4x4 Outdoor Expo — Our two cents...
The 4x4 Outdoor Expo will always hold a special place in my heart for a number of reasons. The main reason is that the idea to create 4XJournal came about at the first 4x4 Outdoor Expo, when I realised that the 4x4 scene here in New Zealand needed a credible outlet to showcase and highlight the countless stories to be told. I saw the expo bursting with stories that were worthy of sharing to other Kiwis, and to enthusiasts around the world — nobody was telling them!
We truly have so many unique builds here in New Zealand that don’t get the appreciation or love they truly deserve. I had a dream where I wanted to document these builds, the people, and the businesses involved, for the community in a premium platform we can all be proud of. Alongside that, I have worked both of the Kumeu shows with my previous employer (North Shore Toyota), helping curate their stand and finding unique vehicles to display and talking to enthusiasts as a Toyota employee. The 4x4 Outdoor Expo has helped shape my four-wheel drive passion over the years and this year was the first year I attended as 4XJournal — how cool is that? We didn’t exist last year! A crazy thought.
I do have a 10-page spread planned in the next issue where we will highlight the winners, people, and unique builds, but I just wanted to put my thoughts down on the event here in an online feature too. I am still riding the post-event high.
For me, 4x4 Outdoor Expo was incredibly valuable this year. I got to meet so many subscribers, readers, and potential readers while I was on the 4XJournal ‘stand’. I say ‘stand’ because I did lack some signage this year, but you all managed to seek me out to introduce yourselves. You all told me about your projects, gave me your feedback on the magazine (positive, yay!), and pushed me to keep doing what I am doing with 4XJournal. It was incredible seeing the passion you all have for the magazine already. It’s actually a surreal feeling. I have imposter syndrome at the best of times, but you all made me and the brand feel truly ‘seen’ at the Expo.
I really want to talk about my thoughts on the Expo and how I think having a ‘show-style’ platform will help build a better scene and industry here in New Zealand. Some of you may not know, but I was the Editor of NZ Performance Car Magazine prior to launching 4XJournal. With that, came a deep understanding of a different car scene and how it operated, for 20 or so years. Events like 4&Rotary Nationals were the pinnacle for that scene and I see the early days of 4x4 Outdoor Expo shaping up to become the equivalent for our four-wheel drive scene.
Why is a premier four-wheel drive event important? It’s a good question. And at the face of it, you might just see it as a place where people can walk around to see your rig, dirty or clean, stock or modified. But what events like this really do, is connect us all, drive competition, and improve industry spend and support. All of those are incredibly important for a thriving car scene. Without connection, our clubs can’t grow, we can’t meet new friends, and we can’t get inspired by new builds. Without competition, we won’t strive for a better-built car the year after, or we won’t push for that award we’ve always wanted — we’ll build better vehicles overall. And without industry support from businesses and distributors around New Zealand, we’ll have less parts to build our trucks, and less workshops willing to do the work — it’ll also cost more money to build the trucks we’re building.
Every year I have attended the 4x4 Outdoor Expo, it has grown. I haven’t had the chance to head down to the Christchurch event (yet!), but from what I am seeing in the North Island, the four-wheel drive scene here is taking off. We’re building more trucks, we’re building better trucks to a higher standard, our clubs are growing, and there are more parts and mechanical businesses entering the four-wheel drive space. These are catalysts for a thriving scene and industry, so buckle up!
As we’ve seen in the performance car world though, there’s always a ‘forming’ before the ‘storming’ phase. With more vehicles being modified (some not so well), there will be more laws put in place to control modifications and their legality. With more vehicles on tracks, we’re likely to have some of our favourite tracks closed, or access changed — look to Australia if you want to see where we might be headed. It’s up to all of us to build vehicles to a high legal standard, and to use them in a way where we’re thinking about the future of our scene. Not only for ourselves, but for future generations — and our own children, should they catch the bug.
I can’t thank Carissa and Chris enough for hosting us all at the 4x4 Outdoor Expo. It’s such an important event for our scene and one we all need to get behind and support to the fullest. By supporting it, you’re supporting the industry, the brands, the people that have small businesses in the four-wheel drive world, and the people that put everything they have into building something totally wild for you to look at. If there’s anything I can say as a parting message, it’s lock in the date for the next show, chat to a vendor, speak to a truck owner, join a 4x4 club, and get stuck into the scene and these events as we seriously have it good here in New Zealand. And for those who are building trucks for these events, keep going. Keep building, keep outdoing each other, and realise that you’re pushing the scene forward and keeping us all engaged — legends!
