The Southern Mustang Club Incorporated
The Southern Mustang Club was founded in 1998 after a couple of Southland lads went to a National Mustang convention in Christchurch under the Canterbury Mustang Owners’ Club banner.
They had such a great time they decided it was time Southland had a club on its own. They decided to put an advertisement in the local paper to see if there was any interest. The response was overwhelming, so a meeting night was set up at what used to be the “Garage Bar” at the back of the Waikiwi Tavern with around 15 very keen locals turning up to be a part of this new venture. The Club has steadily grown in numbers over the past 14 years, peaking at around 65 financial members.
After several years campaigning the five other major New Zealand Mustang Clubs, the Southern Club finally got to host its very own convention here in the sunny South in 2011. It took many months of detailed planning from a very dedicated group of people, but the end result was immensely rewarding with around 120 cars from all over New Zealand attending the convention over Labour Weekend. A lot of them stayed on a few extra days to admire what our province has to offer.
The Club meets regularly at Club Southland in Invercargill at 7pm on the 2nd Thursday night of each month. We try to have regular runs around Southland, and usually once or twice a year organise a trip a bit further out of town for the weekend. The most recent run was to Oturehua in the middle of the Ida Valley, Central Otago. It is the hottest place in summer and the ground temperature has been known to be as low -15deg C in the winter (I know: I have camped on the ground huddled in a three-man pup tent at the famous annual Brass Monkey Motorcycle Rally held at the Ida Burn Dam every year). 13 cars and about 20 members attended this run which included a tour through the original E. Hayes factory workshop and homestead. Later on, a fantastic evening meal was hosted at the Oturehua Tavern by Graham and his wife. All-in-all it was a great weekend!
We have one major fundraiser a year providing security on the gate for the Burt Munro Challenge motorcycle rally held here in Invercargill. This is a huge weekend for the club, and nearly all our members turn out to welcome these guys from all over the world for the 3-to-4 day event. It’s a great opportunity to meet lots of very interesting people.
That is really what our club is all about – getting the car out of the shed and having fun!
For more information about the Southern Mustang Club you can visit www.nzmustang. com and click the Southern button in the red banner at the top of the page.