Transport World provides drawcards for Wheels At Wanaka

Two of Southland’s leading visitor attractions will make history when they attend the inaugural Wheels At Wanaka show this coming Easter weekend. Bill Richardson Transport World and Dig This Invercargill are expected to be major drawcards at the new, biennial vintage show.

Transport World Executive Director Joc O’Donnell has confirmed that for the first time ever, more than 20 of Bill Richardson Transport World’s most prized vehicles will travel outside the region, where they will parade and be displayed over two days.

“To say this is big for us would be an understatement. Our team has been working for months on the logistics and to prepare the vehicles to take. It’s a huge undertaking but for people to have the opportunity to see them all together, in action, really will be something special,” she said.

Joc said the show’s parades would provide an "extremely rare opportunity" for people to see an exclusive collection of Transport World’s Model T’s, Ford Pick Ups and convertibles outside of the museum and in action.

“The parades will no doubt be a big drawcard. There will be many rarities and highlights, especially amongst our Henry Ford Letter Car collection, it’s all very exciting,” she said.

One of the most unique vehicles is a replica 1896 Quadricycle making its maiden journey to Wanaka. Some of the 20 plus vehicles will travel north in a transporter in the lead up to the event, while others will make the 250km journey on the road taking an expected four hours.

Along with Bill Richardson Transport World’s attendance at the show, Joc also confirmed that heavy equipment playground Dig This Invercargill will, for the first time ever, set up an on-location gravel playground outside of its premises on Otepuni Avenue.

“Dig This is very popular with visitors to Invercargill looking for fun, to be able to take a couple of machines offsite and offer some of our most popular activities to the Wheels at Wanaka crowd is simply fantastic,” she said.

A limited number of Mini Dig, Big Push Bulldozer and Aggression Session car smash experiences will be available and one lucky event attendee will win a once-off ‘crush a caravan’ experience.

Joc pointed out that another major part of the planning process was to ensure that in Invercargill, both Bill Richardson Transport World and Dig This will still thrill guests and function as usual over Easter.

“Both attractions will be open every day over Easter in Invercargill, with Bill Richardson Transport World housing a record three temporary exhibits at this time, the New Zealand Cricket Museum, Retro Jukeboxes and 60 Years of Mini”.

More on Wheels At Wanaka

Wheels at Wanaka is a new, biennial vintage show. The event will rotate yearly with Warbirds Over Wanaka. The first ever Wheels At Wanaka will be held from Saturday 20 – Sunday 21 April 2019 (Easter Weekend).

Event attendees can expect more than 50 acres of classic vehicles, vintage farm machinery, cars, motorcycles, trucks, earthmoving and engine demonstrations, tractor dancing, market stalls, interactive kids play zones, parades and more.

wheelsatwanaka.co.nz

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