Words by Jeff.
The annual Motafrenz Show & Shine held last weekend was much bigger than previous years.
With 39 RSVPs promising 33 display vehicles, this number was soon to more than double.
The Show & Shine was promoted to “like minded” Facebook groups and the message seemed to spread far and wide resulting in an extraordinary number of display vehicles.
We soon discovered a phenomena I will call car-show-surfing, where car enthusiasts head out for the day cruising for a good car show to settle into.
In many cases it’s the allure of winning first prize for their pride and joy and also a great way to socialise and share knowledge. I certainly know I did a lot of that.
Our choice of venue being central at Como Park North, and having an easy-going membership, allowed for many who were cruising around various other car shows to settle with us and enjoy the day.
There were certainly some very spectacular cars that entered that we normally would not expect. And like most members, great to catch up. It’s been a while and almost 2 years since our last Show & Shine.
The fact that this was clearly a rainbow club running this show didn’t even seem to factor into the general public, and I guess that says a lot about how far things have come with acceptance of diversity in the broader community.
The COVID-safe contactless voting was a winner and made counting votes easy.
The weather was perfect and unlike other parts of Melbourne, we were lucky to get no rain and a good amount of sun, with only a few gray clouds in the morning.
The ground was firm as it is very well drained, except for one little boggy patch we kept punters away from, so we had no problem on the grass from the previous days’ heavy rain.
The categories might get a rethink for next year as you would have an easy chance of winning the oldest category with only four vehicles, and they are all wonderful vehicles.
Vehicles ranged from street rods to monster performance cars, sublime original examples to classic restorations, and some with plenty of patina and heaps of character.
There wasn’t a vehicle or person there that wasn’t interesting, showing once again that as a club thought we had a diverse range of vehicles and members.
The committee will be looking into what worked well and what didn’t as it appears that this growing trend for car-show-surfing will be a thing of the future.
The committee also welcomes feedback from the members, so it will be great to hear from you as to what your thoughts were on the day and opening Show & Shine to a larger general audience. So please get in touch via the Secretary.
In the meantime, it was certainly a wonderful day all round. All aspects ran exceptionally well and many guests commented on how well the event was run compared it to others they had been to on the day.
Christopher with there with his Lancia Fulvia. The last few times we have seen Chris he was in a rather lovely Rover P5… all British timber, leather and death-watch beetle [well, all true except for the beetles]. So the rather lithe Lancia is a change of style.
Out of 67 vehicles on display, 52% belonged to non-members. Club members won Best in Show and the best 1980 to 1995 category.
- Best pre-1959: 1957 Black Thunderbird owned by Simon Bartaby
- Best 1960 to 1979: 1966 VW Beetle owned by Natalie Kenny
- Best 1980 to 1995: 1991 Subaru Brumby owned by Anthony Wiseman
- Best post-1996: 1997 BMW 840 Ci owned by Matthew Kenny
- Best in Show: 1975 Cadillac Eldorado owned by Darren Yandle
- Best Themed Display: 1971 Mercedes Benz 250 with Barbeque Trailer owned by Liam Peake
- Committee’s Choice Award: 1970 Holden Brougham owned by Alan Pullar
The Club’s Permit Officer, Matt, was there in an early Honda Civic. Philip and Leigh were aboard the Citroën GSA Pallas C-Matic [to give it its full title].
