September 27th, 2024Cars and … coffee
With its cute retro body, classic details and gleaming indigo duco, Paul Dwyer’s very collectible 1956 FJ Holden ute turns heads and start conversations wherever it rolls up.
But Paul’s treasured and restored little FJ ute will be just one of in a throng of character-packed cars headed to the upcoming Cars and Coffee event that’s making a comeback for Daylesford on October 6.
Set to happen from 8am to 10am at Daylesford’s Amazing Mill Markets site, the upcoming Cars and Coffee event marks a return for this previously popular fixture on local car-lovers’ calendars.
The brainchild of local car collector and motoring enthusiast Peter Olver, the first Cars & Coffee happened in March 2016, and was replaced in 2017 by MotorFest which was last held in 2023 but is currently in recession.
While the event has previously raised some serious dollars for good local causes including the Daylesford hospital, the returning version is firmly focused simply on fun and providing a social outlet for car owners and their prized sets of wheels, Peter says.
“It will be happening each month on the first Sunday of the month from 8am to 10pm at the Mill Markets,” he says.
“There’s a need for it. People have been wanting it back again. We’d like to invite anyone who has got a classic or vintage car, or any auto of interest.”
“Something that people want to stop and look at,” adds Paul who a fair way back was able to purchase and restore his beloved FJ ute from another local resident on the proviso that he love and cherish it appropriately.
“This local person had purchased it in 1956 and then left it parked in a shed in 1978. I came to know about it and made an offer.”
The classic little ute’s conversation-starting features extend to what’s carried beneath the rear tarp – a retro Victa lawn mower and gladstone bag containing yesteryear “gentlemen’s reading matter”.
“The public are invited to come along and view the vehicles and chat to the owners. It’s a social gathering,” Peter says.
“And a really good reason to get the vehicles out of the garage,” Paul adds.
As the name suggests, this returning local event is all about cars and … coffee.
“So we’d really like to say a special thankyou to Mark Ward of The Mill. The Mill cafe is even opening early for us,” Peter says.
He says anyone who’d like to know more about the returning event can get in contact on 0400482427.
Words: Eve Lamb
