Antique car club back on the road despite Swap Meet setback
On the road again: Sunshine Coast Antique Car Club president Rob Nixon, secretary Ro Latham and members gathered last Sunday for their first run since COVID put an end to activities in March.
For more than 30 years the Sunshine Coast Antique Car Club has conducted its annual Swap Meet on the last Saturday in July.
The event has been strongly supported by hundreds of ‘swappers’ from local, regional and interstate areas.
But alas, although restrictions are lifting, the Club believes the only responsible action is to cancel the Nambour Swap Meet this year.
“It costs about $16000 to run the Meet,” president Rob Nixon said. “So if we went ahead and there’s another outbreak of the virus a fortnight before the event then we’ve spent all that money and we’re shut down — we’ve done our 16 grand.
“Also if we did run it and we had five or six thousand people here, and there was an outbreak of coronavirus as a result of the event, then we don’t want to be responsible for that.”
The Swap has been a notable fixture on the calendar for Nambour, attracting thousands of people, many seeking a special part for their vehicle restoration, memorabilia or other automotive components.
Proceeds from the Swap Meet enable the SCACC to support various local charitable organisations and community services.
Members provide community support by driving their special vehicles to visit residents of aged care facilities, to schools for demonstrations, by taking part in commemorative parades and through displays at major events.
“We do an awful lot of charity work, which people may not realise that we do,” Mr Nixon said. “We visit retirement villages and take residents for rides in our cars. We might have 20 cars turn up and we just take people for drives all morning. People light up and say things like ‘oh we had one of these when we were first married’.”
Other events include rallies once a month, rallies with other car clubs, restoration runs to review the work and skills of members as they undertake such tasks as well as trips to visit local or regional venues of interest.
These usually include the opportunity to chat with locals and support their businesses while members and their families have an opportunity to relax and socialise.
“Some Club members gather one morning each week to simply have a chat and a cuppa,” said secretary Ro Latham. “To share their wealth of mechanical knowledge and/or use the comprehensive library of work shop manuals, technical data and historic articles.”
Of course, these activities have been curtailed since mid-March due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The SCACC is based in Nambour, with a branch at Bribie Island. It has clubrooms at Nambour Showgrounds. The Club was formed in 1963 to foster and advance interest in the history, restoration, care and preservation of historic and classic motor vehicles. The club welcomes as members all those who are interested in the preservation of our motoring history. Generally, members own vehicles over 30 years old, but this is not a pre-requisite for membership.
Any further queries may be directed to scaccsecretary@gmail.com. The Club looks forward to holding a ‘bumper’ of a Nambour Swap Meet on Saturday, 31st July, 2021.