The keys were handed over to Fiona Dawson this morning.

"I fell very lucky, ecstatic," she said.

"I got a phone call to say I'd won and I thought it was my husband playing a joke on me so there were a few swear words thrown around."

The vehicle was done up by inmates at the prison as part of their rehabilitation and reintegration program, and raffled off to raise money for Country Hope.

Mrs Dawson said she'd never have thought in a million years she would win the car.

"We were at a car show here and went around and looked at all the other cars but my husband and I ended up staring at this car and he said, 'Let's get some tickets,' so we bought a few and the guy was filling out the tickets but my husband said 'No, give me the winning one mate,' and I guess he did," she said.

"We bought four tickets, so we basically got a car for $40."

With the news of Commodores stopping production, Mrs Dawson said they had extra incentive to take good care of the car.

General manager of Junee Correctional Centre, Scott Brideoake, said the vehicle was a result of many hours of hard work.

"These vehicles start off fairly average and turn out to what we have now in terrific condition," he said.

"Over 20,000 man hours have gone in from the inmates so it has been rewarding not only for us to do something for Country Hope but also for the inmates."

Mr Brideoake said the project gave inmates the chance to build their skills.

"It's a very important part of our rehabilitation program, to have inmates learn valuable skills so when they are released they have an opportunity to go and work in the community with qualified skills," he said.

"They would have liked to keep it, there's no doubt about it, but at the end of the day they like to see the finished product and because this one has come up so well they take a lot of pride in it."

The raffle ended up raising more than $63,000, and events coordinator for Country Hope Mick Small said they were beyond grateful for the donation.

"What a great time of year to have this too at Christmas so we can provide help to our families who are dealing with children with cancer and life threatening illnesses on a daily basis," he said.

"It will go all around the Riverina for families to provide them with much needed support, whether that be money for hospital bills or Christmas presents, and we can't be any more thankful than we are to be able to do that."