Classic engines will hit the road, turning the wheels for an annual vintage car adventure this year.
Steering into the straight will be Justin Brooks, Graham Brown and Darren Harris, revving it up in the friendly drive.
On August 3, they taking on the Repco Reliability Trial in support of the Michael Tynan Memorial Challenge and the St George and Sutherland Medical Research Foundation.
The event celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.
Vehicles are to be manufactured pre-1979 with a focus on classic and muscle cars from the golden era of Australian motoring.
Starting and ending at Melbourne Showgrounds, with rest days in Perth, Darwin and Cairns, the course covers more than 14,000 kilometres, with a finish date of September 1.
Competitors hail from every state and territory, plus overseas competitors from the UK, Singapore and New Zealand.
Mr Brooks is among those representing Sutherland Shire. He is the director of a stainless steel manufacturing business, but spends as much time as possible in the garage tinkering with the cars.
His passion for H series Holden's started early. His first car was an ochre coloured HQ sedan, and a few years later he purchased a HZ premier from his cousin, which had been bought brand new by his uncle.
"We still have this car which runs an EFI 355, top loader and 9inch," he said.
"We were introduced to the event by a friend and the concept sparked our sense of adventure for a once in a lifetime experience."
Parents to Julian, 13 and Olivia,10, he says whenever some spare time arises, he is quick to jump in the car and explore the open road.
"Our original idea to run a panelvan was to be able to utilise it to sleep in at points along the way. That idea has since gone out the window and we'll be opting for luxury of caravan parks during the trip. But we're not adverse to a few days camping in the back of the van when the opportunity arises, and through our travels with the vans we have found a community of vanners and had plenty of great trips and made lots of new friends along the way.
"Our rally van will feature a map of Australia on the bonnet, showing the route of the trip, and we plan to add to the mural each year adding the trips we've done."
While searching for panelvans, he developed a passion, or as his wife Samantha would describe, an "addiction", for them.
During the initial search for a suitable car, he quickly realised how difficult and expensive it was to find one in decent condition.
"A painstaking search led us to our first purchase of a WB, complete with 253, auto and zero rust. But we soon realised it would take a lot of work to get it ready for the rally. So the search continued, until we found a HJ at an auction, it ticked all the boxes - 308, 4 speed, power steering, bucket seats, twin headlights and GTS guards and dash and a pimped out rear. So that's what we'll be running.
"A key decision maker when we recently bought a new home was how many cars we could fit in the garage."
Follow the adventure on social media: @Roadtrippersguidetogoodcoffee
