, n r o b e r , g n i n n tu s s i h t T S G N n! O o c l a F T GET AM G A X show winning
ISSUE
own Tauranga ry e v r u o t u o k c ay Drags ue and che Rip into this iss , the epic day out at Father’s D around MotorFest Show e week at Americarna cruising i area. the Taranak and a massiv
Holy another year has almost blown past! Things are really cranking up in the show and event scene now with the drag racing, burnout and shows all kicking off for the summer season!
Check out our video coverage on our YouTube channel
It has been an absolutely hectic month here getting around the events, along with organising our very own show together with Jessica from Blissful Photography.
Both Jessica and I can’t thank everyone that jumped in to support and help us enough! Not to mention all the people that took the time to come along to show their cars or just wander through to show their support. It was an absolutely awesome day that we thoroughly enjoyed and to be honest, fully humbling to have such amazing support for what we do. We’ve got great coverage in the mag here, so jump into that article and check it out for sure. Along with our show this month, I also managed to get across to Hamilton to check out the new Autorama Show at the Mystery Creek Event Centre. That was another awesome indoor show with a massive collection of cool cars to check out, so watch this space for that article! With all the runs coming up to fill the calendar, make sure you jump into our free “back issues”
ISSUE
of Octane Fix to check them out. It’s a great way to suss out what events you want to get along to for sure. We are pretty much only a month out from heading over to the land of Oz for Summernats to capture the NZ Burnout Team taking on the Aussies there thanks to Premier Events, Prowear and Jacanna Customs & Freight. We fully can’t wait to get into the action there. With the awesome backing from CHEMZ Ltd., we will be coming back with a heap of photos and video to produce a special “CHEMZ Summernats” edition of Octane Fix.
starting already. I certainly can’t wait to slam that gear lever again, that’s for sure! So rip into this issue and share it around your mates. It has massive coverage of Americarna, the awesome Father’s Day Drags and our very own show Tauranga Motorfest. Plus Dave and Harieta Chase’s amazing XA GT Falcon Hardtop after a massive restoration back to factory condition. It’s simply stunning. Cheers all, catch you out there!
Giggles (aka Bogan)
We’ll be covering everything from the Top 60 Car Show through to the Cruising and Burnouts so definitely watch out for that one. I’m soo excited about that already!!! On the home front in the cave here, my poor ole Coupe has been left aside again with all the action going on, but no worries. It’s all back on again now with a few weekends of catching up to do.
Photo credit goes to the awesome Rod Dunn from Creative Auto Photography
Our show at the Tauranga Crossing mall carpark called “Tauranga Motorfest” was absolutely brilliant!
We always have a bit of a chuckle here. It’s kind of like the mechanics car or the builders house. The poor thing seems to get the short straw but it’s amazing how much time it actually takes when a lot of it is custom built. The end is near now though and I can kind of feel the excitement and nerves
OCTANE FIX ONLINE:
CONTENTS: Tauranga MotorFest 2023 - A crazy day at the mall!.......................................04
0274 827 221
FEATURE: Dave & Harieta Chase’s Xacellent GT!................................................74
info@octanefixonline.com
FEather’s Day Drags 2023 - Skids ‘n all, dad’s day was on!!..............................102
www.octanefixonline.com
Welcome to Americana 2023...............................................................................156
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EDITOR / PHOTOGRAPHER / VIDEORAPHER: Kelvin Couchman (aka Giggles or Bogan)
|
DESIGNERS: Lisa Lewis / Kyla Saunders
t s e f r o t o M Tauranga HE MALL!
T T A Y A D Y Z A R C A 3 2 20 This day was the perfect excuse for saying “I’m just going down the to the shop” and arriving back home many hours later! For a first off show, this one has certainly marked its spot on the calendar for a return. This all came about from a quick message from Jessica “Blissful photography” saying “I want to have a Car Show to raise funds to go to Summernats”. Now what’s a bloke supposed to do when those three words “Car Show” and “Summernats” get put together, I mean, you can’t say “aww naaa” can you! So that was it, “Tauranga Motorfest” was born and started to evolve right then and there! Finding a place big enough to host a couple of hundred cars with amenities to sustain a full-on show was a bit of a mission I must say. Being a fundraiser, the idea of spending big dollars on event places was out of the question, along with the expenses involved with using council grounds and road closure fees. To us, the Tauranga Crossing Mall seemed absolutely perfect. Everything is there, from amenities to food courts and something for everyone to do while the show was on.
