DEJA VROOM!

SOUTH AUSTRALIA SHOWED ITS MUSCLE AT THE SECOND ADELAIDE AUTO EXPO IN A CALENDAR YEAR

- CARLY DALE

THE Adelaide Auto Expo is not usually a biannual event, but these are unusual times and promoter Geof Tartoosie is an unusually motivated man. When Geof announced at the time of the previous expo in January 2021 that the next one was planned for November, just 10 months later, it seemed ambitious at best. Was he a visionary, a dreamer, or a masochist?

The amount of effort and organisation required to make two premier car shows happen in one year made it a daunting task, which was not made easier by the ever-looming threat of COVID-related lockdowns and fluctuating state border restrictions. But Geof got it done, and November’s encore performance at Adelaide Showground in Wayville went off without any major hitches, with a cavalcade of incredible metal on show.

The two-day event comprises various facets, including the Extreme Auto Expo, Adelaide Hot Rod Show, Dream Car Garage, Barn Find Auction, the Aussie Classics & Muscle Car Cruise and the American-model Zippel Cruise.

While interstate guests were thin on the ground for obvious reasons, it didn’t harm the quality and variety of builds on offer. Make no mistake, the Radelaide crew know how to turn out high-end, street-legal, megahorsepower rides.

Take Joe Esposito’s twin-turbo 615-powered ’68 Camaro, for example (opposite page, top right). If the Juicy Orange PPG paint doesn’t grab you, then the insane driveline surely will. The whole lot is getting engineered, too, including the huge 20x18-inch Billet Specialties rims under the rear.