We’re throwing it back to September 2023 for a seriously revved-up episode featuring Bernie Quinn, the engineering brain behind Premcar—the Aussie powerhouse behind some of the most exciting performance projects on (and off) the road.From the Nissan Navara Warrior to hush-hush auto collaborations, Bernie shares stories from inside the garages of Toyota, Ford, FPV, and beyond—before co-founding Premcar and helping redefine Aussie performance engineering.We talk shop, future tech, wild rides, and what really goes on behind the scenes of car development. There’s even a sneak peek into Bernie’s personal garage.Brought to you by Famous Insurance, because we know how to spot a car worth covering—and a story worth telling.Buckle up with Glenn Ridge for another Famous chat. 👀🎙️
We are throwing back to 2020 when Glenn sat down with Melbourne’s king of classic motorcycles—Johnny Gee. Collector, storyteller, café owner and the force behind Naked Racer Moto Co, Johnny’s been keeping Australia’s motorcycle heritage alive (and roaring) for over 30 years.From a garage full of rare Indians to a bar full of bike lovers, Johnny’s built more than just a business—he’s built a motorcycling institution. With over 250 classic machines under one roof, a buzzing café, workshop, and an atmosphere that smells like espresso and engine oil, Naked Racer is part museum, part local legend.We talk wild stories from Johnny’s time buying vintage bikes across the US, the history behind his favorite two-wheelers, and what it takes to run one of the most iconic moto spaces in the country.Powered by Famous Insurance—because bikes like these aren’t just machines, they’re memories worth protecting.Pull up a stool, order a long black, and enjoy the ride. 🏍️☕🎧
This episode with Glenn Ridge features a name synonymous with Australian rallying—Dean Herridge.With rallying quite literally in his blood, Dean grew up in the co-driver seat of life. Son of dual Australian Rally Champion Rob Herridge, Dean carved his own path across gravel, tarmac, off-road stages, and circuits around the world. From Bathurst to the FIA Pacific Cup, and the Sunraysia Safari, Dean has done it all—with the trophies to prove it.We dive into the moments that shaped his career—from family influences to mental strategies behind race prep, life as a Subaru works driver, and his continued involvement in motorsport through Maximum Motorsport. There’s go-karting, fatherhood, and a rally-driving masterclass thrown in too (yes, from the passenger seat).Brought to you by Famous Insurance, because legends like Dean—and the machines they drive—deserve to be protected.Start your engines. Or don’t. Just hit play. 🚗💨🎙️Rally DrivingMaster Class with Dean Herridge – Motorsport Australia
Rotary Royalty: Maisie Place on Grit, Gears & Going Full ThrottleIn this episode of Famous Last Words, we sit down with one of the most exciting names in Australian motorsport: Maisie Place. At just 25, Maisie is already a qualified mechanic, competitive RX-8 Cup driver, and race team owner—making waves on and off the track in a scene still largely dominated by men.Maisie shares her journey from apprentice under rotary legend Jon Waterhouse to leading her own team at events like the Bathurst 6 Hour and the Nürburgring 24 Hour. She opens up about the late nights in the workshop (sometimes sleeping there to get the job done), the power of mentorship, and what it’s like navigating motorsport as a woman.💬 “I got to meet Leanne Tander and thought—oh, girls can do this.”💬 “When you’re in the race car, the rest of the world stops—and I love that.”💬 “If you read my messages, you’d be mortified.”This is a raw, inspiring look into what it takes to build a career in motorsport from the ground up—with nothing but grit, talent, and a love for rotary engines.🔧 Listen now and get under the hood with one of the industry’s rising stars.
