More than 120 classic trucks will begin a 10-day tour of the South Island next week, but motorists have been reassured traffic jams are not expected as the trucks will not be travelling in convoy.
The Inter-Island Classic Truck Run starts in Picton on September 17, and co-organiser Simon Vincent said the trucks would be hitting the highways and byways of Otago from September 25.
He said this year's event was the biggest in the event's three-year history, and 120 trucks and 200 participants would travel to Dunedin, via Balclutha, on September 25, before heading to Timaru, by way of Mosgiel, Middlemarch, Palmerston and Oamaru, the day after.
"Interest in the event has been so strong that it has drawn entries from a couple of Australian enthusiasts who have shipped their trucks over especially to take part in the road run.
"The diverse group will be travelling in historical vehicles ranging from small one-tonne trucks to the full-size trucks that ply the nation's highways daily.
Trucks range in age from the 1930s to the 1990s, with trucks in what could be described as original condition through to fully restored vehicles with tens of thousands of dollars invested in their restoration."
He added the truckers were "very conscious" of the needs of other road users, and the trucks would not be travelling as one convoy.
"With that many trucks on the road, we don't want to be disrupting the traffic."
