Warragamba Is Proof.
I want to go back a little bit before we talk about Warragamba.
Because I think there's something worth explaining about how I ended up involved in this whole car meet thing in the first place.
And why, when I saw a bloke named Shaun copping shit online for trying to start something good for his community, I felt the need to reach out.
But first, we need to go back a bit further.
Where it all started
I think I've always had an interest in cars.
And I reckon a lot of that comes from my dad.
Growing up, cars were always a consistent part of things. Dad loved them, and he still does.
Whether it was watching the V8 Supercars, keeping up with latest ricebox sports car, checking out the latest concept cars or getting excited about some new bit of automotive technology, he was always interested.
He still spends plenty of time on YouTube watching car reviews and keeping up with all the new technology and whatever ridiculous thing manufacturers have come up with next.
Cars and movies. Those are always the two pretty big interests between us.
And I remember going to the ‘98 Sydney Motor Show with Dad. (The one were the Holden Coupe Concept dropped!)
We'd walk around checking out all the new cars, the prototypes, the crazy concept vehicles that looked like something from the future.
I remember getting signed racing posters and bringing home all sorts of little things from those shows.
To somebody else, they probably weren't worth much.
But to me, they were fuckin’ awesome!
And looking back now, I don't think it was ever just about the cars themselves.
It was about spending time with Dad. Seeing something new together. Getting excited about something that we both found interesting.
Those are memories that have stuck with me.
And I think that's probably where my appreciation for cars, particularly the older, cooler stuff, really started.
Not because I wanted to own or even drive every car I saw.
But because I enjoyed looking at them, learning about them (there’s a lot of history in cars) and appreciating the people who were passionate about them.
2023 — Coming out of COVID
Fast-forward quite a few years.
We're coming out of COVID, the world has been a fucking shitshow, and I'm finding myself increasingly interested in old, shiny fucking cars.
Just appreciating them.
The old Holdens, Fords, hot rods, American muscle, all the weird and wonderful machinery people have poured ridiculous amounts of time and money into.
There's something about seeing a beautifully built car and knowing somebody has put years of their life into getting it that way.
And there's something even better about hearing the story behind it.
By July 2023 I'd found myself at Macca's Garage Cars & Coffee.
I mentioned this in Part One, but Mark "Macca" McDonald and that meet really have a lot to answer for.
Because that was where I started seeing what these gatherings could be.
In early 2023, I quit drinking.
And I think that was probably one of the biggest turning points in how involved I became in this car meet stuff.
I'd already sort of started attending some random meets, but giving up the piss was a pretty significant change in my life.
And cars, photography, the meets and the people around them started becoming a much bigger part of what I wanted to spend my time doing.
Something to put my creative energy into.
Something I actually enjoyed being involved in.
I don't think I realised at the time just how important that would become.
Car Church, Picton and the postcode police
Eventually, that interest turned into Car Church Industries. Early Sunday Mornings felt like going to church with dad. Car. Church.
What started as my own little thing grew into an opportunity to support local car communities, help organisers promote their events, celebrate the photographers and creatives who document them, and tell a few stories along the way.
Here’s an early example of the stuff I wanted to do:
One of the first opportunities I had to do that was helping Picton Cars & Coffee get off the ground over Christmas 23/early 2024.
And I'm genuinely glad I got to contribute to it.
A fair bit of my involvement in those early days was behind the scenes. Setting up the socials, working on logos, designing flyers, merchandise and all the other little bits and pieces that give an event its own identity while everyone else was on Christmas holidays.
I wanted it to be recognisable. Consistent. Somewhat professional.
Not because I thought we were running some massive corporate operation, but because I could see what it could potentially become.
Picton is a fantastic location for a car meet. There's no shortage of enthusiasts in the surrounding area, and plenty of local cafés and small businesses that could use a regular boost, particularly coming out of COVID.
And that was always a big part of my thinking.
If we're going to bring hundreds of people into a town on a Sunday morning, why wouldn't we try to make that beneficial for the town itself?
The merchandise was actually part of that bigger idea.
It wasn't about selling a few shirts and making a quick buck.
Every cent of profit from the merchandise was going straight back into Picton Cars & Coffee.
The idea was pretty simple. Sell a few shirts, put the money back into the meet, use it to buy the things we needed to get the word out, and keep building from there.
And you know what?
It was bloody working.
Before everything went sideways, we'd sold ten shirts.
From memory, we were making about $9.87 profit per shirt. (that’s not accounting for the costs of building and maintaining the website) So roughly a hundred bucks had already been generated for the meet by people who WANTED to support the meet (so fucking cool!)
And that money went straight towards a UV proof Picton Cars & Coffee banner and hundreds of flyers from good old officeworks.
Something we could put up out the front of Moses Barnes café, take photos with, use for PR and start giving the meet a bit of a recognisable presence.
Small things in the grand scheme of things, sure.
But it was proof that the concept worked.
We weren't relying on somebody constantly putting their hand in their own pockets to get the word out. We were creating a way for the community to support something that existed for the community.
