Think former SMOTY champion Aaron Gregory said it best when he referred to the Oxytech Pub Run as a men’s mental health retreat. After all, it’s kinda hard to have the shits with life when you’re fat-arming it up the coast in your pride and joy alongside a couple of dozen like-minded lunatics on a Friday afternoon, bound for a pub.

First published in the July 2025 issue of Street Machine

Pub Run was the brainchild of Oxytech frontman Scott Barter, and each year it sees a tight-knit, invite-only group of automotive industry peeps park their responsibilities, pile into their many and varied jalopies, and point them toward the northern horizon.

The destination is the always-awesome Tea Gardens Hotel, a beaut rubbity-dub on the banks of the Myall River on the NSW Mid North Coast. This year’s cruise officially departed from Brintech Customs in Western Sydney, but for some it kicked off days earlier, and from much further afield. Deluxe Rod Shop bossman Steve Alldrick, for example, jumped in his wicked Windsor-powered ’32 tudor and cruised 800 clicks from Yea, Victoria just to make the start.

For yours truly, Pub Run was the first time I’d ventured into the wild in months, having been laid up after badly breaking my leg in a dirt bike crash just before New Year’s. I was still on crutches and not yet cleared to drive, so I tossed the keys to my long-suffering Torana to my good mate Richard Shumack and assumed the role of passenger princess.

Unfortunately, Richard and I blew into Brintech Customs fashionably late on the Friday morning and missed the guided tour of the BMW specialist’s sprawling workshop, but we didn’t miss the bacon-and-egg rolls and coffees they put on, which hit the spot and helped line our stomachs ahead of a weekend of enthusiastic canning on.

The first leg of the journey saw us beeline it up the M1 motorway to Sheffield Group, south of Newcastle, for a meet and greet, a sausage sanger, and a demonstration of Sheffield’s truly impressive cutting, drilling and abrasive tools. As most of the Pub Run attendees are in the automotive trade, this was quite a cool and valuable experience.

But soon enough, it was pub o’clock, so we piled back into the cars and headed north, blowing into the Tea Gardens Hotel by late afternoon. We checked into our neat motel-style accommodation, but not before enjoying a schooner or three in the carpark. Cruising is thirsty work.

As we milled around in the crowded carpark, an older local lady made her way through the cars as she attempted to gain entry to the pub. “Sorry darl,” said one of the boys, apologising for the inconvenience as he shifted out of her path. “You’re very welcome, love,” she smiled. “You’re here to spend money in my town.”

By design, Pub Run 2025 fell on the same weekend as the Tea Gardens Hawks Nest Motor Club’s MotorFest event, so the next day we were up earlier than most would have liked to run a rag over our cars and cruise across the bridge to the Myall Sports Complex in Hawks Nest to take part. The salad-dodging continued as gourmet B&E rolls were dutifully delivered to us at the show by Scotty Barter – we were nothing if not well-fed.

There was an awesome variety of cars on show – everything from exquisitely restored vintage race cars to a big-block Mopar-powered PT Cruiser ute (People Like Us, SM, May ’25). None of the Pub Run contingent managed to snag any awards, despite Street Machine scribbler Iain ‘Marv’ Kelly cunningly sandbagging by entering his de-badged ’64 Pontiac Bonneville (SM, Apr ’23) as a ’58 Hindustan Ambassador and electing to have it judged in the Best Japanese class. But it mattered not; we were there for tap beers and good vibes, not trophies.

We returned to the Tea Gardens pub via an impromptu photoshoot at a beach carpark, having again worked up quite a thirst. We ordered some tucker and recommenced bench racing, then were most pleased to be entertained by an awesome local cover band belting out 90s grunge bangers well into the night. As most of our lot were Of A Certain Age, that could not possibly have suited us more.

The following day, we were up and at ’em for a remedial brekkie at Mumm’s on the Myall, where the only remotely official proceedings at Pub Run took place. Scotty thanked Marv for handling the logistics, we thanked the pair of them for showing us such a cracking weekend, and the one and only formal accolade was bestowed.

The trophy was concocted the night before the event by attendee Justin Mitchell from junk he had lying around the shed. A work of profound beauty, it was mostly comprised of an old piston and conrod, fashioned into an artistic depiction of a smiling Pub Runner. Chief among its many features was a 10mm socket that acted as a detachable tockley. Who knows when you’ll need a spare, eh?

