Keith Didham

Keith Didham, Tasmanian jokes aside, wears two hats.

He's the Motoring Editor for Tasmania's Mercury and Sunday Tasmanian newspapers as well as the Mercury's Features Editor.

Admits to once (briefly) owning a bright yellow Morris Marina, a Kermit green 1958 Kombi and a dead Renault which was turned into a veggie glass house in the back garden with a healthy crop of spuds growing in the boot.

Old enough to remember trafficators, column shifts and a floor mounted highbeam switch.

Has been road testing cars for 22 years, owns a cabin cruiser, enjoys sailing, fishing and has a passion for wine.

Neil Dowling

Apparently Neil Dowling's first word was "car" and his first driving experience at age three was behind the slender steel-spoked steering wheel of a Rugby.

Nothing has improved except possibly the value of the long-lost Rugby. He can't believe it was 31 years ago he first stated writing about cars and that his dumbfounded neighbour - "you say they PAY you to drive cars?" - was stunned with the Subaru Brumby in his driveway. It was a state-of-the-art cross-over vehicle of 1977 that still produces requests to Subaru today.

He studied and reported on finance and business and the reason he gave up that side of journalism, can be summarised in one word: Porsche.

Paul Gover

After 30 years on the motoring beat, Paul Gover has seen and done it all. Usually more than just once.

But cars and the motor industry are still his driving passion.

Gover has raced and rallied in Australia and overseas, rides motorcycles for fun, and gets just as much of a challenge from assessing a $13,990 Hyundai as a $1.4 million Rolls-Royce.

He knows people make a big commitment when they go car shopping, and he believes they should be able to rely on the best-informed advice from the motoring media.

But he also thinks motoring should be fun -- something he remembers every time he turns the key on his rusty old 1986 Subaru Brumby ute.

Kevin Hepworth

It was a singular talent at picking some of the most perverse, impractical and thoroughly loveable cars driven mostly by a lack of budget and an immediate need for wheels which set Kevin Hepworth on a path that would ultimately lead to a role in motoring journalism.

Learn on an EH station wagon, buy a 1962 Beetle, progress to an Austin 1800 and then fall madly in love with a 1968 MGB. Add a Triumph 2000 Mk I before a Mazda Capella, a Nissan Stanza (still ashamed of that one), another MGB (1972 this time) then a 404 Wagon, a Holden Sunbird (even more ashamed), EL Falcon and Pajero.

Mark Hinchliffe

Women's stockings, a bottle of water and some coat hanger wire were the first tools of the trade for Mark Hinchliffe, motoring editor of The Courier-Mail in Brisbane for the past six years.

These were essential items for any motoring venture in his first car, a 1957 Morris Major Elite with the only modification being a Capilano honey cap replacing the fuel cap which had a habit of falling off.

Since then there have been many more cars, even more motorcycles, far too many crashes and a couple of classic races in Mark's 30-odd year motoring and journalist careers.

Neil McDonald

A 2.0-litre RS2000 Escort and too many weekends spent at the original Hume Weir Racetrack near Albury forged Neil McDonald's early interest in cars, driving and the industry.

The freedom of a racetrack taught him respect for getting into, and out of, potentially hazardous situations and also saw him become an advanced and defensive driving instructor for a brief period.

With more than 12 years at the coalface of the motoring industry, both reporting and road testing, he's now looking to find a car that provides the same thrills as his original RS2000 Escort.

Stuart Martin

Tearing around his grandfather's apple orchard and delivering pizzas in the Adelaide Hills has proved to be a worthwhile training ground after all.

Adelaide native Stuart Martin has owned everything from a 1974 Jeep ragtop to an early Celica - complete with vinyl roof - that soldiered on through a frantic "30 minutes or die" pizza delivery career.

Passionate about anything with wheels and an engine, Martin is young enough to cope with hybrid technology and old enough to remember carburettors; he's happy behind the wheel - of anything from a Suzuki Swift to an M3 - and preferably with a bit of opposite lock on.

Karla Pincott

Her first glimpse of Merc 450 SLC parked outside her school rendered Karla Pincott speechless in the 70s.

She's never stopped wanting to own one, but in the meantime has consoled herself with a range of temperamental machinery, starting with a BSA Bantam as an early introduction to the idea that vehicles can often have personality or reliability - but rarely both.

In several years of motoring journalism, most recently as carsguide's online editor, no assemblage of machinery - new or old - has ever disproved that theory.