Mike Monk is a freelance motoring journalist and consultant to the Franschhoek Motor Museum. After emigrating from the UK to South Africa in 1970, Mike’s writing career began with Technicar and CAR magazines before he joined Leyland. He later moved to Ford Product Development before establishing an auto trim division for a textile company. Mike returned to CAR in 1994 and was Senior Associate Editor when he reached compulsory retirement age in 2011. He then edited the Retail Motor Industry’s magazine, Automobil, for a couple of years. Mike is a judge for the annual Concours SA.
If you saw the movie Donny Brasco, you'd know a 'fugazi' is slang for a fake. Wayne Harley's Abarth transcends the meaning of the word, reports MIKE MONK.
All but wiped out by the Second World War, the Alfa Romeo 6C put the brand back on the map and shopping lists of the rich and famous, reports MIKE MONK.
Before TV and Top Gear came along men like William Malesbury Letts were already getting up to hair-brain stunts in their shiny new cars, reports MIKE MONK.
The Ford GT40 and the showdown with Ferrari in the Sixties is the stuff of legend. Getting to actually drive the legend was one for the bucket, writes MIKE MONK.