A decade of triumph: Rattle & Hum celebrates 10 years
A decade ago car enthusiast Tony had the idea for a family-friendly car show that would raise money for a local charity. Now the annual event is a community institution.
Hills Shire
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The founder
Eleven years ago car enthusiast Tony Outal had the idea for a family-friendly car show that would raise money for a local charity.
“I wanted to do something different, so I wanted to get a whole bunch of cars together,” he said.
The Holden fan, who is the proud owner of a shiny red Triumph TR6, took the idea to his workplace, the Castle Hill RSL Group.
It took a year to bring that idea to fruition and a decade ago the popular community car show Rattle & Hum was born, with Tallowood School in Kellyville as the chosen beneficiary.
“The main idea behind the show and how we did it, we wanted to engage obviously the car guys (and) a lot of car guys have families and kids and stuff like that,” Mr Outal said.
“So that’s why we introduced all the different activities for the kids as well, so the dad could come along with his car and he could bring the wife and children along and they’d be occupied for the day and have a look around at the wide selection of cars.”
That first year about 120 cars were displayed.
In the 10 years since, Rattle & Hum has raised tens of thousands of dollars for Tallowood School and is expected to reach $80,000 this year.
It has also grown so popular with car enthusiasts — more than 300 travel from across the state — that event organisers have to turn vehicles away.
“It’s got to the point where we’re at capacity, we can’t grow any bigger than what it is because we’re limited by space,” Mr Outal said.
“... We always warn people if you want a spot and a good spot get there early.”
Mr Outal, who has worked at the Castle Hill RSL Group for 15 years, said he enjoyed seeing the level of support for the event.
“Everyone gets behind it,” he said.
“All the car guys get behind it and the school gets behind it, they turn up on the day and they have a cake stall where they ask all the parents to bring in cakes and stuff like that.”
The beneficiaries
The money raised from this year’s Rattle & Hum will help provide personalised learning for students at Tallowood School.
The Kellyville school will put the funds towards replacing its outdated interactive whiteboards with touch screens.
Principal Greg Wood said the screens would play an important role in the students’ learning.
“Lots of our students have fine motor difficulties so traditional writing with a pen and paper and that sort of thing is not an appropriate learning method for them,” he said.
“The interactive screens allow them to engage in learning in a fun, interactive way.”
Mr Wood said the screens would give teachers the ability to set individualised lessons and feedback for their students.
“ … Teachers are able to design learning lessons that involve immediate feedback for students and they can even tailor the feedback specific to student’s interests,” he said.
“So, for example, if cars were of particular interest to a student, the positive feedback for a correct answer or a correct response might be a picture of a car … they’re designing the learning to be really individualised for the student with feedback that has meaning to them.”
Each screen costs close to $10,000 and the school needs to replace eight of them.
While Rattle & Hum will go a long way to helping with costs, the Tallowood community is doing additional fundraising.
Mr Wood, who joined the school this term after the retirement of Carol Robson, said he was looking forward to his first Rattle & Hum.
“I’m just looking forward to be involved on the day because I haven’t done one before — but I’ve heard a lot about them,” he said.
The Tallowood community is also excited about the event.
“It’s a great opportunity for our students and their families to actually be part of a community event and a community event that’s specifically there to support them,” Mr Wood said.
Before joining Tallowood, Mr Wood was deputy principal at The Ponds School and helped with fundraising there.
“I’ve seen the benefits of how community activities and community events like this, what a difference that can actually make in a school environment and how the funding that can be used,” he said.
The cars
Hundreds of classic, hot rod and muscle cars will rev into Castle Hill on Sunday when more than 300 cars are expected to arrive for the annual Rattle & Hum Car Show.
The FX-FJ Holden Club of Australia Sydney Chapter has been involved in Rattle & Hum since the beginning and club member Mary Derewianka said they “try and support it each year”.
“I enjoy going to Castle Hill RSL Club (for Rattle & Hum), it’s one of the few events I will go to all the time because I know it’s such a good cause,” she said.
Ms Derewianka, who has had her Holden FJ for more than 18 years, said she has seen “more and more cars coming” over the years.
“The whole community gets behind it and people travel quite a distance to get there,” she said.
Fellow member David Whittington said it was a “good family day” and for a good cause.
“It’s good to see the reaction of the kids … the smile on their face,” he said.
Ben Osvath from the Sunbeam Motors Club of NSW has also been part of Rattle & Hum from the start and said the event seems to “get better and better every year”.
