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Star-studded Show

This year’s Western Star Show ’n Shine, held up on Queensland’s Darling Downs, boasted a big roll up sparkling new trucks plus a few oldies from yesteryear

 

The truck show season may be starting to wind down, but one of the youngest shows on the calendar recently put on a Star-studded performance.

Following on from last year’s success, the second edition of the Western Star Show ’n Shine took place in mid-November. It was little later in the year and a more than a few kilometres west of last year’s location but with just as much fanfare and even more stunning ’Stars on display.

The inaugural show took place at Mount Cotton in Brisbane in September 2017, however for this year Toowoomba Showgrounds was the venue, which tied in with Pengelly Truck and Trailers being recently announced as a Penske Commercial Vehicle dealer in the Darling Downs city.

The drive behind the Western Star Show ’n Shine, according to national sales manager Dale Christensen, is customer relationships.

“It was born out of the desire to do something for our Western Star customers,” Dale says. “We wanted to reconnect with our customers, on a more personal level.”

In a world where it’s very easy to just be a number it’s a welcome relief to see such commitment to customer service. It’s not all talk though, the Western Star Show ’n Shine really turned up the dial when it came to putting on a show. The prizes for the Show ’n Shine competition included flights, accommodation and passes to a Supercars round there were fuel cards, light bars, truck fridges, merchandise and more. That was just the show prizes though, the entertainment was next level.

Supercar drivers Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard happened to turn up at the exact same time mother nature decided to throw a wet and stormy fit. The weather didn’t bother them or the hundreds of people keen to grab an autograph and selfie, so the boys set up inside the rather full tent that was keeping everyone dry. The weather may have meant a few adjustments to the schedule, but the Penske team just rolled with the raindrops and got on with it.

Thankfully for those judging the show, Mother Nature held off long enough for them to complete their challenging task. Picking winners from the 80 entries was always a tough ask. The variety was immense with almost the entire Western Star range represented, from 2800s through to 6900s. As well as a fair few classic Whites gracing the showgrounds as well.

The winners were all announced before 6pm but the show didn’t end there. The evening was wrapped up with a very special show by Mick Lindsay and multi ARIA Award and Golden Guitar-winning entertainer Troy Cassar-Daley. Many of the trucks and their families were camping there for the night and the weather cleared for an awesome country concert. It’s fair to say the second Show-n-Shine succeeded in its goal, plenty of families were there to enjoy the day, survive the storm, admire the trucks and dance the night away.

All in all, the Western Star Show ’n-Shine reflected the Western Star truck ethos. It battled through atrocious conditions and came out shiny and strong on the other side. The same can’t be said for my shoes; they were a wreck (I wonder if Western Star makes shoes?).

Anyway, here’s a summary of the winners. I say summary as my notepad was drenched hence I couldn’t keep track of all the runners-up.

Awards:

Truck of the Show: North Queensland Truck and Machinery’s 4800 ‘Phat Cat’, owned by Laurie Williams

Best Western Star (1-5 years): Brown Linehaul

Best Western Star (5-10 years): Mansell Heavy Towing

Best Western Star (10 years plus): Big Truck Parts

Best Western Star Fleet: Case Linehaul

Best Western Star Rigid: Mansell Heavy Towing

Best Heritage Truck: Heavy Haulage Assets

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