New Commodores no longer come in orange, so Ms McGowan’s new white car had to be specially wrapped in her campaign colour. It had travelled about 10,000 kilometres since May, with dried fruit and nut mix grown by Ms McGowan’s sister and Indigo Valley spring water from the farm inside for the long road trips.

The Rodeo with campaign signage on the back replaced Mrs Mirabella’s little Ford Mondeo, which could not stand up to the rough and tumble of Indi’s roads.

Her daughters always had the job of playing DJ with their iPods when in the car.

Road trips to campaign events in the Nationals Cruz were soundtracked by the news or a bit of U2 from the stereo, plus food sampled from around the electorate.

With six children, what else would the family car be but a 14-seat Toyota HiAce?

The Rio with a Labor sign in the back suffered damage to suspension and tyres during 100,000 kilometres in a year of campaigning.

If he didn’t have Triple J or Star FM on the radio, the Labor candidate enjoyed the silence of road trips to work on his policies and speeches.

Two small Greens magnets were the only branding for this car, which had ABC Goulburn Murray on the radio for 24/7 politics.

Two Australian Country Party stickers made the four-wheel-drive unmistakable and Mr Fidge always had water and chewing gum inside.

The 1973 model Holden was his dream car, often with a caravan on the back.

The 19-year-old car’s front guard fell off after a forum, but was tied back on with tie wire and baling twine.