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Bay of Plenty – mark your calendar as “wheely busy” on Sunday, March 8, from 10am-2pm as the Repco Tauranga Auto Extravaganza roars back in town.

Organiser Neville McKay said this year the Hato Hone St John fundraiser will be at a new, larger venue – Mercury Baypark – and be bigger and better than ever before.

“We’ve moved the event to Mercury Baypark – so we’ll have lots more space to set up the extravaganza and all it has to offer,” said McKay, who spends 12 months organising the show with mates Keith Sawyer and Barry Gordon.

Auto swap meet

It will be a wheel-lovers’ paradise, said McKay. “We’ve got show cars, race cars, vintage cars, classic cars, hot rods, bikes, trucks, cranes, hovercrafts all coming along!”

The extravaganza would also host an auto swap meet, with the public invited to bring along their cars – all makes and models are welcome – to display.

Exhibitors can arrive from 8am and have their vehicles set up for display by 9.30am, McKay said. “We’ll have a large variety of vehicles to look at. Kids right through to the elderly will be fizzing!”

McKay said event sponsor REPCO would host wheel-changing competitions for men and women teams from 11am.

Gates open 10am, with an official opening. “This event is all for the local Hato Hone St John ambulance service – because they need the money.”

There will also be competitions for Best Dressed Women and Best Dressed Man, and free prize giveaways – totalling a whopping $1000 – just for kids. “This is a family-focused community event, so we want children to enjoy the show!”

Oodles of carparking

Plenty of car-related goodies would be given away in raffles and auctions, plus a variety of food stands would ensure no-one went hungry.

McKay said the main thing people should know is the event is at Mercury Baypark. “It’s going to be so much better because it has a lot more room – the beauty of it is there’s oodles of carparking for show-goers.”

A two-minute silence will be held for the people lost their lives at Mount Maunganui and Welcome Bay this month, which McKay said was appropriate given the community was deeply hurting.

The event is 10am-2pm on Sunday, March 8 at Mercury Baypark, Mount Maunganui.

Entry is $5 per adult and under-14s with school ID will gain free entry. Find out at ‘REPCO Tauranga Auto Extravaganza’ on Facebook.