Upper Middle Petrol Head:

There's an auto-accessory shop in Hobart's northern suburbs that isn't Supercheap and where they occasionally have a nice car on display.  Last time I was there, they had an awesome, if controversial, LS1-powered Valiant coupe gracing their foyer ( https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/search?q=valiant ). A GM-donk in a Mopar?   O u t r a g e o u s ! ! No need to get all hot 'n' flustered over this beauty, though!  The beating heart of this lovely FJ Holden is pure grey and General Motors to its core. So, should you find yourself in need of a motoring accessory and an early-Holden fix, the shop that sounds like a German mega-highway's the place to go.  Ironic, really ; an autobahn's probably the last place you'd want to drive a car like an FJ! U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) All iPhone images.

Pro-photographers have their specialities, as do members of any occupational group.  Some of my colleagues shoot glamour (oh how I wish!), others work for the press, cover weddings, do wilderness work or even take school portraits (poor bastards!!).  Plenty more no longer take photos at all, especially since the clever buggers at Apple and Samsung created almost foolproof mobile phone cameras that rendered the professional all but redundant.   As a forensic photographer, I'm well used to faecal weather, less-than-ideal lighting (to the point of pitch-blackness) and any number of other hazards and complications that would send your average studio-based lens-person into a frenzy of quarter-stop bracketing and post-production with the software  du jour.   Fortunately, a forensic photographer will get you a useable image - every time, in any conditions - guaranteed!   (Notwithstanding the odd water spot on the lens.)   And ...

I don't know about you, but this is my kind of car: classic styling; a rigid, simple and relatively light body; good weight distribution, coupled with tight suspension,  big brakes and  aggressive rubber; all powered by a robust, grunty four-cylinder motor driving the rear wheels via a manual 'box.  No electronic aids.  A visual and aural feast.  A driver's car!         U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) All iPhone images.

Would you if you could?  I'm not convinced that it's the, shall we say, most alluring livery I've ever seen on an Aston Martin.  But, then again, I'm not Ted Stourton - artist-in-residence at, and co-owner of - Camelot Castle in Tintagel, Cornwell ( https://tedstourton.com/ ).      Let's just say the car's Fetching , shall we?  And leave its desirability to art collectors and classic car buffs to debate. U M P H Photos by regular correspondent Matt O.

The pristine looking Beetle on the right - shown here at the Lubiana Osteria at Granton, approximately twenty five minutes' drive from Tasmania's capital city of Hobart - goes by the name of Antonia .  She certainly gets around, does Antonia, having also been spotted at the 2019 Picnic at Ross in the north of the state, as well as having made guest appearances at Lake Margaret, Sheffield and Railton.      Antonia's visit to the osteria coincided with an appearance by Nick's work-in-progress XB GS hardtop, which has recently had all its mechanical issues sorted, and has also benefited from a tiny bit of reupholstery.  The driver's seat has come up particularly well.  Some rust remediation and a new paint job is next, with an estimated completion date of some time late in 2019. The images above an below are of Antonia's engine compartment and power-plant - a Formula V race-spec Volksie flat four - and were taken at her recent showing at...

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.