The Holden versus Ford debate has been around for as long as the cars themselves.

But with the curtain finally falling on local car-making in Australia, the chance to take a sideways look at six decades' worth of competing product from Holden and Ford was just too good an opportunity for motoring journalist Dave Morley to pass up.

This book isn't a workshop manual, and it's definitely not a reference source. But it is a tongue-in-cheek look back on the cars we drove, and a fond examination of what was so good and evil about them.

Along the way, you'll discover stories you haven't heard before, lies debunked and legends cut down to size. Not to mention some genuine what-were-they-thinking moments. Highly pictorial, organised into chapters by decade and with a series of 'road tests' that pit the Holden and Ford model released at the same time against each other, this book explains why each Ford and Holden family car was the way it was.