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Annual Holden Car Show exceeds last year’s funds for charity

16 June, 2014

 

Back in March, the Holden Special Vehicles Club Inc, in association with Ebbett Hamilton, held the fourth annual Hamilton Holden Car Show as a fundraising event for the club’s nominated charity — the Bruce Tronell Motorsport for Life Trust.

The event saw 114 pre-registered entries, however because of the bad wether (Cyclone Lusi time) about 20 of the pre-registrations didn’t attend. There were still enough enthusiastic Holden owners keen to make up the numbers which, in the end, reach 125 nicely-presented Holden cars on display. This exceeded last year’s entries. There were 15 category awards up for grabs, plus the coveted People’s Choice Award which was won this year by Steve Fabish’s customized 1989 HZ Holden Kingswood ute.

Hosted by Ebbett Hamilton in its Anglesea Street service yard, the show provided the chance for Holden fans to get close to a vast range of cars dating from a 1948 FX Holden to a 2012 VE Walkinshaw. The workshop held a selection of race and muscle cars, including both Greg Murphy’s ex-Tasman Motorsport V8 Supercar and Scott McLaughlin’s BNT V8 SuperTourer, and a Holden Caprice  drag car. Static memorial displays of memorabilia were on show for the late Jason Richards, including the first Team Kiwi race car he ever drove as  a professional race car driver, and the late Mark Porter, who was tragically killed in a race accident on Mount Panarama in October 2006.

Even though the weather caused an impact on the number of people through the gates the gold coin donation for public viewing raised more money than the previous year’s show. Last year the show raised $2500 and this year $2900 was raised for the charity. Local businesses were very supportive and donated goods and merchandise towards the event which contributed to its success. Local ban Red Rock ‘n Blue played throughout the event, free of charge, to help with fundraising as well.

The Bruce Tronell Motorsport for Life Trust supports special needs children, with funds raised from previous Hamilton Holden Car Shows going towards helping young cancer sufferers to enjoy the trip of a lifetime to Disneyland with the Koru Care Trust.

The 2014 weekend event was extra special this year with the Holden Special Vehicles Club organizing a second fundraiser the following day to raise money towards the Education Fund set up for the two children of Jason Richards, Sienna and Olivia, after he succumbed to cancer on December 15, 2011, aged 35 years. The Club had designed and printed commemorative T-shirts and window stickers for a Jason Richards Memorial Cruise from Hamilton to Drury which, together with a raffle, blind auction and donations, raised a further $1800-plus for this second charity. Between 45 and 50 cars took part in this charity drive to the Murphy’s Law bar for lunch.

Club President Jim Cooper acknowledged the hard work of the show’s organizing committee and the support and generosity of all the businesses, individuals, and members of the public who contributed to the sucess of the event, in spite of the  bad weather.

“When Cyclone Lusi threatened to gatecrash our party the organizing committee decided we weren’t going to let an itty-bitty storm wash us away; these things often don’t turn out to be as bad as they are predicted and we crossed our fingers that Lusi was going to be just a breeze with a bad attitude, nothing more. The Chiefs had turned it on for us on the Friday night and we knew that a lot of people were looking forward to the car show. [Next year] will be our fifth anniversary show and we are hopeful that funds raised from next year’s event will exceed a combined total of $10,000 for Bruce’s Trust over the five years,” he said.

Mitsubishi’s secret weapon

31 July, 2026

Ewen’s Starion is a little different and special. He saved this one – literally ‘found in a paddock’ — just in time, as he relates.
“Mine is a 1983 Starion. I’ve had it about five years. I first saw it in a paddock at Ryal Bush [north of Invercargill], and I went past it three times. The third time I went back and knocked at the door, but the owner didn’t want to sell. He rang up a year later, and put a price on it, which we accepted. Only thing wrong was the motor was totally dismantled.”
Ewen then set about getting the car back to its current state.
“It took me six months to find somebody suitable to refurbish it back then. Simon Bradley at Midas in Invercargill offered to do it and he did a great job on it. The head was badly damaged around the valves, and Simon said you could get generic cylinder heads now, so he installed one, and it cost $800. It’s made such a difference to the car. Mine is an intercooled, fuel-injected turbo model, fitted with a five-speed manual gearbox. It’s a great car to drive too.”
Except for a small patch of surface rust, Ewen’s car was in surprisingly good condition despite its paddock life.

Coaching from the bench: Casting plastic knobs and rubber parts

16 July, 2026

Casting rubber items is simple if you have a good original to work with. The item doesn’t have to be perfect. You can use plasticine to smooth out cracks, and you can even make whole prototypes out of low-fire modelling clay available from craft stores if you need to. Prototypes can also be made of wood or metal.
You will need mould dams to contain the liquid urethane moulding solution until it cures. You can build boxes out of strips of wood, but I have found that small plastic boxes and bowls such as those you would use for leftovers in your fridge work well if you spray them with a mould release agent.
Temperature is important to the chemical processes involved, so work in an area that can be maintained at around 20 degrees. You will also need adequate ventilation because the fumes can be dangerous to breathe. And you will want to wear latex gloves to protect your hands.