TOP 10 SHOOTOUT
Basically, everyone who attended Repco Beach Hop 18 would have been keeping an internal checklist of their favourite cars at the event. This would all come to a head on Sunday, with the Top 10 announced on Saturday afternoon, and Sunday at Ford Reserve set aside for the anticipated Top 10 Shootout, limited to officially entered vehicles. There was no denying the quality of those who made it through. The top five cars were one hell of a line-up — Justin Walker’s chopped, tubbed, blown, and slammed ’64 Ford Galaxie; Clint Wheeler’s chopped and candy-coated Holden EK panel van; Neil Surtees’ stunning hand-built Model A Tudor; Ian Neary’s iconic ‘Eruption’ Plymouth GTX; and Sean Williams’ wicked ’33 Ford roadster as featured in the last issue of NZV8. The three bikes were no less impressive, with Carie McCarthy’s jaw-dropping custom chopper returning to the elite circle once again, joined by Craig Urquhart’s beautifully restored ’42 Harley-Davidson, and Brian Strickland’s crazy custom VW trike. The best caravans? Graeme Wheeler’s fantastically preserved 1952 Muir and Kerry Earle’s Wizard of Oz– themed 1954 Airstream, polished to perfection. At the Hop, visual impact is key, so it should come as no surprise that the ultimate winners were Justin Walker, Brian Strickland, and Kerry Earl — all truly deserving recipients of the acknowledgement for their respective labours of love. With the Sunday prizewinners announced, the fantastic automotive carnival that was Repco Beach Hop 18 officially closed down for the year, leaving us all with that post–Beach Hop desire to do it all over again. March 27–31, 2019, is the date to lock in — but we’re sure that you, like us, will have already done that!