Picnic at Hanging Rock 2023

Joan Lindsey's 1967 novel 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' depicts the fictional story of students from an Australian girl's school that go missing on a Valentine's Day Picnic at the Victorian mount Hanging Rock and are never found.  It is considered as one of the most significant pieces of Australian writing and was adapted into a film in 1975.

Now every year, car enthusiasts re-enact this famous story by getting lost among 1600 cars at the foot of the climb.

With that many cars on display, you are bound to find some unique wheels.  It's rare to see one Purvis Eureka - a sports car built in Dandenong from 1974 to 1991 - but at Hanging Rock there was four!

Hot Rods were plentiful too.  I loved this custom '49 Chevy Styline that looks ready to race on the salt lakes of Bonneville.

This Kieft Sportsracer garnered a lot of attention throughout the day.  Kieft was a British company that mainly built Formula 3 cars in the 1950's.  This unique machine was built to the exact specs of a car commissioned in America and powered by a De Soto V8, that was later destroyed in the 1980s.

The mass of cool cars and unique finds just brings into question how many other pieces of automotive and motorsport history are hiding in garages all around Australia.

The annual Picnic at Hanging Rock is one of Victoria's largest car shows​ and this was its 36th edition. Some of these cars wouldn't have been considered classic or even released or thought of 36 years ago.

Classic American and Australian built bodies are always the majority at a classic car show like this, however, as time goes on, the popularity of Japanese vehicles increases, and you see more at these events.

This pairing of blue RX3 and RX7 were two great displays of rotary power, R31 wagons are always welcome, and I don't think I've ever seen a first-gen Toyota Celica motor with electronic fuel injection.

A Porsche 911 Targa or a Subaru WRX STi, pick your poison, or would you rather ride in Mat Egan's Ford Customline?

I am always happy to see this 8-second Chevy Monza, and always intrigued by an interesting engine swap, like this Toyota IUZ-FE V8 dumped into a Volvo.

Although 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' is fictional, I can certainly understand that it could be based on true events.  It's very easy to get lost in this place.

Bonus Gallery