A 1937 Chevrolet Coupe lines up next to Fords, Holdens and Toyotas on a closed section of rural road.
It cuts a striking figure among modern, faster machines.
It’s the start line of the Ashburton Car Club’s standing quarter mile sprint on Blands Rd; an annual timed event over 400m.
Fastest time wins.
The orange Chevy stands out in colour, style and era.
Driver, Graeme Cameron of Rakaia, is not fazed by the other 16 models which include a Dodge Demon and a Porsche 911.
There is also a VW Golf – but more about that later.
Cameron has only had his Chevy for two months.
It has a 253 Holden V8 under the hood, with 4200cc.
It was bought by auction from a Waikato owner when Cameron attended the Whangamata Beach Hop, in the Coromandel Peninsula, in March.
It was originally restored by mechanic Phil Hands of Ashburton, Cameron said.
And now it had returned to Mid Canterbury.
Cameron said he had owned a similar model but sold it about five years ago.
He always regretted it.
There were 26 hot rods in the auction, he said.
‘‘I had a look, put in a bid, and the rest is history.’’
It has 35,000km on the clock; just over 1000km were added driving it home.
It was a 16-hour journey and cost Cameron $350 in fuel.
Now at its new home, it will be a hobby car.
Cameron also has a 2004 Holden Commodore SS, and a 1968 Vauxhall Viva GT racing car which he runs at Levels in Timaru and Ruapuna in Christchurch.
He knows speed.
Cameron estimates the Chevy could have a top speed of 180 – 200kmp/h.
But he did not have time to check the speedometre during his three runs.
He saved his best run till last.
His standing quarter mile time was 17.048seconds.
The winning run was by Marco Verscoot driving a … you guessed it – that VW Golf.
He did it in a time of 10.639seconds in his first run of the day. His first three runs were all under 11 seconds.
In second place was Ross Forsyth driving a Nissan GTR with a time of 11.025, and third was Bruce Williams in a Porsche 911 in 11.585 seconds.
