Meet Our Writers

At age 14, surrounded by stacks of motoring magazines from the local junk shop, Cliff Chambers was warned by a concerned mother that he would ‘Never get anywhere knowing a lot about old cars.’  Seventeen years later when his definitive book, Making Money From Collectable Cars was published, she was proud to be proven wrong.

That was in 1987, but Cliff’s life was already revolving around all things automotive. From working part time in a panel shop while at university, he moved to motor industry consultancy roles and managing a Championship winning rally team.

During the 1990s he joined the classic vehicle insurance industry, at the same time becoming a prolific writer for magazines and motoring websites. Then came his ongoing contribution as one of the country’s leading vehicle valuers.

Away from work, automotive events and objects remain prominent in Cliff’s world. He has owned more than 40 cars now considered ‘classic’ and within his collection of motor-related items there remain some of those magazines acquired as a fact hungry teen.

Cliff brings to Retro Rides a blend of unique industry skills and a love of vehicles that will become more obvious with every contribution he makes to the site.

A life-long car nut, Glenn Torrens (who usually answers to ‘GT’) has been writing about cars and the lifestyle around them since a photo shoot with his 1956 VW Beetle – restored and modified at home while training as a high school teacher – led to a role as a motoring writer. Six years at Street Machine fuelled his passion for performance cars – especially Aussie ones – and inspired him to conceive and develop Australian Muscle Car magazine. Glenn has contributed to many old-school Australian motoring titles such as WHEELS, Unique Cars and 4×4 Australia and is thrilled to be involved as writer and presenter for Australia’s new premium on-line Retro Rides.

Glenn remains a hands-on classic car enthusiast with project cars as diverse as a 1990 Mazda MX-5, 1989 Mitsubishi Pajero 4WD, a pair of VW Beetle motorsport cars, a Ford Falcon and several Holden Commodores… and the happy little blue ’56 VW Bug where things all began.

Michael Stahl is one of Australia’s most celebrated motoring Journalists. He has won numerous writing awards, including Motoring Journalist of the Year in 1998 and the magazine industry association Publishers Australia Journalist of the Year in 2011. In addition he was contributing Editor of Wheels magazine and Motoring Editor for the Australian Financial review.​

Samantha began freelancing in the automotive sphere over 20 years ago; a career encompassing motoring journalism, marketing and press for motorsport events and teams, motorsport event management, and she continues to write and drive alongside a permanent role at Sydney Motorsport Park.

She is also an ambassador and judge in the Automotive and Transport division of the Australian Good Design awards, and has judged other hallmark events such as Wheels COTY, Motor’s PCOTY, Wheels Design and Young Designer Awards, and the World Car of the Year awards.

She is passionate about motoring and motorsport, and has two Australian Tarmac Rally Championship titles on the pool room wall. When not hitting track or tarmac, she loves getting offroad and is an avid off-grid camper.

She still owns her Mitsi Evo 6 RS rally car, a MkII Focus RS, and would rather not talk about her daily driver which is utterly practical and covered in kids’ detritus and paraphernalia

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

Patrick is an automotive journalist with nearly a decade’s experience across a range of online, print, and broadcast media titles, having road tested over 500 new and classic cars in that time.

After starting out with The Adelaide Hills Weekender Herald newspaper while still studying, he has since contributed to the likes of DriveTribe, Finder, Supercar Blondie, Exhaust Notes Australia, and WhichCar before joining the Retro Rides team. He also launched the car review website Drive Section in 2019 and automotive adventure site Essential Drives in 2024, and has experience in journalism education and academia.

Mark is Retro Rides’ international man of mystery. A passionate automotive journalist with a deep appreciation for classic design and engineering, he travels the world uncovering stories behind iconic vehicles. A historian at heart, Mark blends technical knowledge with storytelling, bringing the timeless allure of classic automobiles to life for his readers.