Motorcycle enthusiasts will roll into the city for the 2023 Mount Gambier Classic and Vintage Motorcycle Show.
The show will be held at the Mount Gambier City Hall in July and raises funds for Cancer Council SA.
Mount Gambier Classic and Vintage Motorcycle Show organiser Tyrone Mustey said the annual event was a great social opportunity while raising funds for a good cause.
“It is as much about the banter and the social event as it is the bikes, because the bikes just happen to be the glue that draws us all in,” Mr Mustey said.
“It is a niche, but it is such a broad community and cross-section age wise, male and female, it draws people in from as far away as Adelaide and Tasmania and so on.
“It has drawn a heap of people together so they can, one, appreciate the bikes and two, it is such a good social event, because some of these guys only see each other at this event.
“The older generation really appreciate it because they can see that we are preserving the history.”
People will showcase project bikes, their ‘pride and joy’ bikes, shed bikes and showpieces, all 1990s and older.
“We have had a guy from Adelaide bring in a Harley Davidson a few years ago that was 1917 and it still ran and he still rode it,” Mr Mustey said.
Long-standing historian of the motorcycle community Colin Thompson also prepares a 400-slide PowerPoint display for the event.
Mr Mustey decided to raise money for Cancer Council SA after a personal encounter with a cancer patient.
“I had surgery years ago in 2015 in Flinders Medical Centre and I spoke to a young fella in the surgical ward who had lost an arm and a leg to cancer and I thought ‘I need to do something about this’,” he said.
“You talk to anybody about Cancer Council, and they know someone that has been affected, it is a universal thing unfortunately.”
The event has raised more than $27,000 since it first began, and Mr Mustey hoped to hit the $30,000 mark this year.
A passion for motorcycles runs in Mr Mustey’s family, whose personal interest stemmed from his uncle and father.
“Dad used to ride when he was a younger fella in Mildura, Victoria, and my uncle was in the Navy and every time he came home, he had a different bike or a different car,” he said.
“I never got my car licence until I was 18, but I had my bike licence when I was 16.
“I have dabbled in cars and hot rods and a lot of other stuff as well, but I keep coming back to bikes, that just seems to be where my roots are.”
The event is sponsored by the City of Mount Gambier, Shannons Insurance and Trident Tyre Centre, with GT Industrials donating the door raffle prize and Repco and Penrite Australia donating goods for the presentation.
“Thanks to everyone that has entered in the past and is entering this year, because if we do not have any entries, it does not happen,” Mr Mustey said.
The show will be open Saturday, July 29 from 9am until 6pm and Sunday, July 30 from 9am until 2pm followed by a presentation.
