Holden v Ford - Holden wins yet another major event.

Not only did we win, but we pissed all over Ford on this one.

I should declare up front (like you hadn't already guessed), probably owing to the second car I can recall my family owning being a Holden stationwagon around 1970, I am clearly of the General Motors tribe. I am hardwired to Holden.

The next family car was (not surprisingly) another Holden wagon reg GL6205 - burned into my male homo trivia subconcious for god knows what reason, and apart from a brief sojourn with the dark side when my brother-in-law Alan sold me his Fairmont wagon in the early 1990s, I've been right behind the lion with his paw on the wheel.

That Fairmont did sterling duty as the team car for the Colonial Classic in 1995 - dressed up in Peanut Slab colours, it packed numerous bikes on roof and rack, and half the team in comfort. It was a great colour, had electric everything but sadly, was a Ford. Undoubtedly the choice of car was far more advisable than the choice of workboots with white socks and pants pulled a long way up.

Thirty years on from the Kingswood and Belmont, the current family car is a 2001 Commodore wagon, dusty gold coloured 'Shitbox' model with alloy wheels and only 161,563km on the clock. Living in Melbourne, it's the logical choice for a low-cost vehicle. They make them here. They make the spare parts here. There are a zillion of them on the roads - they are the trabbie of Victoria. Plus the windows wind by hand, a serious novelty for today's generation of children. I can put my bike in the back and double the Commmdore's value!

Truth is, I'm not well acquainted with any of the recent offerings of GM or Ford, nor am I likely to become in the near future - I love the 'BMW 3 series that's been amateurishly stretched in Powerpoint' looks of the VE, but I've never driven one. As I've aged, I find a frightening attraction to the old-man Holdens (Calais - who would name a car after that shit-hole? Hang on, the same guys named one after a hillside suburb in the Hutt Valley...) rather than a horny SS-V8, Maloo or the Monaros, but I'm accepting of aging as natural part of life.

There's probably no question the Ford is better engineered either. They got a handsome tax break from the Victorian government to keep 5 people employed in Geelong designing it, but the nicest thing I can say is that I've mistaken a couple of new Falcons for old Commodores when viewed from a certain 3/4 angle. Can't see the difference when they dress them up for V8 racing, that's for sure.

Anyway, courtesy of the RACV magazine this month, I am thrilled to see Holden once again trounce Ford. With GM billions in debt, only 45 days from Chapter 11, cutting Saab loose last month, and no doubt a few Melbourne accountants staying up at night worrying about whether Holden can survive on its own 4 feet, this is comforting news indeed.

What's more, the discerning car thief also prefers Holden Commodore.

Hold on a minute - that recovery rate seems enormous. It makes me wonder if these so-called car thieves were never actually intending to nick a vehicle - maybe when they went down to Melbourne's new Flexicar pickup spot and discovered a Honda bloody Jazz, they did the natural thing and just took the car next door? Which statistically speaking in this town, was quite likely to be a 1999 - 2004 Commodore.

Doesn't this guy look like he'd prefer a Commodore wagon to you?