Wild weather forces organisers to postpone Auckland car show

Friday, 10 February 2023

Organisers of this weekend’s Classic Cover Ellerslie Car Show have announced that the event has been postponed until late April, in light of the looming arrival of Cyclone Gabrielle.

The event was set for its 51st annual meeting on Sunday February 12. The event is now set to shift to April 23.

“With the state of Emergency in Auckland and the need to be prepared for a cyclone, the Ellerslie committee have made the call to postpone Sunday’s show until 23rd April,” said the organisers in a statement shared to social media.

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Those on the event’s committee – made up solely of volunteers – are “scrambling to get the message out to all the people involved”, adding that Saturday’s planned Tours d’Elegance road tours will go ahead.

The event had been said to be going ahead “rain or shine”, however the incoming wild weather has proven to be an exception.

Cyclone Gabrielle is ranked as a category 3 tropical cyclone, with landfall expected to take place on Tuesday February 14 in Northland. MetService has issued a heavy rain watch warning, which may be upgraded as the cyclone nears. Wind gusts are tipped to reach 165kph.

A packed line-up of incredible cars had been announced as attendees of the Ellerslie Car Show. They include the Porsche Club of New Zealand, the Auckland Jaguar Drivers’ Club, along with more than 80 other car clubs.

Among the other 2023 Ellerslie Car Show highlights now pushed back to April was the international debut of a fully restored 1938 Diamond T streamlined Texaco tanker; one of two left in the world.