For Falcon owners, this year’s Bathurst rubbed salt into the wounds; not only was it the final year on the mountain for their beloved machines, but a Holden hound got the guernsey.

“Still I was happy for Lowndesy,”  ‘Mrs President’ of the Falcon GT Owners Club of Qld Sharron Haywood said at their 36^th annual Valla Run Show and Shine this morning at the Nambucca Heads RSL Club.

And she’s remained upbeat in spite of the Falcons’ last hurrah at Bathurst; Since Harry Firth and Fred Gibson piloted the XR GT in 1967, the Falcon has been an institution on the Mountain.

“The Mustangs will be there now – at least it’s still a Ford. Life changes, and yes, it’s a bit disappointing, but at least we still have Ford categories racing,” she said.

The NSW club’s Tony Hawton – whose blood runs Ford-pantone-blue – has been to Bathurst every year since 1977 and feels the same way.

There were over 100 ‘little blue oval badges’ out on display in the RSL carpark today – a few down on last year’s numbers, but then petrol price inflation has been causing havoc for V8 lovers around the nation lately.

The pristine cars were grouped into 14 different categories from XRs and XTs right through to the latest GT models.

And when they call it a ‘Show’ and ‘Shine’, they really mean it. 

For head judge for the nationals and Qld Club president Mick Haywood, sometimes the difference between a win and a loss can be the brake dust on the wheels.

“Sometimes you even open up the fuel cap to see if it’s all clean in there too. You go through the rubbers, and check for original elements, sometimes you even look to see if they have their original log books,” he said.

“For some shows it comes down to what equipment they’ve got stored in the car – extra points for a first aid kit and break-down triangles. Sometimes it might even be about the driver – how keen they are.

“It’s a bit different at these kind of shows though.

“For this show, the best in my books might not be the cleanest. I prefer that the car is driven than stored in a garage all year, and for that you go by kilometres and stone chips.”

Even though the stone chips may have warranted extra points in this show, the club’s reconnaissance mission found that Mann St – with its current rugged 4WD aesthetic – was best avoided on the drive over from the Valla Beach Tourist Park.

And despite having to move their main event down to the RSL carpark from Bowra St due to changes in regulations that require a three metre side buffer for emergency vehicles, Sharron said the Nambucca Shire Council had been very good in helping to facilitate the event.

This weekend for the Falcon owners is all about catching up with interstate mates. 

The Valla Run came about three decades ago after the NSW Club helped to launch the Qld Club, and they decided to have an annual catch-up ‘somewhere in the middle’.

“Our first one was at Port Macquarie – but that was a little too far south for some. So Valla became it,” one Qld Club member said.

Folks from the NSW, Hunter Valley and Inverell Clubs, join forces with the Qld, Bundaberg and Gold Coast clubs in a once-a-year knees up.

Tonight they plan to party like they were 17 again with a ‘back to school’ theme shindig, and tomorrow they’re heading out to Scotts Head for the first time for some barefoot bowls – that’s if they make it there after the roof-raiser tonight.

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