The big bonus being a car park area big enough to space a couple of hundred cars out so they could be displayed and photographed easily without people squeezing past them all. With both Jessica and myself being into the photography side, there was no way we were going to have a show where cars were jammed in next to each other in a hard park situation. Sure we could have got more cars in and squeeze another dollar or two, but a quality show over quantity was the plan and is always a winner! The reasoning for the show was to fund the trip to Australia to attend Summernats 35 and back the NZ Burnout Team competing against the Aussies in January 24. The Burnout Team came about from the awesome Burnout Comp. created by Premier Events at the Prowear Chrome Horsepower Festival we covered in issue 26 of Octane Fix. Jacanna along with Premier Events teamed up to send the four top cars from the competition over, which brought out a massive field of top contenders to battle it out for the four spots.
So, between “Octane” and this Muscle Car / Hot Rod scene and Jessica with “Blissful Photography” and the motorsport side of the car scene, we figured we could put a cool bunch of cars together to create a Motorfest. The idea was to get the whole scene together to cover as many aspects of the motorsport and show scene as possible including boats and bikes. After-all, we’re all about performance and screaming engines with a mix of cruising in there. The support from day one to get this show together was absolutely amazing. The Tauranga Crossing Mall was on board, as for both of us, this was a win / win situation. All our awesome sponsors jumped straight-in as well, so it was just a matter of “make the day, and they will come.” The day itself was well planned right up until about 6:10am of the morning of the show. Even the weather forecast was for a clear sunny beautiful Bay of Plenty day. I now know that when everything is looking awesome, stand back because all hells is about to break loose! Haha
With the caravan fully loaded with everything for the show and heading over early to be set up ready for the early birds to arrive, the Gremlins crept in. For some strange reason these Gremlin’s work in threes as we know. About ten minutes into the journey, a tyre on the caravan blew, totally destroying the rim. So, it was out with the spare wheel to find that was almost flat as well. The next mission was to roar back home to grab the air compressor only to find that it didn’t want to start for the first time ever. With no back up plan for that one, a good smack on the control box and it was all go, pumping air to fill the tank enough to inflate the tyre and get us back rolling to Tauranga. With a few phone calls on the way, we arrived at the show to an almost full carpark thanks to the massive help from a whole bunch of people who jumped in to help Jessica out, organising and parking cars to create an awesome show ready for me to simply pull into. With an hour to go before the show officially started at 10am, the Mall Carpark was a hive of coolness. Hot
Rods, Muscle Cars, European and Japanese Performance, Classic olds-cool cruisers through to Jet sprint boats and a helicopter jet engine powered river marathon boat were set up on display. Custom and sports bikes were rolling in to get amongst with a classic old Cortina Ministry of Transport Patrol Car close in behind just like the old days. Even a Mad Max Pursuit Special was in for the show representing that awesome movie. Liz Gracie with her “Evil 69” Camaro supercharged burnout car rolled in to represent the “NZ Burnout Team” with the pace car from Premier Events behind. Supported by Ramo’s “Grim Reaper” burnout blown one tonne Holden Ute and Arnie Donaldson’s “LOLIFE” screaming roof chopped XC Falcon Ute to show what the burnout world is all about. The Mitsubishi Evo Club rolled in to line up together representing the import performance world bringing another aspect to the show to make it an awesome event for everyone. Bay Park Speedway was represented with a staunch Midget looking like it was ready for trouble and even the army was represented with a collection of awesome old military vehicles arriving in convoy.
Wayne from Doctor Cuts was busy polishing the 56 Chevy of Steve and Leanne Milne’s, who won raffle no.1 of the day for an awesome polish.
and gift packs to those voted as ‘Best of Show’ by public vote plus do the lucky draw with Wayne from Doctor Cuts for his awesome 3-day Surgical Shine Polish.
Luckily Wayne was set up under a gazebo, as out of the blue a few rainy showers settled in for an hour. Just enough to wet the cars and ground but not bad enough to chase everyone away.
Richard Thompson was luckily enough to have his ticket number drawn from the hat by Wayne to have his stunning 57 Chevy Bel Air given the full treatment.
