Ange Kelly with the 1954 Desoto Diplomat at last weekend’s Nelson Motor Show, held at the Tahunanui Holiday Park. Photo: Jessie Johnston.

Motor Show a roaring success

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The Nelson Motor Show has exceeded the expectations of organiser Steve Steele with a record number of people enjoying the three day event.

The show began with a “Black Friday Cruz” around Nelson and Richmond, and ended with a prize giving and raffle draw on Sunday. Over the three days of the show, three convertible cars were raffled off to new owners, with a BMW making its way to Clyde, a Mustang heading off to Christchurch and a Ford Capri going to Richmond man, Al Bates. The highlight of the weekend also saw a night of entertainment thanks to Urzila Carlson, at which an airbrushed portrait of the show’s original special guest, Ewen Gilmour, was auctioned off for $1600.

Amongst those with cars on display at the motor show was Nelson man Tim Kelly with his 1954 Desoto Diplomat that he bought off a friend’s flatmate. “I went round to a friend’s house and his flatmate had it in the shed, I asked him if he wanted to sell it because I’d be keen on it, but he said he loved it too much to sell it. Then a couple of years later I ran into him and he asked me if I wanted to buy it, so I did and I just did it up from there.”

Organiser Steve Steele confirmed that the show was definitely bigger than ever before, thanks to the success of last year and the fact people were out and about due to other events on over the weekend.

The top two awards for People’s Choice and Best in Show both went to locals, with Craig Adams from Motueka taking out People’s Choice with his 1973 Dodge Challenger and Richmond man Grant Kerr winning best in show with his 1963 Holden EJ Ute.