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Articles by Iain Kelly

Iain Kelly

Iain Kelly

Contributing Journalist

A love of classic American and European cars drove Iain Kelly to motoring journalism straight out of high school, via the ownership of a tired 1975 HJ Holden Monaro. 

For nearly 20 years he has worked on magazines and websites catering to modified late model high-performance Japanese and European tuner cars, as well as traditional hot rods, muscle cars and street machines. Some of these titles include Auto Salon, LSX Tuner, MOTOR, Forged, Freestyle Rides, Roadkill, SPEED, and Street Machine. He counts his trip to the USA to help build Mighty Car Mods’ “Subarute” along with co-authoring their recent book, The Cars of Mighty Car Mods, among his career highlights. 

Iain lends his expertise to CarsGuide for a variety of advice projects, along with legitimising his automotive obsession with regular OverSteer contributions.

Although his practical skills working on cars is nearly all self-taught, he still loves nothing more than spending quality time in the shed working on his project car, a 1964 Pontiac. He also admits to also having an addiction to E30 BMWs and Subaru Liberty RS Turbos, both of which he has had multiple examples of. With car choices like that, at least his mum thinks he is cool.

​While many consider electric cars to be a fad, UBS recently surveyed consumers and found that if more budget EVs, like Tesla's entry-level Model 3 , were available then one-in-six cars bought new in 2025 would be...Read more
All too often we forget that there is a heavy buzz-saw sitting near our feet in our car. Your flywheel spins at thousands of revolutions per-minute, as a large rotating mass of metal attached to the back of the engine,...Read more
​While the term “gymkhana” has been around for decades before Ken Block slid a tuned-up Subaru around an abandoned air field, Block has really made it an art form... and hyper-successful video series. His latest video,...Read more
​When you modify, tune and push production engines you always run the risk of something going pop, but D&J Percision Machine and Firepunk Diesel from Ohio took this to a whole new level. Their Cummins diesel engine...Read more
​He might have ruled the wrestling ring and be one of the top new-age action movie stars, but John Cena has been body-slammed by Ford after he sold his car. While this isn’t normally an issue for regular Joes like you...Read more
The quality of a car chase can make or break an action movie, as car chase scenes inject a wild element that people can relate to more than a shootout or fist-fight. The best car chases elevate movies to a different...Read more
As with the previous generation model, Chevrolet has saved the ZR1 badge for nastiest version of the Corvette it has ever built. In fact, the 755hp 6.2-litre supercharged monster is the most powerful, fastest car ever...Read more
​While you may think of beige XD Falcons as something boxy and boring, Melbourne's Tunnel Vision Turbocharging has turned this plain-looking sedan into an 8.0-second street/strip monster thanks to a twin-cam 4.0-litre...Read more
The winners of Street Machine magazine's fourth annual Drag Challenge event have been crowned, following a week of absolute torture around South Australia and rural Victoria. Based heavily on Hot Rod's legendary Drag...Read more
Ken Block is collecting quite a stable of Fords, adding a wild 700hp 1986 Ford RS200 to his epic collection of fast Fords. Block actually lists the RS200, a mid-engined all-wheel-drive supercar built to homologate a...Read more
The Macau Grand Prix is a festival of motorsport packed onto one of the craziest, tightest street circuits. So its no surprise it also brings out some of the wildest racing fans will see - and 2017's races were no...Read more
Old cars are awesome because they look cool and have a style all of their own. But there are significant drawbacks in terms of safety, reliability, handling and comfort. Luckily, companies like Factory Five Racing exist...Read more
The Swedish supercar gods took a cleaver to Bugatti’s claim of building the fastest production vehicle in the world at the start of November, but now they’ve actually been confirmed as breaking five land speed records...Read more
​Elon Musk stunned the automotive world last week by unveiling a new Tesla Roadster at the launch of the Tesla truck. Read these stats for the targa-topped four-seater and just let them sink in: 0-100km/h in 1.9 seconds...Read more
Jonathan Ward is the genius behind ICON 4x4, a company from California that rebuilds and redesigns classic cars to house the latest technology, safety and performance, but without losing their charm and style. He has an...Read more
The SEMA Show is an annual convention in Las Vegas put on by the Specialty Equipment Market Association - an industry body for the automotive aftermarket. It is also heaven for anyone into cars, with thousands of...Read more
Here are my top picks for cars debuted at SEMA 2017. Ringbrothers AMC Javelin This thing is seriously off the chain. (image credit: Iain Kelly) The Ring boys took an unloved Javelin and stretched it, threw in a 1000hp...Read more
While many people love the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas for new builds we saw some epic legends from years past at this year's show. Here they are, in no particular order. - Bigfoot, the first monster truck. While...Read more
When new, the McLaren F1 wasn’t just the fastest supercar around, but at £1,000,000 (in the UK) it was one of the most expensive. And, as this video shows, things don’t get cheaper as time goes on. Bruce Weiner is a car...Read more

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