Going South: Otautau Car Show

2 April, 2018

 


 

Otautau promotions organized another great annual show along with other local community organizations to once again cap off a successful Otautau Car Show for 2018

Southland’s Ford Falcon Club has enjoyed a long association with the show and it was pleasing to see the Otautau Car Show still so well supported.

A quiet drive out west from Invercargill, this year attracted 197 entrants who arrived at Holt Park to enjoy live entertainment, food, and a host of stalls. Alan Sadler’s amazing take on a 1949 Ford made its mark with the top show award while Graham Baird’s Plymouth Suburban scooped the runner-up slot and People’s Choice award, adding to a long list of awards at shows over the past few years.Top Bike went to Ernie Tyler’s 2002 Boss Hoss and Top Commercial went to Colin Bailey’s Land Rover.

Continuing sunny conditions encouraged over 2000 people from around Southland to turn out for another enjoyable country event. With activities such as wood chopping and plenty of competitions for the kids, the show raised in excess of $8000, with $7045 going to the Christmas street parade and $1000 going to Otautau Plunket and Community Gardens projects.

Travelling companion

It’s easy to see why the Morris Minor Traveller was one of the best-loved variants of the Morris Minor. Introduced in 1953, it was equipped with the same independent torsion bar front suspension, drum brakes, and rack and pinion steering as its saloon sibling but, with their foldable rear seat increasing versatility, many Travellers were used as trade vehicles, says Derek Goddard. Derek and Gail Goddard, the owners of this superbly restored example, have run Morris Minors since before they were married in 1974.
“Our honeymoon vehicle was a blue Morris Minor van — it was a rust bucket,” says Derek.

Super Leicht Gullwing

It’s fair to say that nothing much in the classic Mercedes world gets past Mercedes-Benz Club stalwart Garry Boyce so it wasn’t surprising to learn that around 15 years ago he had sniffed out an extremely rare 300SL lightweight Gullwing as well as a 1958 300SL Roadster hiding away in the Waikato. The cars were not for sale but Garry eventually managed to persuade the owner to allow him and his restoration team to take a look at the Roadster. They discovered a very distressed but largely unmolested car. The car was so original that the body had never been off the chassis, meaning most of the parts and fittings were still present and correct, as they had been fitted by the factory.