Latest from Retro Rides Originals
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Top Tips for Buying a Used Ford Falcon/Fairmont XA-XC (1972-79)
Ford Falcon XA-XC values have improved significantly, but these cars still don’t match the popularity of earlier XW-XY versions. Basic cars still don't generate enough money to justify high-value restorations and can often be stripped for any usable parts.
Rear View: Aston Martin DB5
The Aston Martin DB5 was built in tiny numbers compared to its contemporary British rival the Jaguar E-Type, but its enduring association with one of the most successful film franchises in history helped propel the luxury grand tourer coupe to cinematic and automotive immortality.
Celebrating 90 years of the Škoda Superb
The Škoda Superb may only be a relatively recent addition to the Australian automotive landscape, having first launched here in 2010, but 2025 marks 90 years since its debut in its homeland, then-Czechoslovakia.
Extraordinary Engines: Holden/HSV 215i 5.7-litre
How Holden Special Vehicles stretched the 5.0-litre V8 to 5.7-litres and created an Aussie performance icon. The first factory V8 fitted to a Holden was the imported 307 cubic inch Chevrolet small block that made its debut in the HK range in January 1968. Six months after the HK’s launch Holden debuted its first two-door coupe, the HK Monaro, with an imported 327 cubic inch V8 option on the top-s…
Opinion: Should You Convert Your Classic Cars to EV?
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.
Extraordinary Engines: Ford Barra Turbo
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.
Unicorn: 2002 HRT 427
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.
Top Five: Road Cars Peter Brock Built
Top Five: Road Cars Peter Brock Built
Extraordinary Engines: Why the Gen III V8 Engine was a performance hero
How the US-sourced Gen III V8 put a cracker under the bonnet of Holden’s mid-1999 VT2 Commodore. IN 2024, IT WILL BE 25 years since Holden unleashed its new all-alloy, 5.7-litre GM V8 onto the Australian market, immediately making the 5.0-litre V8 powering its arch-rival the Ford Falcon look old hat.
Top Tips for Buying a Used Chrysler VG Pacer
Chrysler’s budget-priced Pacer appeared in 1969 with bright colours, distinctive ‘Tombstone’ seats and a three-speed floor-shift. A year after the original VF model was launched came a restyled and more refined VG. This was the Adelaide-built car that Chrysler believed had the right combination of power, equipment and pricing to do battle with the rival Holden Torana and Ford Falcon V8.
Newly Classic - How Holden’s staunch EFI V8 received an extra serve of cubes for the 1994 VR HSV GTS
Holden’s EFI V8 received extra cubes for the 1994 VR HSV GTS For around a decade, GTS was the badge on Holden’s top-grade full-size sporting cars; first exclusively on the two-door HK Monaro and, from 1973 on two- and four-door HQ models.
Top 10: Ultimate Aussie Collector Cars
Market Analyst Cliff Chambers finds the key to the wishing well and with it a collection of Aussie-built performance machinery to make any enthusiast’s mouth water.
Extraordinary Engines: Holden's Iron Lion V8
The Iron Lion! How this mighty Australian-made V8 powered generations of high-performance Commodores and Statesmans. HOLDEN’S MID-1999 introduction of the alloy LS1/Gen III 5.7-litre V8 into the Commodore meant bye-byes for the Australian-made Holden V8. Dating back to 1969, the Holden V8 was available as a 253ci (4.2-litre) and 308ci (5.0-litre) and used thin-wall casting tech for relatively l…
