Just as I laud the amount of carbon burning morsels of automotive heaven I have to applaud this doco. Our guilt is there for all to see yet we all act like ostriches and carry on regardless.

Melbourne Metal

A move to Melbourne is definitely recommended for anyone who is into a bit of retro automania.

Dotted on nearly every street, you will find a piece of automotive history that will have you fixated, bringing back nostalgic memories of times past.

Whether it's 50's, 60's, 70' or 80's that's your thing, Melbourne can accommodate. Big block Yankee and Aussie rides abound. You soon grow an appreciation of the local rides as well though the amount of 4.0 litre + barges still astounds me. No wonder Aussies are the biggest polluters by capita ...anywhere.

The massive wave of Italian immigration after WWII brought with it a desire for cars from home so there's some spanking Alfas and Fiats around. But of course every one of the new immigrants marked their prosperity with a Merc and man oh man, are there plenty of them on show. From 50's 220S Cabriolets to massive LWB W116's and sublime W123 CE's, there's loads about.

And for this new lad from England who watched on as 70's & 80's Japanese metal withered away and all but disappeared on Britain's roads (damn salt) with no appreciation of their asthetics until years later, Melbourne is, while maybe not up there with downtown Tokyo, it does a good job. Not in modded examples, simply the sheer amount of unfettled metal ready to be played with. Often one owner from new. 'Rolla's and the like, cars I once never even gave a second glance, are now greeted with a grin. Like when you meet a corker of a girl in a bar and discover within two minutes that she was the exceedingly plain girl at school who never got a look in with anyone.

If you like the picture above, located here...

http://s1124.photobucket.com/albums/l569/david_barrett1/

...are a few albums of the retro metal found here in Melbourne.

For pistonheads and appreciators of modish automotive art