“Bigger, ballsier, and better” was the motto for this year’s Big Boys Toys event in Palmerston North, and the organizers certainly delivered on their promise. Super cars, hot rods, motorcycles, and the like — you name it, Big Boys Toys delivered it. Upon entering the Central Energy Trust Arena during the November 18–21 event, you were instantly greeted by a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera — the 542hp road-going monster that was parked next to New Zealand’s only CTS-V Cadillac.
As you can probably tell, the Cadillac wasn’t quite catching my eye when compared to the lunacy of the Lamborghini, but the Lambo became mere mist when the centrally placed Aston Martin display came into focus.
Located in the centre of the arena was Aston Martin’s four-door offering and contender to the Porsche Panamera and Maserati Quattroporte. A four-door supercar is always a hard sell, but the Rapide holds its own in the looks department. But unfortunately it’s the ugly stepsister when sat next to Aston Martin’s latest ‘most powerful’ offering to the world, the DB11, which is also the latest Aston Martin to be immortalized in the James Bond film Spectre. As anyone who has watched Spectre will know, the chase sequence between the DB11 and the jaw-dropping Jaguar C-X75 makes for one of the best-looking cinematic car-offs we’ve seen in some time. But, although the DB11 is the new Aston Martin on the block, it’s not the rarest. At Big Boys Toys that honour went to the ultra-high-end Aston Martin One-77. It’s the most expensive Aston Martin ever made, and is already rare as only 77 will ever be brought into existence.
If you could pull yourself away from the Aston Martins, there was plenty of more on offer to behold the eyes.
Understandably Jolene Gullum-Scott and Becky Lewell on the Shosha stand were receiving as much attention as the cars nearby …
The iconic K.I.T.T from Knight Rider was another big lure for the public over the three-day weekend.
As well as the crowd-drawing ‘Swin Car’ being launched for the first time in New Zealand in the Action arena, the hall played host to various FMX riders.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the demonstration of the Swin Car, as some overly enthusiastic motocross riders, in the form of Levi Sherwood and his crew, jumped in a little early with an FMX and BMX display with Kurtis Downs and Jed Mildon, which cut the Swin Car’s demonstration time dramatically.
The hot rod display in Arena 2 held some real treats, the flawless 1959 Chevrolet El Camino displayed by Lorraine Smith stopped you in your tracks.
The real standout though was Dave Burt’s ’72 Plymouth GTX, a car you’ll soon be seeing a whole lot more of in an upcoming issue of NZV8.
