BOP MUSTANG OWNERS ALL USA DAY
Bay of Plenty Mustang Owners Club All USA Day
Moving the show’s venue in 2016 from an inner-city sports ground to Classic Flyers, adjacent to Tauranga’s airport, was a very good move. Even so, Bay of Plenty Mustang Owners Club president David Thomson and his wife and secretary, Vanessa, pointed out that the more than 325 vehicles on show this year, stretched the venue to capacity on the Sunday, 18 November. However, there is still room to extend the display area next year so that the few late-comers turned away will be accommodated. This year, on 18 November, when the event was held, the number of visitors who passed through the gate remains uncountable (due to the many whose entry is free — perhaps including the parachutists who periodically dropped in) but seems sure to be more than ever, resulting in a sizeable donation to the club’s charity of choice for 2018, Habitat for Humanity.
Another fine thing about the venue is that Classic Flyers and other flight-associated operators open their hangars, which most petrolheads seem to appreciate. The museum is full of iconic aircraft, some in flying order. Classic Flyers offered flights in a Dc3/dakota, and the gate prize for exhibitors was a scenic flight in a World War II– era Boeing Stearman. An intrepid pilot also put on a spectacular aerobatic display, complete with smoke and spins.
Of course, the museum incorporates an excellent café and children’s play area. Whether by design or not, located way down the far end of the taxiway, either side of which the vehicles are displayed, are food carts. Given that it took a couple of hours to meander down one side of the taxiway, a hot dog and coffee were welcome fortification for the two-hour trip back up the other side. Hopefully, the rock-and-roll dancers had a similar opportunity to fortify themselves.
The show is a judged event by club members, and this year the main sponsor, Extreme Automotive Parts, chose a 1958 Corvette Convertible as its best car and sponsored the prize for People’s Choice — a 1938 Ford Cabriolet, which also took Best Ford. As usual, my assistant and I made our choices: a 1957 Cadillac Coupe De Ville and a massively supercharged 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, neither of which the real judges mentioned, which just goes to show that everybody has different tastes.