Innholdsfortegnelse for Volume 3 i RETROMOTIVE

GREETINGS! It’s the last day of Motorclassica 2018 and the winners are just about to be announced. It’s my first time here and the level of preparation, dedication and craftmanship that’s gone into presenting these vehicles is mind boggling. I walk past a black Ferrari on the way in every morning - the owner busy polishing it – I walk out 12 hours later, he’s polishing it. This has happened 3 days running. Speaking with owners over the course of the event, so many of them have worked on these projects for what seems like a lifetime. Some spent a lifetime searching for them and others, like me, will never own anything like it in their lifetime. My mind wanders and I think about our newly acquired project car back…

MAZDA maestro Allan Horsley’s long been a man of motorsport. Back before the heady days of Sydney’s Oran Park, through ear-splitting days with Allan Moffat’s RX-7 and then success-upon-success with Mazda race and rally teams. Horsley’s a no-crap, droll character. Ever ready with brusque quip and a dry smile. A multi-talented manager behind winning teams - from endurance championships to a hat-trick of Bathurst 12 Hour victories - Horsley also doubled as a Mazda public relations man for more than 30 years; his press launches were memorable. As an Albury lad, Horsley was hooked on motorsport. He built his first race car at 16 - “a pretty ugly looking thing.” In the late 1950s, he helped build the Hume Weir circuit on the south side of the Murray River, became…

They’ say you should never meet your heroes. The version you create is typically so far removed from reality, ultimately, you’ll be left disappointed. Much like Jon Snow, ‘they’ know nothing. The Stratos has long been high on my list of cars to see up close and experience first-hand, but due to its relative rarity, it’s been one that has always eluded me. It’s hard to contain my excitement and play it cool as I draw close to Philip Allen’s garage. Poker face…. professional…it’s just a car. I know I’m in good company when I see his daily driver parked outside - A Nissan Figaro. Philip was the first one to bring them into the country and suffered a long and expensive process of compliance. “To satisfy compliance requirements from…

ANDREI Shinkarenko likes things that are rare, different and unique. He’s refreshingly left of centre and unashamedly so. I got that impression even before we met when I parked my car next to ‘Rex’, the dinosaur in his front yard. “Might be Rexona.” He quips as we greet. “We’re not that friendly yet.” Andrei, or Andy, is an engineer. “We’re a different breed,” he explains. “We think differently – genetically, we are created, were not just taught to be engineers. Russians have a long history of engineering. We don’t invent new stuff, we perfect old stuff.” “I put myself through Uni working as mechanical engineer.” Andy was fortunate enough to land a job with Ifield Engineering. “R.J. Ifield was a God.” He explains. “112 patents – among other things, the…

TIME machines are in the realm of fantasy and make believe. Often portrayed as intricate contraptions methodically engineered with 1000’s of moving parts, meticulously assembled, working in tandem to take you to a moment in time. Adam, has created a time machine with his RX-3, but not in the realm of make believe. Adam is a self-confessed perfectionist. It’s something that has been with him since childhood. “I used to build model cars as a kid and everything had to be absolutely right. I’d often get frustrated if something didn’t fit or if the paint had a run in it. I was absolutely fastidious. These days, I see the restorations I do as big model cars.” Cars have been in the bloodline for Adam. His father always had a project…

New York City is one of those cities where you can live your whole life and never need a driver’s license. For George Sweeper, his family didn’t own a car and he can’t recall even being in someone else’s until he went away to college in Washington DC. Of course, he had spent some time in taxi cabs and he really enjoyed taking rides down 5th Avenue in a double decker bus with his mother. But it was a little later in life that a road trip in a girlfriend’s E-Type Jaguar ignited a 47-year love affair with “the most beautiful car ever made”. George says first and foremost that he is attracted to the lines of a car. It shouldn’t be a surprise then that the more ‘sporty’ cars…

LACHLAN Harburg has a trolley jack under the rear of the RSR wrestling the massive 315/650/R17 tyres off after track testing for the weekend’s race meet at QR. He’s had a little work done on the engine that’s added an extra 30 horses and shaved 2 seconds off his lap time. Lachlan is a weekend racer - and numbers like that mean something. The V8’s scream past as we begin to chat. “I don’t know if a flat 6 is really welcome here.” The RSR was part of a two-car team with Peter Harburg and Wayne Park in the mid 90’s. Wayne won the Porsche Cup Championship in ‘94 with the RSR. “It had a bit more of a gentlemen’s racer vibe to it back then, a few more grey…

