100 NOT OUT

COMPARED WITH THE EARLY-1960S, THERE ARE NOW AROUND SEVEN TIMES AS MANY VEHICLES COMPETING FOR SPACE ON AUSTRALIA'S ROADS. SO, NO SURPRISE, SOME STUFF HAD TO CHANGE ...

- ROB BLACKBOURN - NUMBERS MAN

YES EDDIE, you're so right! That's what we used to do! - was my immediate reaction to reading a blast-from-the-past observation by Eddie Ford early this year in his Restored Cars magazine.

Eddie was recounting the time when as a teenage petrol-head he got the chance to be alone behind the wheel of his father's new farm ute. Their old 1940 Ford ute had made way for a then-new 1956 Ford Mainline.

What's a boy to do but investigate what difference Y-block OHV V8 power makes to a Ford ute's performance? After some satisfying fishtailing action on the dirt road leading from the farm to the nearby rural highway, Eddie swung the Ford on to the bitumen and let 'er rip. On a slight downhill run with his boot buried in the mat, the Ford's stylish 'bubble' speedo maxed out at a bloke-pleasing 97 miles-per-hour (156km/h).