Inside Our Pop-Up at AR Bodyworks Car Show — Sunshine North, 16 May 2026
Our first debut of the full V2 Overtake range face-to-face at Melbourne's car community event hosted by AR Bodyworks. Here's how the day went, what people actually said about the scents, and why we're not chasing "strongest" - even though we know most people are drawn to that.
The Day: AR Bodyworks Car Show
On Saturday 16 May 2026 we set up at the AR Bodyworks Car Show at 6 Grainger Street, Sunshine North - out in Melbourne's west. AR Bodyworks specialise in smash repairs and custom craftsmanship for prestige, import, classic, and vintage builds, and their show pulls in exactly the kind of crowd we love talking to: people who care about the details of their car.
The event space was filled up with everything from JDM imports to restored classics to weekend-only cars. The mood was relaxed - coffee, conversation, people walking laps to take in each build. A community day, not a trade expo.
The Booth: The Full Range, Hands On
Every scent had a tester out — pick it up, twist the cap, hold it to your nose.
We brought every scent in the current lineup — Aqua Fresh, Cool Melon, Grape Ice, Citrus Lift, JDM Fizz, Auto Aurora, Very Vanilla, and Berry Chill — along with our Handover Spray and the vent mount accessory.
Every scent had a tester unit out. The scent has to speak for itself, and the only way to do that is to have it in someone's hand. We also ran pop-up exclusive pricing across the day for anyone shopping the stand on the spot.
What People Actually Said
Getting people's reactions made the whole day. Someone would pick up Aqua Fresh expecting another artificial/chemical smelling supermarket air freshener, surprised by the difference, and then do a double-take under the nose. Very Vanilla's light and addictive sweetness kept pulling people back for a second sniff. Grape Ice got the most "wait, that's so good" responses of the day - exactly the responses we aim for.
What surprised me most was how many people lov — just to talk about scent profiles, what they had in their car right now, why their last freshener gave them a headache by week two. That's the conversation we want to be in.
The Story Behind the Brand — and Why We're Not Chasing "Strongest"
A lot of the day was spent telling the Overtake story to people hearing it for the first time. Three years of small-batch development. Built in Melbourne. Plant-based, gel-based formula. IFRA-compliant fragrances. One person, refining the formula on real customer feedback until it was ready.
The biggest myth I got to break on the day: we're not trying to be the strongest air freshener on the market. There's a whole shelf at every servo competing for that title, and most of them give you a headache by the second commute. Overtake is built for the opposite — a cleaner, safer, longer-lasting scent experience that holds its character over weeks, not days.
Balanced. Not overwhelming. That's the brief, and that's what we held to on the day. Once that lands, people stop comparing Overtake to the $5 cardboard tree and start comparing it to the experience of getting into a freshly detailed car.
How It Went
Builds on display at AR Bodyworks — Melbourne's west turned out properly.
Sales were strong across the day, with a few scents moving well above expectations. But the result that mattered more was the community feedback - meeting customers who've been ordering online for years, hearing why they keep coming back, and meeting a new crowd who'd never come across a handcrafted Australian-made car air freshener before.
Pop-ups are a big lift for a solo operator. You're preparing weeks in advance, then building, packing, setting up, selling, and packing it all down. But there's no shortcut for being in the room. Safe to say I had the support of my friends on the day, from setting up to helping strangers by discussing their personal experiences when using the scents!
The thing that's hardest to do over Instagram - getting someone to actually smell the product, then explaining to them in their own words why it's different - happens by default at an event like this.
Thanks, and What's Next
Big thanks to the AR Bodyworks team for running a sharp event and making space for local brands to show up properly. And to everyone who stopped by, asked questions, picked up a scent or three, and shared their build with me - that's the part you don't get anywhere else.
If you missed us at AR Bodyworks, the full range is online - same Melbourne-made formula, same scents you would have tested on the day. We'll announce the next pop-up on @overtake.scents first.
Overtake gel air fresheners and Handover Spray - handcrafted in Melbourne, plant-based, IFRA-compliant. Built for a cleaner, longer-lasting scent experience.