With the ASRF Nationals in Geelong for 2003, it was decided to move the 2 Bay Rod Run forward so that it would be the following weekend after the Nationals. After we'd made that decision, we thought it would be a good idea to offer some activities for the rodders for the 3 days in between, especially those guys staying from interstate. So I arranged 2 days of shop tours and Allan Newton organized a day on the Peninsula. These turned out to be 3 great days and very well received by the rodders.

Tuesday 22/04/03 We started at Vintage and Classic Garage, Oakleigh about 10 o'clock. These guys have a great setup and are doing first class work on a wide range of cars, from hot rods right though to faithful restorations. Then down to the Shannons Showroom in Warrigal Road Cheltenham to have a look at the cars on offer.
We then went to Braeside Park for a BBQ lunch and to enjoy some of the sunshine.
After Lunch it was an inspection of the Holden Special Vehicles factory in Oakleigh. This was fascinating to see exactly what they do to make these great cars even better. Lastly a visit to the Bradfords Badges shop in Cheltenham gave everyone a chance to have a look at some very desirable collectables and have some of Betty's scones (biscuits). The day finished up about 4:30 pm.

Wednesday 23/04/03 Allan met all the rodders in the car park at the Mornington Football Club and from there it was a very short walk to Market Day at Mornington. This was another beautiful sunny day. As well as all the normal shops in Mornington there are hundreds of outdoors stalls and shops setup. The wives took part in some serious retail therapy. But by lunch time were looking for somewhere to recuperate. Allan had arranged a special menu lunch at the Tyabb Packing house, which also gave the opportunity for some more antique browsing. The day finished at the recently completed Tyabb Airport Museum. This is definitely well worth a look and the visitors were lucky enough to see the maiden flight of a restored tiger moth which had just been finished 3 days before. Now that was a buzz!

Thursday 24/04/03 We picked up 10 rodders from the Mornington Caravan Park. My crew in the Tarago were from New South Wales, Tasmainia and New Zealand. Bill had some more New Zealanders, a couple in their Model A Coupe from Western Australia and Ray drove his street car full of Valley Rodders. First stop was Antique Tyres in West Heidelberg where we met up with a couple of more Rods from South Australia and New South Wales. Ben was able to help some of our visitors with their enquiries. Then it was off to Classics, Mustangs and Rod Stop in Thomastown where Debbie and the boys greeted us and gave us a tour of the workshop. There were another 2 rods waiting to join the tour here as well. Lots of stuff to look at here. All to soon it was time to round up the troops and head for Mc Donald Brothers Racing, this was another busy workshop with most of the work being carried out on drag cars, with a couple of trick engine conversions. Our next stop was Aussie Desert Cooler and Norm and Vicki Hardinge in Preston. Norm gave a fantastic talk on the different types of radiators and how and why they do what they do, very interesting and if you get the chance definitely recommended. Norm and Vicki also very generously put on a BBQ lunch with salads and drinks for all our visitors. After lunch we drove across to Deuce Customs in Ferntree Gully, where Ken Brownlee met us and gave us a tour of the factory. Last stop was True Colour Restorations in Bayswater. Another workshop producing high quality work and show winning hot rods. We returned the weary rodders to Mornington about 6pm and then about 50 Bay Rodders and visitors kicked on at the Royal Hotel in Mornington for a few drinks and a meal.