Traditionally, the trophy is intended as a Hard Luck Award, but this year, every one of the machines in attendance exhibited uncharacteristically impeccable reliability throughout the weekend. Thus, Scotty made the call to award it to yours truly for enduring the rigours of Pub Run as an invalid, with more hardware than Bunnings in my right leg and a concerningly engorged ankle that was beginning to resemble that of a decomposing brontosaurus. I was, and will forever remain, deeply honoured.

From there, we jumped back in our cars and returned to reality – souls cleansed, hearts full, and livers screaming for mercy. Via just one more stop for some lunch. At a pub.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Oxytech Pub Run is a broad church – everything from Benny Neal’s Dodge Viper to Shane Jenkin’s club-regoed Mitsubishi Colt was welcome, with hot rods, muscle cars and minitrucks in between. Tuff Mounts bossman Jason Waye flew into Sydney from Adelaide and picked up a VZ SS so he could join in the fun!

Despite its sleepy outward appearance, Peter ’Ducky’ Kelly’s HQ sedan is a Drag Challenge veteran powered by a healthy LS. To its left is Steve Alldrick’s mega-cool ’32 Ford, which he drove the whole way from Yea, Victoria, with his young bloke Jake and mate Chad Forward on board.

We copped a bit of precipitation during Pub Run, but Luke Walden’s R32 GT-R benefited from all-paw grip in the inclement conditions.

If you attend a car event within cooee of Sydney, chances are you’ll encounter Dean Grima’s drive-anywhere VK Commodore. It’s a completely different car from when Dean was our Young Gun in the March 2020 issue, after a post-MotorEx fender bender last year prompted a big refresh.

Oxytech frontman Scotty Barter’s ‘Filthy Sue’ HQ Monaro is a genuine 308 manual GTS and was easily one of the coolest cars at the event. Scotty bought it more or less as-is, got it back on the road and has been enjoying this shit out of it ever since.

The product demo at the Sheffield Group was an impressive affair, and fortunately, the Pub Run goodie bag contained some samples of their wares.

Mark Hooker from Barrel Bros brought along his rad little Nissan Sunny truck, rolling on 14-inch Techno Phantom wheels and packing an A12 mill that’s been significantly modernised by way of Yamaha R6 quad-throttlebodies and a Haltech Nexus R3.

Saxon Coupland’s Dodge Phoenix is a sinister-looking jigger, pictured here with mate Thomas Stokes riding shotgun. Together, these champions are responsible for the BackyardBuilds YouTube channel, which is well worth a squiz.

With Aaron Gregory’s SMOTY-winning ’51 Chevy pick-up undergoing a massive revamp at the present time, he pinched the keys to Scott Barter’s ’56 (SM, Yearbook 2020) instead.

Iain ‘Marv’ Kelly’s enormous, blown LS-swapped Pontiac Bonneville being shoehorned into the carpark at the beautest pub in town. The Tea Gardens Hotel has been the base for Pub Run since the very start, and always welcomes us with open arms.

Photographer Matt Everingham nailed this great drone shot of the cars filling out the Tea Gardens Hotel carpark just moments before flying said drone straight into the side of a building. The boys did not let him forget about it!

Toast Graphics frontman Avit ‘Toasty’ Chauhan rolled in this killer ’bagged HiLux minitruck, boasting stunning paint, killer custom trim and a healthily turbocharged mill.

Kris Reberger’s pro street HQ coupe is a proper toughie and different to the norm. Kris has shunned Bowtie power, instead opting for a fuel-injected Pontiac V8 backed by a 4L80E trans, all controlled by a Haltech.

Jason Gauci’s Vauxhall was Broads’s personal favourite car from this year’s Pub Run. With its sweet, gasser-inspired stance and a 1JZ swap with a big old turbo, it had a certain swagger, and was quick as buggery.

Daniel Kelly’s super-rare factory manual VL Calais Turbo packs a tough RB tucked into a super-neat engine bay.

Eddy Edwards brought a matching pair of 05 Marlboro tribute cars along to Pub Run – a Torana and a Group C VK. It must be said, the cars looked an absolute treat trundling up the freeway together.