East Coast Cruise 2011 - Custom Truck Show

On the Road to Australia’s Premier Minitruckin’ Event

From the June, 2012 issue of Mini Truckin'

By Brian Goude

Photography by Brian Goude

East Coast Cruise was the very first minitruck event in Australia. Getting the chance to attend this event was an honor especially since 2011 marked the 10th anniversary. I started my journey at LAX airport on a Friday evening and ended up landing in Brisbane, Australia about 24 hours later. The actual flight time was around 14 hours but with layovers and things like that it was a mission in itself.

I was greeted in Brisbane by a group of minitruckers representing No Regrets, Freaks of Nature, and Forbidden Fantasy. I instantly felt right at home especially after the laugh we all shared as I attempted to get in the passenger side of the truck, where for some reason there was a steering wheel.

After a few days of getting over some serious jet lag, we loaded up our vehicles to make the 850-mile trek from Brisbane down the East Coast of Australia toward the show’s host town—Batesman Bay. We were greeted with bad weather, and the rain made for some dangerious driving conditions. As we crested a hill, the traffic was at a dead stop and we skidded right into the back of a Toyota Hilux. Unfortunately the truck we rearended was in our group and ended up being a total loss. Not even the five-car pile-up we were involved in could stop our convoy though. We rented a few cars and kept on truckin’. We arrived at our halfway point too late to enjoy the pre-show party hosted by Laurie and the gang at the Chop Shop, but we did get to hang out in the shop on Saturday to help them finish load up a few trucks before starting the second half of the trip.

Once we arrived in Batesman Bay, we knew it was going to be a great weekend as trucks packed the parking lots of all the local hotels. We settled in and headed down to the host hotel where the party was in full swing. Hundreds of showgoers hung out and raged well into the night.