Autopia is an annual event held at Autoplex in Castlemaine, Central Victoria. Yes, Castlemaine XXXX is named after the town although it is brewed in Brisbane and the original Castlemaine brewery is no more.
Anyway, back to the plot. Castlemaine is the (self proclaimed – I think) Street Rod centre of Australia, with close to 100 different Rod related business in the town. A few years ago the older blokes involved in the industry realised that unless they did something it would die out. They set up a not for profit (Castlemaine Hot Rod Centre Limited) and leased part of the old High School (which was formerly a Tech College, so has workshops etc) to set up a training facility so youngsters could learn rod building skills, and hopefully keep the industry going. Thus, Autoplex was born. As far as I can tell the rods inside were all built / are being built by students. They had little card notes with the builders name and age on it – they were all between 17 and 25 years old...lucky you know whats...
There was a lot going on – rods and wooden speed boats inside, and more rods, including a “T Bucket Cruise In” outside.
Inside:
This was stunning, and my favourite...until I saw something else outside
Boats now
350hp V8 anyone?
Which was towed by this
Which is a good way of getting back outside and back to car pics
Nice MG
Ts! (I have no idea how these get full rego!)
This was running a supercharged Holden straight 6
Chopped (my new favourite)
Channelled
And finally, spotted in the town centre later on
The End.
Anyway, back to the plot. Castlemaine is the (self proclaimed – I think) Street Rod centre of Australia, with close to 100 different Rod related business in the town. A few years ago the older blokes involved in the industry realised that unless they did something it would die out. They set up a not for profit (Castlemaine Hot Rod Centre Limited) and leased part of the old High School (which was formerly a Tech College, so has workshops etc) to set up a training facility so youngsters could learn rod building skills, and hopefully keep the industry going. Thus, Autoplex was born. As far as I can tell the rods inside were all built / are being built by students. They had little card notes with the builders name and age on it – they were all between 17 and 25 years old...lucky you know whats...
There was a lot going on – rods and wooden speed boats inside, and more rods, including a “T Bucket Cruise In” outside.
Inside:
This was stunning, and my favourite...until I saw something else outside
Boats now
350hp V8 anyone?
Which was towed by this
Which is a good way of getting back outside and back to car pics
Nice MG
Ts! (I have no idea how these get full rego!)
This was running a supercharged Holden straight 6
Chopped (my new favourite)
Channelled
And finally, spotted in the town centre later on
The End.
