Innehållsförteckning för Volume 1 från RETROMOTIVE

It can be hard to encapsulate the distinct elements that define a timeless design. The Mercedes Benz W113 however, is surely one of those designs – elegant and graceful when manufactured; age has only magnified these qualities over the decades. This car emerged from an era renowned for beautiful cars, yet it has become symbolic of Teutonic elegance. The 1960s produced cars that were faster, that handled better and were even more expensive. But, there’s something beyond just monetary value or performance with this car. For Paul Nelson it’s the aesthetic. Lines, shape, form. The curl of surf crashing over a reef, a surfboard slicing through water, a sleek projectile rounded yet sharp. A collision between the organic and manufactured. The curve of steel, chrome and aluminium reflecting flowing lines.…

Faded newspaper clippings hang framed on the garage wall, dusty model cars sit on top of cabinets, behind them, autographed pictures of touring car icon, Peter Brock, hang slightly askew. It’s a scene that would be familiar to many in suburban Australia, a garage and a quiet understated shrine dedicated to past horsepower glories. A now faded youth spent trying to shave a couple of tenths of a second off a lap or to squeeze a couple more horsepower out of an engine. Peter Ingersole has indeed lived a life of cars and motorsport. But beneath the memorabilia is a passion that’s harder to define. Peter isn’t a wealthy collector, he doesn’t own a number of cars, there are no engine stands or parts boxes scattered around this space. However,…

JAMES USES FOUND OBJECTS TO CREATE HIS WORK; CAR PARTS ARE THE PREFERRED MEDIUM The workshop is crammed and dark, I carefully pick my way through the clutter, car parts, some recognisable others of indeterminate origin hang from the shed walls and are scattered in piles around this space. It’s here that sculptor James Corbett painstakingly stitches together his work, breathing life into the inanimate and discarded. I LIKE TO CREATE THE ILLUSION OF MOVEMENT, THE LIMIT OF ADHESION. TO ANIMATE IT I was expecting a stereotype, a dishevelled creative prone to meandering conversations on form. Instead I found a quietly spoken, disarmingly grounded and direct car nut. James and I chat about what inspires and drives his work, it’s soon very clear however, that there will be no arty…

It seems an unlikely formula for attraction. A utilitarian mix of slab sided aluminium body panels, flat glass and minimal creature comforts. Yet there’s something undeniably evocative about old Land Rovers. That signature boxy Land Rover profile has trundled across deserts and through jungles for more than six decades and that enduring image can’t help but evoke dreams of adventure. Joel Richards is the first to admit that he’s never really been a car guy. However as a child growing up in his native England he does concede that the Land Rover has always held an attraction. SEEING AN OLD LAND ROVER ON THE ROAD THESE DAYS CAN’T HELP BUT ELICIT A GRIN Joel’s almond yellow Series 3 wagon evokes much of that Land Rover mystique. It looks ready for…

Clint Boughen has grown up with horsepower and fast cars as a constant companion. High octane and the pursuit of speed has become a way of life for Clint and his siblings, growing up against a backdrop of grass roots motorsport. His father Alan 'Cusso' Boughen has been racing cars for most of his life, from speedway to circuit racing as well as drag racing. Cusso’s children, without exception have grown up with the desire to pit themselves against circuits, speedway tracks and the drag strips around the country. 'We did try ball sports as kids, but nothing stuck', he says, grinning at the memory. The fettling of performance engines, and the pursuit of power and speed has been a constant for Clint’s entire life, as has been a doggedly…

TYPE 1 KARMANN GHIA, PERHAPS THE MOST STYLISH DESIGN TO ADORN THE BEETLE PLATFORM. PETER Fletcher grew up car-obsessed during the 1950s, where a car was a symbol of freedom and a ticket to adventure. A burgeoning middle class was soon to discover affordable mobility; the car was to become a symbol of success as ordinary Australians were increasingly able to explore the world beyond their own postcodes. Like much of the Western world, post-war Australia was a time of rapid social and economic change. Through the 1950s this country was riding on the sheep’s back while at the same time a local automotive industry was flourishing. PETER HAS SPENT MUCH OF HIS PROFESSIONAL LIFE CREATING SPACES FROM THE STYLISTIC TO THE FUNCTIONAL 'I grew up in the inner suburbs…

IT’S CLEARLY BEEN A LABOUR OF LOVE. A HIGH SCHOOL CRUSH CONSUMMATED AFTER DECADES OF YEARNING, YOU CAN TELL JUST FROM THE WAY HE LOOKS AT IT. I’m standing outside the weathered roller doors of a closed factory as a gleaming cobalt blue Giocattolo Group B rumbles quietly up the driveway, gravel clings then drops from it’s sticky rubber. Harsh Australian sunlight plays over the sculpted curves, vents and flares. The colour mirrors the Queensland sky, reflected clouds distort as they trace the flanks. The car’s profile is at once familiar yet alien, the throaty engine sound is at odds with its diminutive stature. It’s low slung yet compact. The colour and the styling are so very 1980s, a dab of excess with loud graphics trumpeting its identity to the…

Work hardened hands gesticulate, hands that have spent decades grasping spanners, pistons and panels, fingerprint whorls traced by oil and grease. They never cease moving, punctuating conversation, chopping for emphasis. The enthusiasm Bill Flocke has for his work is immediately apparent. As a renowned VW specialist there would be few who could claim the amount of Kombi experience that Bill has accrued over the decades. Amongst the trees of this secluded property, discarded VW carcasses are being slowly reclaimed by the earth. Here a Beetle lies under a layer of moss and fern, there a misshapen Kombi sinks into the undergrowth; the burden of time pushing it downwards. VOLKSWAGEN HAS BECOME A WAY OF LIFE FOR ME In the sheds and garages of this hidden bush block however, lies the…