ONE of the best things about Red CentreNATS is how people travel from just about every corner of the country to be there for the epic horsepower party in Alice Springs. And part of the thrill is getting there, particularly if you drive up in an old car. Street Machine bossman Telfo drove his EJ Holden there in 2015 for the inaugural RCN and had a ball, and while we were in Alice this year we heard about Tara McCann, who drove up from Perth with her mum in her dad’s old FB Holden ute!

The old Holden was Tara’s great-grandfather’s, and had sat in a shearing shed for the best part of 40 years collecting rat poo before Tara’s dad dragged it out, brought it home to Perth and decided to give it a ground-up rebuild. It ended up taking the best part of a decade, with the FB going to Port Hedland for the majority of the build before returning to Perth for a mechanical freshen-up.

Nine years later, it was ready for its debut at Red CentreNATS, or so Tara thought. After driving for seven days straight over 3700km through outback Australia, the little old ute broke down in Alice Springs on the way to scrutineering, so unfortunately it didn’t make the show ’n’ shine. But Tara and her mum were thrilled to have made it to be with their family in Alice and check out the awesome show that is Red CentreNATS.

After the show they got it running again, and now Tara’s dad is enjoying cruising around the outback in a true-blue classic Holden. What a fantastic story!