• Some of the cool street rods and customs you might see at the Father’s Day Hot Rod Show in Fremantle.

IT started out in 1965 with a handful of blokes who were into hot rods and modifying cars.

Fast forward to 2022 and the West Coast Street Rod Club has hundreds of members and is busy preparing for its annual Father’s Day Hot Rod Show, which has been running for the past three decades.

Forget about gift packs of socks and pants, this is what dad really wants to see on Father’s Day – 100 stunning hot rods and custom/special interest vehicles from across the state.

Show organiser and hot rod enthusiast Neil Gibb says the first two Father’s Day Hot Rod Shows were held in the car park of the Nookenburra Hotel in Innaloo, but it proved so popular they had to move it to a bigger site in Fremantle, where it has remained ever since.

“For 22 years we’ve have been at St Patrick’s Primary School on the school grounds, but prior to that it was held under the large Morton Bay fig tree in King’s Square next to the town hall.”

Mr Gibb says hot rodding is an extremely popular pastime in Australia – especially in WA with the warm weather – but once upon a time it was illegal to drive them on public roads.

“The Australian Street Rod Federation was started in 1972 as an Australia-wide umbrella for all hot rod clubs and individuals to lobby government on registering hot rods for legal use on the streets, and hence the term ‘Street Rods’ came about,” he says.

“Australia-wide the ASRF has approximately 12,000 members, with 800 members of the ASRF and nine hot rod clubs in WA.

“The Father’s Day Hot Rod Show is run by the West Coast Street Rod Club, who started the show as a fundraiser to help finish off their club rooms and workshop in Malaga.”

Aside from the cars, there will be a food caravan, coffee van, stalls and a trophy presentation at the show, which is held on Father’s Day (Sunday September 4) from 10am-3pm at St Patrick’s Primary School on Point Street in Fremantle.

As part of the lead up to the event, Mr Gibb has put his junior 1934 hot rod in the window of his Balshaw’s Florist, corner of Canning Highway and Stock Road, in Bicton.

He built the hot rod almost 28 years ago and drove it in the Channel 7 Christmas pagent with other junior rods.

Some of the proceeds from the Hot Rod show will go to the Senses Foundation, which help the blind, deaf blind or multi-sensory impaired. 

$10 for a family ticket, $5 for adult and $2 for children. 

by STEPHEN POLLOCK