WhichCar dream cars: 'Dear Santa, all we want for Christmas is...'

In just a few hours, Santa will be setting off from the North Pole, getting stopped at international borders worldwide in his quest to drop off presents to anyone who's kept a cool head over the past year.

Although the big man is likely to get stopped in Victoria for not paying his zero-emission vehicle road user charge, we put it out to members of the Wheels Media team to see what car they'd pick if they could be left the keys to just one in their stockings.

What you'll find below is an eclectic mix of machines, showing the diverse passion of the team while also demonstrating not all car fanatics want shooting brakes or wagons – shock.

Jez Spinks – McLaren F1

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Dear Santa,

If you’re feeling generous this year, could you stuff the supercar-benchmark-for-a-whole-decade McLaren F1 in my Christmas stocking, please.

If the budget’s tight after all the fantastic, eclectic requests from my colleagues, then I’d happily settle for a quintessential modern classic that combines a majestic, high-revving normally aspirated V8 with load-lugging versatility and snow-trip-friendly traction. Tell your elves to look up Audi B7 RS4 Avant.

Mike Stevens – Singer DLS

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For me, it's the Singer DLS. It's not often that a car, new or old, is blessed with so much attention to every little detail in both style and performance. So many cars, even at the top end of the market, fall prey to a cheapening in one way or another. A borrowed component from a lower-born model in the manufacturer's wider range, a chromed plastic piece where an aluminium item would've made a better touch point, identical infotainment from the $15,000 budget box through to the $150,000 hero...

It's the accountants at work, or the engineers (fairly) reminding the designers of the realities that interfere with the journey from design to production, but there's always something.

As a design nerd, I take a lot of heart in Rob Dickinson's mantra of "everything is important" (even though it has made me a pain in the arse for most of our team).

Not much in even a 'regular' Singer 911 is left without improvement, but the DLS – properly known as the Design and Lightweighting Study – leaves no stone unturned in utterly transforming the species.

Simon Telford – Holden Hurricane

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The 1969 Holden Hurricane concept car. Back when most new Holdens still had drum brakes and bench seats, here comes this mid-engined, wedge-shaped vision of the future, bathed in metalflake gold duco.

Inside was just as exotic, with a navigation system, rear-view camera and climate control. I've been lucky enough to sit in it - would love to own and care for it.

New car? GR Yaris Rallye. I'm smitten.

Matt Raudonikis – LaserNut Ultra 4

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Andy Enright – BMW M1

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The bucket lister? That's easy. It's a BMW M1, preferably in black. I've always loved the fact that, in its day, the M1 did more with less and Giugiaro's design has weathered the ravages of time so elegantly.

Back in 1981 Car and Driver declared it "the best fast car ever built". Given the cavalcade of supercars the '70s produced, that's quite an accolade.

Kathryn Fisk – Lamborghini Murcielago

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If I ever won the lottery (you have to be in it to win it so there's the first problem) the Lamborghini Murcielago would be top of my list. Watching it on Top Gear (the real version) growing up, I fell hard for its combination of elegant styling, roaring 6.5 litre V12 and savage speed.

Plus if it's good enough to be in Bruce Wayne's garage, that's good enough for me.

Daniel Gardner – RUF BTR2/Porsche 968 Turbo S

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I think it's fairly obvious that if Santa stuffed a Ruf BTR2 down my chimney I'd be pulling it out of a hedge before Auld Lang Syne. That's why I'd actually ask him to bring me a 968 Turbo S instead. More exclusive than a 911, less deadly than a 993 GT2, rarer than fish hair, and a water-cooled engine that no one ever complained about.

Andrew Broadley – 1968 Holden HK Monaro GTS 327

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Put me down for a '68 HK Monaro GTS 327, preferably in Warwick Yellow with a black interior. In my eyes it's the best-looking Aussie muscle car ever built. If Santa should be so kind, I'd dearly love an HSV GTSR W1 to park beside it, too.

Ben Barren – Almost every Porsche under the sun

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Too hard to choose really, possibly a 959 to race against Affat's F40 (see further down) or an Emory 356 Outlaw or go eco 918 hybrid to race Steve-O in his Singer.

More likely I'll grab a room at Little Beach House Malibu, then pop over in the morning for a custom Byron Morgan German Stainless putter made in Huntington Beach, then grab a $5 Uber over to Guntherwerks and grab whatever model there is, guess a 993 Speedster (I'll ignore it's green and gold).

Thrash it to In'n'Out burger @ LAX for a double-double drive-thru, key 'n' burger wrapping valet mic drop and economy slum it home.

Alternately, see if autonomous driving on PCH/Highway 101 from Cali to the Valley is possible in a S Plaid without driver intervention – outside watching it on Youtube.

Christian Clark – Ford GT-40

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I’m no Automotive Grand Maester and nor am I a gamer….but when I did game (proud owner of a PS2 ~ early naughties), I accumulated a virtual garage via the folks that made Grand Turismo 3 until I owned the insatiably pleasing ‘69 Ford GT-40. And though it was a pixelated version, I fell deep for its sound, look and the fact that it could beat any other car in the game.

I have never been in one, but have seen/heard one blitz it through Double Pay in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs and boy, oh boy, oh boy!

Seeing as the brief is a Santa pressie with no consequences (will buying this prevent me from fixing that sagging wall in the laundry?) then ya….it’s the Ford GT-40 for me. In da baby blue, n’ da stripe and that body that I would/will struggle to get in/out of.

Ellen Dewar – Porsche 356A

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Dream cars come in so many shapes and sizes, but my ultimate would be the Porsche 356A Speedster. Having grown up in my dad's garage raising and lowering myself on the trolley jack while he restored cars, it's in my blood. I love so many, but I always dreamed of the Porsche. Its look and style remains timeless, classy and sporting performance for the time.

