Beach Hop - Whangamata, New Zealand (56k WARNING! lots of photos!)

[STIG]

***UPDATED DOWN PAGE - MORE PHOTOS***

Hey guys,

I've had a few people ask me now, "What is the Beach Hop we keep hearing about in New Zealand?". Well, each year it's held in March and based in the beach town of Whangamata (this year it will be held from the 20th-24th) and sees 110,000+ people come from all over (nationally and internationally) during the course of the week. There are 1000 registered pre-72' muscle cars + 200-400 others that don't register but bring their muscle cars down to the bach for the week to join in on the atmosphere. It's a 50s & 60s themed event which you really see people getting into the spirit and for those 5 or so days, the whole community is just that - a blast from the past. It's New Zealand's biggest, and I believe the Southern Hemisphere's biggest, automotive festival.

Here's a link to the website: http://www.beachhop.co.nz/

Here are some photos I've found on my computer that I've taken from past Beach Hops - I've got hundreds more, but these are just a few I could be bothered to re-size for the moment! I'll add more photos after this year's Beach Hop, but for now to give an idea to all of you across the pond, here they are:

First, some of the Dodges:



















...and the rest:

























(Continued next post...)

[STIG]

(continued next post...)

[STIG]

Cheers! 

[skip68]

Thanks Stig.   

[hatersaurusrex]

Wow as small as these cars are, this guy in the passenger seat must  be a hobbit.  Somebody get him a booster seat.

[STIG]

No problem, Skip 

Haha, I didn't notice that - yeah he could be. I'm 5'11 1/2 - 6'0, but my knees are right up and I feel as though I'm falling out of the seat just sitting there! 

[charger Downunder]

Thanks for the pics a good turn out.

[STIG]

No worries! There were well over 1000 other cars though, photobucket was playing up so I couldn't upload the rest/nor really have to time to do so at the moment 

[tan top]

good lot of pictures Stig , thanks for posting 

[STIG]

Cheers tan top 

Updated first lot of Dodge photos + here's some more:

[FlatbackFanatic]

WOW!!! Great pics!!Thanks for posting..

[Mopar Nut]

Thanks for posting the pictures, it's like being there, well almost.

[kokxville]

Nice pictures,thanks for sharing.
It looks like half of all american cars over there have blowers or compressors 

[twodko]

Really nice pictures! Looked like a wonderful day for a show. NZ is just gorgeous.  Mopars seemed to be in short supply there. I really enjoy seeing vintage cars pulling vintage trailers. Here in NorCal there is a club that restores old "canned ham" type trailers and pulls them with same year cars. Really something to see. Those who have old Airstream trailerspolish them up like mirrors. These folks collect all the era correct accessories for their trailer too. Cool stuff.

[STIG]

Cheers guys, glad you like them!   @twodko: There are significantly more, but I've just been going through one of my cameras and pulling pics off it -this is only a very small portion of photos taken   that black 69' Charger actually has the interior of a modern Charger and also the 5.7l Hemi from one too (plus the transmission, suspension, etc.) That sure would be a sight to see! I'll try find the photos I've taken where all these guys are parked with their trailers - there was a group of them too, must be a sort of club? We've got one, but not to the extent some of these guys go to with their 50s/60s diner-like finishing 

Yeah, if any of you ever get a chance to come down one year, this is the event to make it for  

[General_01]

Great pics!

Looks like a great time. I am sure I will never make it over there from the States, but who knows what will happen in the future.

[Back N Black]

WOW! lot of nice rides. 

[69rtse4spd]

Great Pict;s, thanks for posting. I see they had a short bus in there.

[STIG]

 

Yeah, that bus is pretty awesome. It's had a full interior re-trim and running some sort of big block lol. We don't have yellow buses in New Zealand, so people get the idea it's a custom ride 

[68X426]

I'll pile on - thanks for posting.

Your posts help to get us "northerners" thru snow and crappy winter weather. It refreshes me a lot to see your summer pics. 

[hemi68charger]

 

[bobs66440]

Wow! Amazing! Thanks for taking the time to post all those!!   

[STIG]

Thanks guys 

The weather's just plain hot down here at the moment... no in-between! Could do with a tad less humidity though me thinks  Up here in Auckland we don't get snow, so when we do head South to find some it's always great (though I doubt you'd find much at the moment!). I could imagine being stuck/putting up with it for long durations would make you quite impatient waiting for Summer to rear its head again though It'll be worth it when it does come back around though, that's for sure.

@bobs66440: No worries mate, I'm all set for the upcoming one this March, so I'll get a lot more too... this time with a DSLR Cannon EOS 60D camera, not a point-and-shoot - so expect some decent shots!

[STIG]

Here are some photos I took today at the Kumeu Hotrod show up here in Auckland (again, thousands of people and cars, but for the most part there were way too many people about to get any half-decent shots!)

[remta1]

..hey the red 68 charger is my old car , sold it to a guy in morrinsville.....

[STIG]

Sure it was in these photos? I see a red 69' Charger and 69' Daytona 

[remta1]

,yep next picture below the 70 charger parked next to the gold mustang notchback and above the picture of the green  challenger

[remta1]

who owns the red daytona ..is that Johns ?

[STIG]

,yep next picture below the 70 charger parked next to the gold mustang notchback and above the picture of the green  challenger

Oh, the pictures from the Beach Hop! Thought you meant the Kumeu Show ones I'd just posted  Very nice. I'm not too sure who owns the Daytona, it was tidy though and I believe it's a genuine one?

[STIG]

Here's us all loaded up ready to head to the Kumeu Show yesterday morning:

[remta1]

sorry i thought they were all from the same event 

[STIG]

Hey guys,

So another year has rolled around with the Whangamata Beach Hop down here in New Zealand - beautiful Summer weather (only had spats of rain for short periods early morning, but dried up by 10am to cloudless days), great atmosphere as usual and just everyone enjoying themselves - good to see so many Americans coming over this year/bringing their cars! I'd taken over 3,200 photos, but most were over-exposed due to being a noob. So I'll first post up the Mopar ones I managed to salvage, then I'll post up the rest! There were around 3,500 pre-73' muscle cars inhabiting the small beach town for the 5 days and 120,000+ spectators at the Saturday parade  

These first three photos are our General Lee  

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[projectanimal]

WOW!!!  Great pictures!!!


Nice GL too

[STIG]

Cheers! 

[Fred]

Some beautiful cars there.