Upper Middle Petrol Head:

Say what you will about French cars but they're rarely dull - Citroens, especially.  This one - a 1994 Citroen  BX 19 TZI - was towards the end of the BX line-up and, as the 19 in the model designation suggests, is fitted with a 1.9 litre engine.  If UMPH remembers what owner Michael said correctly, the TZI denotes a more upmarket model than others in the range.   Michael also said that this B X  (all BX s?) was / were styled by Nuccio Bertone - or, according to Wikipedia, by  Marcello Gandini   working for  Bertone -  the design house responsible for Fiat X1/9 and  Lancia's iconic Stratos , to name but two of their impressive CV fillers .  Nuccio Berton e  is not to be mistaken for fellow Italian Flaminio Berton i , the designer responsible for Citroen's iconic Traction Avant , 2CV and DS models.   Confused?  You're forgiven!         ...

Is there a better example of the classic 'three-box' car design than a Fiat 128 sedan?  Feel free to nominate your suggestions but UMPH is fairly confident that the 128 is  the  quintessential example of the genre. The one featured here has been nicely modified with a set of Cibie Oscars , some nifty 13" mags, a classic bullet-shaped exterior rear-view mirror, a  sports steering wheel,  high-back bucket seats, a cleverly designed wooden dash-panel with built-in gauges and an incorporated stereo head unit, and rear disc brakes.  There was a bit of surface rust showing here and there but it appeared to be straight and the chrome looked good, too.     The photos above and below have copped a bit of reflection off the closed windows but do show the tidy interior and wooden dash-panel. An update, as of 22 OCT 23:   Ever wondered what happened to this car?  Turns out that the owner at the time t...

If this Mazda 121 coupe were a rotary, it'd be an RX5.  However, it's the piston-powered variant of what's known in Japan as a Cosmos.  Mazda's naming conventions seem to be a bit odd here, as their previous rotary, the RX4, was 929- (or Luce- in Japan) based and this car would seem to be close to that model in size and specification.  In Australia, the 121 designation was subsequently given to Mazda's baby cars like the cutsy-bubble edition shown immediately below: This is what most Aussies understand a 121 to be (internet image). Irrespective of the logic of Mazda's nomenclature, this 121 looked pretty good, with reasonably good duco (actually excellent for fade-prone red), shiny chrome and straight, rust free panels.  The interior looked tidy, too.  The 121 / RX5 was quite sharply styled, with a bold front end, an interesting third side window that was stepped slightly higher than the car's waistline and L -shaped taillights.  Sadly,...

The Baskerville Historics race meeting, held annually in September at southern Tasmania's Baskerville Raceway, might just be about the state's best motor-sports event ( www.motorsportstas.com.au/event/baskerville-historics ) .  That's a big call, of course ; Targa Tasmania and Targa Wrest Point are both hugely popular, attracting competitors and their fabulous, and often genuinely exotic, cars from all around Australia and the rest of the world. So what makes the Historics so special?  For this writer, it's the combination of some truly beautiful classic race cars from all categories - including sports sedans and open-wheelers - exhibitions of sheer driving talent, very, very close racing, and accessibility that clinches the argument. Whereas the Targas offer spectators perhaps forty-five minutes' of concentrated competition as entrants scream by on each stage, the Historics gives fans the opportunity to enjoy multiple laps of racing over several rounds...