Craig and Louise Triplett from Dubbo are members of the Parkes based Central West Car Club and have organised the inaugural Dub Vegas Torana Cruz to be held this weekend May 5th – 8th in Dubbo.

The weekend kicks off at midday Friday in Bathurst, meeting Sydney based cars for a few laps of Mt Panorama and a tour of the pits, then a meet and greet at the Country Leisure Motel in Cobra St, Dubbo on Friday night.

All Torana owners are welcome for a cruise to Dubbo Zoo on Saturday morning, a Dyno talk in the afternoon and dinner with live music from local musician “Irish” on Saturday night.

Sunday morning they meet up with Dubbo Cars and Coffee at the information centre for a cruise around town and out to Ballimore Pub for lunch.

All cars and motorbikes are welcome.

For more information on the weekend you can contact Louise or Craig on 6882 3988 or follow Dub Vegas Torana Cruz on Facebook.

Craig and Louise’s Torana is a 4 door A9X replica which started life as a 1977 LX Holden Torana in Mandarin Red.

Craig’s parents bought it brand new as the display vehicle from the Holden travelling roadshow back in 1977.

The Torana had sat on a turntable on the back of a truck touring from town to town.

They saw it on display behind the wire fence of the Dubbo drive-in and decided that was the car for them.

“They hardly ever drove it,” Craig said.

“It sat in the driveway for years with people asking to buy it.”

When Craig was 15 and wanting to quit school his dad convinced him that if he completed his HSC, the Torana was his.

True to his word the Torana has been Craig’s ever since.

Most of the makeover was done 26 years ago with the concept initially being an SLR 5000.

As time went by Craig optioned up the car to the A9X specifications, but it was never intended for it to be an exact replica.

The paint for example is a Nissan colour called Yellow Glow.

There’s a Ford 9 inch diff and the 308 engine has been stroked to 355 cubic inches.

The replica Hotwire mag wheels and 15 inch with a 225mm front tyre and a massive 295 on the rear.

It’s been back on the road now for almost 12 months and it surely makes its presence felt!

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Central West Car Club you can follow them on Facebook or look them up at www.centralwestcarclub.com