Having the Tauranga Crossing Mall as our base worked out absolutely fantastic. With shelter, food and entertainment for everyone to get away from the showers, the day simply rolled on until the clouds broke and we could carry on with the prizegiving of the Top 5 Cars and the Tauranga Crossing Choice Trophies.
For a first-time event and something different from the usual hard park type show, the day rocked off extremely well.
Nigel Segedin from CHEMZ made the trip up from Hastings for the day to get amongst the show and was quickly put to work. Handing out free goodies and doing the mad dash to pick up the ‘Peoples Choice’ boxes when the showers started. As the sky cleared, everyone was back wandering around the cars on show and gathering ready for prize giving to get started. With sooo many free goodies from our amazing sponsors to give away, we broke it up by presenting the Top 5 trophies
Then it was back to the silent auctions and simply handing out more freebies from our incredible sponsors.
The turn out from the public to the car owners registering early and some rocking in on the day was awesome. Being such a crazy busy day for both Jessica and myself, we were both a bit rushed to get around the show grabbing photos but did manage to grab a few from under an umbrella while the showers were happening. Luckily for me Nigel Watts is always keen to get amongst with a camera, so I’ve managed to grab a few overview shots from the car park building above the show from Nigel to show just how awesome the show was.
I didn’t even realise how busy the show was until I saw the photos. We have already had a few requests to run the event again next year, so keep on eye out on our Facebook pages for what may evolve there. Both Jessica and myself can’t thank everyone enough for coming along to support us on this adventure to cover Summernats and the NZ Burnout Team competing there. In association with CHEMZ Ltd., we will be producing a CHEMZ – Octane Fix “Summernats Edition” as soon as we are back. We’ll be covering everything from the Top 60 Show right through to the Cruising and especially the Burnout Competitions. So watch this space for that edition for sure!! So, thanks again everyone that supported us, it was truly an awesome day and even with all the craziness, we still loved it! Like we do!! Cheers all.
Special thanks to our sponsors...
Congratulations to Richard Thompson winning the Surgicalshine Polish from Wayne at Doctor Cuts
Thanks to Nigel Watts for the overview shots.
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Phone Wayne on 07 220 9667
DAVE AND HARIETA CHASE’S
XACELLENT GT! This here is the definition of “dream big, and it will happen!”
trip being from Whakatane to Nelson for the GT Falcon Club Nationals weekend.
winged sump to keep the oil where it should be.
Built to be driven has always been the moto and that’s the way it has stayed!
Dave’s vision to rebuild his dream car back to the show room factory specs of 1973 have certainly been achieved with this build here.
Dave always had the goal of the full restoration, collecting bits along the way to get the car back to matching it’s build sheet, which isn’t an easy task when the build sheet dates back to 1973 and Ford only built 891 of them!
The Hardtops were a full make-over for the Falcons, based very closely on the American Mach 1 Mustangs and designed to hit the track and get the Ford name back up the leaders board.
Entering the 2023 Ellerslie Concours de ‘Elegance show in the Master Class category for the first time, with the cars first outing, and bouncing away with the first-place trophy, shows the effort and determination to achieve this goal for sure! I first bumped into Dave at the local petrol station around twelve or so years back. I was pouring more petrol into my Coupe when Dave rocked up and said I’ve got one of these in my shed. Now how often have we had that happen and a conversation starts up. Not long after we had a Ford gathering in town and along rocked up Dave with this Blue GT Falcon Hardtop to come along for a cruise. Ever since then, the two coupes have clocked up a heap of miles, tiki touring around the country together. The first big
A fair number of that 891 were turned into race cars as well, making items even more scarce than usual. Their iconic shape is one that has lasted the decades! Fifty years ago the XA GT Falcon Hardtop won the famous Bathurst race with the coupes holding that trophy for a fair few years after with the XB and XC models. Their advantage over the previous square shaped Falcons was the big rear guards and the ability to run wider tyres plus the aerodynamics of the sleek laid-back design. Straight off the factory floor, the Hardtops were cornering at 10mph faster than the previous models which subsequently resulted in the requirement of a special
Like most of us and how our project gets a kick start, the poor ole Coupe failed a WOF due to rust and we all know what that means! For Dave, it was “game on” time! With boxes of bits waiting in the garage and a plan in his head, the Coupe was stripped and off to get dipped to see just how rusty and damaged the body actually was. For anyone who does the dipping process, it’s the point of no-return and you just have to cringe and get on with the resto after that. It’s never better than what you think it will be, so the goal has to be strong to start that process for sure! Dave’s was no different, throwing a few extra surprises in for the panel beater to deal with. Matamata Panel Works had the mission in hand to get the body back to better than factory standard and lay the original
paint look finish over the smoothly finished body. From there, it was all on Dave. Every item stripped from the original body was refurbished, either by Dave or by someone who could do it better. New wiring looms were built to factory specs and the dash instruments and panel were rebuilt. If new aftermarket items weren’t as per the original quality, they were put back on the shelf and the old item was refurbished back to new before getting placed back into the Coupe. Dave has been studying the build of these Coupes for years. Checking just where the paint lines finish, the quality assurance markings are placed and how they are done, right down to the exact colours of each item.
