The final day of Repco Beach Hop 16 was by far the crusiest, as it has always been during Beach Hops past. Centred solely around the Williamson Park — known as Ford NZ Reserve during Beach Hop — the focus is primarily upon the Century Batteries Top 10 Shootout; the cream of the crop, as voted by attendees. The top 10 comprised five cars, three motorbikes, and two caravans.
A fine selection of machinery they all were, the crowds in attendance were given time to vote for their favourite, by dropping coins into the bucket of their choice — whatever car, bike, and caravan raised the most money would take home the top gong. As this was going down, live music on stage helped get the crowds going, and, by noon, the formalities were ready.
Top Car was awarded to the creatively assembled ‘Semi-Rat’ of Dave Jeffery, with Top Bike awarded to the Vicla-style Harley-Davidson of Wilson Ford, and Top Caravan going to Craig Jamieson’s 1970 Oxford caravan.
With the ZZ Hop ’34 Ford coupe having been claimed by Richard Thomson, and the Route 66 caravan having auctioned off for $20,000 the day before, the remaining prize — $10,000 cash — was yet to be claimed. With a random number generator, the winning entrant number was selected. Entrant 105, Bev Oswald from Katikati, was the lucky recipient of a fat envelope full of cash — a fitting reward for a lady who has been to every single Beach Hop.
With that, the Sunday was concluded, and Repco Beach Hop 16 was officially over. Of course, we’ll have full coverage of the day, as well as features on the Top Car, Top Bike, and Top Caravan, as well as the rest of Repco Beach Hop 16, in our NZV8 Beach Hop Annual 2016, which will be out in mid May — or you can pre-order a copy here.
