Indholdsfortegnelse for Volume 6 i RETROMOTIVE

Adam grew up in Michigan surrounded by American classics. His father was a gearhead and Adam recalls being impressed that his dad could point out the different years and models of cars from the subtle differences in headlights, grilles and shapes of the fenders. His family always owned sensible American cars, but his dad would point out ‘oddball’ European automobiles whenever he spotted them on the streets. This probably gave them an elevated sense of exceptionalism in Adam’s young and impressionable mind. When the family moved to California in the ’90s, his dad bought him and his brother a 1970 Porsche 914 to share. ‘That car got under my skin the way Porsches do. It was balanced like a go-kart, fast enough but not scary, and started every time you…

‘Little more than a year ago, I expressed my wish to the engineers. Build a car to be the best in the world. And now the car is here.’ Thus were the words of Enzo Ferrari translated at the reveal of the F40 on 21 July 1987. The F40 (named for the fortieth anniversary of Ferrari road cars) was the last model Enzo Ferrari signed off and it was undoubtedly one of the cars for which he wanted to be remembered, the perfect-pitch swansong. ‘I expressed a wish that we could produce a car which could remind us of Le Mans and the GTO’. (Perhaps he also thought of his late beloved son Dino, for there is a hint of the Dino 246 amidships…) But the best car in the…

Many people wrongly think of the Trekka as being New Zealand’s only production car. It is one of four farm utility vehicles produced as a turn-key product, the others being the Terra, the Trailmaker and the Duzgo. The crown for New Zealand’s most successful production supercar is, in my opinion, the Heron – a supercar manufactured in Rotorua. Some will disagree with me calling the Heron a supercar. However, it is very hard to define what a supercar is, and, in this instance, I have gone with a definition put together by Jeff Glucker, an automotive correspondent: Supercars are mystic creatures that stalk empty backroads where they can't be bothered by lesser machines. They inhabit our hearts, our minds… and the posters of the walls belonging to our younger selves.…

In 2012, GQ magazine named Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, California ‘the Coolest Block in America and it has since exploded as one of the most sought-after locations for boutique stores, coffee shops and restaurants. Property prices skyrocketed and with the ludicrous rent, many of the smaller and local businesses moved out, which is why Elco Welding is a bit of a welcome oddity on the street today. Tucked behind a French restaurant and one of Snapchat’s offices is a humble welding and fabrication shop full of memorabilia, ceramic signs, tools, machinery and even a stuffed fox. Remnants of old pin-up calendars, photos and plaques are strewn on the walls between tobacco, beer and street signs. Old rusty bits of metal and car parts from past jobs are stacked about…

Martin de Lang is an automotive artist of rare talent and shy demeanour. Loves sketching, painting portraits of cars yet often isn’t sure about meeting and greeting fans. ‘I get very nervous, a bit uncomfortable’, says the artist with thousands of paintings, and prints, of hundreds of cars, racers and road cars, to his credit. He’d rather be hiding away, working in a little studio under his Queensland house, researching and filling another canvas. Martin’s more recent works grace the programs of Australia’s Motorclassica. Older works are found across the world, England in particular. And while a stunning print of Norm Beechey’s HT Monaro at Warwick Farm is among the more popular here in Australia, the artist’s favourite subjects are German racers; Silver Arrow Mercedes-Benz and Auto Unions with the…

Despite being an avid watch enthusiast and collector, I have never really been a ‘Rolex’ guy. Those that can afford and have bought into the contemporary Rolex brand only for its lauded name and investment potential have diminished the overall appeal (for me). So it’s refreshing to meet Graeme Goldman, former MD of The Swatch Group Australia and now the co-owner of a direct to consumer online watch brand called THE 5TH. A fellow enthusiast and eclectic watch collector, he bought his first Rolex only because the person he saw wearing one was 'the coolest-looking guy'. ‘When I was in my 20s, I used to admire this cool guy who worked in a clothing store wearing a Rolex – he reminded me of the singer Lenny Kravitz. He was so…

