January 2010 Open Day
21 January 2010
What a huge day!! It booked out in record time, with all those lucky enough to take advantage of our offer; to get some world class car care and free tickets for the guided tour of our HQ, filled with Australia’s motor racing legends.
The team we have here at Bowden’s put a few days and a lot of sweat into preparing the sheds for the onslaught of over 100 raving fanatics who were coming to experience our first open day for 2010. Sunday was a super early start to get the team cleaning the cars! We went through just under 5 litres of Detail Spray, not bad considering there are just over 50 cars to get shining! Lance and Pedro took it upon themselves to polish up the A9X and GT40 rims, while earlier I had given the GT40 its yearly cleanse and wax job. Such beautiful curves on that car, it’s a real pleasure to be able to get all intimate with it .
After much thought and animated conversation, it was decided that Chris would drive the Gullwing Benz down to meet everyone. He returned 15 mins later with a long line of cars and eager enthusiasts. It’s always fascinating to see what their rides are, I loved a gorgous hot orange 32 Rod, silver Mustang convertible, Xu-1 Torana, Dick Johnson XE G.P. Turbo, and the list goes on and on... I have a lot of love for cars. The much anticipated tour then began, Chris taking half the crowd going one way and myself the other. It was a 3 hour journey into the stories and history of our nation’s greatest cars and the legends that drove them. We also revealed some of the more private details on how we tracked down, acquired and restored some of the greats in our collection.
As the shed tour ended, it was time to bring it up a notch. A distant grumble announced the arrival of the day’s special guest. The unmistakable shape of the big blue Channel 9 Camaro left no doubt as to the Legend they would be meeting. Kevin Bartlett emerged and gave an in depth story on his favourite tin top, with some of the less known and non-printed facts of the development and “fettling” he made to get it competitive. Questions abounded as the shed got warmer, the crowd riveted on KB’s every word.
KB hung around in the afternoon, signing his book (from the eighties) and answering any questions people may have had about his racing life. People tucked into a hearty Aussie BBQ and from the smiles I could see it looked like a pretty content bunch of car fanatics! Still there was more to come….
The afternoon ended in a big way, going through and selecting a handful of cars to bring to life and none were disappointed at the choice given. First up was the XA Phase IV, followed by the angry Moffat Phase III. As the fumes cleared KB gave a great story on racing our GT40 and what it takes to drive it at such a high level. He gave it some complicated name, but I just call it “big balls”. It was fired up, the raspy bark a totally different note to anything else heard that afternoon. Finally it was time for the big bangers, the Moffstang and then a flame blowing Beechey Monaro would have certainly stirred the good residents of Buderim. A great way to end the tour!!
Full thanks go to all those who came along for the day, we had people from every state in Australia as well as a couple from over the pond in NZ. One great thing we always love to see is, the Dads bringing their sons & daughters along for the day. Despite not being born when these cars graced a track, they still share their dad’s enthusiasm for Australia’s racing history. Our dad was the same for us, something we will be forever thankful for.
Channel 7 came along for a bit of the tour, here is their report!
Our next open day is March 7th and with Allan Moffat being announced as the special guest it’s filling fast!! If you haven’t yet been along, don’t miss out on the experience of a lifetime. Details can be found on our website events page or email info@bowdensown.com.au and you can also call on (07) 5445 6065.