Because we were using their car park, I was also pretty keen on working with Council from the very beginning.
Not because I particularly enjoy paperwork, meetings or dealing with bureaucracy. Trust me, I fucking don't.
But because I believe that if you want something like this to genuinely succeed long-term, Council should be involved in some capacity, and ideally they help the meet which in turn, helps the awesome stuff the meet can bring to the location.
We're talking about bringing large numbers of vehicles and people into public spaces.
There are responsibilities that come with that. All the stuff that isn't particularly exciting to talk about, but becomes pretty bloody important when you're organising an ongoing meet.
And I saw all of those things as opportunities to work together, rather than obstacles to avoid.
That's also why having professional-looking branding mattered to me. Old work habits die hard.
It's a lot easier to approach Council, a sponsor or a local business and say, "Hey, we're Picton Cars & Coffee. This is who we are, this is what we're doing, and this is what we'd like to build," when you've already put some effort into presenting yourselves properly.
Unfortunately, we didn't all see eye to eye on that.
From my perspective, there was a real reluctance to involve Council, a tendency to exclude certain local businesses at the time and the idea of pursuing safeguards wasn't something everyone wanted to entertain either.
I wanted something that all local businesses could benefit from, that the wider community could get behind, and that would still be going strong years down the track.
But somewhere along the way, I found myself on the receiving end of a rather interesting attitude after the first meet.
❌ Banned from the group I had helped create online.
I was told that because I wasn't local to the area, I shouldn't be involved.
Righto.
2024 — Campbelltown Cars & Coffee
Around that time, Deb from Eat Shop Love wanted to bring a Cars & Coffee meet into the heart of Campbelltown, alongside the Handmade & Homegrown Markets she was running. And I thought, fuck it.
Let's do it.
I told her I'd put the effort in, help get it established and handle the online and car meet side of things.
And that's pretty much how Campbelltown Cars & Coffee came about.
A local business and markets organiser saw an opportunity to bring people together to try and get more people through the markets to support locals and I was more than happy to help make it happen.
And from my side, I've treated it as a personal commitment ever since.
I've been at every meet we've held.
Not because somebody's paying me to be there.
Not because I have to.
Because I said I'd do it.
Because I care about the people who turn up and because I want to.
It takes a lot of work, especially when you're handling most of the organising yourself, but I wouldn't keep doing it if I didn't believe it was worthwhile.
The same goes for plenty of other organisers across the scene.
Which brings me to Shaun.
2024 — Apparently Wollondilly was full
I first came across Shauno when he was working on getting Wollondilly Shire Cars & Coffee established at Warragamba.
And wouldn't you know it?
There was drama.
Online, of course.
From what I saw, some people weren't particularly happy that another Cars & Coffee meet was starting in the Wollondilly area.
There were comments about Picton already having a meet.
Questions about why Wollondilly needed another one.
Even objections to using the Wollondilly name because it may be misconstrued into represented the wider area. 🙄
For fuck's sake.
Imagine having somebody willing to put their own time and effort into creating a free community event, and your first instinct is to complain that there's already another one somewhere else.
I couldn't stand it then.
Still can't.
A car meet in Warragamba doesn't take anything away from a car meet in Picton.
Different towns. Different people. Different communities. About an hour apart.
And even if they attracted exactly the same cars some months, who fuckin’ cares?
The more opportunities people have to get out, enjoy their cars and meet others, the better.
Having experienced a little bit of the postcode nonsense myself, I wasn't particularly interested in watching somebody else cop it.
So I reached out to Shaun.
I can't remember the exact words, but it was along the lines of:
Mate, don't listen to these fuckwits.
Keep doing your thing.
And when the first Warragamba meet came around, I made a point of going.
It was an absolute cracker.
The turnout was fantastic, the cars were incredible, and you could already see that there was something worth building on.
But I hadn't gone up there just to look at cars.
I wanted to meet the bloke who'd put the effort in.
So I found Shaun, walked up, shook his hand and introduced myself.
Because that's how you do this shit.
You don't have to become best mates with everybody.
You don't even have to agree with everybody.
But I reckon making the effort to support somebody who's trying to do something good is a hell of a lot more productive than sitting behind a keyboard telling them why they shouldn't.
And that handshake turned into a friendship.
The thing Shaun and I have in common
There's something else I want to talk about here.
And it's a bit more personal.
I've struggled with anxiety and my mental health for a long time.
Still do.
And one of the things I've learned about myself is that getting out, being around people (even if you don’t want to) and having something meaningful to work towards can make an enormous difference.
Hey dumbass, you’ve gone and involved yourself in organising meets that bring lots of people together.
Not exactly the first hobby you'd recommend to somebody who struggles with social anxiety.
But somehow, it helps.
Having a purpose helps.
Having mates to talk to helps.
Being part of something helps.
So when I asked Shaun what he thought people actually got from a good car meet beyond the machinery, his response hit pretty close to home.
He talked about having somewhere to go, talking with mates or complete strangers, and how a meet might be exactly what somebody needed to get out of a difficult headspace.
He also described cars as a form of mental therapy.
Time away from everything else.