🏁 George Vidovic: The Man Behind Python Vehicles 🏁From a humble Melbourne garage to the high banks of Daytona, George Vidovic has spent over 35 years building a legacy in motorsport and engineering. In this episode, we dive into his journey — from creating Australia’s most respected Cobra replicas at Python Vehicles, to winningmultiple Victorian Sports Car Championships with the iconic #98 Python Cobra.We also talk racing in the U.S., including the Classic Daytona 24 and Sebring 12 Hour, his beloved McLaren M6B Can-Am car, and building a Cobra for none other than F1 legend Michael Schumacher.💥 Fast cars. Big dreams. No shortcuts.#GeorgeVidovic #PythonVehicles #Motorsport #CobraReplica #Daytona24 #CarCulture #famous #famousinsurance #pscrv #sportscars #mclaren #canam #cobra #shelby #kitcar
🏁 Toby Hederics: Rookie Rider to Dakar Finisher 🏁The 2025 Dakar Rally had plenty of drama — from Daniel Sanders taking the Moto title to Toby Price switching to four wheels — but it’s Toby Hederics who stole our hearts.Raised on the banks of the Murray in Gol Gol and the son of Aussie desert racing legend John Hederics, Toby only set his sights on Dakar two years ago. After being the top rookie at Rally du Maroc 2023, he earned his shot — and made it count.In this episode, Toby shares the real story behind his Dakar debut: the prep, the struggle to fund the dream, the emotional highs and lows of the world’s toughest rally, and the pride of finishing as the 19th overall, 9th in Rally 2, and 2nd among rookies.🎧 Hit play and get inspired by one of Australia’s rising off-road stars.#Dakar2025 #TobyHederics #RallyLife #RookieRider #MotoAdventure #AustralianMotorsport #OffRoadRacing #DesertDreams #FamousLastWordsPodcast #famous #famousinsurance #ktm
🏁 Mal Rose: Privateer to Endurance Racing LegendIn this episode, we sit down with one of Australia’s most respected racing privateers — Mal Rose. With a career spanning over 30 years, Mal has raced it all: from Formula Ford and AUSCAR to V8 Supercars, and even 24-hour endurance classics around the globe.He’s a former Australian Production Car Champion, V8 Supercar Privateer Series winner, and has made 13 consecutive starts at the Nürburgring 24 Hour, including five with Aston Martin Racing. Mal has also claimed class wins at Spa, Dubai, Malaysia, and Bathurst.Beyond driving, Mal is a skilled mechanic and car builder who has prepared everything from Subaru STis to Nissan GTRs, Aston Martins, and even race trucks. In this chat, he shares stories from the pit to the podium — including the time he raced against F1 engineering mastermind Adrian Newey.🎧 Tune in for an epic motorsport journey — from the workshop to the world stage.#MalRose #EnduranceRacing #Nurburgring24 #AstonMartinRacing #PrivateerLife #AustralianMotorsport #Bathurst #Spa24 #FamousLastWordsPodcast #RaceCarDriver #famous #famousinsurance #holden #supercar #v8supercar #mirage #privateer #astonmartin
🚗 Richard Ferlazzo: Designing the Future of HoldenWith over 30 years at GMH, Richard Ferlazzo shaped the look and feel of some of Australia’s most iconic vehicles. From Senior Designer to GM Australia Design Director, he led a team of 150+ creatives across production, advanced, and concept design — not just for Holden, but for global GM platforms.In this episode, Richard shares stories from inside the design studio — including the creation of the “Billion Dollar Baby” VE Commodore and the award-winning EFIJY Concept Car. His deep passion for automotive design and rich industry insight make this a must-listen for car lovers and creatives alike.Richard has a real passion for cars, loves talking about them and has many great stories, so I hope you enjoy this Podcast with Richard Ferlazzo. 🎧 Tap play and take a ride through three decades of design, innovation, and automotive culture.#RichardFerlazzo #HoldenDesign #GMH #EFIJY #VECommodore #CarDesign #AustralianMotoring #AutoDesign #FamousLastWordsPodcast #famous #famousinsurance #holden
Gavin King, the Director of Sydney’s Concours Sportscar Restorations has been restoring and rebuilding classic Jaguars, Aston Martins and Ferraris for more than 30 years. He started the business at 21 years of age and has built it up to become one of Australia’s top restoration companies. Over the years Gavin and his team have restored, rebuilt, or recreated classic Jaguars like the C Type as well as Lightweight and Low Drag Coupe versions of the E Type. There have been amazing Ferrari’s like a 1971 Dino 245 GT which recently won its category at the ‘Motors and Masterpieces Concourse’ in Melbourne, a retromod of an Aston Martin DB6 as well as many other concourse winning cars. In this podcast, Gavin talks about some of his amazing creations, the challenges of restoring an old car, the relationships he developed with the cars owners as well as the future of restoration shops like his or is it a dying trade.
Richard Craill has been commentating at major motor racing events around the country since 2004. His knowledge of the sport is second to none, and it was great to see him called up by the Ten Network to call this year’s Formula 1 at Albert Park. Richard is also the man behind the motorsport website theracetorque.com and a part of the very successful ‘On the Grid Podcast’ team.
Kevin Weeks is well known in the Australian Tarmac Rally scene as well as in building circles as the founder of Weeks Building Group and Supaloc steel building systems. I’ve known Kevin for many years and he’s one of the most enthusiastic and positive people I’ve met. These traits have enabled him to succeed in both business and his motor racing endeavours, which include Formula 2 Champion, Bathurst 1000, Saloon Car Championship, GT Championship and multiple winner of Classic Adelaide Targa Tarmac Rally. In recent years Kevin has developed Parkinson’s Disease and rather than letting it beat him, he’s tenaciously fighting it, to the degree he rode his push bike from Adelaide to Rockhampton to prove a point to himself and raise awareness of the disease.
