Classics by the Beach 2023 Happy New Year Edition

Happy new year, petrol-heads! We begin 2023's Classics by the Beach with this immaculate V6 Ford Capri GT, follow it up with an unusual - also quite rare - SAAB, an excellent VW Beetle, a pristine Austin Healey, and an interesting selection of Minis, before capping it all off with an elegant Riley coupe. Please enjoy!

I've loved Capri GTs ever since Ms Paterson first drove her then quite new blue one into the Howrah Primary School teachers' car park in the early 1970s. Other than the main colour, hers was had the exact same livery as today's example and featured what were then considered to be high-end performance Dunlop Aquajet bias-ply radial tyres, possibly on alloy wheels from the same manufacturer and that looked like this:

Ms Paterson was a formidable woman and a member of the Australian Institute of Advanced Motorists. I thought she was really, really cool!

It's unlikely, being a primary-schooler when this quirky SAAB was built, that I'd have found it as exciting as I did Ms Paterson's V6 exotica. However, fast forward five decades and I find myself strangely attracted to it. Not in love, mind you; just fascinated by its styling and simultaneously impressed by the otherworldly Swedishness of it all. Plus there were whispers amongst the assembled cognoscenti that the wheels it was wearing - "soccer balls" or the like - were quite the thing in SAAB circles, thereby piquing the nerdier side of my car obsession.

The Broadspeed and Cooper S Minis above were each a treat in their own ways. The former - a lightweight fastback, complete with a perspex rear window - is an rare car. The latter appears to have been recently restored and features really, really tidy wiring, immaculate paint and attention to detail that appeals to this author's inner neat-freak. Both would be more than welcome in the UMPH garage!

According to Wikipedia, there were a bee's penis short of 21,530,000 - that's TWENTY-ONE MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED and THIRTY THOUSAND or so - Type 1 Beetles built between 1938 and 2003 in VW facilities in Germany, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Finland, Indonesia, Ireland, Mexico, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Chile, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia, making it the very most successful car ever. However, that still doesn't diminish the desirability of the model, as this example clearly demonstrates!

Today's mere 1/21,530,000th of the total production run was absolutely first rate, combining superbly original features with a bit of attitude - a nice stance, fat steel wheels and some subtle suspension mods - to create a car with true class! And that's just what was easily seen! I'll let the photos do the talking but, at the same time, challenge anyone to dispute that this is one uber-cool Bug!

I'd love to wax lyrical about the Riley coupe that follows but I can't, as the marque is only very, very vaguely known to me. My understanding is that at some stage the now defunct Riley Motor company became part of the British Motor Corporation stable but, beyond that, I reckon the best bet is to gaze upon the attached photos and drink in this car’s unique beauty. If that’s not enough, though, here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Riley Motor: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_Motor.

U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.co.au.)

EJ or EH Holden? (Up-dated December, 2022)

EJ or the later EH? Several years ago, I posed the question: Can somebody please explain the difference between an EJ and an EH Holden ute or van? The response at the time wasn't overwhelming, so I did a bit of Googling and ferreting through my photos and came up with my own rough guide to EJ and EH identification. Sedans and wagons are easy to tell apart ; the EH's vertical rectangular tail lights are a dead give-away. However, the workhorse versions of both models share the rear-end treatment of the earlier EJ, making it harder to identify one from the other. No super obvious hints here. Or here ... . It turns out that the main clues are in the placement of the front H O L D E N lettering and GMH lion emblems, the style of the radiator grille and the width of the vents in front of the windscreen, with all EJs - sedans, wagons, utes and vans - having one combination and the EH line-up having their own . So what exactly are those diffe

Vick Auto Prima Fiat X1/9 Brakes: An Owner’s Assessment

At the end of 2022, I fitted a set of Vick Autosport Prima front brakes to my mildly worked 1.5 litre Series 1 Fiat X1/9 . I was fortunate, having picked them up at a very, very reasonable price, brand new but surplus to the needs of a fellow X1/9 Australia member who had imported them from the US. The kit included: New single pot callipers , new vented rotors (standard X1/9 front rotors are smaller, non-vented items), DOT approved stainless steel brake hoses, and all the necessary mounting hardware. They are a value proposition, being particularly well priced compared to other manufacturers’ packages - even at RRP - with everyone I’ve spoken to saying they’re made to a high standard, too. Here's a link to a piece that I wrote about them at that time, including some costings: https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-x19-gets-prima-brake-upgrade.html . Initial Assessment: I was a little underwhelmed by the brakes' performance, finding that although they had a tiny

Random # 301: Nanna-Spec KE36 Corolla

Once upon a time - six or seven years ago, actually - there was a lovely pale yellow GC Galant station wagon getting around Hobart. It was totally nanna-spec; its paint was umarked, the chrome work and hubcaps were immaculate, and its very original interior was pristine. Then someone stuck feathers in its dashboard. Next, the windows were adorned with Tibetan prayer flags. And a hubcap went missing. And the the rear bumper was pushed in, mangling the bodywork behind it. And a mudguard got dented. And rust set in. I fear for this sweet, innocent KE36 Corolla. Somebody please save it before it's too late. Nanna needs you to do it. U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Photos by GlamRock.

Upper Middle Petrol Head:

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