DUNEDIN’s AUTO SPECTACULAR
Car shows can be unpleaseant. Not the actual looking at cars part, more the fact that by the end of the day, the chances are you will either be sunburnt, windblown or wet. And your car, which you have spent the last day cleaning polishing and making it look respectable, normally comes home covered in a nice coat of dust.
There has to be a better way to go about it. There is and Kevin Casey and his team in Dunedin have it spot on. Have it inside. Suddenly the weather isn’t an issue for cars, owners and more importantly, the paying public.
This was the second time Classic Driver had been present and again I was asked to do the judging. I thought that after last year’s effort, I should have this car judging thing down-pat.
Arriving at 7.30am I was prepared, I had an hour and a half to walk around the assembled cars and ‘bikes before the public were admitted so no interruptions, how hard can it be?
Well... very hard! It was 3.30pm before I had it sorted in my head and even then, I was still almost having to toss a coin for a couple of categories.
Autospectular 2013 had a New Zealand first. On display, an Auburn, a Cord and a Duesenberg and while it was the pulling power of the Duesenberg which got the public through the doors, once inside it was the beautiful black Cord which was grabbing the majority of the crowd’s attention. Celebrating the centenary of Morris, the marque had a huge display from early Bullnose models right through to Minis.
To get the local car clubs involved in making the show more of a spectacle, they were encouraged to arrange their displays around the theme of “The Mancave”.
While this was a voluntary thing, the majority of clubs exhibiting took this to heart and there were some extraordinary lengths taken on some stands to create the ultimate display.
The Jaguar club, complete with rather rotten MkII and a plastic female mechanic, were front-runners. The VW club, complete with a table supported by a pair of Beetle engines was outstanding and here am I having to find a winner!
In the end I picked the Otago Classic Motoring club. Why? Their mancave actually had jugs complete with beer (well, Speights, which depending on your pint of view, may or may not actually qualify as beer...) and a toilet. That is what I call well equipped!
It is the variety of vehicles which makes this show stand out from others. There is not row after row of near identical cars and it isn’t just cars. The commercial vehicle class was one of the hardest to pick a winner from, the standard of some of the pickups and trucks on display was amazing. The turquoise 59 Chev. pickup had me weak at the knees as a Chev owner from way back, and if it wasn’t for the rather garish seat covers, it probably would have beaten Cliff Sandrey’s Ford Jailbar to the trophy.
How do you decide between a Duesenberg and 1939 Chevrolet coupe for the winner of the post vintage section? The Duesenberg is stunning but the same could equally be said for the Chev. This judging lark is not as simple as it seems!
As well as a car show, Autospectacular incorporates a swapmeet and again, an indoor environment makes this a brilliant idea. If you are selling, you don’t need to worry about your valuable merchandise geting wet, blowing away, or any of the other deprivations of an outdoor event making for an unpleasant time of it.
I said it last year and I will say it again... If you have any interest in cars and you can’t find something to spin your wheels at Autospectacular, you may as well give up going to car shows.
And the winner of the Classic Driver/Mequiar’s “Best in Show” prize, a trophy and selecton of Mequiar’s finest car care products??
It was a tough decision but I could not go past the stunning 1956 Ford Thunderbird of Glenys Elliott.