Ideas have to start somewhere. The idea for The Motorists started as many do, from enthusiasm. Enthusiasm for cars yes, but not just the metal.
Between us we have been driving and reading and learning, and then driving again for years. Certainly since we could drive, but then the passion started even earlier than that. The rite of passage of the small child, perhaps greater in our generation than in the current, is that exercising of a healthy imagination with toys. Toy cars, with which small children recreate things that they’ve seen, pretending that the object that they hold in their hand is a representation of what they could do with a real car. Simulating the noises of an engine and the screeching tyres, or the more peaceful method as we get older, of placing a toy or a model on a shelf and admiring it for its form, for its beauty or in some cases, simply because it is evocative.
The Motorists is a manifestation of all that.
Cars are a part of the moving environment and to some they’re simply a means of transport – but not to us. The car serves as a time-marker of technology and of styling. Trends that have passed, become resurgent or in some, rare cases – always been in vogue.
More than architecture, more than industrial design, car design is a discipline that resonates with broad scopes of people who’ve moved around through life and used their eyes.
Driving is our favourite pastime. So, with nothing academic to say about it all we can tell you is that getting out and driving is what we live for. Sometimes alone, and sometimes with other people. A destination is good, but not essential, because it’s the journey that we’re really, mainly concerned with. If that all sounds like a cliché you might be right, but there are cars that some people feel they’re “at one” with when they drive, others that leave you wondering “why”? We love discovering those.
When we came together to make The Motorists the world was slightly different, a little easier and we made films to get started with, on cars we are excited about. The world in 2020 has seen to it that we have had to adjourn from the full level of production that was scheduled, but there’s more to come – without question. We had planned to get a bit more “in the can” before we launched this site to you, but now that we are in lockdown once again in our home state of Victoria, we decided to bring it to you anyway for something to help pass the time, while we can’t get out and actually drive.
David Belford and Ben Musu.
Dave has been busy doing what he does best – restoration. Bringing all his experience of getting a car exactly right with not just the skill of the black arts that he carries, but with the experience that he has of how the car should work.
Whilst we are enthusiastic about classic cars, there’s an irony in it. It is that some of our enthusiasm stems from how the cars would’ve been regarded when new. When they came out, who bought them, how were they used, what else could the first owners have bought? We look at cars through these lenses all the time, asking the question of whether the common opinion of them is right. Are the ones that were regarded as “ahead of their time” actually? Are the flaws real or imagined? Did some of them really try to kill their owners?
With my work at the coal face of interaction with people who will help with the writing of future history, and Dave’s work in making realities of other people’s dreams in the metal, we occasionally have vastly different opinions. We would like to share those opinions (and the arguments), the adventures, the perspectives – with you.
We’re launching this now because we’re just plain enthusiastic! We have had fun making what we’ve made already, and we are very keen to make more. We hope you laugh and learn, and please do tell us if you disagree. We hope you enjoy and we’d love you to share.
Sincerely,
Ben Musu
on behalf of David Belford and The Motorists
