During my almost 40 years of working with, and around cars, I have been fortunate to forge strong bonds of friendship with
some great people, both in Australia and around the world.
My career as an automotive journalist began
with a few years of freelance writing, then I joined MODERN MOTOR magazine as
assistant editor, becoming the Editor in the early 70s. In that time my special
group of friends included some of the ‘giants’ of Australian automotive
journalism.
After I joined the car industry in 1977 I
ensured that I maintained those strong links with this special group of
friends, and in 1984 we arranged to all meet together above the offices of
British CAR magazine, in Earl’s Court, London.
Recently trawling through my photo archives
I came across a photograph celebrating the meeting on October 15,1984.
Fortunately we have only lost two of our group.
Left to right, the group includes:
PETER
ROBINSON – A legendary journalist who is a lifelong
car enthusiast, expert on automotive developments, and for 17 years was the
Editor of Australia’s finest monthly motor magazine, WHEELS. Between 1987 and
2005 he lived near Milan, Italy, and was the European Editor for AUTOCAR, and
WHEELS. He then returned to Australia to author a book, also writing a column
for WHEELS, and he retired in 2014.
GAVIN
GREEN – Gavin is the son of another famous Aussie
automotive journalist, and television commentator, Evan Green. Gavin’s
automotive journalism career began when I gave him his first writing assignment
for MODERN MOTOR in 1975. He moved to Britain in 1981 as a freelance writer,
becoming Deputy Editor at CAR in 1984, then Editor of CAR from 1987 until 1992.
Between 1992 and 2002 he was PR Director for Ford of Britain, and then Land Rover. In
2002, he was appointed Head of Automotive Editorial at Redwood Publishing. He
now contributes to CAR and British Airways' Inflight magazine.
DAVID
ROBERTSON – Sadly, we lost Scots-born Davy in a
jetski accident in 1993. He emigrated from Scotland to Australia with his Scots
wife Jean, and joined the Sydney Morning Herald daily newspaper, becoming its
automotive editor. After which he wrote for WHEELS and THE BULLETIN. At the
time of his passing he was Editor of MODERN MOTOR. He was a fine writer with a
highly respected volume of work.
PHIL
SCOTT – Phil’s career included a long period
working in the Australian car industry for Australia’s biggest and most
successful car importer at the time. He joined the Sydney Morning Herald
newspaper, later becoming a feature writer for the Sunday Sun-Herald. He later
became editor of WHEELS magazine between 1987 and 1995. He was then appointed
auto editor for the Sydney Morning Herald, a job he held until 1999, when he
was appointed Managing Editor of the newspaper. In 2002 he became Publisher of Mens and Specialist Magazines, then in 2010 was appointed Managing
Director of the whole of shebang, of the late Kerry Packer's magazine empire, ACP Magazines. ACP Magazines is the publisher of WHEELS, and more than 50 other
magazine titles.
STEVE
CROPLEY – Born a long way west of Sydney, in Broken
Hill, and moved to Sydney in 1973 to join WHEELS, and SPORTS CAR WORLD. In 1978 he moved to Britain
to join the staff of CAR magazine, becoming the Editor from 1981-1988. He then
moved to Haymarket Publishing in 1991, the publishers of AUTOCAR and WHAT CAR?.
Steve is now Editor-in-Chief of Haymarket’s flagship automotive titles.
MEL
NICHOLS – Mel began his career on a small newspaper
in northern Tasmania. In 1970 he moved to Sydney, as Deputy Editor of WHEELS.
Then he edited SPORTS CAR WORLD from 1972-73, until he departed to the UK to
freelance. He joined CAR magazine as Editor from 1974-1981. He ran a contract
publishing house from 1981-85, started REVIEW, an arts magazine in 1986, then in 1987 he joined Haymarket Publishing as Editorial Director of all Haymarket
Publishing Consumer Media, until 2009.
JOHN
CRAWFORD – Yours truly, smiling broadly because I
was so very pleased to be able to time a business trip to London with this
august gathering of my friends and peers, all of whom I admire greatly, and
value their friendship highly.
BILL
TUCKEY – Bill was the colossus of Australian automotive journalism. He was
Editor of WHEELS from 1963-1968, but throughout his life he mentored and
influenced generations of younger auto journalists who followed his path. Bill
joined ad agency George Patterson for a few years, and worked on the GM-Holden
account, keeping the flame of motor sport alive through the Holden Dealer
Racing Team. He was much more than a journalist, he was a writer. His words
were full of humour, insight, information and wisdom, and occasionally invective
if there were things about a car he thought were all wrong.
Tragically, he passed away from a stroke in
2016. Bill’s life and career was colorful, to say the least.
IAN
FRASER – Like many in this group, Ian wrote for
WHEELS magazine, eventually taking over as Editor of both WHEELS and SPORTS CAR
WORLD, before moving to Britain in 1970, and in company with partners acquired CAR
magazine for £5000 in 1974. He continued as Managing Director until 1989, when
the magazine was sold to Rupert Murdoch. He is retired and now lives in Garboldisham,
Norfolk.
To a
large degree, the writing style of all the men in this photo was inspired by
Bill Tuckey. All of them, with the exception of David Robertson and myself,
went on to then influence generations of budding automotive writers, from their
editorship of, and contributions to CAR magazine.
They had a kindred spirit in
one of America’s finest automotive writers, David E. Davis, Jnr., who had been
Editor of CAR AND DRIVER, and later went on to establish AUTOMOBILE magazine,
adopting the editorial approach of CAR.
 |
| I had the good fortune to also be close friends with David E. Davis, Jnr here photographed by me in Scotland at the launch of the Bentley Continental GT. |
David E had separately, but
concurrently developed an almost classic literary approach to car journalism
similar to CAR, which set a high standard in the USA
CAR
owes its irreverent, cheeky and sharp writing style to another Aussie, the
Founding Editor, Douglas Blain. Blain took over from George Bishop as Editor of
Britain’s SMALL CAR magazine in 1963, before changing its name to CAR in 1965;
and eventually opened its doors to most of the men in my photo.
Douglas
(another Tasmanian) had been hired at 20 by Ian Fraser, then Editor of WHEELS
and SPORTS CAR WORLD, because of his maverick, but mature writing style. Consequently, it was Doug
Blain, who later convinced his former editor, Fraser, to join him in London in 1970, to
advance the standards and style of CAR.
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