The annual “All Holden Day” show arrived and Sash asked if both Nick and I wanted to check it out. Being a Ford man I was not that keen initially but kept an open mind about the event. So I woke up at the crack of dawn put on my “Falcon GT” hat and headed to Nick’s house. We had a quick coffee and then shortly heard the rumble of Sash’s tuff Torana.

We jumped in the Torana and headed towards Richmond Air Force base. Once we arrived we got in line and proceeded to make our way to the front entrance. Interesting enough every car that entered the event was photographed entering the grounds. We parked the Torana in the “Sydney Torana Club” section and wandered off to get some breakfast. We saw a small van selling pancakes and Sash ordered a triple stack with all the trimmings. Whilst we were hanging around watching the cars entering the grounds we were listening to the sweet tunes of Slim Dusty singing about tuning the Holden dizzy and checking the firing order. Listening to this tune provided us with plenty of laughs and was well worth the $5 admission.

After stuffing our faces we started to check out the vehicles. We saw some awesome HK/HT monaro’s. John’s Daytona Bronze Bathurst Monaro was looking great. It was not long ago that I saw the car at Dulwich Hill auto restorations receiving a rub and buff from my cousin Peter. The Brock commodores were also represented with some fantastic examples. Moving along we saw some excellent GTR XU1 Torana’s parked in perfect formation. The fastidious owners were polishing these vehicles to ensure that they looked perfect.

We proceeded to the swap meet section of the grounds where we saw plenty of traders offering bargains. All sorts of parts such as hub caps, intake manifolds, old workshop manuals and tools were for sale. Even the guy selling the old Bathurst race photos had slipped in a couple of the old Fords. A helicopter was also available for 5 minute rides for a bargain price of $40 per person and at this price there was a queue to get on. It was also good to see some familiar faces amongst the crowd taking in the whole event. A live band was also playing tunes which kept some of the oldies entertained.

Plenty of punters were looking at the Torana and very keen on checking out the spec’s. At 2pm we decided to make a move. We jumped in the Torana and headed for the exit. I must say that the good old Holden did not miss a beat today.

This was an excellent event. I will be checking it out again next year. Till next time happy motoring.

Paul S