Passion for historic vehicles is driving car club memberships in regional Victoria

Many club permit holders take pride in restoring a historic car back to its original beauty. (ABC Wimmera: Gillian Aeria)

It’s a common sight on country roads on long weekends: dozens of historic cars, with chrome bumpers or soft-top roofs, heading to a show and shine or swap meet, sporting maroon club permit number plates.

The vehicles — and their drivers — are part of a boom in car club numbers and memberships across Victoria.

According to figures from VicRoads, the number of approved car clubs rose more than 25 per cent from 1,515 in 2019 to 1,911 in 2023.

Meanwhile, the number of cars registered with a 45-day club permit rose more than 20 per cent from 75,194 in 2019 to 91,431 last year.

There was also a big spike at the height of the pandemic, with an 18 per cent jump in 45-day permits and a 16 per cent increase in 90-day ones from 2019 to 2021.

In regional Victoria, where many local organisations traditionally struggle to maintain members, data shows that car clubs are heading in the other direction.

Shannons, an insurance provider that specialises in club and heritage vehicles, said the “event landscape in regional Victoria has strengthened post-COVID restrictions, seeing more of a shift to half day or social style meet-ups”.

The provider attended 175 car events in the country last year, and liaised with more than 150 car and bike clubs and organisations.

Neil Athorn, president of the Federation of Veteran Vintage and Classic Clubs of Victoria, estimated there were about 20,000 car club members across the state.

Mr Athorn said the federation raised $900 for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre at a car display event at the Bendigo Showgrounds.

“It shows that there are enormous questions [about] where does Australia’s transport history come from, and we’re out there trying to get that [information] back to the public,” he said.

The Shepparton Region Auto Club said interest was so high they had to put a cap on membership numbers to keep the club manageable.

Greg Bowring, the president and founder of the Melbourne-based club Classic Car Owners of Victoria, said interest was growing in the city too.

“A lot of people even just reach out and say, ‘Hey, can I join? I haven’t got a car, but I’d like to just join and come to cars and coffee’,” Mr Bowring said.

“[At] our last event I had a 1960s Ford Escort parked next to a Lamborghini Murciélago — how often would you see that?”

What is the club permit scheme?

VicRoad’s club permit scheme was launched in 2006, with a logbook being required for trips since 2011.

It allows users to keep an older roadworthy car active for a limited number of days, on generally a cheaper registration.

Permits can be issued for vehicles more than 25 years old and allow the car to be driven for either 45 or 90 days a year.

“It’s quite a great scheme if you ask me … it enables a car owner to safely have an old car on the road,” Mr Bowring said.

“Someone physically has to come out and see the car and then have to sign off and send off the paperwork and that in itself is a great little introduction as well.”

Mr Bowring said you often got to know the car’s owner when getting to know the car.

“Every car’s got a story,” he said.

“A friend of mine … his wife passed away, he’s got this old VP commodore, it’s worth nothing, and he can’t part with it, so he’s put it back on the road, he’s restored it, he’s put new tyres on it. We stuck a club permit on it, and that’s his absolute pride and joy.”

Keeping history on the road

It’s not just cars that are being kept active — there are clubs dedicated to motorbikes, trucks and stationery engines too.

Holden and Ford have seen an uptick in interest from restorers since the brands ceased being manufactured in Australia.

Some of the cars with Victorian club permits go as far back as the 1910s.

“The private owners of these vehicles across the country are the only ones who have got Australia’s motoring heritage in their hands and we’re the ones who are very happy to go and talk to people about it,” Mr Athorn said.

“It’s amazing the number of people who just drove something into the shed and left it there.”

He said there was also big business in the heritage car market.

“We’re seeing a big move now for people to actually go and re-manufacture parts, wirings, all those sorts of things … and a lot of industry is being built around it,” Mr Athorn said.

“The actual movement …t is worth well over a billion dollars to Australia’s economy, so it’s a growing industry and a lot of people are keen on keeping it going.”

Mr Bowring said it also helped with the circular economy, and in some cases, classic cars were even being converted to electric vehicles.

“You’re not cutting down all sort of trees and putting all sorts of carbon emissions into the atmosphere for the production of a new car, you’re recycling an old car,” he said.