Cas Was Just The beginning

Man, this has been quite a journey, a fun one to boot. This all started cause I wished there were some shows on the western slope that weren’t just classic cars and had the same type of atmosphere, variety, and prestige as shows that I went to on the front range and in the videos that I watch. The closest examples would be either a PEAKED or a Gear Head Society show, and I wanted to bring that here to my area. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love classic cars, it’s just that’s pretty much all there ever was for the cars at the big car shows that I’ve gone to growing up. So sometime late 2024, I made a group chat with Parker (We planned the GJ Content Creator Car Show “GJCCCS” together the previous year) and a few of the participants from that show who had shown interest in helping Parker and I with another show. But Parker was busy starting his real estate video business with his friend Jayden, so it ended up just being Deven and I that would start Colorado Automotive Society, CAS for short.

We got planning what to do for the year, and with the goal of only using sponsorship and personal monies to fund this venture. One of the main goals was to create a community out of our events, so that lead to us to choose to host a meet every other Friday night. I also wanted to do something with the Red Rock Racers and their time trial races at the GJ Motor Speedway. We ended up doing two events, with the first one having more people who showed up than the second event, but overall, I’d consider those events a success and something that I’d like to continue to do in the future. Then we hosted an indoor car show at the Friendship Hall at the Montrose County Fairgrounds that was a major success. Though I was somewhat initially worried if we’d have enough cars or of the quality that I wanted to have in our show. But we ended up filling out the venue and had great quality, and the most variety that I’ve seen from a show. Unfortunately, I didn’t give much media from the event besides these two videos. But we had everything from rare classic Alfas, to sweet daily ride, off-road capable vans & suvs, to supercars, and custom hot rods. We partnered with LFMG Music Academy in order to put on the event, so we donated a portion of the profit from the show to the academy, which was $1,000. We also hosted two cruises throughout the year. Our first one was the reverse of the Black Canyon Touring event that I hosted the previous year. So we started in Delta, went to Hotchkiss before traversing the rim of the Black Canyon, and then headed back to Montrose. The second cruise we started in Montrose and went to The Gated Shifter in Telluride and had lunch there before heading back to Montrose.

While it was a good first year, it was just the first step to building the type of shows Deven and I want to host, and we’ve still got a while to go, but we’re on the right track to building something great. So we’re evolving CAS into EXCEED, as for branding, it’s way easier to work with and doesn’t region lock us for future events. And with that, doubling down on building the community. We are going to feature one community member's car and their story, and eventually some custom shops and their stories and capabilities. Continuing to host our bi-weekly Friday Night Meets, and planning more car shows and cruises for the foreseeable future. We will also be expanding our merchandise as time goes on, as that’s something both Deven and I want to develop further. Along with offering it online instead of just at the shows we host. On the show side of things, we want to improve the quality of cars and enhance the experience for the spectators while exploring venues new to the area. I’ve got some big plans that we’ll execute for the 2026 season that you have to you’ll just have to see at the shows or the content that comes afterwards. Though something that I really want to do is have a film festival of sorts that shows off local automotive videographers and photographers, and have a place for people to see their hard work in person. If that’s something that you have any interest in helping with or anything else related to EXCEED, please reach out to us, and we’ll get to work.

But yeah, it was a great first year as an organization. We’ve built a bit of a following and have developed relationships with a few people and businesses in the area. And we definitely made the second year a bit more challenging by changing our name from Colorado Automotive Society to EXCEED, but it’ll be better for the long haul as we grow. So thank you for your continued support of what was CAS and is now EXCEED.

- Nate