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A trip back in time at classic car show

Swanpool played host to more than 35 classic cars on Sunday as the Victorian chapters of the Cadillac and Pontiac Owners clubs held a joint event.

The day included a display of some 36 cars as well as the screening of a classic car film.

Organiser Gary Heaslip, who is on the committee of both the Pontiac and the Cadillac clubs, said the day was perfect.

"Having seen all the rain the day before and since, we were so lucky to have a nice day on Sunday," Mr Heaslip said.

The idea for the event had been in Mr Heaslips head for some time and he was pleased to be able to find a film that would appeal to owners of both car types on show.

"When I was choosing a car film I wanted one that didn’t just focus on Pontiacs or Cadillacs," Mr Heaslip said.

"I thought the film Tucker – The Man and His Dream would be perfect."

That film tells the story of visionary car designer Preston Tucker, who set about to make a car of the future in 1948.

He produced 50 vehicles, 47 of which still survive.

"And I knew of a Melbourne collector who had one," Mr Heaslip said.

"I thought the only thing that would make the day better if we could have a Tucker at the event."

And that is exactly what Mr Heaslip managed to arrange.

"So we had noted car collector Terry Dowel drive down on the day in his original 1948 Tucker," Mr Heaslip said.

"Which also happens to be the car driven by Preston Tucker himself.

"And his wife drove down an original 1936 Cord - the most iconic car of the art-deco period.

"So on top of some amazing Pontiacs and Cadillacs we had these two incredible multi-million dollar cars."

The day started off with a convoy of some 25 cars who met up at Yarra Glen to make the drive.

The cars were then on show in Swanpool for several hours whilst car club members enjoyed lunch and the film.

Mr Heaslip said that an interesting statistic is that between all cars in attendance they travelled about 13 300km - the exact distance that National Hwy 1 circumnavigates Australia.