The limited-edition Mustang R-Spec has been a standout success story for Ford Australia and Herrod Performance, selling all 500 Supercharged performance machines nearly as quickly as they were being built. Constructed at what was until now, a dormant Broadmeadow’s plant, the R-Spec are one of the rare occasions that the blue oval has worked closely with an after-market supplier to construct a limited run of vehicles where they also warrant the cars under their normal warranty plan. Rob Herrod, the man behind Herrod Performance, says the Mustang R-Spec is the highlight of his career and in this month’s Famous Last Words Podcast, he talks about the planning that went into the car, his relationships with people like Dick Johnson and Howard Marsden, and what plans he has for the future. I hope you enjoy an insight into Rob Herrod, and the Mustang R-Spec.
John ‘Stonie’ Stoneham is one of Australia’s most recognisable cartoonists, certainly within the motor racing fraternity. He was the resident cartoonist at Australia’s weekly motor sport magazine ‘Auto Action’’ for more than 40 years until it closed several years ago, and also for the Murdoch Newspapers afternoon Adelaide News for a time. He loves motor sport and has been involved as a competitor as well as behind the scenes assisting with PR and event organisation. I’ve known him for many years, and he is without doubt one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet. He’s knowledgeable and never stops laughing which can be very infectious.
Dale Moscat has been a professional co-driver in the cutthroat sport of rallying for more than a decade. He started as a circuit racer, but since changing to the side of the car without the steering wheel, he’s teamed up with some of this country’s top drivers in all forms of rallying including dirt rally, tarmac rally, desert racing and SideXSide. Dale competes regularly in international events and in January 2022, he teamed up with Australian Molly Taylor in their first Dakar Rally
Jon Waterhouse is known to many as the guru of rotary motors. Jon is a two-time ACT Rally Champion and as well as being involved with the development of the RX7SP, he was also an integral part of the Mazda Motorsport team in the early 1990’s for the likes of the 12-hour endurance races. Jon’s latest motorsport passion is still with rotary motors and he’s a big supporter of the very successful RX8 Cup Race Series especially a young lady who has a big future as not only a race driver, but also a team owner, Maisie Place. Jon’s a wonderful man who has helped so many over the years and he has some great stories to tell, so I hope you enjoy this conversation with Jon Waterhouse, and should you need his expertise, he can be contacted at jon@reliancerotary.com.au
Alan Heaphy grew up in Benalla, just down the road from Winton Raceway in country Victoria, and his interest in motorsport started from a very young age, in fact he bought his first car at the age of nine. Since then, he’s not only continued to tinker with them, but has built an international reputation as an engineer and team manager. His cars have won 3 Bathurst titles in V8’s and Group A, 2 Bathurst 12-hour titles in Production Cars, and countless podiums in The British Touring Car Championships and Sports Car World Championships.He’s prepared cars for Circuit Racing, Dirt and Tarmac Rallying and Desert Racing as well as special runs for vehicle manufacturer, he’s a good bloke and he has some great stories to tell
Sunday August 5th, 1979, was a chilly afternoon at the Melbourne Showgrounds when 167 cars embarked on an adventure that would see them compete in what many regard as the toughest long-distance rally since the Continent to Continent epics of the early 20th Century, and the last great round Australia trial. The 1979 Repco Round Australia Reliability Trial was a 14-day event, where competitors in only rear wheel drive cars travelled 19,000 km over some ridiculously tough roads, that would see only 13 cars completed the entire route. One of those cars was Car number 7, a Volvo 244 DL sedan, driven by rally legend Ross Dunkerton, co-driven by motoring journalist Peter McKay and navigated by Geoff Jones, that finished 4th outright behind the 3 Holden Racing Team Commodores and ahead of the Ford Motor Company Team Cortina. Peter McKay joins me for this month’s Famous Last Words podcast to recount his memories of the 79 Repco Reliability Trial, especially the dust, gates, in car drama’s, broken suspension and even more dust.
Glenn Ridge catches up with industry expert Chris Boribon to discuss the upcoming Motors & Masterpieces concours automotive show "A Celebration of Automotive Excellence" where over 200 meticulously selected motorcars and motorcycles will be showcased. Check out Car Show Melbourne - Motors & Masterpieces (motorsandmasterpieces.com) for more information including tickets and come and see the Famous team at the event!
In this episode, Glenn sits down with Jeff Grech, the former Holden Racing Team V8 Supercar mechanic and manager. In his time at the Holden Racing Team, Jeff and the team secured six drivers' championships and four Bathurst 1000 victories. Jeff's passion for cars and motorbikes began at a young age, leading him to pursue a mechanic’s apprenticeship. He joined the Holden Dealer Team in 1982, and from there, he became a key figure in Australian motorsport. Jeff played pivotal roles at Perkins Engineering, Gibson Motorsport, and others before taking on his current role as manager of Winton Motor Raceway. With over 40 years in the industry, Jeff's insights, and stories from the pit lanes and beyond are captivating. Don’t miss this chance to hear Jeff Grech reflect on his remarkable career and the legendary moments that defined it.