Two days later and the Mystery Machine rattled (it was in need of some repairs) into the car park for the Ohio Vehicle Show, which was already fairly full and with some very distinguished vehicles in it. Daphne sighed over a red convertible Ferrari, the height of romantic vehicles (according to her), Fred looked very wistful passing an apple-green Lamborghini with a white stripe that looked like it had been beamed down from the moon next to the Ford Fiesta and Renault Megane on either side of it, and Shaggy and Scooby stared at a sleek silver car which was called a Koenigsegg and which was having its photo taken by a group of eager middle-aged men with Subaru-branded polo shirts. Several people were pointing at a man walking through the doors as the gang approached, although he looked very ordinary to the gang; just a middle-aged man wearing a floral shirt, old-fashioned grey blazer and jeans and with shoulder-length greyish-brown hair. According to a poster on the large notice board a little way in, the man's name was James May and he was going to be judging which was the best car or van in the exhibition. The poster also said that he was a presenter on a British car show and that he was quite famous in Britain.
"Like, why have a British judge for an American vehicle show?" Shaggy asked, peering at the poster. Velma smiled.
"Why not? He speaks English, doesn't he?"
Shaggy shrugged, nonplussed, and they carried on into the exhibition.
The main hall that they walked into was already full of people, all looking at an exhibition of old cars called Morgans. A huge banner proclaimed that the owner of the cars, a man called Harold Marchbanks, was in the exhibition and showing his cars there as a favour. The Marchbanks exhibition was charity. There were a lot of people clustered round the cars, and there were a lot of people clustered round Harold Marchbanks himself, who was standing next to his exhibition in a dark suit and kept rubbing his comb-over to try and cover the large bald spot on his head. Privately, Shaggy thought he had as much chance of covering the bald spot as the Mystery Machine did of spontaneously transforming into an off-roader. It didn't go unnoticed that Harold Marchbanks shot a look of pure venom at James May as he walked over to the podium next to the doors and started talking with one of the staff members about his judging competition. Velma's eyes narrowed, but at the time she thought nothing of it.
Predictably, the gang split up as soon as they were inside. Velma headed straight for the "Famous Vehicles Through History". Fred and Daphne, who decided to stay together, went into the "Ferrari and Chevrolet Exhibition". Shaggy and Scooby headed for the sign they had hoped to see: "Famous Movie Vehicles and Buffet". The others grimaced as they left, and silently pitied the buffet staff; they wouldn't know what had hit them.
Then, as always, the mystery began.
The doors screeched open, and something bombed through them, skidded round with the anguished squealing of four tortured tyres, and faced the exit again.
It was a huge, black car, with a shape a little like the Koenigsegg from the car park, but a million times more ghostly and ethereal. The car glowed eerily in the slightly dimmed light in the hall, and the driving seat was made of bones. But the fact that it was empty was more disturbing. The steering wheel moved with no arms to guide it, and seemingly no person to steer the thing; but it moved, with a hateful certainty, and people were screaming and running from the thing as though even the sight of it would harm them. Harold Marchbanks was hiding inside one of his Morgans, trying to shrink out of view as best he could and relying on the Morgan to hide him. James May, on the other side of the hall, was being shielded by the group of men in Subaru polo shirts, although there was no doubt that if it was May that the supernatural vehicle was after, they would be little defence. No voice issued from the thing, but the engine seemed to rumble its warning, and the only people who remained in the vicinity of the car were either the men guarding James May or were simply petrified on the spot and unable to move.
The car revved again, and then flew towards the doors with twice the force that it had entered with. The speed it was now doing made its previous speed seem dignified and relaxed. The people in the hall held their breath.
But thankfully, no people were on the other side of the doors, which were ripped savagely from their hinges as the car surged through the doorway with the force of some kind of fighter aircraft. The car vanished from sight of the people in the hall.
For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the Subaru men turned and said almost as one, "You OK, mate?" to James May, who assured them that he was and walked towards the door marked "Staff" looking both bemused and amused.
The gang looked round at each other, silently stunned. Then Shaggy and Scooby shook their heads firmly.
"Like, uh uh. No way. Not gonna happen, guys!"
"Well, what else can we do?" Fred asked. "We're supposed to solve mysteries, it's what we do!"
"I agree," Daphne said, nodding firmly. "I'm in."
"And me," Velma added.
"Like, please tell me we get the casting vote…" Shaggy whimpered. Velma looked amused.
"Uh uh, guys; the casting vote goes to the leader…"
She turned to Fred.
"Well, Freddy?"
He glared at her.
"You only did that so Shaggy and Scooby would blame me for having to solve this mystery, Velma!"
"Foul play, Dinkley," Daphne said, grinning.
"All right," Velma said, smiling in spite of herself. "I take the casting vote, seeing as the leader doesn't want to. I say we solve this mystery!"
"Like, thanks a lot, Velms," Shaggy sighed, defeated. "Next time, like, we get the casting vote, guys, it has to be a different person every time… like, we should use that as a system, because then we can get out of two out of every five mysteries… uh… guys?"
The rest of the gang was walking towards the broken doors and in the direction of where the car had gone. Shaggy and Scooby sighed as one, and in their usual reluctant way walked after their friends, resigned to this new mystery and wishing they had never agreed to the outing in the first place.