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ben selby

Luxury by design

15 January, 2026

How do you define luxury? To some it is being blinded with all manner of technological wizardry, from massaging heated seats to being able to activate everything with your voice, be it the driver’s side window or the next track on Spotify. To others, the most exorbitant price tag will dictate how luxurious a car is.
For me, true automotive luxury comes from being transported in unparalleled comfort, refinement, and smoothness of power under complete control. Forget millions of technological toys; if one can be transported here and there without the sensation of moving at all, that is luxury — something that is perfectly encapsulated by the original Lexus LS400. It was the first truly global luxury car from Toyota, and one that made the big luxury brands take notice.

Spicy Italian

21 August, 2025

When it comes to discussing automotive brands with the habit of getting under your skin, the words Alfa Romeo will be among the first uttered. Alfa enthusiasts, or Alfisti to use the correct term, are some of the most passionate car enthusiasts around. They resonate with the brand’s rare talent for building cars with characterful engines, engaging handling, and beautiful lines at much less than exotic prices. This passion for Alfa’s vast automotive portfolio is only heightened when you mention the letters GTA.
An Alfa with a GTA badge has always been a very special thing. Standing for Gran Turismo Alleggerita, or Lightened Grand Tourer, it is always reserved for the models in Alfa’s range that champion power, light weight, and race car-like dynamics over just about everything else. From the early Series 105 Giulia GTA touring cars, to the latest limited run hardcore GTA rendition of the current Giulia Quadrifoglio saloon, it’s a nameplate with plenty of heritage.

Westside story

25 October, 2024

For the young Dave Blyth, the Sandman was always the coolest car and he finally got one when he was 50. “I have always had a rule. When you turn 50, you buy or can afford to buy the car you lusted after when you were 20. I was 20 in 1979 and the HZ Sandman came out in 1978. It was the coolest of the cool — I just wanted one,” he says. “Back then a Sandman cost $4500 new and a house was worth about $20,000. I made about $30 a week so it was an impossible dream then.”
Dave was heavily influenced by the panel van culture of the time. “I started with an Escort panel van and upgraded to a Holden HD panel van with a 186ci six cylinder. I started a van club, Avon City Vans.

Ford of Europe’s Aussie Six

12 September, 2022

Ford of Australia made the ultimate cruising Cortina but it tempted few of Ford’s Australian customers away from the big basic Falcon. By Ben Selby, photography by Kallum Harris Photography