Otautau Classic Car Show
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It was a great turnout of classics, motorcycles and pickup trucks on display in Holt Park for this year’s Otautau Classic Car Show. Originally known as the Otautau All Ford Day, the event organized by a dedicated local team of enthusiasts has seen the popularity of this family day out in a country park expand each year.
It’s held as a fundraiser for Otautau community groups, and the improving weather over the weekend encouraged a diverse range of classics and modern future-classic owners to polish up their pride and joy, and cruise along to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere. Southland Ford Falcon club president, Peter Herrick, was pleased with the way the event evolved.
“We ended up with 178 entrants on the day, which was better than last year,” he said.
A number of Southland businesses also supported the show with their product displays, as well as a range of food stalls.
The evening cabaret and auction held in the nearby Sports Centre had a rock ’n’ roll dress theme, with ‘Elvis Presley’ entertaining to help raise a tidy sum of money for the small Western Southland community. Cabaret organizing committee member, Margaret Drake, was very pleased with the result. “We had a great day, and the evening cabaret went very well with a good turnout, and raised around $30,000,” she said.
The event attracted some surprise guests as well as the classic enthusiasts, including a group of Australians who said it was the most enjoyable event they had been to on their trip around New Zealand. Touring in style: R Grant’s 1930 Rolls-royce Phantom scooped up a top-five car choice and the People’s Choice award Sizeable shadow: Bruce and Joan Jordan’s lovely 1963 Ford Thunderbird Rare Brit. How many of these little Trojan workhorses survive in New Zealand? This 1954 example is owned by Graham and Janice Moore Built for speed: clean lines of MJ Shearer’s 1954 Austin-healey 100 USA V GB: two tidy Indians split by a British Norton Straight: Albert Van Turnhout’s 1976 Buick hearse alongside another top-five car, the 1965 Chevrolet Impala of Gordon Shearing Something different: Sam Brame’s 1974 Datsun 120Y Still going: David Mcdowell’s evergreen 1936 Ford ambulance