Warrant of Fitness for your car? How about one for your health?

Tony Shannon, left, with his 1983 Chevy pick up, Clive Hook and his 1989 GMC and Trevor Burton and his Plymouth 66, are already well into preparations for the Men's Health Car Show event.

Dannevirke's Tony Shannon has a 40-year-old friend on a morphine pump, "just waiting to die", and he wants men's health brought into the spotlight.

Shannon and his friends Clive Hook and Trevor Burton are putting their power behind a major men's health expo, supported by a car show in Dannevirke in November.

"It's snowballing into a huge event," Shannon said. "There's been a massive amount of work which has already gone into making the event a success and promoting it and I've been working on this since last November.

"We get a warrant of fitness for our cars, why not for our health?" he said.

Shannon is using Dannevirke's large number of classic car enthusiasts as the hub to build the men's health expo around because he believes we have more classic cars per head of population than many other towns in the country.

"The hot rodders and a number of car clubs around the North Island are supporting the event," he said.

The focus will be on men's health because Shannon believes we are losing too many of our men.

"It's not just prostate cancer which is the killer but a broad range of conditions, and we men need to be more aware of our health and wellbeing," he said.

"Men's health issues sometimes get swept under the carpet and not talked about. That has to change."

At the recent Dannevirke and Districts A&P Show, Shannon and others had a small display in the trades section of the show and were amazed at the response.

"We put out chairs and men came along and just talked," he said.

"I'm also overwhelmed by the support for the November event from businesses in town, many of them encourage staff to have a regular health check."

Shannon is encouraging people to dress from the 1940s and 50s era for the show, which will include a swap meet, market stalls and rock and roll.

The Men's Health Car Show will be held on November 10 at the A&P Showgrounds. Enquiries: tonyshannon62@gmail.com