Upper Middle Petrol Head:

I don't know that last time I saw an XR, XT, XW or XY Falcon van, let alone one that looked this good.  The example shown here - an 1969 XT, according to its personalised number plates - featured glossy duco, straight chrome and a good looking set of Aunger Dragway mags.  The meaty looking twin exhausts suggest it was fitted with a V8 donk, too. U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) All iPhone images.

These are a few of fellow photographer Matt's images from the Longley stage of 2019's Targa Tasmania, showing cars exiting the right hander opposite the Wadsleys' farm on their way from the Longley International Hotel towards Neika.  I may be guilty of having suggested that I'd seen more enthralling motor racing in my earlier post about this year's Longley stage.  However, that's not to say that everyone was playing it safe, as Matt's photos prove.   Can't quite see what I'm banging on about?  Have a look at the close-ups! See what I mean?  They say that a picture paints a thousand words and, if so, the ones shown here of the off-side rear wheels of the thunderous Torana above, plus the nimble Lotus Exige and high-tech Nissan GTR below, speak volumes for how hard some drivers were pushing their machines! U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Nikon dSLR images courtesy of Matt O.

I'm not sure if the owners of these two Lotuses - an Exige that had only the day before completed the 2019 Targa Tasmania tarmac rally, and an  Elan - parked together on purpose, but their proximity to each other did make for a rather good photo.  To my mind, Lotus epitomises the purest form of the sports car and always has; from the original clubman through to today's Elises, Exiges and Evoras, they have stayed true to founder Colin Chapman's maxim "simplify, then add lightness."  It's a lesson that some of Lotus' more corpulent competitors would do well to heed as they get weighed down with more and more superfluous features!  Robin's stately Daimler 104 - named for its top speed of 104 miles per hour - is an entirely different beast.  However, it's also a vehicle that demonstrates a continuity of purpose throughout the lifespan of the marque, exhibiting as it does all of the hallmark luxury and refinement expected of vehi...

I'm moderately confident that this lovely late 1950s' Holden is an FE, not that GM Australia's logical-as-a-madman's-rant model designation convention really helps!  If it is an FE, it was followed by the FC, then the FB and the EK!  Next were the EJ, EH, HD, HR, HK, HG and HT lineups, before we hit the HQ, HJ, HX and HZ!!  (I think that's right?)  At least the last two more more or less alphabetically sequential, even if the HY - and a few others - went missing in action.  All over the place like a lunatic's poop, I tell you!  Madness!! I'm so glad I got that off my chest!  The car's magnificence speaks for itself, so please enjoy the following photos.   U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) All iPhone images.