With great anticipation the Zedders headed for Eastern Creek with their lovingly cleaned and highly polished automobiles.
Eight cars arrived at the meeting place – Liberty Rd , Huntingwood at the scheduled time . The intent was to hand over the essential Shannons entry tickets and form a convoy of Zs into the Eastern Creek enclosure.
Barry was enthusiastically welcomed back after his recent illness with lots of handshakes from the boys and a big hug from Courtney.
As the Zedders waited patiently for the remaining cars to arrive ( in the very cold and breezy conditions) there was a very small trickle of Z cars arriving at the chosen destination.
Craig arrived with a legitimate excuse – he had spent the previous night rebuilding the braking system of his Z – which prior to his mechanical efforts had the brake pedal residing on the carpet of his Zed.
The rest of the stragglers arrived over the next forty minutes. The finally assembled Z car convoy of now fourteen vehicles made its way into the Eastern Creek enclosure . The drivers were handed information leaflets as they entered and a little further on were given “showbags” . Ray ( believing nothing in Australia is free anymore) asked how much were the “showbags” ?
The reply was ” nothing – but I will charge you forty bucks if you like!”
After parking the convoy of Zeds and making sure that all were well aligned to one another – it became obvious how much hard work and attention to detail had gone into their preparation for the Shannons display- they all gleamed in the increasing sunlight – a real tribute to their owners.
The Z cars had been apportioned a space in the “D” area. This was a very good spot with a lot of pedestrian traffic (ie interested onlookers).
And there were a lot of interested observers – a cursory look indicated that the Z cars were one of the most popular exhibits of the “D” section with numerous photos being taken and lots of discussions with the Z Car Club members – seeking information about the club and the vehicles on display.
Some of the females in the group had taken off to do a “little shopping” at the available kiosks – but returned empty handed having found nothing of interest to purchase .
At 10.30 AM the Z cars got ready to do a couple of laps of the circuit . After waiting in a queue for some time – they were finally let loose on the track – the initial “mashing of accelerators to the floor” was short lived as the procession of cars was fettled by the 80kms/hr speed limit. However, by falling behind the cavalcade of cars – one could enjoy a limited burst of acceleration into the corners – not exactly “boy racer stuff” but better than tail gating the car in front. It still was an interesting experience ( and one could imagine going round these bends at 200kms/hr ) in a full race frenzy. After two laps the Zeds were flagged off the track and returned to their original positions in the “D” section.
The Z Car members then took an extensive walk around the area taking in the displays from the various car clubs. There were some very rare cars on display – one in particular was the “Excaliber” which was modelled on the SS Jaguar and a Mercedes model of the same era (having been owned by a number of Hollywood movie stars) . Rare Citroen models, Alfa Romeos and American muscle cars were some of the highlights.
It then started to get a little warm and some of the Zedders took their folding chairs and moved to some shady areas under the trees .
Unfortunately, the food available at the kiosks was somewhat less than appetising – and so the decision was made around 1.30PM by some of the Z Car group to leave and eat elsewhere.
It had been an extremely enjoyable day with a huge number of cars on display including very rare and exotic vehicles as well as those nostalgic vehicles which brought back fond childhood memories. The weather (apart from the initial cold weather in the morning) had been perfect for the occasion.
The Zedder’s hard work in preparing their vehicles had been amply rewarded by the attention paid by the numerous admiring and interested onlookers.
It was pleasing to see the excellent number of Z Car members in attendance and the solid close friendship of the entire group.
– Ray