ASHER KEDDIE CLASSIC SHOWS

Gold Logie winner Asher Keddie has always had a thing for classic cars. At first it was her dad’s racing green MG — “a pretty cool car, although it did break down a little” — then the 1970s “beautiful off-white” Mercedes-Benz that followed.

“If it was still around now it would probably be worth a mint,” she says.

But when it came time to buy her own car, limited by an in-and-out-of-work actor’s pay packet, she opted for a red Subaru Impreza sport wagon, then a Honda Civic hatchback.

The star of acclaimed Aussie series Offspring says she’s always enjoyed her time behind the wheel no matter what she’s driving, clocking up kilometres between Melbourne and her family’s Victorian country retreat.

“I love driving and the enjoyment of an open road,” she says.

“It’s so nice to drive those long distances. If I’m going home from work, I’ll often drive in silence with the sound of the car and nothing else. I’ll turn off the music and it’s my down time.

“Then by the time I get home I feel like I’ve debriefed.”

Country drives are a chance to unwind but the rat race can be a different thing entirely. “I think I’m pretty good driving in traffic. It doesn’t really bother me unless I’m late,” she says.

“Even then, there’s nothing you can do so I’m not one of those people who is forever changing lanes or trying to find a short cut. It’s too stressful. I usually just sit it out.”

Unfortunately, not everyone shares her laid-back attitude behind the wheel. “I don’t like tailgating. I get cross about that,” she says.

And if she’s overtaking on the highway, she hates having someone sitting on her rear bumper while she does it.

“It’s like they’re trying to make you speed. It doesn’t work with me. I don’t get rattled by it,” she says.

Keddie recently took possession of the new Alfa Romeo Stelvio SUV in a sponsorship deal.

Her husband, Archibald Prize-winning artist Vincent Fantauzzo, is also an Alfa ambassador, driving the slightly sportier Giulia sedan.

Fantauzzo, a renowned portrait artist who counts F1 great Sir Jackie Stewart among his muses, likes the Italian bloodlines and performance of the Giulia but Keddie enjoys the extra space and the gadgets in her Stelvio. “There’s no doubting Vincent is into the performance … I very much like my touchscreen,” she says.

As for a dream car, she’s content with the Alfa for now. “I feel like the Stelvio is a really good fit for me. It has the space I need but it’s sporty and, being Italian, it has so much character,” she says. But if money were no object, she’d go buy a vintage Porsche 911.