His precision with reassembling this car is honestly unbelievable! You would have to sit this next to a factory car from way back in ‘73 to even try and compare the differences and you would probably say Dave’s is more original! Of course, with the attitude of “Built to be driven” the factory smog items have been replaced with performance parts but detailed as if factory. After-all, we don’t drive factory cars now do we! From the spare wheel tucked into the boot under the factory mat to the refurbished radiator, apart from the sneaky performance mods, this automobile is as factory as you can possible get. The detailing with the factory quality assurance markings to the tied on tags and factory hand books, Dave has made
sure this Hardtop takes you back in time. Even the eight track stereo has the iconic AC/DC eight track “Highway to hell” ready to play. Not that you will want to interrupt the growling V8 rumble from the staunch 351 Cleveland through the factory exhaust. It honestly surprised me how awesome and actually how loud the factory exhaust from the headers back is when it’s roaring off down the road slamming gears through the four-speed top loader gear box. No wonder we’ve grown up wanting Muscle Cars and Hot rods! If you ever get the chance to check this ride out in the flesh, make sure to take your time checking it out under and over! There’s definitely a reason it achieved first place at the Concours show.
Give me the dirt… 1973 Ford Falcon GT Hardtop
ANY OTHER MODIFICATIONS?
COLOUR:
Cosmic Blue with Satin Black ‘GT Black outs’
My vision for the restoration was to look like it came straight out of the show room in 1973, but with some ‘Day 2 mods’ to make driving it more enjoyable.
ENGINE:
351 4v Cleveland (Matching numbers). Rebuilt to look standard but has roller rockers, Edelbrock manifold, Holly carb, electronic ignition, extractors.
FACTORY OPTION LIST:
What we call ‘Day 2 mods’… built to be driven.
MAKE/MODEL:
TRANSMISSION: 4 speed Toploader DIFF:
Model Code:
18218
1973 XA GT Hardtop
Engine Code:
T
351 4V
Trans Code:
L
4 speed
Paint Code:
8
Cosmic Blue (Metallic)
Trim Code:
W2
White with Black cloth inserts
Options:
03
Seatbelts (Mandatory)
04
Protection Pack (Over-riders and protection mouldings)
11
Laminated Windshield (Tinted band)
16
Black vinyl Roof
52
Sports Road wheels (2 piece)
55
Black Hood
61
LHS mirror
72
8 Track stereo
81
Decklid spoiler
82
Front spoiler
1207
John Dwyer Ford, Ayr, QLD
Factory 9 nine-inch LSD but changed the ratio to 3.25:1
SUSPENSION:
Factory but lowered
BRAKES:
Factory disc/drums
WHEELS/TYRES: Standard 2-piece Option 52 wheels (14x6) with replica Red Band ‘Aquajets’ but I have another set of Bathurst ‘Globe’ (15x8 and 15x10) style wheels to fill the guards. The standard wheels will be swapped after out GT Nationals. INTERIOR:
Factory standard W2 trim (White with black inserts)
STEREO:
Factory standard 8 track player
Dealer Code:
Q&A: So how long have you owned the car? 25 years Where did you find it? I found it in the Autotrader out of Auckland in March 1998 What made you pick this car? Introduced to GT Falcons at a young age and just had to have one Did you buy the car as is or build it? I made it reliable over the years but it was rusty and failed a WOF in 2019 so I completed a full restoration How long was the build time? The full restoration from stripping the car, acid dip, rust/panel repairs, paint, restoring parts, and assembly to WOF was just under 4 years What would be your favourite car to own? Phase III or Boss 429 Mustang What car would you like to test drive? My bucket list is to drive every model of GT Falcon’s…. I’m getting through the list with the help from my GT club mates Do you have any other cool cars in the shed? Unfortunately, not What other cool cars have you owned? Only this one
Any you wish you still owned? My first car….an HC Viva
Favourite band / singer to go cruising with on the stereo? AC/DC Highway to Hell on the 8 Track
What cars are on the wish list? GT-F
Are you involved in any car clubs? GT Falcon Club of New Zealand and Whakatane Ford Falcon Club
