The inaugural ‘Motors and Masterpieces’ show, formerly known as ‘Motor Classica’ for many years, was held in Melbourne in November and as has been the case in previous years, the quality and variety of cars on display was amazing.

The three-day automotive festival, saw vehicles split into ten categories, each focusing on a specific period, subject matter, or geographical origin, and showcasing the distinct styling and engineering prowess of generations of motoring evolution.

In the Swinging London category, a sparkling 1963 Bentley Continental Flying Spur was top of the pops, while a 1971 Ferrari Dino 246 GT was the toast of La Dolce Vita category that featured the best of post-war Italian motoring.

An immaculate 1970 Mercedes Benz 280SL beat the best representatives from mainland Europe in the Continental Classics, while an immense 1956 Lincoln Continental Mark II won the best of breed in the California Dreaming division, and an eye-catching 1971 Toyota Celica GT claimed the Tokyo Lights class.

Australia’s finest featured in the Great Southern Land category, with a 1971 Ford Falcon XY GT taking the honours, a magnificent 1924 Bentley 4 ½ Litre Vanden Plas Tourer won The Golden Age of pioneering vehicles, and the High Society field winner was a spotless 1931 Delage D8S.

In the Monaco Glitz division for modern supercars, a 2004 TVR Tuscan Speed Six S Mk I was judged top of the class, and in Chequered Flag, which celebrated motorsport breeds, the winner was a 1968 Brabham BT23E.

Motorcycles were also well represented, with category winners including a 1972 MV Agusta 750S, a 1973 Laverda 750 SF2, a 1934 Indian Chief, a 1972 Norton Commando, and a 1975 Benelli 750 SEI.

One of my personal favourites of the show was a 2020 McLaren Speedtail which I’d read about but had never seen in the flesh and I like most at the show were very impressed.

With only 106 cars built world-wide and released in 2020 for a reported sale price of £2.1 ($4.22 million Aust), the Speedtail is powered by a twin turbo V8 combined with a hybrid power train that accelerates from 0-100kph in just on 3 seconds while maxing out around 403 kph.

Apart from the impressive mechanical details and it’s teardrop shape to reduce air drag over the car and optimise performance, the Speedtail is fitted with ‘electrochromic glass, which darkens at the push of a button, eliminating the need for sun visors, and doesn’t have door mirrors, instead using HD cameras mounted on the front guards that pop out when the ignition is turned on and retract inside when the “Velocity mode” is activated.

Like the preceding McLaren F1 road car, the Speedtail has a 3-seat layout, with the driver sitting at the centre, slightly forward of the two passenger seats and it features “Titanium Deposition Carbon Fibre”, which is when “a micron-thin layer of titanium is fused directly onto the weave and becomes an integral part of the carbon fibre’s construction.”

Having grown up in the Muscle car era of the 1970’s, I have great memories of the Ford GT’s, Valiant Chargers and Holden Torana’s battling it out on racetracks around the country and in particular at Bathurst, so consequently this immaculate Torana SLR 5000 certainly got my attention.

At a time when the Australian car industry lived by the adage that if a car won racing on a Sunday, it sold on Mondays and with this in mind, in 1977, the Holden LX Torana series developed a limited-build high-performance option aimed at winning in the Australian Touring Car Championship and in particular at the annual Bathurst 1000. The ‘A9X Option’ was available on the 5.0-litre V8-powered SLR 5000 sedan and SS hatchback models proved dominant during the 1978 and 1979 seasons of touring-car racing in Australia.

Drivers Peter Brock and Bob Morris won the 1978 and 1979 Australian Touring Car Championships in an A9X, while Peter Brock and Jim Richards won the 1978 and 1979 Bathurst 1000s. In fact, in 1979, Brock and Richards won the Bathurst race by a record six laps, with Brock setting the touring-car lap record on the last lap of the race.

Whilst talking of Australian racing, sitting in the carpark display at the Motors and Masterpieces was what I believe was one of this country’s greatest motor racing stories, the Fred Gibson prepared Nissan R32 GT-R, a car that I really love.

In 1991 and 92, the Nissan R32 GT-R, nicknamed ‘Godzilla’ and run by Fred Gibson Motorsport as the Nissan Factory Team with primarily Mark Skaife and Jim Richards behind the wheel dominated the Australian circuit racing scene, winning both the Australian Touring Car Championship and Bathurst 1000 for both years.

But it was the GT-R’s last race and win at the 1992 Bathurst that I love the most.

On lap 143 of the scheduled 161 laps, whilst Jim Richards was leading the race and running on slick dry weather tyres, a sudden downpour at the top of the mountain caught him and many other drivers out. Jim’s GT-R aquaplaned and hit the wall on the exit to Forest Elbow along with other drivers causing a multi car pile up which initiated a red flag and termination of the race.

Although the Ford Sierra of Dick Johnson and John Bowe managed to safely get through the carnage, pass the GT-R and cross the finish line before the race was stopped, the rules state that the final results of red-flagged races are decided on the places the cars held prior to the lap when the red flag came out, consequently the GT-R was declared the winner – and it’s probably fair to say that most Ford fans weren’t impressed.

And that was the year at the podium presentation to a very vocal, angry crowd of Ford fans, Jim Richards said these words that are now etched into Australian motor racing folk law:

 “I can’t believe the reception. I thought Australian race fans had a lot more to go than this. This is bloody disgraceful. I’ll keep racing but I tell you what, this is going to remain with me for a long time – you’re a pack of arseholes!”

Go Jim and long live the memory of the Nissan R32 GT-R.

Finally, the 1971 Ferrari Dino 246 GT that won the La Dolce Vita category that featured the best of post-war Italian motoring was the car that made me gasp and many car lover just stood and ogled at its beauty.

One of only 71 Ferrari Dino’s to be delivered new to Australia, Chassis #01586 with its amazing colour – Verde Germoglio, of which only 69 of the total production runs of 3,569 Dino 246 GT and GTS models were finished in and this is believed to be the only Australian delivered one, makes this little Dino a very special car.

A two-owner car from new with the current ownership stretching almost 50 years and a genuine 18,953 miles on the clock made the restoration of this car one of Concours Sportscar Restorations most comprehensive and extensive restoration to date.

In 1980, the second owner, a Sydney engineer decided to take the car off the road to overhaul the engine and mechanicals and almost completely dismantle it.  He basically tinkered with various mechanical components over the next 30 years but made no real progress on the restoration. Sadly in late 2016 he became seriously ill, and the Dino remained in parts until 2018 when Concours Sportscar Restorations was given the task of restoring this unique car back to its former glory.

Almost 6 years later, chassis #01586 was completed and the 71 Dino was debuted at the Sydney Harbour Concours d’elegance winning its hotly contested class. Now with its recent Motors and Masterpieces win the car has just been sold to its third owner and if you’re lucky you may see it travelling the roads around the Yarra Valley in Melbourne. You certainly won’t miss it.

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