Articles by Iain Kelly

Iain Kelly
Contributing Journalist

A love of classic American and European cars drove Iain Kelly to motoring journalism straight out of high school, via the ownership of a tired 1975 HJ Holden Monaro. 

For nearly 20 years he has worked on magazines and websites catering to modified late model high-performance Japanese and European tuner cars, as well as traditional hot rods, muscle cars and street machines. Some of these titles include Auto Salon, LSX Tuner, MOTOR, Forged, Freestyle Rides, Roadkill, SPEED, and Street Machine. He counts his trip to the USA to help build Mighty Car Mods’ “Subarute” along with co-authoring their recent book, The Cars of Mighty Car Mods, among his career highlights. 

Iain lends his expertise to CarsGuide for a variety of advice projects, along with legitimising his automotive obsession with regular OverSteer contributions.

Although his practical skills working on cars is nearly all self-taught, he still loves nothing more than spending quality time in the shed working on his project car, a 1964 Pontiac. He also admits to also having an addiction to E30 BMWs and Subaru Liberty RS Turbos, both of which he has had multiple examples of. With car choices like that, at least his mum thinks he is cool.

This Kingswood ute has a twin-turbo V10 Viper heart
By Iain Kelly · 25 Sep 2017
The fellas from the Castlemaine Rod Shop are renowned for building wild cars, but maybe they have gone over the top this time.
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The freaks of Hot Rod Drag Week 2017
By Iain Kelly · 15 Sep 2017
Every year Hot Rod Magazine's Drag Week serves up amazing feats of daring and mechanical engineering.
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The seven Aussies invading Hot Rod Drag Week 2017
By Iain Kelly · 15 Sep 2017
Drag Week 2017 has once again brought teams from all over the world, including England, Finland, Sweden, and Australia!
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Is Hot Rod magazine's Drag Week the greatest feat of racing endurance?
By Iain Kelly · 12 Sep 2017
Drag racing appears on the face of it to be the polar opposite of an endurance event, given most sanctioned races last between 10 and three seconds.
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Barn-find 930 Turbo Porsche is more "outlaw" than you think!
By Iain Kelly · 11 Sep 2017
While he is probably best known for building wild outlaw custom motorcycles, and being that guy who cheated on Sandra Bullock, Jesse James is also a passionate fan of cars old and new.
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Would take a chance on this '69 V12 Ferrari?
By Iain Kelly · 08 Sep 2017
You'd better be ready for a lot of work, and have a boad-load of cash.
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You could have a house on Sydney's waterfront OR this numberplate
By Iain Kelly · 01 Sep 2017
We’re used to seeing people spend ridiculous money on cars, but this is next level.
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This AMC Hornet is up for auction, but there's a twist
By Iain Kelly · 28 Aug 2017
​James Bond's cars are among the most well-known in pop culture thanks to some truly epic car chases.
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This barn-find Ferrari Daytona is the only one of its kind ever made
By Iain Kelly · 25 Aug 2017
Ferrari's 365 GTB/4 "Daytona" was their last front-engined V12 supercar for decades and it was a highly collectable beast. But while they were rare, and the five alloy-bodied race versions even rarer.
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Steve McQueen's Le Mans monster becomes the most expensive Porsche in the world!
By Iain Kelly · 23 Aug 2017
A ferocious 1970 917K racing car formerly owned by Hollywood megastar Steve McQueen and F1 racing legend Jo Siffert has become the most expensive Porsche sold.
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