“I think it’s the show of shows really,” he said.
Mr Osvath owns a modified Sunbeam Alpine – he bought the car for $200 more than 40 years ago.
“I just like the look of the Sunbeams to begin with and at the time I did have a car that was British so I just took a liking to what the British were putting out at the time,” he said.
He will be joined at Rattle & Hum by Dominic Moretti from the GTR & XU-1 Owners Club of NSW, who will bring his 1972 Torana.
“When I was a teenager I liked Toranas and that’s what I went and bought and I’ve had it ever since,” he said.
He did restoration on the car about 15 years ago but apart from that has kept it the way it left the factory.
“It’s pretty much all original, that’s the best way to have these cars these days,” he said.
Mr Moretti said the Torana, which he has owned for nearly 40 years, was a “good, fun car”.
“They’re certainly not a modern car to drive, they take a bit of getting used to — they’re a bit noisy and a bit choppy in the suspension,” he said.
“But they’re a lot of fun.”
This year is Mr Moretti’s eighth year at Rattle & Hum.
“Every year something new comes along, someone else finds out about it and they turn up,” he said. “It’s just nice to see.”
“There’s a lot of local people too, so you do get to see a few people that you probably walk past in the shopping centre and never realise they had something special tucked away in the garage.”
The Camaro Firebird Owners Club of Australia has also been involved since Rattle & Hum began.
Member Kevin Lohan, who owns a 1971 Chevrolet Camaro, said the event was “organised by the clubs for the clubs”.
“It has grown to the point now where they are turning cars away, you know you’re on a good thing when you’ve got to be turning people away at the door because you can’t fit any more in,” he said.
The host
When staff member Tony Outal had an idea for a community car show that would raise money for a local charity, he took the vision straight to his employer — the Castle Hill RSL Group.
A year on from that, the first Rattle & Hum Car Show was held in the grounds of the Castle Hill RSL on Castle St with the support of car clubs, enthusiasts and the Hills community.
It then became an annual fixture on the Hills’ calendar, bringing hundreds of cars from across the state and raising thousands for Tallowood School in Kellyville.
From an idea to becoming a community institution, the show will celebrate a milestone this year with its 10th annual event.
Castle Hill RSL Group president Warren Glenny said the team was “so proud” to be hosting the 10th annual Rattle & Hum Car Show in 2018.
“ … This event has grown to become a flagship national car show nationally drawing car clubs from right across NSW,” Mr Glenny said.
“We would especially like to thank Tony Outal, our Parramatta RSL site manager, whose vision and passion has made this event what it is today — a family-friendly and inclusive car show.
“Each year our team is committed to getting behind the event and raising funds for the inspiring kids at Tallowood School.
“We would also like to thank Heartland Group for ongoing event support.”
Along with the cars, Sunday’s event will include entertainment and a range of activities for children as well as food stalls.
For those driving their custom, classic, hot rod or muscle car to the RSL on the day there are trophies — not to mention bragging rights — to be won.
Drivers can enter their cars for $20 but have been warned to arrive early because the popularity of the event means the carpark is likely to fill up quickly.
The sponsor
Heartland Motors lives and breathes cars, so it is only fitting that they have been key to the roaring success of the Rattle & Hum Car Show over the years.
Heartland Castle Hill, located on the corner of Windsor Rd and Victoria Ave, has been one of the major sponsors of Rattle & Hum since the first show 10 years ago.
Supporting the car show was a no-brainer for the Castle Hill team.
“It was such a good cause, and we do a lot of work with charities and local sporting associations in the area,” Heartland Motors marketing manager Dianne Bowden said.
The Heartland Motors group, which has nine locations across western Sydney including Castle Hill, has partnerships with 13 marques including Holden, Ford, HSV, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Kia, Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Fiat, Isuzu Ute and Great Wall.
Their love of all things car-related goes “hand-in-hand” with Rattle & Hum, which attracts various car clubs and owners from across the state with all kinds of makes and models.
The family-friendly community atmosphere of Rattle & Hum is also a highlight for the team.
“It’s definitely something that you can take all the kids to,” Mrs Bowden said.
“It’s a fun day.”
The decade-long support from Heartland Castle Hill has helped the community raise tens of thousands of dollars for Tallowood.
Mrs Bowden said the Heartland team was “very, very proud” to support Tallowood School through Rattle & Hum and said having visited the school numerous times she has seen first-hand where the money raised has helped.
“The kids are beautiful,” she said.