{"id":366844,"date":"2026-04-06T21:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T21:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/366844\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T21:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T21:41:10","slug":"hawkes-bay-auto-extravaganza-raises-20k-for-regions-ambulances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/366844\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawke\u2019s Bay auto extravaganza raises $20k for region\u2019s ambulances"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"sYHrSxRJWo\" style=\"display:none\">McKay said the event\u2019s highlights included \u201cbeing piped on\u201d at the opening ceremony by local bagpiper Kieran Chisnall, ride-on lawnmower racing and two-person hovercraft \u201cracing around\u201d the showgrounds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sYHrSxRJWo\" style=\"display:none\">Hovercraft riders only had to pay a gold coin for a turn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sYHrSxRJWo\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe had quite a queue of people wanting to take a ride. Next year we\u2019re looking at racing hovercrafts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sYHrSxRJWo\" style=\"display:none\">McKay said it was also great having Hastings Deputy Mayor Michael Fowler and former mayor Sandra Hazlehurst at the event.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"A 1950s Pontiac Chieftain at the 2026 Repco Hawke's Bay Auto Extravaganza. Photo \/ Paul Taylor\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>A 1950s Pontiac Chieftain at the 2026 Repco Hawke&#8217;s Bay Auto Extravaganza. Photo \/ Paul Taylor<\/p>\n<p class=\"sYHrSxRJWo\" style=\"display:none\">But the stars of the show were the cars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sYHrSxRJWo\" style=\"display:none\">Some of McKay\u2019s favourites included a Maserati, a purple Triumph Stag convertible and the cars of Hawke\u2019s Bay Holden Cruzers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sYHrSxRJWo\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cEveryone came out of the woodwork for it and enjoyed the day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sYHrSxRJWo\" style=\"display:none\">The event raised about $20,000 for Hato Hone St John.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"A 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air at the 2026 Repco Hawke's Bay Auto Extravaganza. Photo \/ Paul Taylor\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>A 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air at the 2026 Repco Hawke&#8217;s Bay Auto Extravaganza. Photo \/ Paul Taylor<\/p>\n<p class=\"sYHrSxRJWo\" style=\"display:none\">McKay said the money would go towards training cadets and making improvements to the service \u201cfrom Mahia to Dannevirke\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sYHrSxRJWo\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cAll the money stays in the area, and that\u2019s the stipulation I made.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sYHrSxRJWo\" style=\"display:none\">McKay could be seen wearing a blond wig around the showgrounds to honour his friend Zoran, who died from pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Neville McKay in his blond wig honouring his friend Zoran at the 2026 Repco Hawke's Bay Auto Extravaganza.\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Neville McKay in his blond wig honouring his friend Zoran at the 2026 Repco Hawke&#8217;s Bay Auto Extravaganza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sYHrSxRJWo\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI told his brother in Texas I\u2019d be wearing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sYHrSxRJWo\" style=\"display:none\">McKay said the extravaganza wouldn\u2019t be possible without the help of volunteers, particularly Hana Whaanga and the Roaming Chrome HB Club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sYHrSxRJWo\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe\u2019re already planning for next year,\u201d McKay said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McKay said the event\u2019s highlights included \u201cbeing piped on\u201d at the opening ceremony by local bagpiper Kieran Chisnall,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[46871,69894,2840,174675,2440,1561,6799,21642,192494,2082,1976,5126,11692,111,43,139,69,193,2081,11596,6695,11685,6861,50961],"class_list":["post-366844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-46871","tag-20k","tag-across","tag-ambulances","tag-auto","tag-bay","tag-cars","tag-collection","tag-extravaganza","tag-for","tag-hawkes","tag-john","tag-nearly","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-other","tag-raised","tag-raises","tag-regions","tag-train","tag-vehicles","tag-volunteers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}