PETROL heads get revving!
This is a book that will have you salivating over triple carbies and flashy wheel rims, fantasasing over driving a throbbing Ford GT, or maybe remembering hot, steamy nights in the back of a Holden Sandman.
- Holden VS Ford: The cars, the culture, the competition, by Steve Bedwell. Rockpool Publishing, rrp $29.99
OK, so Aussie blokedom is pretty well defined by whether you're a Ford man or a Holden man. It used to be a defining characteristic in the school playground and public bars. It still is.
This book is just about everything a Holden or Ford man - or for that matter woman - wants.
Yes, there are statistics galore, some remarkable photographs to bring a tear to the eye over the bilious yellow Torana SLR 5000. There are units of sales for every car mentioned and a wallop of nostalgia as well.
Remember Allan Moffat and of course Brocky?
There are pictures of them in their glory, not to mention up-close and personal shots of the cars.
While there is enough high-octane technical discussion of cars here to satisfy just about any Holden or Ford buff, there is a lot of information about just how significant Holden and Ford have been to Australian culture broadly.
Some of the images of sheilas with big hair, draped over the bonnets of Ford's Super Roos, are amusing for their "suggestive" fully clothed, sex-sells '70s message.
In 1962, Miss Australia entrants were photographed by a Ford Falcon convertible while Holden's Sundowner had the signature surfie chicks.
The book is written by Bedwell, a radio personality, producer, recording artist and comedian.
So if you think that it really doesn't matter if the Holden VB is better than the Falcon XD, then you're wrong.
This book tells you why.
