Day 3 of sunshine, throbbing V8's, starts & stripes, american hotdogs and pumkin pie !! This is so awesome... check out our local Daily site:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dailynews

And for those who have not checked out what it is all about...

http://www.americarna.com

During the cruises south on Thurs and Fri we had 300 cars, with entire schools of children lining the roads and waving plags, hands, tree branches, hankies, you name it as we went past. The main streets of Stratford & Hawera were completely closed for 2-3 hours as we stopped at each of them, to provide display parking solely for the cars in Americarna ! Live bands, bbq's, theme food, it was all there. On Friday Americarna took over the entire beach resort at Opunake for the day. Again live music, food, good company, beach volleyball, swimming etc etc.

Last nite (Fri) the centre city of New Plymouth (pop 60,000+) was closed off for 6 city blocks, and a "private circuit" created which initially saw a parade of all the cars & bikes, folowed by the whole night thru to 11pm being solely Americarna cars from 1908 (yes that's NOT a typo) through to current day cruising the "circuit", popping a few wheelies (oops), parking up, sitting back and watch the others cruise past, then jump back in for a few more laps yourself. It was just soooooooooo awesome     It was like "Happy Days" but a 100 times bigger...   it just ROCKED !!!

Same 6 blocks closed off today for the main parade and then the cars (now over 500) parked up throught the closed streets for static displays, while bands played, bbq's bbq'd, "Elvis" made a "visit" for a few favourite songs, drinks flowed, and stars & stripes appeared everywhere - hats, posters, clothing, mickey mice (?),
you name it... I have sooooo many pix

The oldest car here is a 1908 Cadillac on solid rubber tyres, fully running, pristine condition, and has made all the runs... 80-100 miles return each day ! It's all here... SkyLiners, Vettes (from 1963 thru 2006), Camaros, Mustangs, Belaires, Blue Flames, Tbirds, Caddys, Harleys, T buckets, Roadsters, PT Cruiser, to name but a few. There are so many more whose names I can't remember right now.

What a blast, sorry I've prattled on for so long but I just had to share this with you

That's really cool!! Thanks for sharing!   

I should move to NZ, for the winter months!!!

Very Cool Chris. it must be awsome to see & twice as much to participate. Enjoy & continue to keep us abreast on what's going on!

Here's some random pix !!   Enjoy...

... a genuine classic - New Plymouth Sat 24th
,http://www.c3vr.com/member_uploads/7201_7300/7243/DSC03663.JPG

... sidewalk entertainment "American style" - New Plymouth Sat 24th
,http://www.c3vr.com/member_uploads/7201_7300/7243/DSC03664.JPG

... another pristine Classic - New Plymouth Sat 24th
,http://www.c3vr.com/member_uploads/7201_7300/7243/DSC03681.JPG

... a C3 line up - Stratford Thurs 22nd
,http://www.c3vr.com/member_uploads/7201_7300/7243/DSC03352.JPG

... red '82 - Stratford Thurs 22nd
,http://www.c3vr.com/member_uploads/7201_7300/7243/DSC03365.JPG

... gold 69 (? or thereabouts ? I can't remember!) - Stratford Thurs 22nd
,http://www.c3vr.com/member_uploads/7201_7300/7243/DSC03369.JPG

... Stratford main street "static display" - 22nd Feb
,http://www.c3vr.com/member_uploads/7201_7300/7243/DSC03389.JPG

Watch this space for more !

CeeDee2007-02-24 22:15:06

Lovin that early 80s model with the L88 hood!! Hmmmmmm

No wonder we can't find a good muscle car anymore, they are all in New Zealand . Great pics, that sure looks like a blast, almost as good as our C3VR get togethers!

OMG, what a great turn-out.

CeeDee;

Those are some really GREAT PIX!

What kind of camera are you using?  Mine just died so I'm in the market.

Thanx Dennis !

I use a Sony Mavica FD97, which you won't be able to get new any more. It's a bulky camera (like a 35mmm SLR) and surprisingly only 2.1Mpixel, but takes great pix, primarily I think due to the quality large lens elements and the light gathering ability you get with large lens elements.

Those were taken at 1024x768 setting, which is still one step down from its max of 1600x1200 ! I tend to use the lower setting simply to keep the file sizes at around 400k.

Added bonuses with these cameras (which is why I chose it) is the big lens does 10x optical zoom (just brilliant) and has a 10x dig zoom on top of that, plus the camera uses memory stick AND/OR floppy disc ! So you can shoot away, and if you wish/need just drop pix onto floppies to share/give away/transfer. No installation of proprietary software needed.

I got my second one (don't ask) off Ebay just a few months ago, used, but in top condition.

As soon as I track down a free hosting site (I have run out of space here on C3VR) I will be putting up some more pix, including some night shots (no flash) of the Friday nite drive by's American Graffiti style. You will be impressed by the camera's ability to night shoot, which again is a function of the light gathering capability of the big lens.

Cheers...