2017 Shannons Wheels Display

14 March 2017 / Words and pictures by Bob Judd

Every year, the ACT Council of Motor Clubs invites the members of its affiliated car clubs to its annual charity display day. The 35th annual Shannons Wheels Day was held in the Treasury Car Park on Sunday 13 March 2017, on a sunny and warm Autumn day and was well attended by over 700 cars considered to be of special interest to the general public. Despite being the Sunday of a long weekend, our club was able to provide 13 cars, covering all 4 models of our chosen marque. In response to the closure of the Ford factories in Australia, the local Ford clubs were invited to put on a special display of their cars, which just about covered everything imaginable with the word 'Ford' written on it.

We started arriving early to ensure that we grabbed a good spot that was able to provide some shade for the coming day. However, we didn't get to sit down much as there was a constant stream of people inspecting our cars and asking questions. There should be at least 6 new members as a result of seeing our display.

We had a good range of vehicles on display, which enabled the public to see at least one of just about all the variations available. Christoph and Kristy Jirgens classic red NA always attracts attention with its movie star looks, especially from the younger members of the public. Dave Bolton's sunburst yellow NA is also a favourite with its sparkling under-bonnet and added performance bits. Mike Guina's black Roadster and Patrick McBride's BRG special NA were also popular. Dennis Wicklander, Rob Wilkins and Anthony Richards bought along their NBs and Jim Woods, Tony McDonald and Paul Beerworth bought their NCs along. This provided an excellent display of all the variations of these two models. Finally, the sparkling polar white NDs of Barry Matson and Ian Leyton-Grant completed our presentation and were very popular with some intending new car buyers that visited our area. What a shame that no-one has an RF yet as we could have sold a few on the day.

It was a great day to see everything from Alfa Romeos to Ford Zephyrs. My personal favourite for the day was an extremely rare, genuine, 1976 Ford Escort Mexico. I even saw a replacement engine for my trusty little Miata, which would provide a very much desired increase in horsepower.

For more photos, check out Rob Wilkins post from the day on Flickr, featuring some of the best cars on display.