My daughter's first car...

[Milaca]

That's a beautiful daughter you have there Matt and she looks like a natural in your Studebaker. Does she have any plans for customizing the Lark to personalize it? Maybe some purple flames on the front?

[avantilover]

No V8's until age 25.

[JimC]

No V8's until age 25.

Okay, I totally respect and love Australia. If I were ever exiled from the US, it's the first place I'd pick to move to. In addition, I do think that placing certain restrictions on young drivers keeps them (and those around them) safer.

That being said, a blanket "no V8's" rule is about the... least intelligent idea I've ever heard of. I mean, for starters, as has been said, there are piles of modern 4 and 6 cyl. cars that can match or outperform my V8 powered lark. On top of that, While yes, an engine is important, the rest of the drivetrain also needs to be considered. If you mated the V6 in my minivan to a decent transmission and a rear differential with a high enough gear ratio, you could get enough speed to the wheels to make it scary fast. Why not make the rule that you can't exceed a certain horsepower instead? Have the cars dyno'ed by a certified shop, and boom - you've got a standard number that measures the car's true performance. But as it sits, that law sorta discriminates against old steel.

[1962larksedan]

Okay, I totally respect and love Australia. If I were ever exiled from the US, it's the first place I'd pick to move to. In addition, I do think that placing certain restrictions on young drivers keeps them (and those around them) safer.

That being said, a blanket "no V8's" rule is about the... least intelligent idea I've ever heard of. I mean, for starters, as has been said, there are piles of modern 4 and 6 cyl. cars that can match or outperform my V8 powered lark. On top of that, While yes, an engine is important, the rest of the drivetrain also needs to be considered. If you mated the V6 in my minivan to a decent transmission and a rear differential with a high enough gear ratio, you could get enough speed to the wheels to make it scary fast. Why not make the rule that you can't exceed a certain horsepower instead? Have the cars dyno'ed by a certified shop, and boom - you've got a standard number that measures the car's true performance. But as it sits, that law sorta discriminates against old steel.

No joke there. Quite a few V6 powered modern cars can exceed 140 MPH.

[kmac530]

So I can put my 16 year old daughter in a 6 cylinder Turbo Carrera but not my Chevy 1/2 ton truck?

I get the concept of the law but the function seems to have missed something here.

BTW my 18 y/o daughter loves that Lark and your daughters style.

[1962larksedan]

So I can put my 16 year old daughter in a 6 cylinder Turbo Carrera but not my Chevy 1/2 ton truck?

I get the concept of the law but the function seems to have missed something here.

BTW my 18 y/o daughter loves that Lark and your daughters style.

Porsche 917 would be OK as well...............

[JimC]

I wonder how they police this? Is it based on vehicle registrations? I was at a cruise last week where someone had taken a little Mazda and transplanted a Corvette V8 into it. If the hood is shut, there's no way to know that its not the original 4 banger (or maybe a v6) under the hood. Like I said, there are way better metrics than number of cylinders. A horsepower to weight ratio would be a much better determining factor.

[avantilover]

I think the Police could pull someone over and check their licence, then if a V8 trouble. The intent was due to the idiots hooning around in today's powerful V8's but - as in all such worthy attemps - they go too far. I can't imagine wanting a new driver to drive the 650 horsepower Mustang.

Here is the link to the rules applying here in South Australia.

http://mylicence.sa.gov.au/p1_plater

[Aussie Hawk]

So I can put my 16 year old daughter in a 6 cylinder Turbo Carrera but not my Chevy 1/2 ton truck?

I get the concept of the law but the function seems to have missed something here.

BTW my 18 y/o daughter loves that Lark and your daughters style.

Yeah I know guys it just doesn't make any sense, but really, when did governments make sense ???
Here's another pic of my daughter Alexandra. She asked my buddy ,(the budding photographer), to take some pics with the Daytona, (Alley loves that car). When I saw them, as the father of a 15 yo, I was certainly taken aback, yeah she's beautiful, but looks 22 not 15..... And just loves the '40's - '50's style, I can't wait to see her in the Lark. (proud dad :-)

[packardHawk58]

Okay, I totally respect and love Australia. If I were ever exiled from the US, it's the first place I'd pick to move to. In addition, I do think that placing certain restrictions on young drivers keeps them (and those around them) safer.

That being said, a blanket "no V8's" rule is about the... least intelligent idea I've ever heard of. I mean, for starters, as has been said, there are piles of modern 4 and 6 cyl. cars that can match or outperform my V8 powered lark. On top of that, While yes, an engine is important, the rest of the drivetrain also needs to be considered. If you mated the V6 in my minivan to a decent transmission and a rear differential with a high enough gear ratio, you could get enough speed to the wheels to make it scary fast. Why not make the rule that you can't exceed a certain horsepower instead? Have the cars dyno'ed by a certified shop, and boom - you've got a standard number that measures the car's true performance. But as it sits, that law sorta discriminates against old steel.

Jim, we have the most policed country in the world, it sucks, its all about revenue. When I first drove over in the Us on your freeways i was sitting on the speedlimit on what we have to obey here (60mph) and I had old grannys passing me! I love coming over there and cranking up the renter to 70-80mph the traffic moves really well and you guys are far more forgiving drivers.

[hausdok]

Jim, we have the most policed country in the world, it sucks, its all about revenue. When I first drove over in the Us on your freeways i was sitting on the speedlimit on what we have to obey here (60mph) and I had old grannys passing me! I love coming over there and cranking up the renter to 70-80mph the traffic moves really well and you guys are far more forgiving drivers.

Oh, maybe that explains it.

I've watched a few episodes of Worlds Greatest Trucker and the Aussie in the group was getting really irritated when he was paired up with drivers from the US who he said were "speeding" all the time and who would nag him to put his foot down when he was driving because he was driving too slow. (Of course, one of the US guys he was paired up with yapped non-stop, acted like a backwoods oak and would have driven me insane; I don't know how he got through those episodes without knocking the guy out from under his dentures.)

[1962larksedan]

I think the Police could pull someone over and check their licence, then if a V8 trouble. The intent was due to the idiots hooning around in today's powerful V8's but - as in all such worthy attemps - they go too far. I can't imagine wanting a new driver to drive the 650 horsepower Mustang.

Here is the link to the rules applying here in South Australia.

http://mylicence.sa.gov.au/p1_plater

Weird. I looked at your link and I saw virtually no Hondas, Nissans or Toyotas but scads of Euro brand vehicles.

[michelle]

WOW, she's super cutie! That's so awesome that she's getting a car like that as her first set of wheels. She's a lucky kid!

[Scott]

If you put her picture on SDC recruiting brochures we'll see our membership triple and it'll be a lot of young men, too!

[avantilover]

We have plenty of Asian vehicles as well as European. Not too many American due to the LHD issue.