FATHER’S DAY CAR SHOW
THE SHOWCARS MELBOURNE FATHER’S DAY CAR & BIKE SHOW PACKED OUT ST KILDA’S ACLAND STREET WITH QUALITY CARS AND FAMILY FUN
St Kilda’s shopping hotspot gets overrun with toughies to celebrate Dad’s Day
ON ANY bright Sunday in Melbourne, you’re sure to find a few tasty cars cruising around, but you won’t usually find too many well-known thoroughfares where mad machinery halts trams and traffic. But Father’s Day has become one of those Sundays at St Kilda’s Acland Street. For the past six years, the famed food and shopping destination has been invaded by hundreds of beautiful cars and thousands of car nuts, eager to celebrate their love of shiny metal with their families and friends. And yes, they do actually stop the trams!
The massive annual Father’s Day Car & Bike Show is the product of months of hard work by the teams at Showcars Melbourne and the Acland Street Traders Association. The show doesn’t just take over Acland Street itself – the nearby Shakespeare Grove and O’donnell Gardens get packed with sweet rides too. Even the famous Luna Park frontage is used as a display area for a selection of movie cars.
As you can probably imagine, organising a show of this magnitude requires a heap of planning. “The show takes more than eight months to plan,” says Showcars Melbourne chief Elvis Barbieri. “We have to organise for Yarra Trams to stop the trams down Acland Street for the whole day, we meet with the council and Vicroads to redirect traffic, and we get the police on board to keep an eye on everything.”
A spray painter and panel beater by trade with 30 years’ experience, Elvis has been organising the Father’s Day event since its inception. “The Acland Street Traders approached me six years ago after seeing the quality of the cars at our Moonee Valley event, and asked if we could do something with them,” he explains.
Clearly the pairing has paid off, as this year’s show was awash with proper show cars and high-quality streeters. “We had 650 cars and more than 40,000 people!” Elvis says. “We’re going to have to find room for more next year – about 200 cars couldn’t get in. I’d like to thank Olivia Mclean and Lorry Athanasi from the Acland Street Traders Association, all the entrants, sponsors and the public for making the event such a great success.”
EACH FATHER’S DAY FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS, ACLAND STREET HAS BEEN INVADEDBY HUNDREDS OF BEAUTIFUL CARS AND THOUSANDS OF CAR NUTS
There were more than just show cars to keep the crowd entertained, with kids activities, a market, and, of course, all the food and shops that Acland Street is known for. Local rockabilly bands Cadillac Drifters and Mighty Kings entertained the crowd from a stage set right in the centre of Acland Street, and the Australian Grand Prix had a legit Formula One car and Mick Doohan’s Motogp bike to show off. Supercars drivers David Reynolds and Anton De Pasquale were on hand to chat to fans in front of one of their Erebus Motorsport/ Penrite Racing Team cars, and to finish off the day, awards were presented to the winners of the various show classes.
The thorough planning resulted in a show with no major problems and lots of happy people, many of whom make the Acland Street show a Father’s Day tradition. Even a great day out must come to an end though, and it wouldn’t be a proper Melbourne day without a sudden torrential downpour. Thankfully the rain managed to hold off until the late arvo so it didn’t ruin the show, although anyone who had to drive home in a car wearing fat slicks certainly had their hands full!