Alex Affat – Team Taisan Ferrari F40

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I'll take the Team Taisan Ferrari F40 from the 1994 JGTC GT500 category. It competed alongside the privateer team's ex-Le Mans Porsche 962, and won Round Four of the GT500 Championship that year.

It began life as a 'standard' 1988 F40, but was heavily modified with various LM bits with further development and modifications carried out following each race meeting. The original 'numbers-correct' engine remains in place and untouched, save for the addition of a straight-pipe exhaust.

The real kicker, however, is that, in its retirement, the car has since been made road legal. Cars and coffee, eat your heart out!

Chris Thompson – McLaren F1

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I've always been obsessed with small and light cars. The idea of owning a 4x4 or a luxury sedan never really appealed to me, even as a kid. But engines? The bigger the better. My favourite Holden as a young'un was a Torana SLR 5000. Small enough to make sense, but enough engine under the bonnet to have me well keen. Just like my actual dream car, the McLaren F1. Yeah, boring answer, I know.

Gordon Murray's commitment to the ol' adage of 'add lightness' in creating a supercar not much heavier than an MX-5 already had my respect, but to then nick a BMW V12 and pop it right behind the driver is to be admired. The fact this naturally-aspirated menace from the 1990s is still one of the fastest cars in the world is wild to me. Pop a Gulf livery and a wing on it and you've got one of my favourite race cars of all time, the Davidoff McLaren F1 GTR.

Sure I could've picked something rarer, even unique, or something that seems less daunting to remove from a garage, but nothing else really speaks to me the same way as the F1. Seeing (a few years after the fact) a certain magazine featuring one completely airborne on the cover in June 1994 might've had something to do with it.

Scott Crowley – Peter Brock's 1979 Bathurst 1000 winning Holden Torana A9X

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Peter Brock on his way to winning Bathurst in 1979

For me growing up in an era of Aussie muscle cars, I can't go past Brocky's A9X Bathurst winning race car and that last lap around the mountain and setting a new lap record whilst overtaking traffic! If the Bowdens are listening, you can drop this one out of your collection and into my Santa sack please!

I will always regret selling my genuine SS Torana hatchback V8 and for me still the best looking Holden ever built.

Kian Heagney – R34 GT-R in active red

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For a long time, the dream was an R32 GT-R, but with an R32 GTS-t now in the stable (along with an R31 and an S13 Silvia), I think I'd want something that feels a smidge tighter and more modern.

I'm not overly fussed on whether it's a V Spec, V Spec II, NUR, S-Tune or a freakin Pokemon edition – because it'll all be getting modified anyway. As for the active red? Because red cars go faster, and it's an ultra rare hue for any GT-R.

Evan Spence – Toyota LandCruiser Troopy

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Toyota LandCruiser Troop Carrier, on portal axles, with a pop-top roof conversion and full camping setup. A house on wheels that can go anywhere.

Guy Allen – Bentley Speed Six

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Bentley Speed Six

Bentley Speed Six, circa 1926-30. Crazy money these days, and legendary performance giants which really did earn the wonderful accusation from rival Bugatti that they were very fast trucks. You could die happy knowing you'd scared yourself witless in one.

Di Mclarty – Holden HZ

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For me, dream cars were made in the late '70s....Holden HZ Station Wagon or Ute or Panel Van....I'm really not fussy.

A sleeper, the type that looks like a grandpa car, but you know it means business when you turn the key! Perfect for fat-arming on a sunny afternoon.

Alastair Brook – Porsche 996 GT1 Straßenversion

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For me, ever since the late '90s it has been a 996 GT1 Straßenversion. I just think it combines the almost childish outrageousness of GT1 street homologations with my love of Porsche and the left-of-field-ness of it not being a CLK GTR (common as mud, right?!).

A Zonda F roadster with 760 powertrain would get close though.

Carly Dale – '34 Ford

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I'll go with what's in the shed. If Santa could get in and finish off my '34 Ford three window coupe, build my 331ci Hemi, paint it in the Luzader coupe green and then bolt on a set of vintage race mags, that'd be grouse.

I don't want to be too greedy, but I'd also love a W427 - because Walky. Though, I wonder how quickly I could lose my license once I had the keys.

Michael Fisher – Ferrari 288 GTO

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Growing up in the '80/90s there was no cooler car than the white Ferrari Testarossa in Miami Vice. Ducks Nuts.

I'd take the black 512 TR Jez recently cruised around in too.

Tim Kenington – 1975 Ford Falcon XB Coupe John Goss Special

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If I could get my hands on one, I’d indulge in a ‘75 XB Falcon John Goss Special. My uncle had one when I was a kid, and whilst it probably wasn’t the ideal car for our camping trips, I’ve never forgotten the feel of cruising the highway in it. A nice bit of Aussie muscle.

Brett Collingwood – Ford Falcon XM Sedan

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When it comes to mechanical aptitude, I make a good sub-editor, so my enjoyment of cars is mostly from an aesthetic standpoint. And for me, the '50s and '60s Aussie and US cars are where it's at when it comes to appealing design. Which is why the car I'd most like to have in my garage is a humble XM Falcon sedan (sure, the hardtops are 'cooler', but I think the sedans look nicer).

There's something really classy about the side profile, especially combined with the grille, headlights and tail-lights that look a lot more integrated into the overall design than those of the otherwise-identical XK/XL. Of course, were I to actually drive one, I'm sure any romantic notions of what it would be like to own one would crumble pretty quickly, but hey, how good does it look?