. Kay ultimately chose a classic Ford Mustang displayed outside the main hall as his best in show.
Duarte said her favourite was a pink 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible, which has been in the same family for three generations and notched up just 54,000 miles.
Jacob Roberts said he had dropped off a friend who was working at the show but stayed to look around.
He confessed, “I’m not really a car person – I drive a Kia Rio – but I can appreciate a beautiful old American car.”
Roberts also agreed the Bel Air, owned by Anthony Echenique and inherited from his grandfather, was the belle of the ball.
And the judges agreed because the showstopper took home the Best in Show award and Best Classic –for the third time in a row.
He was speaking as cars, trucks, motorbikes and a range of automotive products went on show at the Auto Show Off, which was held at George Town’s Lions Community Centre.
Fleet of cars on display
The show featured modern supercars such as an Aston Martin, a Ferrari, several Porsches and an array of Chevrolet Corvettes spanning decades, in addition to classics, modified vehicles and restored and improved ones.
Show organiser Michael Webster said the proceeds from the show would help fund the Lions Club Prostate and Colon Cancer Event – PACCE – and to pay for overseas trips for Cayman Islands National Karate-Do Association members.
“It’s been great and everybody I’ve talked to has really enjoyed it,” Webster said. “For me, it’s a passion. I love cars.”
Echenique said the almost as-new state of his Bel Air was a tribute to his “Papa” and would be passed on to the next generation.
He explained it had been shipped to New Orleans for a ground up restoration with an emphasis on original parts.
Echenique added, “All the nuts and bolts, everything that came off the car, was saved and went right back on it.”
He said that even some replacement upholstery panels were authentic factory items as fitted to the vehicles in the 1950s.
Echenique added, “I don’t drive it much, but I try to bring it out at least once a month.”
Hein Venter of Cayman Customs Automotive exhibited a 2005 Jeep given a complete luxury makeover with brown leather seats, a new sky blue and white colour scheme and a new turbo-charged 4.6 litre engine – which had already been snapped up by a smitten buyer at first sight.
Venter said the blue and brown colour scheme for the soft top Jeep, which scooped the award for best in class, was inspired by the colours of the Caribbean and Cayman.
“It could go off road, but I don’t think anyone will do that,” Venter said. “It was a complete body-off restoration, and the chassis was also painted. It’s also got wood flooring and leather seats.
“It’s for enjoying the open air – a beach vehicle.”
Remake, remodel
Venter added that restoring and improving older vehicles was a kind of recycling.
He said, “You don’t always have to buy new. You can take an old car and make it new. It really is recycling – don’t throw it away; bring cars back to life.”
Brothers Troy and Boris Brady also share a passion for cars – for Troy a ‘Fast and the Furious’ style road racer Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX with a spectacular Jamaican-themed paint scheme, and for Boris, a transformed and rugged go-anywhere Jeep.
Troy’s Evo, named ‘Jezebel’, features the green, gold and black of the Jamaican flag, which extends even to the brake calipers, the inside of the hood and the engine bay.
He said the 2006 car, regularly raced, had taken years and significant sums of money to get it to its present condition and remained a work in progress.
Troy added, “It’s going to be family heirloom. It will go to my son, and I’ve told him he can’t sell it and he has to pass it on to his son. It’s a race car first but I’m trying to make it look as good as possible.”
Jezebel was given the award for best engine by the judges.
Boris took a 2017 soft top Jeep Wrangler and put it on a course of automotive steroids, with massive off-road tyres, metal half-doors and accessories such as a freshwater tank and a high-lift jack.
He added, “It’s also got a map of the Cayman Islands on the inside of the soft top.”
The other winners were: Best Sound Install, Phil Maret, CayShore Honda Accord; Best Bike, Len Harding, 22-year-old Harley Davidson; Best Retro, Enyer Rivers, Toyota MR2; Best Exotic, Jason Butcher, Ferrari; Best JDM (Japanese Domestic Market), Travis Thompson, 2001 Mitsubishi Evo VII; Best Truck, Cleve, Ford F-150; Best Ford Mustang, Jr Hydes, Classic Mach I Mustang.
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1. Where was it held – I don’t see that information in the article.
2. I would have gone if I knew ahead of time about it. Why doesn’t the CC develop a regular weekly or monthly listing of upcoming community events?