After a week together as part of the Targa Tour in Mr Cassidy's National Automobile Museum of Tasmania-sponsored Chevrolet Camaro, they are soon to take their relationship to the next stage.

Mr Cassidy said that he popped the question at dinner on Thursday evening - the tour's final night in Launceston - and was delighted to receive a positive reply.

"I didn't have a ring to put on Wendy's finger, so I used the key ring from the Camaro," he said.

Mr Cassidy said that a mixture of sadness and relief hung over the couple when they arrived at the finish line yesterday.

"We were sad it was over, but relieved we hadn't damaged the car," Mr Cassidy said.

"It was never built for something like Targa Tasmania and even the tour tested the old drum brakes to the limit, especially the final two stages - at one stage Sunday afternoon, I thought I'd overdone it when we were locked up and going sideways into a hard right-hand turn.

"To say that the Camaro was not really suited to Targa would be a massive understatement.

"But we came through it OK - mind you, it took the smile off Wendy's face and there's now an extra indentation in the firewall on her side of the car where a brake pedal would be.

"The Camaro really came into its own on the longer flowing stages over in the west and for once the modern cars in front were slowing us rather than the other way around."

The Camaro will be on display at the National Automobile Museum in Cimitiere Street, Launceston, for the next few weeks before Mr Cassidy takes it back to Melbourne to sell.

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