And I agree with him. Completely.
Because I don't think we always appreciate how much these small, seemingly insignificant interactions can mean to somebody.
You might spend ten minutes talking to somebody about their car and think absolutely nothing of it.
But you don't know what sort of week they've had.
You don't know if they've been sitting at home struggling.
You don't know whether getting themselves out of the house that morning was difficult.
And you don't know whether that conversation was the first decent one they've had all week.
That's why I get so frustrated by the unnecessary politics.
We're supposed to be bringing people together.
And we have absolutely no idea how important that might be to somebody.
Six months in — Red's Memorial MEET
One of the questions I asked Shaun was when he first realised that what they were building had become more than just another car meet.
His answer was simple.
"About six months in, when we held our first Red's Memorial."
Now, that says a lot.
I've already written about Glenn "Red" Stokes and the story behind Red's Bucket, and if you haven't read that one, I encourage you to.
But I think Shaun's answer tells you everything you need to know about what Warragamba has become.
It wasn't about the biggest turnout.
It wasn't about the craziest cars attending.
It wasn't even about how successful the meet had become.
It was a memorial meet.
People coming together to remember somebody who mattered to their community.
And the cars?
They gave those people a reason and a place to come together.
Something that started as a few enthusiasts gathering for a coffee had become somewhere people could celebrate a life, share memories and support one another.
That's a pretty remarkable thing.
And it doesn't happen because somebody has the best trophies or the biggest social media following.
It happens because people care.
What they've built at Warragamba
Shaun and Alisha have put a ridiculous amount of work into Warragamba.
And it shows.
They've got the big machinery. Some of the cars that turn up there are absolutely fucking outrageous.
But they've also got families, kids, trophies, giveaways, local businesses and people who wouldn't miss the meet for anything.
When I asked Shaun about making the meet welcoming, one of the things he spoke about was treating the builds equally.
Whether somebody has a $20,000 car or a $200,000 car, they should know they're welcome.
I also loved his answer about the friendships he's made.
He wrote:
"I met you William, and about 1000 others because of these meets."
“William” Cheers, fucker. 😂
He also spoke about the friendships that have formed around the meet, including Orlando, who's become a good mate and helps run the event.
And the more I read his answers, the more obvious the whole thing became.
Shaun didn't just start another car meet.
He helped create somewhere people could belong.
I asked Shaun what goes through his head when he stands back at Warragamba and sees the number of people who've turned up.
His answer made me laugh.
Thought one: "What the fuck have we done?"
Thought two: "This is what it's all about."
Thought three: "FUCK yes!"
That might be my favourite answer from the entire interview 😂
Because I get it.
You start with an idea.
You wonder whether anybody's actually going to turn up.
You do the work, you promote the date, you lose sleep over stupid little things that probably don't matter, and you hope for the best.
Then one morning you look around and there's a bloody street full of cars.
People everywhere.
Families walking around.
Lads checking out cars they've probably only ever seen on YouTube.
Mates catching up.
Mates taking the piss out of each other.
And you think, holy shit.
You actually did this.
I reckon every organiser deserves to experience that feeling.
Because there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, and most people never see it.
But moments like that make it worthwhile.
So, did Wollondilly need another car meet?
Well, I reckon the answer is pretty obvious now.
Look at Warragamba.
Look at the people who attend.
Look at the local businesses that benefit.
Look at the friendships that have been made.
Look at Red's Memorial Meet, Zeki’s Fundraiser and countless others.
Look at what Shaun, Alisha and the people around them have created.
Then tell me the community '“didn't need it.”
This is what bothers me about the idea that somebody else's event is somehow a threat to yours.
There is room for more than one good thing.
There is room for different organisers.
Different towns.
Different clubs.
Different people doing things their own way.
We should be supporting the people who are willing to put in the work, not making them feel like they're stepping on somebody else's territory.
And if someone wants to start something new?
Good on them.
Go and shake their hand.
Give them some encouragement.
Maybe even turn up.
You might make a mate out of it.
I did.
Warragamba is proof
I finished my questions to Shaun with something I've been trying to say since I started writing this series.
A car meet might start with the machines in the car park, but what grows around them can become a real community.
And Shaun wrote back:
"Warragamba is proof of that."
And he's bang on.
Looking back at my own journey, from following Dad around car shows as a kid, to getting interested in classic cars again after COVID, to helping establish meets and eventually becoming mates with people like Shaun, it's pretty clear what has kept me involved.
It's the people.
And I know I'm not alone in that.
Shaun and Alisha, you've built something pretty fucking special up there.
Thank you for sticking with it.
Thank you for backing your community.
And thank you for proving that sometimes the best thing you can do is ignore the noise and get on with doing something good.
To everybody who organises a meet, volunteers, brings their family along, grabs a coffee, takes a photo or simply turns up and has a conversation with somebody new — keep doing it.
You might not realise it, but that little bit of effort can mean a hell of a lot to someone.
Because cars are machines.
People are the point.
— Schultz
Car Church Industries
P.S - I’m moving back to the Wollondilly tomorrow!
