Assembling 28 of the coolest trucks from throughout Australia, parking them up and down the length of South Bank’s Little Stanley Street, leaving them to glisten and gleam for nearly five days, and then somehow crowning a champion of champions? That was the ambition of the HVIA team this year, creating an event that would entice the best of the best from all corners of this country in order to crown a National Show’n’Shine Champion. For eight months a dedicated team worked tirelessly behind the scenes to put this crazy concept into action and on the Wednesday before the opening of the 2025 Brisbane Truck Show, under careful supervision, it all came together.
The trucks rolled out from a muster point in Archerfield and lined up in precise parking spots along South Bank’s busiest little street. There were a multitude of makes and models, representing past and present eras of trucking in Australia. An event like this has never been staged in Australia – it was a winning gamble. After nearly 14 hours of judging, they even had an inaugural champion, although after speaking to most of the entrants, they were all counting themselves as winners for getting the invite to play a part in the foundational foray that is the event.
The HVIA consulted with eight regional shows like the Casino Truck Show, the WA Mack Muster and Truck Show and the Alexandra Truck Show, giving entrants two years to be invited.
Mother Nature threatened to derail the event – the week before she was putting up signs of a week-long deluge. However when all the trucks started staging up along South Banks’ Little Stanley Street, even Mother Nature saw the appeal of 28 amazing trucks and, instead of fighting, she packed away her rainclouds and left the entrants and the spectators alone for all but a brief period.
As entrants began literally rolling out the carpet for their trucks, rotating wheels and even in one case matching valve stems to the centre of the tyre lettering, you began to feel for the judges. It would be tough. That difficult role fell to Kerry Inns from New Zealand and Miles Langley and Jack Wilby, both from Victoria.
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In the end, the National Show’n’Shine Championship was awarded to the Cornwill Family and their outstanding Legend SAR. The Cornwill trucks are renowned throughout the Victorian truck show scene and their Legend SAR, with all its customisation, attention to detail and overall appeal was a deserved winner.
Andrew Durham, another Victorian, who rocked up with his amazing Mack Value-Liner, took out the first of the highly commended awards.
Trent Schaeffer and his stunning K200, a recent Truck of the Month here at OwnerDriver, picked up the other highly commended award. Like a lot of the public who stopped by Trent’s truck, it was difficult to believe that it’s worked a day in its life, much less averaging several thousand kilometres a week.
People’s choice was a runaway for Auswide Transport Solutions’ mobile art piece, Karma. The T909, with its custom interior, custom engine and creative artwork gained a mountain of votes from the constant hoard of admirers.
The best part about this added extra to the highly popular Brisbane Truck Show was the public attention that it brought to the industry.
A massive thanks once again to Mother Nature for playing her part and ensuring the popularity and visual success of the inaugural National Show’n’Shine Championship. Bring on 2027.
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