Favourite style of car? Coupe….4 doors are for taxis What do you love about the car scene the most? Meeting different people from all walks of life who have a passion for cars. Any make, any style, any condition. It starts with the cars but develops into friends for life Favourite car movie? Running On Empty
Anyone you would you like to thank for helping with the car? My wife Hariata for letting me spend the money to achieve my vision. I’m still buzzing and blown away that this car sits in my shed! Anything more you would like to add? 2023 Ellerslie Concours de ‘Elegance Master class first place. First time I’ve won a prize with my car in 25 years ownership
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Father’s Day Drags
SKIDS N ALL 2023 DAD’S DAY WAS ON!!!
This is such an awesome annual event to GET AMONGST! Organised by the American Muscle Car Club, this annual event at the NAPA Auto Parts Dragway, Meremere is a must to get along to!
Unlike the normal competition series, this day is open to anyone with a post 1948 car of American or Australian origin and V8 only. No T Buckets or cars without bonnets or even slicks allowed on this day. Competition cars running eleven second quarters or under are welcome, as long as they run their association log books, so the racing is awesome throughout the entire day! From modern to old-school, it is truly awesome and surprising what comes out of the shed for this day! The car park and pit area resembled
a Hot Rod and Muscle Car show all by itself! The back field was fully packed with cool looking rides rolling in to make for an awesome show to wander about when the drag strip was quiet.
caves and car builds, there’s heaps of entertainment off the strip as well!
The pit area is always a hive of activity with tyre changes going on from road to track tyres and exhausts being unbolted for the day.
The strip was dry, warm and ready to rock with the first dial-in runs starting early in the morning ready for racing to kick in straight after lunch.
You simply can’t beat the sound of a good ole V8 screaming through open headers! That’s what drag racing is all about, tyre smoke, screaming V8’s and good ole drag racing action.
While the drag strip crew were getting ready for the racing, the BurgerFuel burnout competition was on to entertain the crowd packed around the burnout pad.
Father’s Day Drags has always been a big day for the Meremere Drag strip. The public certainly make this day a good one with the stands and hill side filling with people early on to capture the action. The pit area being open is awesome for a walk through to check out the cars before the action starts and with heaps of vendors selling their goods for the
The ole weather is always a bit hit-nmiss to be fine for Father’s Day, but on this day it certainly was!
With only four contenders rolling up to battle it out for the thousand-dollar prize from BurgerFuel, the action was still fierce with some wicked tyre shredding burnout action going on. Jake Stewart and the Tuf Garage Commodore put on another awesome display using the entire pad to shred two tyres to the applause and cheers from the crowd and happily take away
the prize money.
being the fastest time for the day.
From then on, the action was full noise with dial-in racing and some awesome tyre warm up / burnout action going to please the crowd.
Class B had Graeme Davies in his 86 Holden pulling an 11.1 second pass at 128mph while Class C had James Hedge’s 68 Camaro running a 12.6 at 110mph.
It always surprises me just how quick some of the street cars are, pulling some seriously quick quarter mile strip times. The sneaky bottle of nitrous in the boot always makes me grin. Like a sneaky little sleeper waiting to shock the competitor as it pulls away. Boost is definitely where the action is with turbo’s, blowers and nitrous all crowd pleasers to watch in action. With six classes of racing throughout the day, the action was full noise! Class A “dial you own” ran some seriously quick times with a ripper pass from Aaron Jenkins in his wild Torana running a 7.7 second pass at 185mph.
