The Rock n Roll festival has rolled in and out of Victor for another year. For three days every September this popular seaside town in South Australia is taken over by classic cars, rock n roll music of yesteryear, market stalls, food trucks and lovers of 1950s fashion.
Part of the main thoroughfares, Ocean Street, is closed off and visitors can wander along admiring and reminiscing over the classic cars proudly displayed by their owners. The chrome, the fins, the wheels, the shine have even non car aficionados envious of these immaculate looking beasts of the past. There is many an overheard conversation starting with ‘I used to have one of these’ and then the ensuing story of what happened to it, along with an unshed tear in the eye.
There are lots of ‘they don’t build them like that anymore’ but that’s not such a bad thing in some cases. I’d hate to be trying to park some of these.
On display this year were old Holdens including FB, EH, Kingswoods and the classic Monaro. This one happens to be owned by a friend and it took out a prize in the show and shine competition which featured more than 200 cars.
The cars stretch all the way down the street and culminates around Warland Reserve, the park on the foreshore and the social hub of Victor. Here you can also visit market stalls selling everything from vinyl records to 50s fashion items or you can hit the dance floor, twirl that poodle skirt and get those Elvis hips shaking to live bands under a marquee.
All about town there are plenty of dining options with cafes and hotels all open for business and food trucks and vans trading in the reserve. How can you go past an American style hotdog after checking out the Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs, Chevrolets and other American classic cars. There are also plenty of hot rods on show.
I couldn’t resist a photo of my first car too, was it a shiny, classic, sexy beast of a car? Not on your life, it was….a moke. And oh the stories I could tell.
The Victor Harbor Rock n Roll Festival is a weekend of fun to put on the planning list if you’re in South Australia in September next year. The dates have been set for 18-20 September 2020. There are two caravan parks in Victor Harbor which is around 84 kilometres from Adelaide, and you can participate in as many events as you’d like over the three days and two nights. Even if the 50s and Rock n Roll era isn’t your thing it’s fun to see how involved some people get, and really get into the spirit of the weekend.
And for the record, as much as it pains me to spell Harbor without the ‘u’ (Harbour) this is actually the correct spelling for the town. When the state government gazetted all South Australian harbours in 1921 they were spelt ‘harbor’, not to copy the American spelling but rather an archaic English spelling of the word.
Seeya round like a record.
Glenys
Caravan Correspondent 
What a great festival! But I have to say “Hello fellow Mokey”. We had a Californian and it was a little beauty but looking back now I wonder how I ever survived driving it in winter. I once hid hubby’s Xmas presents in the side panels, he’s not fond of a screwdriver, so didn’t find them. Another time an egg fell onto the floor, must’ve rolled under the seat and cooked on the metal floor! But best of all we drove it across The Nullarbor in Jan 1975 (300kms of dirt back then) in searing heat. I’ll bet yours gave you just as much fun. Great little cars.
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That’s amazing! Mine was a Californian too, denim soft top, Sunraysia wheels etc… The brakes were always crap and I had many a time when I had to pump the brakes and pray. I think my worst mistake was putting my handbag on the passenger seat, turning a corner and watching it slide towards the door flap trying to escape. I lunged for it and took my eyes off the road and when I re gathered myself I was heading towards a power pole. Disaster was averted though but it taught me a lesson to leave my bag on the floor in future. Loads of fun times in it!
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Ha ha, yes we had the yellow daisy top. Whenever a road train passed on the Nullarbor we had to hold the side curtains down, really hard. Such fun.
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What a memory that brings back, yes I remember telling any passenger to hold the door down when you got a speed up. I eventually bought a hard top for it too and would swap in winter and summer.
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What a great festival. Sounds so very colourful and fun. Love this area at any time of the year!
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You know…i complained once about “having” to go to a car show – I am glad I was dragged to one, because they are sooo much fun!!
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I was in two minds about this day too, I thought I couldn’t really relate to the whole 50s era thing but you can’t help but admire people that get into the full swing of it, and yes the cars were fantastic. A really happy event.
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Ah, I miss those old cars, the bench seats where you could snuggle up close to the driver, my partner had an old falcon when we meet, a gas guzzling monster but fond memories. The festival looks like heaps of fun.
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It was a great festival we enjoyed our day there and yes I remember the days of bench seats too. A huge car with two people squeezed over to one side. 😆 My husband had a Holden Brougham when we first met.
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Good point about the parking. I would just have to drive around until I ran out of fuel. 🙂 It looks like everyone has a great time.
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