Indholdsfortegnelse for Volume 2 i RETROMOTIVE

GREETINGS! Volume one is out of the bag and I'd like to thank all those who have supported the magazine so far. It’s been a bit of a slow burn, but it’s picking up momentum thanks largely to a lot of people taking the time to get the word out. A sincere thank you to you all! So welcome to Volume two! The magazine is already starting to develop beyond the original idea, but the core goal of sharing stories of people and their cars remains. This time around, you'll notice a few new sections that I’m super proud of and humbled by the people willing to contribute. First up, ‘The Iconic Series’ delves into a vehicle that has stood out in automotive history, for better or worse, as a…

CHAMPION racer and champion bloke John French was a top cyclist back in his day, won 18 state titles before marriage, new house and kids put the brakes on that. So the young Queenslander turned to motor racing part-time and kept on winning. Beating more famed and fancied rivals. With a clutch of sandwiches in the console for enduro runs at Mount Panorama. And forever a smile. Most remember French partnering mate Dick Johnson to take out the 1981 Bathurst in the Tru-Blue Falcon. Yet a storied career was already well on track by then, back to 1957 when the milking machine salesman modded his company FJ into a race Holden for weekend outings. “I raced pushbikes from when I was 14 to when I was about 24 with a…

AT just 11 years old, self-proclaimed surfie bum Bill Martin would pedal his bike, complete with his surfboard in a homemade trailer behind him, to the beach. This was in the 1950s, and it would take him four hours to pedal the 80km from Mt Gravatt in Brisbane’s east to Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast. He would spend nearly every weekend at Burleigh camping and surfing, but the commute was tough and pretty soon, Bill was keen to upgrade the pushie. “In 1959, when I was about 14 years old, a couple of mates bought FJ and FC Holdens and strapped their surfboards to the roof. I thought that was a better idea than riding my bike, so I went and bought Bessie, the 1949 680 Wolseley over there,”…

I pull into a quiet residential street, turn the music down and scan the old brick letterboxes for a number matching my scrawl on an old fuel receipt. No need really, I spot the only house with a Volvo parked out the front about half way down. It’s a warm afternoon and brothers Rod and Clayton Wilson are perched on the veranda when I arrive. They’re admiring the view of the Swedish siren parked at the curb. It’s not the car I’m here to see but one of the many Swedes that reside here. Rod’s daily is a 1998 S70. His son, Jarrod, has an 850 R wagon and an 850 T5. Add to that a couple 242 GTs out the back (one that has been meticulously resorted) and you…

FOR Bill Mallalieu it all began as a child playing with die-cast Dinky Toys in Barbados. Growing up with little money and at a time when post-war fuel rationing meant that seeing a real car, let alone driving in one, was a rare and exciting treat, it is not surprising that his focus turned to cars as he grew and prospered. In 1963 Bill was able to purchase one of three brand new Volvo 122S’ imported into Barbados, which became his every day car as well as a competition car. He subsequently purchased the Governor General’s Vanden Plas Princess, a car that transported the royal family during a visit to Barbados. Then, by pure chance, he was offered a 1947 Bentley MK VI, custom built for Prince Bernhard of the…

WHEN I first met Russell he was just a guy walking his dog. I was leaning against the front guard of my Land Rover Defender with a coffee in my hand and habitually flicking through widgets on my phone with the other. “Nice Landy,” he said as his dog sniffed my shoes, I smiled, used to the regular comments about my Land Rover Perentie. We started chatting, I was parked out the front of his favourite coffee roaster, he was as much a coffee tragic as I am. He told me he had a Land Rover in his shed, an ex Australian army Series 2A. It’s a short wheelbase Vietnam War veteran with the cut out wheel arches that makes these jungle spec vehicles stand out from the rest. We…

ANYONE with even a hint of octane flowing through their veins can’t help but be captivated by the era of the Killer B’s. During the mid-1980s flying Group B rally cars hurtled down forest tracks as camera flash bulbs stuttered amongst the spraying mud. Spectators with no sense of self-preservation dove off the track and into the undergrowth at the last minute high on danger and adrenaline Barely resembling the production cars they were meant to represent, Lancia, Peugeot and Audi, amongst others, raced to push the envelope. Legends were born and also died ultimately bringing Group B to an end. Clint Walzford’s 1987 Peugeot 205 GTI may look quite unassuming compared to the dirt eating monsters of the day. But in many ways this car is Clint’s homage to…

CHALLENGES in work life are common place. The photocopier jams, someone always eats the last Monte Carlo and the Help Desk is anything but helpful. For automotive artist Cristian Cross, his challenge is daily and unrelenting. He is colour blind, but still manages to turn out spectacular photo realistic drawings day in day out. “Getting colours right has been an absolute nightmare for me,” Cristian reveals. As a child, Cristian noticed a red/green deficiency. Since then, it has been progressively getting worse. “I can’t tell the difference between purple, blue or pink. It all looks like a faded blue to me. Greens, oranges, reds – same sort of thing. “It’s taken me years to get the courage to start using colours I was scared of using. Before, if a car…

I wasn’t born a watch collector - it’s a recent hobby. I blame Instagram. Trolling through the plethora of ubiquitous ‘wrist shots’ on the popular social media platform lead me to be obsessed and steered me on a path of discovery…and a slightly smaller bank account. Born of that obsession is an intrigue about the stories behind vintage watches and their owners. Their stories really resonate with me and - like any true obsessive - researching and making the connection with a particular piece serves only to fuel my passion and drives me to find out more. My Instagram feed The Analogue Wrist started as a photographic project initially only to shoot my own humble collection, but I soon found it to be a vehicle to connect me with other…

THE Sixties. For America, it was the decade that changed the nation – ten years of contrasts and extremes, of hope and heartbreak, flower power and moon landings, that would shape the country’s identity for generations to come. Whether it was Martin Luther on the Lincoln Memorial, Hendrix with his guitar or Armstrong taking that one small step, the Sixties would become an era defined by America’s desire to push the boundaries and redefine possibilities. But while Vietnam and the Apollo missions blanketed the news, on the streets of middle America it was all about the muscle car and the relentless quest for more. What had started as a battle for bragging rights between the ‘Big Three’ had escalated in to an all-out war by the end of the decade,…

PAUL and Kerri Buckendahl don’t have a shed full of old muscle cars, they only have one. It doesn’t spend its time in a hermetically sealed vacuum bag or humidity controlled room. It’s let out every weekend the sun is shining. It’s taken to the beach, the hills and wherever the hell they feel like going, and they are loving every minute of it. Their dream car is a 1978 Ford XC Cobra Hardtop. Number 361 to be exact, factory fitted auto and a 302 V8. Most Ford people will be familiar with the Cobra, but for those who aren’t, here’s the short version. 40 years ago, sales were down to a trickle for the unloved Falcon Hardtop. The new-shape XD was imminent and production was being wound down as…