Articles by Michael Masin
Opinion
04/11/16
Most people will be familiar with BMC/British Leyland, the company that produced two revolutionary cars, the Mini and Range Rover, and countless dreadful ones. Well during the 60s and 70s they had a truly disastrous Australian operation, known mainly for the large P76 sedan. The advertising slogan for the Leyland P76 was ‘Anything But Average’. For most of Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia and its predecessor, BMC Australia’s history, average would have been an improvement.
Opinion
13/10/16
The last Ford Falcon rolled off the Broadmeadows production line on friday, ending 91 years Australian-built Fords. The Falcon enjoyed a 56 year production run making it the longest running automotive nameplate on an Australian car. Longevity and stints at the top of the sales charts in the 1980s and 90s mean that 3.8 million Falcons have been produced. The Falcon spans eight generations, has been offered in six body styles, seven if you include the Fairlane, held a world record and finished on the podium of the London to Sydney marathon.
Motorsport
29/08/16
If you saw the podium for last Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, you would have seen Mark Webber reluctantly drinking from fellow Aussie Daniel Ricciardo’s shoe. The origins of the shoey lie in 1800s Germany, and more recently it has been a tradition for a handful of Australians. However it was only in 2015 that it entered mainstream culture thanks to a series of Australian car and motorcycle racers. The Americans gave spraying champagne and international racing colours. Our cultural contribution to international motorsport is drinking from a sweaty boot.
Opinion
26/08/16
Two years ago today I became the owner of an FG Ford Falcon XR6. Australian readers will be familiar with these and so will many other people, but if you’re not a Falcon XR6 is essentially a 530i M Sport for Mondeo money. The XR6 has been the benchmark of the class it created since 1991, but what are they like to live with.
Motorsport
21/08/16
Because Supercars content will make up a large amount of my articles here, I thought it would be a good idea to write an introduction to the series for anyone unfamiliar with it.