We got tired of running shows on clipboards
Car Show Expert started because running a good car show shouldn't require three spreadsheets, a stack of printed forms, and a prayer that the Wi-Fi holds. We're a small team of car obsessives who built the platform we always wished existed.
The team
We're small, opinionated, and we all have a car we're definitely going to finish soon.
Alan
Founder & CEO
Alan started organising small charity car shows in his community over a decade ago. After his third year running registration from a folding table with a three-ring binder and a Square reader duct-taped to his phone, he decided there had to be a better way. There wasn't — so he built one. When he's not working on the platform, he's out turning wrenches in the garage.
Car of choice: 1969 Camaro SS 396 — Fathom Green, numbers-matching. He's been restoring it for six years and counting.
Ross
Lead Engineer
Ross has the kind of mind that sees a system and immediately spots the two edge cases that will break it at 2am on show day. He reviews every line of code that ships and keeps the architecture clean enough that the platform still works when 400 people all check in at the same time.
Car of choice: 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS — because he doesn't believe in unnecessary complexity. Every component does exactly one job.
Uma
Head of Design & UX
Uma thinks about the person on the other end — the show organiser who's stressed, the registrant who just wants to enter their car without creating an account. She's the reason the platform works on a phone in a sunny parking lot and the reason the check-in screen doesn't require a training manual.
Car of choice: 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback in Wimbledon White. She tracked it once, loved it, and is sensibly not doing it again.
Doug
Head of Content
Doug documents everything. The guides, the how-tos, the user manual — all Doug. If you've read something on this site that actually made sense, that's his work. Before this he was a technical writer for aerospace (no, he won't tell you which program) and before that he was the newsletter editor for a regional British car club.
Car of choice: 1971 Triumph TR6 in Signal Red. He says the fuel injection conversion was 'fully documented and reproducible.' Of course it was.
Larry
Head of Events & Community
Thirty-five years of car shows. He's run everything from 40-car charity fundraisers in church parking lots to 900-car invitational events with celebrity judges. When we build anything show-day related, Larry's the first call — because if it doesn't work for the guy who's been doing this since Reagan was in office, it doesn't ship.
Car of choice: 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427 — the car he bought at 22 and has never once considered selling. It has been to more car shows than most organisers have attended.
Quarkus
Head of Quality
Quarkus tests everything, twice. He's the reason the judge scoring screen works on a six-year-old Android tablet in airplane mode, and the reason the 'Mark Paid' button actually works before a show and not just in the demo environment. He has a list. Several lists.
Car of choice: 1971 BMW 2002tii — every fluid changed on schedule, every bolt torqued to spec. The car runs faultlessly. He cannot explain why this surprises people.
Powell
Head of Operations
Powell keeps the trains running. When there are five things happening at once — a feature being built, docs being updated, tests running, a UX review in progress — Powell knows the order, who's blocked, and what needs to happen next. He's the reason things land in the right order and don't break each other.
Car of choice: 1968 Ford GT40 replica, built from a kit over four years. He project-managed the build in a spreadsheet. It was, by all accounts, a very good spreadsheet.
What we believe
A few things that shape how we build this platform.
Shows, not software
The platform should disappear. On show day, organisers should be talking to car owners, not staring at a laptop. If something takes more than a tap, we're doing it wrong.
Built for the real thing
We design for parking lots, not offices. Sunglare, spotty cell service, show day stress — those are the conditions we optimize for, not a fast MacBook on broadband.
These cars matter
Every car at a show represents thousands of hours of work, decades of memories, or a dream someone finally made real. We take that seriously. Car shows aren't just events — they're the whole point.
Ready to run a better show?
Free to start, no credit card required. Your first show is on us.