My Other Wife is a Car

Confessions of a Car Tragic

John M Wright

Allen & Unwin 2009

Reviewer: Bob Estreich

John Wright is a true car tragic. He has owned 120 cars in 34 years. It’s not that he is indecisive, it’s just that he buys cars, drives them for a while, then sells them to buy something more interesting. This method is not always successful and among his cars were some that were quite tragic themselves. Even more tragically, he gave some of them names, and photographed the GT badge on one. His cars covered a wide spectrum of the vehicles available in Australia from his parents’ old Armstrong Siddeley Whitley (itself named after a tragic World War 2 bomber) to the Lexus.

“Have you ever seen a car that looked more beautiful on a tow truck?” (Jaguar XJ6)

For a long while he admitted to equating a car’s performance to its top speed and 0-60kmh times. As the cars got faster he discovered that there was more to a good car than speed – such trivial matters as whether it would go around corners became more critical. He has had more than a passing love affair with Alfas, Fiats and BMWs. He also became acquainted with more tragic cars such as the Polish export near-Fiat-copy.

“A car for freeways and boulevardes, it was not afflicted by any hint of sophistication” (The first Holden Monaro)

In his time he has reviewed cars for motoring magazines, raced them in the Targa Tasmania and at Bathurst and in his younger days he was apparently quite a street racer. He has also done his time as a car salesman, both new and used, and he unrepentantly tells of the tricks dealers use to sell a car at any price.

“They’re lying, cheating bastards” (said by car salesmen of their customers)

John is honest and even enthusiastic about the cars he has loved, but he is honest about the not-so-popular ones as well. He has owned quite a few of these including the legendary Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III (killed by rust and fuel prices) and the Series III Jaguar (boils readily, “designed from new to rust around the front and rear screens”)

“I like to joke about the Rangey (Rover) that it will take you places other vehicles won’t go, but will not necessarily bring you back”

The book is a great, lighthearted look at Australian motoring over the years. Among the rubbish cars that were foisted on Australians there were still the odd gems, and John Wright seems to have owned them all at some time. The book is a great nostalgia trip for us old farts (sorry, more mature drivers) and even for the families who had to put up with our obsessions.

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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.5 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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