CLEVER Canadian, Kyle MacDonald, turned a simple red paper clip into a house with a series of 14 trades. Christian Jentz turned an old EK Holden into a stunning 1956 Porsche 356 with a series of not so simple trades over 14 years. For Christian, it’s been a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work. Time spent cleaning the grease from under his fingernails, curating a collection of wounds inflicted by bolts stuck in place since the beginning of time. Late nights in the shed, toiling under the dim glow of a lead light well into the morning. But, it’s all been worth it. “When I was younger, I went through the predictable route of being a bit of a bogan. You know, V8 Commodores and the…

OVER the decades, off-road vehicles like the Mercedes G-Wagen, Land Rover Defender and the Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser have all etched their own legends into the hearts and minds of enthusiasts. Utilitarian off-roaders that have built a following and shun traditional automotive evolution. Body on frame construction with lights, guards and bumpers all bolted to the body - functionality was large in a time where more and more often-inner workings are hidden away under bodywork and shrouds. These 4x4s are the antithesis of crisp lines that ooze with suggestions of power and performance. Slab-sided and blunt instruments they undoubtedly are, yet their uncompromising stance and display of function over form evokes a different kind of daydream and aspiration; dreams of possibilities, adventure and even escape. The Toyota Land Cruiser built…

IT’S acoldanddrizzlydayontheSunshineCoast, water beads off the windscreens of the cars parked outside Kirsten’s house. The muffled bark of something large echoes down the path as I bang on the gate outside. I’m greeted by Kirsten, in double denim, dodging droplets of rain liberated by their collective weight on the leaves overhanging the garden path. Kirsten works out of a spare room at her house, even on what is a fairly gloomy day, the light through the window is bright and soft. “As much as a I love it, I like to be able to close the door on it,” she admits. A 1:1 scale drawing of Frank Sinatra’s Lamborghini Muria and a profile of James Hunts Helmet lean framed against the wall. “Art’s funny”, she muses. “One minute you think…

FERDINAND Alexander "Butzi" Porsche, grandson of Porsche founder Ferdinand Porsche, is widely known for creating a cultural icon – the legendary Porsche 911. Launched in 1963, the 911 was the successor to the famous model 356 and featured newer, more minimalist design language. He is lesser known, however, as the founder of Porsche Design Studio in 1972 – an industrial design company, creating technically inspired products; designed with the same high standard of aesthetics and functions that distinguish Porsche cars. The company’s first luxury product was the world’s first matte black DLC coated wristwatch. Created together with Swiss watchmaker Orfina, the mechanical timepiece was simply called Chronograph 1. The austere watch in black steel with an entirely black dial and contrasting white indices was a first of its kind. Released…

WHAT’S in a name? Well, in the case of the BMW CSL, it could be everything. Coupe, Sport, Light. There is something direct and authentic about this model designation that could only arise from a 1970s German sports car. There was an elegance and honesty to cars of this period and although BMW had produced many beautiful coupes, the CSL was the company’s 'pièce de résistance'. The CSL was a homologation special - tuned up to compete in the European touring car championship which it won successive titles from 1975 to 1979. Like a fighter competing in its ideal weight division, the CSL was the car everyone knew the E9 could be. David James happens to own such a fighter and is the Romeo to the CSL’s Juliet. A man…

DIFFERING automotive tastes converged for father and son team, Joe and Andrew Wilson, with the discovery and pursuit of an Alfa Romeo 6C Freccia d'oro. One a devout Alfa man, the other, a lover of unusual eclectic motor vehicles. For Joe, it all started as a keen 6 year old holding a lead light for his father as he worked on the family Austin 10. As soon as Joe left school he purchased his first vintage car, a 1923 Morris for the princely sum of 4 pounds. “It was located down the coast – No trailers or anything, we just towed it home with a rope.” He shrugs. Joe restored the Morris and sold it for 90 quid and then bought a 1923 Vauxhall. That, like every other car to…

IT was a ‘hold my beer’ moment when Alfredo’s Daytona Cobra coupe rocked up fashionably late to a cars and coffee event, (although at that time of the day it was coffee – not beer). Knowing there were only ever 6 Daytona’s made and they are worth stupid money, it had to be a replica. But when you see something like a Daytona in the flesh, whether or not it’s a replica, is irrelevant. “When I saw this one, I just thought ‘I have to have it. I’m going to have a lot of fun owning this”. He laughs. “I didn’t even know they existed until I visited Shelby American in Vegas”, he explains. The Daytona on display at the time was part of the continuation project and was a…