GREETINGS FROM COVID FREE (ALMOST) WA.

I am a reg ular reader (over 10 years) but t his is my f irst ‘letter to you.

Like many readers I t horoughly enjoy t he magazine and won’t complain about the reduced volume. It’s hard competing in t he current world of digita l media.

I appreciate t he older generations of motor cars (I have a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Sedan) and enjoy reading about ot her vehicles and t heir journeys to stay on t he road.

However, here it comes... on page 30 of issue #440, t here is a picture of t he engine bay of the Audi A6 45 TFSI.

Don’t get me wrong, the art icle itself is interesting and t he car is a lso... interesting. But, t he under-bonnet picture is not interesting.

Two struts, a hose, a washer bott le and a large lump of plastic. Okay t he LLP (large lump of plastic) has t he four rings Audi emblem but you get that on

the front and back views.

In my opinion opinion, and I’m going to make a huge leap here, and I would guess many others would join me, there is absolutely nothing of interest in that picture. It’s just a waste of space.

And yes, I feel the same way when I go to “classic” car shows and people have lifted the bonnets of their late model cars to proudly display the LLPs. Don’t bother. Keep the lid down and we’ll admire your plastic bumpered car from the outside.

That’s it. Rant over. Keep up the good work.

Jim Carr

ED: Thanks, Jim. You’ve picked up on my absolute pet hate with a lot of modern vehicles – particularly performance cars. If it accelerates like the proverbial missile, I want to see something dangerous under the bonnet. There should be pipes, strange looking mechanical beasts and possibly teeth. Otherwise I feel as though I’m not getting my money’s worth. Things will be different when you and I are running the world…

LAST PHASE?

I have noticed in your XD Phase 5 stor y (issue 440) t hat you say it was t he last of t he Phase Falcons.

I have t his road test in a Motor magazine from 1982 which shows a V H Group 3 SS being compared to the XE Phase HO and XE Phase 6 Fairmont Ghias.

The Phase 6 actua lly had a Doug Nash five-speed manual which was direct 1:1 rat io on f if t h.

Wayne Draper’s son (I believe) still has some of t he business up and running and has a red XE Phase 6 st yle car that Wayne had a hand in building prior to his passing from cancer a few years ago.

Jeff Sexton.

“THE PHASE 6 ACTUALLY HAD A DOUG NASH FIVE-SPEED MANUAL WHICH WAS DIRECT 1:1 RATIO ON FIFTH.”

ED: You raise a good point, Jeff. We went with the 5 as the last-of because of the racing connection, but the concept did kind of wander on for a while after that. In hindsight, we probably should have included mention of the 6. That said, we did an extensive interview with Rob Draper (Wayne’s son) as part of the story and mentioned his current connection with the cars along with his website at HOfalcons.com.