Hosted by the Eldorados Car Club of Newstead, in the Australian State of Victoria, Chopped is a No Billet! show for pre 1964 cars and motorcycles, the strategy was simple it was a weekend show that would combine Rat Rods, Hot Rods, Custom Cars, Bobbers, Low Brow Art and Bands with camping, Beer and good times , Chopped was the first Australian show to pull this format off due mainly to the laid back attitude of the organisers.
From the very start Chopped was about fun, as long as you did not fuck up or do anything to stupid almost anything went. The first three shows were held at the Newstead football ground however the rapidly increasing number of attendees soon meant a larger venue needed to be found, fortunately less than a kilometer away was the virtually unused Newstead trotting track, An area of about 20 Acres with kitchen, toilet and shower facilities which by the way turned out to be inadequate, the local waste removal guy was running backward and forward all weekend emptying the septic tank, the was a never ending line of women waiting to use the loos.
But the Local group in charge of looking after the trotting track complex got moving and by the second year with improvements and some porta loos things improved immensely. The first year at at the new site saw an incredible increase in numbers, and with the extra space came more camping an outside bar area and band stand there was even room for a dirt drag strip, this was the start of something huge, from here Chopped went National!
Each year there are more people, more cars, more bikes, there is music pretty much constantly all weekend and the dirt drag strip runs non stop, a speedway track was added and is a great place for the Aces of Spades Vintage Speedway car Club to strut their stuff, and of course anyone else who cares to have a go, both the strip and the circle track are used by rods, and customs what a sight to see Altered's and Gassers running on dirt the to see low riders taking to the strip, you can't help but love it.
The music I must confess is not all to my liking but I am probably just outside of the upper limit of the demographic the bands are aimed at, having said that I can still get into some of it and after a few beers who cares! there are some great vendor stalls and good but pricy food available. Then there are the people a never ending parade of characters passes you by if you take the time to sit and people watch, one of Chopped strengths is the wide range of people it attracts.
What more can I say if you ever get the opportunity to go to Chopped seize it, you won't be disappointed, immerse yourself in the Festival that is chopped a show like this is a rare treat, tim to let the Images do the talking, Check out the video and slide shows below to get an idea of the evolution of Chopped.
Chopped Rod and Custom 2009
Chopped Rod and Custom 2012
Chopped Rod and Custom 2013
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