Well the keenly awaited All Holden Day was finally upon us. This was our
first time to the show as a club. I for one was really looking forward to this run as it was replacing the Toranafest run for the year as the
long distance run.
There turned out to be no real schedule for a meeting time as everyone
had different agendas so it was basically every man for himself. King
Loz and I headed up in tandem so that we could get to Sydney early
enough to see if there was anything
worth buying at the swapmeet.
Anyway, the trip up was uneventful. King Loz was towing his green
machine up and I was tagging along behind to make sure nothing went
wrong. We arrived in Sydney at about 10.30 after a brief breaky stop at
Sutton Forrest. We were able to drive straight into the venue and park
which was very convenient. We found what we thought was a good parking
spot and then began out venture looking around the swapmeet. Not that I
really needed anything Torana related but I was after a spare wheel for
the car. As it turned out I had no luck. How hard is it to find a 15
inch HQ wheel? Harder than I thought. After a couple of hours we called
it quits. I ended up with a leather belt and a Biante model. King Loz
also walked out a lot poorer than he came in. He scored the Biante
Craven Mild Bathurst A9X signed by Alan Grice himself...at least it made
the day worth while for the pair of us.
After heading back to the cars we found that our parking spot was not as
good as we had anticipated with some clown parking us in. After asking a
kind person nearby to move their car so we could get out, we headed back
to the motel in Richmond. We checked in and immediately felt the warming
welcome of staff at the motel. They got us all sorted with lunch in
their restaurant at a very reasonable price and all beverages were at
club prices too. So that was even more refreshing! At this stage of the
afternoon other members started arriving. We all then decided to settel
down for the afternoon and chat away. The afternoon quickly turned into
dinner time and again we requented the restaurant for another top notch
feed. Got to say that all meals so far were really good value. Again we
all kicked back into the evening drinking and dribbling crap as per
usual. But it was a fun night. Some got carried away more than others too.
The next morning was an early start as we had to be at the show ground
early to set up. So we quickly downed a healthy breakfast and headed
off. We all arrived around 7.00am and there were already heaps of cars
set up. The venue was huge and appeared to be very well set out! We
got straight into setting up the club display. This year we merged with
about 10 cars from Sydney whom had arranged for us to be part of a
combined display. So in all there were about 15-20 cars in our group.
After set up we all went our own ways to view the cars on display. I had
heard that there were 802 cars at the show. I took hours to get around
to see them all. It was like a stroll through Heaven I reckon with the
quality of every variety Holden on show. The swapmeet was also on again
to keep people occupied. After hours of walking around, the old legs
were getting a little weary so we headed back for some lunch. As per
usual we had a BBQ on the go. And it was just what we all needed. So the
afternoon really went by fast and the next thing we knew it was time for
the trophy presentations. This year we managed to score runner up in the
best club display, only beaten by the NSW HSV club. So not a bad effort
at all. And a well deserved trophy to Mr Barry for his 'Black Betty'
hatch. Very unlucky though for Jason with 'King SLR' missing out on a
trophy, His car was no doubt one of the best Torana's on display. A
credit to him for such fine work. Better luck next time mate. There will
be pleny of recognition for your car in future events with the extremely
high quality build.
Well that was about the end of the weekend. We all packed up and pretty
much headed home after the presentations. In all it was a fantastic day.
Hopefully we will make the trek again as it was well worth it. I must
say a big thank you to the staff at the Motel as they really made us
feel welcome and kept us all feed and happy. Thanks also to those that
made the effort to come up and display. And thanks to the organisers of the event.
Chow for now.
Gerry