‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ made his debut at Bunnings Belconnen earlier this month. Photo: Caleb Reynolds.
Thoroughbred Park in Lyneham has seen some very precious metal over the past year, most notably as host to the Canberra Festival of Speed but also the German Auto Show and Canberra Cars and Coffee.
But this Saturday, cars from the other side of the spectrum will take over the horse-racing grounds.
In a word, shitboxes. And that’s not our word.
Three times a year, hundreds of cars each worth $1500 or less take on the ‘Shitbox Rally’ – a challenge to drive thousands of kilometres across some of Australia’s harshest terrain.
It’s all for a good cause – all funds raised along the way go to the Cancer Council.
This year’s first rally starts in Canberra on Saturday, 3 May, with only the toughest making it to Townsville a week later on 10 May via towns including Hay, Silverton, Bourke, Mitchell and Barcaldine.
As many as 20 teams from Canberra are going along, including perhaps the showiest of the shitboxes – an old Toyota Camry dressed up as Thomas the Tank Engine.
Visitors to Belconnen Bunnings on 13 April may have already seen it helping to draw attention to a sausage sizzle fundraiser on the day.
“We had a huge crowd. If we charged $2 for each photo, I think we would have done very well,” the car’s owner, Caleb Reynolds, says.
The idea started, perhaps as you might expect, with “a few beers”.
Caleb and a friend bought the Camry from Perth in 2019 “sight unseen” to enter in that year’s Shitbox Rally from Perth to Canberra.
The Camry, being a Camry, made the arduous, week-long, off-road journey – including across the Nullabor – without so much as a flat tyre.
“The only thing wrong was the boot wouldn’t open. The car’s just unbelievable. It runs off the smell of an oily rag.”
Thomas the Tank Engine car, Shitbox Rally 2025. Photo: Caleb Reynolds.
The car then sat around in his cousin’s yard for some time, unused, until during COVID, when Caleb says he and the boys “got a bit bored and had a few beers”.
“The next thing, there was a barrel on the front of it.”
Thomas the Tank Engine was born.
Caleb’s cousin, who works for Hume-based 4WD parts store Canberra Auto Accessories, asked Caleb if he could use the Camry as a guinea pig for ‘Raptor Liner’, a new type of super hard-wearing paint often used on ute trays and other parts.
“He asked, ‘What sort of colour do you want?’, and I said, ‘Thomas Blue’.”
Thomas the Tank Engine even comes with a matching interior. Photo: Caleb Reynolds.
Shortly afterwards – possibly under the influence of more beers – a smoke machine and air horn were fitted, hidden beneath the barrel.
The interior was then trimmed in Thomas-themed curtain fabric from Spotlight.
Caleb and co-driver Blake Lance are confident the car will complete this year’s rally just as unfazed as in 2019, even if the Thomas paraphernalia comes off along the way.
“That’s a bit of an unknown,” Caleb says.
“The barrel is removable if it gives us too much grief. If you have to lift the bonnet, there’s a little checklist you have to go through to disconnect it all to make sure you don’t rip any of the plugs apart or anything like that.”
He’s happy knowing whatever happens, the car has done its important work.
“Before I met my wife, her mum passed away when she was quite young of cancer,” Caleb says.
“My granddad’s currently going through it. My uncle passed away last year from it and my cousin Dan’s father – my godfather – is currently battling it as well.”
Yep, more blue here too. Photo: Caleb Reynolds.
The team’s initial aim was to beat its 2019 fundraising amount of $10,000 but “if we can get to $15,000, that’d be awesome”.
Participants have the option to auction the car off to raise even more funds, but not this one.
“My cousin would kill me if we auction this off,” Caleb says.
“It’s staying with us.”
Donate to Team Thomas the Tank on the Shitbox Rally website.