Paul Hammond cranked it in his 71 Plymouth Cuda with a pass of 11.1 seconds at 120mph. in Class D. It was definitely an awesome day’s racing with almost 200 cars in the field. The biggest cringe for the day was watching Mike in his blown 73 Corvette fully set up for a trip to “Drag Week” in the USA stepping right into the concrete barrier before heading back over the centre line only to come back again at the wall. But not stopping at just that, he then head back over to attack the opposite wall ending in a ball of flames sliding down the barrier. That fully is not
a sight you want to see heading down the drag strip. Luckily the car is an extremely well-built purpose Drag Car caged for such an incident, allowing Mike to walk away with only bruises and a beaten-up ego. But the guys at the Toy Shed certainly have their work cut out to have the car ready for Drag Week again with some major body and cage repairs needed. This is such an awesome day to get amongst and yes, I do say that every year! It’s definitely one of the most popular events to get along too and makes for an awesome Father’s Day! The crew at the NAPA Auto Parts Dragway Meremere certainly run a tight ship putting on a great flowing day with a heap of action. Definitely get the Father’s Day Drags in your diary for next year and get along.
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HOODIES
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Head over to our webpage to check out the clubs in your area. Plus the club benefits, coming events, merchandise and the history of NZHRA
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COMING EVENTS... Check out what’s coming up and what’s going down.
> We GET AMONGST the awesome day out at the Taupo International Motorsport Park with Choice Events and Aussie assault for some fun cruising and wicked burnout sessions before heading to Lake Mangakino for Mangakino Hop and some awesome action on the lake as well. + More Feature Cars!
WELCOME TO
If you rolled into the Taranaki area the week of Americana and wondered if this was a new state of America, you probably wouldn’t be wrong. With all the American flags and banners flying high, picket fences decorated in red, white and blue, cowboy hats and American cars rolling on the streets nonstop, you could fully be excused for thinking we had sold Taranaki to the Americans! Americana is a full-on celebration of the American auto industry. Everything from old-school cruisers, hot rods and pickups to Indian and Harley Davidson motorbikes get amongst this run. Even late model American performance cars get in to mix it up with the classics of days gone by.
This was the fifteenth running of Americana in Taranaki. With a home base at the TSB Stadium in New Plymouth for everyone to meet up first thing in the morning. The days are split into different cruises to various towns spread around the area. This is an awesome way to explore the area if you haven’t been to the Mount Egmont part of NZ before. It all kicks off on the Tuesday afternoon for entrants to roll in, pick up their registration packs with what’s on for
the rest of the week and the touring guide of where everyone will be heading each day. This is always a cool chance to catch up with mates like we do before the week kicks off and see who’s been busy in the caves building new builds to come out to play with.
The Retro O Rama Vintage Market is in full swing for anyone looking for goodies for the cave or new outfits for the week. On Wednesday, the cruising kicks in with everyone meeting back at the TSB Stadium for a welcome briefing from John Ray with his iconic hat before heading off through the countryside to gorgeous little Opunake Beach to park up in the beach side reserve. Live bands and food trucks are all settled in ready for the convoy of gleaming American treasures to arrive and park up with a full-on picnic atmosphere at the beach going on. Each day of the run has a different dress code to create some giggles and to get the imagination going. Wednesday is Hawaiian day, so as you can imagine, there were flowery shirts, Hawaiian lei’s and sun umbrella’s everywhere to fully make the picnic in the park a Hawaiian day out. The cruises are always a spectacle by themselves. All the way along the cruise in the little towns spread throughout
the farmland, the locals are out waving American flags and banners with all sorts of decorations along fence lines welcoming the convoy. It’s not often you see a John Dear tractor with a trailer fully decorated with American flags flying high, but on this event, you certainly do! Come mid afternoon the cruise departs the beach and heads back to base via Omata for another tiki-tour through the Taranaki countryside. The scenery along the coast and through the rural area’s is simply stunning in the Taranaki area. Every now and then you get to see a glimpse of Mount Egmont sneaking through the cloud cover to let you know how wild the area is with regard to its landscape. Back at home base at the TSB Stadium, another welcome function cranked up for new arrivals with a relaxed Q & A session with infamous Gabe and Jesus from America chatting about their work in the States and new builds in the car scene over there.
