Scott Newman is handsome, charming, wise, immensely talented and certainly didn't write this. He has been an automotive journalist since 2010, starting on Unique Cars before a long-term stint as Associate Editor of MOTOR and more recently being the Road Test Editor of Carsales.com.au
Scott’s been lucky enough to drive some of the world’s greatest supercars but reckons every car – especially those of past eras – offers its own unique experience, and you can have just as much fun in something that cost $5000 as $500,000.
A past rallyist, Scott will happily compete at every opportunity and owned a Nissan R31 Silhouette for more than 15 years. The current steed is a pleasant but plain family SUV. Something to work on.
Must be stuck in third! A blue streak rockets across the barren landscape, its two fully ignited jet engines spewing flame as it accelerates to warp speed. Onboard, the pilot struggles to read the gauges as his body is buffeted by extreme g-forces.
The answer is obvious, isn’t it? OF COURSE BLOODY NOT! The sounds and smells of internal combustion are an integral part of the classic car ownership experience and replacing that with a box of volts should be actionable by law.
How Ford’s adoption of turbocharging for its inline six-cylinder engine created one of the fastest four-doors on the planet. It may have ended up with an aquatic moniker, but Ford’s turbocharged 4.0-litre inline-six – colloquially known as the ‘Barra’ – initially carried a more avian title.
In the early-2000s the Australian car industry was riding the crest of a wave. Ford was bidding farewell to the AU error, sorry, era, with the launch of the BA Falcon and the revival of a dedicated performance division, Ford Performance Vehicles.