Noel Tuckey is a man of many talents, proud owner of three curious machines, a decent set of tools and a well-worn writing desk. Among the cars are a pair of DKWs and a lightweight Rochdale coupe; among his writings are those ever-entertaining, ever-educational Dirty Wheels columns in Australia’s Wheels magazine, filed under the byline George Ambrose. The teenaged Tuckey was best at art and English but his widowed mother – his father was killed in New Guinea in World War II – wanted him to be a motor mechanic. Many cars, many motor races and thousands of words later, the semi-retired Tuckey admits he’s had a long and varied career as both mechanic and writer. ‘I started out as an apprentice mechanic in Taree (New South Wales)’, Noel says.…

I have very different tastes’, Lloyd Muller informs me – almost apologetic for what I’m about to see. ‘I’m not into any one particular car marque, I just love cars that are a bit different’. I think he’s worried that I’ll judge him or wonder what sort of madman would amass a collection of misfits and miscreants. We have been chatting for about 10 minutes and I continually catch a glimpse of something shiny through the doorway, beyond that under the wall of historic racing images, a what? Come on, Lloyd, you’re killing me here, man. He smiles and takes a deep breath and we walk into the shed. That shiny thing I could see through the doorway is a pristine, unmolested original Honda S2000, a future classic in anyone’s…

As the son of Greek immigrants, the young diesel fitter knew the value of work and how to stick at a job. Especially when you had to walk Sydney town to find that job, sweep floors to keep it. Those attributes, plus an early introduction to Japanese business practices, helped John Conomos take Toyota’s Australian enterprise from a mixed grab of 1980s entities to the dominant vehicle brand. Direct, charming and forceful with politicians, press and Japanese bosses, Conomos and his team took Toyota to the top with a mix of flair and confidence. The young Conomos liked working with his hands and found his first job with truck company Thornycroft in Sydney; which was then taken over by English bus builder AEC, in turn bought out by British Leyland.…

Oldsmobile embraced innovation and forward thinking in an era when other American manufacturers were principally concerned with size and speed. This was the General Motors brand which usually pioneered breakthrough technology. Oldsmobile took chances where others didn’t and in doing so, created some truly innovative engineering for its vehicles. For model year 1940, Oldsmobile was the first automotive manufacturer to offer a fully automatic transmission, the Hydra-Matic (later Hydramatic). The company’s engineers worked with industrial turbocharger manufacturer Garrett to produce the first production turbo car, the 1962 Oldsmobile Turbo Jetfire. Oldsmobile was also the first US manufacturer since 1929 (Cord) to release a new front-wheel-drive production car, the Toronado. While the Mini is considered by many to be the most successful commercially available front-wheel-drive drive car to date, something as…

Jon Voller was raised on a steady diet of Vanguards, Vauxhalls, Triumphs and Rovers. His father, Ronald, was an avid subscriber to Autocar magazine and had a carefully curated collection dating back to the 1940s. It was between the pages of the aforementioned magazine that Jon first discovered the Morgan 8 Plus. Circa 1968, Jon is 25 years old, fresh from his university studies in architecture and ready to move abroad with his wife, Lyndal. Driving a ’61 TR3A at the time, his love of vintage cars and interest in modern sports cars synthesised in the Morgan Plus 8. After reading a pre-release about the Plus 8 in Autocar, ‘I began plotting how I could own one. The agreed plan was to buy a Plus 8 during our travels overseas…

Craig is a man who embraces his passions wholeheartedly. For instance, when he started a band and needed a decent rehearsal space, he decided to build his own large studio at the back of his cabinetry workshop. When he saw his first Interceptor, he was never going to be satisfied with just one. In the last three years he has collected no fewer than six specimens, including the second one off the production line, built by Vignale in Turin. As we begin to chat, six polite but sullen looking young men pass into one of the rehearsal spaces where they proceed to make a mockery of the soundproofing – smashing out the kind of metal that would have made me foam at the mouth 25 years ago. A sign of…