Old Girls Put on a Show at Wheels at Wanaka 2023

One of Australasia’s biggest all-vehicle events Wheels at Wanaka took place over three days in April this year and once again fans of classic heavy equipment were in for a real treat!

Biennial event Wheels at Wanaka took place at its spiritual home of Three Parks in Wanaka, New Zealand earlier this year and the organizers report that over 40,000 visitors attended the spectacular show.

The working display of classic and modern era earthmoving machinery is a big draw, and the earthmoving practice day is a big precursor to the main Wheels at Wanaka event that basically features anything on wheels or tracks, including cars, trucks, steam rollers and of course of main interest to this blog, earthmoving equipment.

For anyone with an interest in earthmoving scrapers, this year’s event was very special as they celebrated ‘100 years of the Scraper’ there was a massive turnout of machines from a wide variety of old manufacturers including Caterpillar, Euclid, International and Wabco.

There were examples of single engine models, twin engine models, elevating scrapers and even a horse drawn example, a real treat for passionate earthmoving enthusiasts both young and old.

Machines from as far afield as the Waikato were trucked to Wanaka, especially for the event, emphasising the huge following the popular show now attracts.

Much to the amazement of the gathered crowd a giant Caterpillar 789D dump truck owned by Oceana Gold, entered the working area on the earthmoving practice day on the Good Friday, a real crowd pleaser as not many are fortunate enough to see such mighty machines close up and ‘in the metal’.

Check out this awesome video from our friends over at Deals on Wheels.