Australian automotive icons honoured with 100-year preservation
No, they're not being cryogenically frozen – but some Mighty Car Mods videos are being protected for the next century.
Australian automotive YouTube channel Mighty Car Mods turns 18 this year, and its coming-of-age present has come in the form of preservation.
Today, Mighty Car Mods was announced as one of 10 YouTube channels to be added to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's (NFSA) new ‘Creator Capsule’, hailed as the first such partnership in the world between the media giant and a national media archive.
Alongside nine other creators – Tash Sultana, Natalie Tran (aka communitychannel), Glitch, Eddie Woo, Outback Boys, superwog, Beau Miles, Bounce Patrol, and Wengie – Mighty Car Mods has been selected for the inaugural collection, which will see a curated sample of their content added to the Archive’s national collection for the next 100 years.
“Audiovisual storytelling is the dominant form through which we now express, celebrate and negotiate identity,’ said NFSA Chief Curator, Meagan Loader.
“In 50 years, when Australians come to the NFSA to find the audiovisual stories that defined our time, they’ll expect to see YouTube. It’s vital we acquire this now to sit alongside our TV, radio, music, podcasts, games and films.
“This new collaboration with YouTube enriches our collecting by providing insights into platform activity and impact and helps open the door for us to other creators.”
Mighty Car Mods was formed by Blair ‘Moog’ Joscelyne and Martin ‘Marty’ Mulholland in 2008, filming videos repairing and modifying cars on Marty’s parent’s driveway in Sydney.
Over the next 18 years, the channel has amassed almost four million YouTube subscribers and more than one billion views in total, ranging from videos of engine swaps, custom modifications and collaborations with other creators.
To add to the show, all music is created by Marty and Moog, who trained and met as musicians before discovering their joint love of cars.
“We don’t have any formal automotive qualifications at all, but we're still buying questionable cars, pulling them apart and making videos every week, as we have done for almost 20 years now,” Mulholland said.
“When we started Mighty Car Mods, it was just the two of us on a driveway, working on cars and filming it ourselves, because we loved doing it,” Joscelyne added.
“We weren't trying to become influencers or start a media company, but to know some of the cars we've built, the places we've travelled, and the stories we've told will be preserved as part of Australia's cultural history is a huge honour.”
The success of the show has gone beyond Australia, with fans from the Americas and Europe often writing in to its secondary channel, MCMTV2.
“Marty and Blair have inspired countless people to pick up the tools, have a go, and build confidence in their own skills,” said NFSA Communications Manager, Louise Alley.
“In the process, they’ve helped transform the way Australians share skills, passion and creativity with global audiences. Preserving their content in the Creator Capsule recognises their impact, plus the important place that digital creators now hold in Australia’s cultural memory.”
In recent videos, Mighty Car Mods has been focusing on going back-to-basics by modifying a red Daihatsu Cuore, the first car to feature on the channel, returning to Mulholland’s family home, which is currently for sale.