Thursday rolls around and it’s a whole new day with a new theme of “T shirt” day. As you can imagine, all sort of crazy slogan shirts come out to cause some good giggles today. Thursday is a cruisy day with the cruise not kicking off until lunchtime, heading to Waitara for a “show ‘n shine” in the centre of town before heading to Inglewood for a massive park up in the main street for the rest of the day. Once again the locals are out with flags and banners flying high cheering on the parade of gleaming American cars. Live bands, food stalls and all sorts of entertainment are lined up ready for the convoy to arrive in mass, fully taking over the centre of town with an impressive array of American vehicles for the public to wander around and get amongst the scene. With over nine hundred cars arriving at once, it certainly is like a carnival hitting town. The gathering here finishes up around 8pm ready for the sunset drive back to New Plymouth ready for the new day of cruising on the Friday.
Friday is another big day of tiki touring around the Taranaki area. The theme for the day being 50’s and 60’s, so as you can imagine it was ROCK ‘N ROLL everywhere!
Blown Chevelles, AC Cobra’s, late model Muzzy’s and Camaro’s were lining up for this chance to lay some rubber down the city street under the massive city water tower without being arrested!
Today’s cruise headed South from New Plymouth, cruising through Inglewood to stop at Stratford in time for morning tea and to check out the partying and festivities in the town centre again.
Heaps of cafes and local bars were pumping to feed the masses and entertain those that just wanted to kick back and watch the world go by while admiring the American cars outside.
All sorts of entertainment was on hand from live bands to wood chopping competitions.
Friday at Americana is known for the cruise home to New Plymouth and the city cruising and this Friday was no different.
Around midday the convoy hits the road again with a journey to Hawera passing through the small towns on the way with more locals out waving the American flag and welcoming the convoy as it passes through. Hawera was all set ready to rock when the convoy hit. Live bands were jamming on the street, an American theme retro pageant was set ready to run and an acceleration display was set ready to roar for those wanting to show how quick their ride could jump off the line through the Repco flags.
Even though the weather wasn’t exactly playing ball with the odd shower of rain passing through. The locals were out in full force on the side of the roads leading into New Plymouth. Tents were set up in driveways for people to shelter under next to BBQ’s. Temporary grandstands were built in front yards and the American flags were everywhere. Cruising through this massive street party is always an awesome tiki tour back from Hawera. On arriving in New Plymouth, the city streets in the centre of town
were blocked off for entrants only of Americana to cruise the main like the good ole days. Parking up each side to watch other entrants cruise by as if eyeing up the next street race like that good ole movie American Graffiti. Watching the low riders cruise the main with wheels in the air to fender less coupes rolling through followed by a good ole American muscle car is always an awesome sight to capture on the Friday night! Saturday rolls around pretty quick and it’s Red, White and Blue for the theme today. After all the cruising during the week, the show day in New Plymouth is pretty relaxed with entrants rolling into the town centre between 8-10am to park up and get amongst the carnival atmosphere all the way along the main street. People wearing American coloured outfits dawn the streets along with the American regalia hanging off lamp posts and buildings to make the atmosphere a full-on American one.
With over nine hundred cars parking up for the day, the show was massive to wander around. From live bands and hot dog stands to lots of retro stores selling goods, there was something for everyone to get amongst at the show. There was even an acrobatic fly-over in the afternoon to everyone looking skyward instead of at the cars to get the neck muscle back inline again. For a massive show to wander around, it was still a very relaxed day with lots of entertainment going on to stop and check out. This is the day for the cars to be shown off as this is when the Americana team pick which cars will be up for the coveted prizes to be announced at the official farewell and dinner back at the TSB Stadium Saturday Night.
The farewell is an event to get amongst all by itself with the live band “Che Orton” playing out the night after the speeches and prize giving to get everyone up rocking and partying out the evening. For an event of such a size to still be going hard and getting bigger each year after fifteen years is a tribute to the Americana team. There certainly is a heap of logistics to get organised with this event with the convoy stopping at so many towns during the week with the number of cars involved. So full credit to the team there and the effort they put in to run this massive event. Watch the Americana website for details of the next event and even if you don’t have an American car, just get along and check it out. It’s a massive week!
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