Kustom Krazy at 2015 Meguiar's MotorEx

On a star-studded bill that is claimed to feature Australia’s largest-ever collection of movie and TV vehicles, the annual Meguiar’s MotorEx show at the Sydney Showground this weekend has scored a major coup with a guest appearance by the legendary customiser George Barris.

With a long history of custom vehicles that included specials for Elvis Presley, John Wayne, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Delton John, Barris is one of the custom-car greats.

He was the creator of the truck on The Beverley Hillbillies, the Knight Rider Trans Am, the Starsky and Hutch Ford Torino, the original Batmobile from the TV series and the Munster Koach. The organisers say "faithful recreations” of these vehicles will feature at the 2015 MotorEx.

And to maintain the intrigue, the organisers also offer the teasing enticement that Barris will be accompanied on his Australian visit by an unidentified vehicle that he “has been personally involved in.”

Of course, the 2015 MotorEx is not all about George Barris (he will be on hand for limited signing sessions of the Barris-edition Meguiar’s MotorEx show poster and will present the Barris Award to his personal pick from the event) and non-Barris movie star cars will include the likes of Herbie the Love Bug, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine.

Others include the Jurassic Park tour vehicle, the Gone in 60 Seconds’ (2000) Mustang ‘Eleanor’, as well as Mad Max cars including faithful recreations of the cult Interceptor and Big Bopper from the original movie.

The 2015 Meguiar’s MotorEx will also feature “450 of Australia’s hottest hot rods, street machines, high-tech tuners, custom euros, muscle cars and wild motorcycles,” and 40 “super-elite” vehicles will vie for the $10,000 Meguiar’s Superstars Grand Master trophy.

The event will be audibly exciting too, as a selection of drag cars including Doorslammers, Supercharged Outlaws, Nitro Funny cars and 10.5 Outlaws will be simultaneously fired up, while ANDRA and Mariani Family Motorsport will be bringing along their Top Fuel dragster for spectacular start-ups across the weekend.

In excess of $100,000 in prize money covering more than 70 awards will be handed out during Meguiar’s MotorEx. The event will be held on July 25 and 26 at a reconfigured venue including two new pavilions, an outdoor arena and an expanded outdoor show area at Sydney’s Olympic park.

For more information, go to motorex.com.au