'Pig of a truck' popular at car show

Graham Povey and Barbara Ross, of Wanaka,  with their dog Spider  admire the Chevrolet pick-up...
Graham Povey and Barbara Ross, of Wanaka, with their dog Spider admire the Chevrolet pick-up that won the People's Choice award at the Naseby Car Show on Saturday.
This chrome pig was added to a Chev  pick-up after a former owner described it as a 'pig of a...
This chrome pig was added to a Chev pick-up after a former owner described it as a 'pig of a truck'. Photos by Lynda Van Kempen.

A 1955 Chevrolet sporting a chrome pig on its bumper because it was once dubbed ''a pig of a truck'' was the crowd favourite at the Naseby Car Show.

About 500 people attended the event, held in the Naseby Domain on Saturday, and the Chev pick-up, owned by Stu Cook, of Cromwell, won the People's Choice award.

Mr Cook has owned the vehicle for about seven years and rebuilt it, spending about 500 hours on the project, he said.

''It's taken a lot of time and effort. It's probably worth about $100,000 now ... if there wasn't an economic downturn.

''One of its previous owners described the vehicle as a pig of a truck when it was on the road and put the pig on it.''

After he rebuilt the vehicle, he put the pig back on, relocating it from the bonnet to the bumper.

Mr Cook said the truck was one of many similar projects he had on the go and it was for sale. One of the show organisers, Eric Swinbourn, of Naseby, said it was the fifth time the event had been staged and it was a relief to score great weather this year.

''There's no complaints this time but we've had some shocking days [for the show] in the past. Last time, it bucketed down with rain and it was pretty much a washout,'' he said.

A total of 85 vehicles were entered this year - cars, motorcycles and trucks mostly entered by people throughout Otago.

Eight people were on the organising committee and all were ''locals who are keen on cars and keen on Naseby'', Mr Swinbourn said. Stalls were set up around the domain and the Naseby Fire Brigade gave a demonstration during the afternoon.

- lynda.van.kempen@odt.co.nz

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