He bought his 1978 Holden HX GTS Monaro 11 years ago and set about earning the ''satisfaction of turning something that was pretty tatty into looking nice again.''
He spent a couple of years ''pottering around'' stripping the Holden, before repainting the bodywork and rebuilding the original 5-litre, 308 V8 engine.
''I reconditioned everything, really.
''I pulled it to bits, tidied it up and put it back together again,'' Mr Goodman, a Holden Enthusiasts Club of Otago member, said.
He is now partially retired after working for Cerebos Gregg's Dunedin and spends his spare time working on his favourite car marque.
His tally of Holdens owned now totals eight, although there is always room for more, as he prefers ''doing them up and flogging them off,'' as opposed to amassing a collection.
Mr Goodman's Holden will be among about 70 from around New Zealand in the city for the nationals this weekend - last hosted by Dunedin 22 years ago.
The nationals alternate between the North and South Islands.
Club secretary and nationals organising committee member Ben Dillon said member clubs of the Holden Federation bid to hold them in their area.
''It may be another 20 years before the event is held in Dunedin, so a lot of these cars may never be seen in Dunedin again.''
There will be a few rare Holdens among them, such as an original LJ Torana XU1 and an HQ Chevrolet 350.
''In addition there will be some low production number models including a VE HSV Murph - just 51 were built to signify the number Greg Murphy used while he raced in the Supercar series.
''Going to the other extreme there are going to be some highly modified cars such as an HQ set up for drag-racing, and a VC Commodore ute,'' Mr Dillon said.
The cars can be seen at Saturday's show day at Dunedin's Edgar Centre from 9am to 4pm.
