“If you can't find a car out there that you like, go back to dressmaking...” – Phil Walker

Time to settle the age-old question: What is Australia’s Greatest Car? Have you ever woken to the feeling that a flock of Wild Turkeys were trying to kick their way to freedom through your eyeballs, mates strewn across the living room floor and your ancient motoring magazines littering the coffee table?

Late-night debates over which Aussie car is the greatest of all time can do that kind of thing. If not, you can save yourself the hangover because the Unique Cars crew have got together – with a little less refreshment but still plenty of vigorous debate – and done the work needed to settle all the arguments. Or, perhaps, start a whole new round of new ones.

Australia during the past several decades has produced dozens of cars that rate as ‘significant’. But how do you choose between models that are merely memorable and the few that have achieved true greatness? To accomplish this feat, six of our most knowledgeable staff and contributors gathered in Melbourne to set the ground rules and draw up a short list of 10 contenders.

We then travelled to the Eastern Creek race circuit west of Sydney to poke, prod and experience top examples of each chosen model. Setting the ground rules was probably the hardest task. Because cars of different ages and capabilities all needed to be given equal opportunities to demonstrate their worth, the judging criteria covered a range of attributes including design advancement, motor sporting achievement and affordability (see box).

To qualify, the selected models had to be manufactured and to a degree designed here. They needed to be a genuine production model, available to the public when new, so cars like the GTHO Phase IV Falcon and Leyland Force 7 were excluded from the outset. No fear was permitted or favours granted. We hope that friends of the 10 models that came closest to making the final cut will understand our reasons for their cars’ exclusion (see breakout box: one’s that missed out). Here is what we couldn’t bring you in the pages of the magazine: video of the owners and their cars. Enjoy…