THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF Americarna TARANAKI 2018
AFTER sweltering temperatures across NZ for weeks, cyclone Gita hit Taranaki right on Monday night. Most of South Taranaki was in darkness from power cuts across the province and one of the main water pipes in to New Plymouth was crushed by a falling tree, cutting water to half the province. The 350 plus first-timers to Americarna probably thought they were driving in to some kind of Twilight Zone episode, as driving rain and debris swirled around in the wind as they drove through the darkened, small deserted looking towns heading in. As they say in “the Naki”, “if you don’t like the weather, just wait 30 minutes, it’ll change” Sure enough Tuesday morning broke with blue skies and puffy white clouds. Registration was open and first timers had theirconvoy arrived, but the little stores and country pubs took a financial hit from what is annually a good day for them. Entrants parked up though on the lawn areas and had a look around the cars. Folks took the opportunity to cruise back to New Plymouth whenever they felt like it. That night was drinks and get together back at the stadium followed by an interesting documentary movie about the early days of car manufacturing in the U.S. Thursday : “Now things are starting to get serious”. Pretty much all the cars entered have showed up by now and now number over 800. Those wanting to go to various Rest Homes around town headed off early for an hour or so, and in return got to drive in the front of the pack for the day. Due to the lack of water in the town of Waitara, most businesses in their CBD were closed. After JR and the team met with Civil Defence, it was decided they couldn’t stop in Waitara as planned for a couple of hours, and had to drive through to Inglewood. This delayed departure, which gave people a chance to grab some lunch in town or hang around at the stadium before the drivers briefing. Again the winding back-country roads were a pleasant drive along with the scenic little Tarata Tunnel, and then down in to Inglewood. This little town really put on a good show. Shops were all decorated, and a band played on the back of a flat-bed truck, with chairs and tables arranged in the street for guests to enjoy. Various school groups and clubs got the chance to sell stuff for fundraising efforts and the pubs and pizzas places were geared up with staff and supplies for the afternoon. As twilight came cars were once again on the road and enjoy a sunset drive of 20 minutes back in to New Plymouth. Friday : ”The Big Day”. Some folks took advantage of the breakfast at the stadium, others arrived in time for drivers briefing, collected their run sheet and headed off at 9.45am. It’s a nice drive south to Stratford, where the convoy parked up in the ridiculously wide Main Street. An elderly gentleman informed me that Stratford was originally designed to be the main business centre for Taranaki, therefore the main Street was made wide enough for a bullock train to do a U-turn. Great for us now, as the cars can easily park four abreast in town. It was encouraging to see young school groups coming out to look at the cars. Apparently they have a discussions about everything they saw and all the differences between the Americarna cars and what they normally see the rest of the year. Good stuff. Hawera is the next stop in the afternoon, and the main street and most side streets were full of cars. The Go-Stop event was a crowd pleaser, with all types of hot rods and late model streeters taking part. Karl Boniface in the Castrol Nostalgia Funny Car did a couple of smokey burnouts, and was supported this year by Dave Gauld in his ’34 Ford Fuel Altered. Both put on a good show of tire smoke, nitro fumes, and showmanship. Although Dave took the scenic route on one pass, (up on the sidewalk for a moment.) Once that show was over cars drove back into New Plymouth, down the festive Mangorei Road street party. Couches and folding chairs were set up outside, tables with lamps, BBQs, chilly bins and too much of a good time. US flags, Rebel flags, Kiwi flags, red white and blue decorated fences too, it was all there. The Rest home residents were even set up with blankets and flags and love it. A combination of TGIF and 800+ Americarna cars idling down passed your house on a warm summer’s night made for a fun night. It’s a bit of a bottleneck getting in to New Plymouth’s Devon Street, but once in things seemed to run smoothly. Cars which had done a few laps were asked to park up for half an hour to help get the rest of the pack in to town, and then things ran like clockwork. Bars and restaurants were overflowing. A band on a hay ride trailer and solo act on a Chevy pick-up livened up the street, and I think I saw Elvis somewhere in the crowd, which was about three people deep, most of the way. As the official road closure ended, cruising kept going but in both directions now, as the crowd slowly headed home while the bars kept serving those who are making a night of it.
