GOING THE EXTRA MILE

As his modifications solidified into an eyecatching build, Andreas grew ever more eager to display his Focus. Who wouldn’t? There was just one problem: the local area was low on appropriate events. “There aren’t that many car shows around Perth,” he explains, “a lot of them focus on more classic stuff. There were about one or two each year which I’d look forward to.” If Andreas wanted to share his build with an appreciative audience, he’d need to hit the road.

Australia being what Australia is – namely an unutterably huge island with a mainland coastline over 14,000 miles long – the ST was faced with a massive journey to get out of Western Australia and into the next state over. Andreas didn’t mind. He’d set his sights on All Ford Day, an annual, Blue Oval-only event in South Australia, and committed to attending the 2017 show. Early that September, he pointed his glittering, flip wrapped bonnet at the highway and just kept driving.

“It took us three days to get out of WA,” he laughs, “and we covered just over 5000 kilometres during the trip.” In total, Andreas would spend almost two working weeks on the road to make the one day show. Just dwell on that next time you’re erring over an extra hour’s driving to attend a UK event… It wasn’t all easy going for the Focus, either. Travelling some of the longest straight roads on the planet gave Andreas the opportunity to push as high as 135mph, though crosswinds prevented him from going much faster. “That was probably quick enough given the threat of kangaroos around there…”