Daytripped down to Whangamata on Saturday afternoon to experience the festivities of the 2010 Hop. The atmosphere reminded me slightly of New Years’, except with more old people present and far less police making the rounds.
1956 Chrysler Windsor, chilling in the park
Unfortunately, a lot of said old people seemed rather grumpy – perhaps they ran out of beer too early? – and a few couldn’t grasp the concept of someone with a nice camera walking around taking photos of cool cars. Do I really look like that much of a tourist? I swear I felt like the only Asian for miles.
Also – if you own a sweet old ride, the rule is Never. Smile. For. The. Camera. Whilst. Driving.
overall though, lots of mint cars (even if they all started to look the same after an hour of wandering around), great weather, and OS boes’ antics always make me chuckle. Commiserations go out to Lee, who is now down a vehicular mode of transport. Hopefully the justice system doesn’t ream you tooooooooo badly…
A small selection of photos follow, and as always, the link to ze flickr album is at the end.
Would I go back next year? Maybe. But between Kumeu, this, and Swap Meet, I can safely say the nostalgic/American/Aussie muscle scene is very well catered for here in the North Island. Now how about some love for nostalgic Jappas too, guys?
super duper Buick
Sweet stripey Camaro. Note lack of smiles all round
Dipped 'n dropped
Fuel-injected Muzzie
the Googie influence is strong in this one
why do I suddenly feel the urge to consume a bowl of custard?
...and a glass of Fanta?
be a chop: a quick visit on flickr »
Nice pics Ed – sucks at the attitude of people towards your camera pointing.
Beach-hop the event is sooo choice – however the drivers of the cars that this event attracts just take some things much too seriously and the retailers/landlords rape your wallet without remorse.
I have been to every Hop from the 2nd event through till 2 years ago then I stopped going. Predominantly because of the wallet rapage but to some extent the attitude of some of the participants to anything other than a cookie cutter “American Classic”
Avoiding the humourless/redneck participant issue is easy by meeting up with your own friends and having fun with them. But the rapage is unavoidable without taking your own supplies from home and sleeping in your car..
With the number of similar events on offer throughout the year this one gets the backburner treatment for something more easy on the bank balance and with more smiles.
Cheers for the pics though buddy – its almost like being there.
my pleasure
I fully hear you about people taking things way too seriously there; from the way some people were acting you’d think we were in the deep deep South or something – and anyone not of a certain skin colour would be chased out of town with pitchforks and burning torches.
Though to be fair to some of ‘em, it was probably the beer talking.
I had a convo with my old man recently, he asked why I decided to go for nostalgic Jappas instead of muscle or old American, and my response was that not only is it more unique having a nostalgic Jappa, but others of similar taste are less likely to be close-minded “rednecks”. But I guess that’s a topic of discussion not really intended for a blog of this nature…