Southland attractions Bill Richardson Transport World and Dig This Invercargill are hitting the road as major drawcards for the new biennial Wheels At Wanaka vintage show.
Transport World executive director Joc O’Donnell says more than 20 of Bill Richardson Transport World’s most prized vehicles will travel outside the region for the first time ever, where they will parade and be displayed over Easter weekend.
“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,” O’Donnell says.
She says 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.
Heavy equipment playground Dig This Invercargill will also be set up outside of its Invercargill premises for the first time ever.
“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,” O’Donnell says.
Both Bill Richardson Transport World and Dig This will still thrill guests in Invercargill 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.”
Wheels at Wanaka is a new event that will rotate yearly with Warbirds Over Wanaka. It features 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.
The first ever show will be held from Saturday, April 20 to Sunday, April 21 2019.
