While the 38-year-old from Lithgow stood out as one of the few entrants in the people's choice section in a wheelchair, his immaculate 1969 Datsun 1600 SSS was the real star.

A 15-year labour of love, the rare Japanese sporting sedan ranks just behind wife, Kristy, and children, Carly, 11, and Tyler, 6, in his affections.

"We finished it on Wednesday night," he told Fairfax. "It was on the truck to Canberra at 4am on Thursday morning."

Mr Bulkeley said Summernats had changed "beyond belief" since his first visit as a 17-year-old 20 years ago.

"It's gone to a whole new level," he said. "I'm told there were around 2,500 cars. For mine to be chosen in the top 20 is unbelievable."

Two years after his first Summernats in 1996 Mr Bulkeley was left a paraplegic following a road accident.

"My first thought was `my life is stuffed'," he said. "Then I got to the wards and quickly saw there were a lot of people much worse off than me; 13-year-olds and 14-year-olds who'd never done anything and then found themselves quadraplegics for example.

"I realised life goes on and you do the best with what you've got."

That attitude, coupled with a lot of help from his mates and family, has culminated in a car that has go as well as show.

Mr Bulkeley is planning to take the car, which has been fitted with sophisticated hand controls and a flappy paddle gear box, drag racing next year.

"I'm hoping she'll be able do low 10s over the quarter mile," he said.

Another Summernats entrant making his second visit to the event in 2017 was Brent Murray of Portland in Victoria.

The 43-year-old panel beater spent six years and about $100,000 recreating a 1968 Dodge Dart using a combination of Australian and American parts.

Mr Murray's creation made it into the top 20 during his first visit in 2016 and repeated that result again this year.

Mark Williams, of Western Australia, and his Holden HQ one tonner won Summernats grand champion.

Organisors said Mr Williams had left his terminally ill father at home to travel to Canberra with the car they built together.

"Sadly Mark received word that his father had passed away during the journey over to Summernats. Winning the grand champion award was certainly an emotional moment for Mark and his family." they said in a statement.