Upper Middle Petrol Head:

I remember early Geminis like it was yesterday.  Sad, eh?!   This one - a TD series  SL/E  - is at least 41 years old, the TD having been produced in 1978 and 1979 only, replaced by the TE with its longer bonnet and boot.  It's mainly distinguishable from its forebears - the TXs and TCs - by the square headlights that replaced the former versions' round  ones.   Hopefully, no one will be offended by the observation that it's more of a survivor car than anyone's perfectly restored example, but it is still in really, really good nick, given its age.  There are a couple of minor dings and the paint has its imperfections .  However, there's no obvious rust, the bumpers are quite straight with nice chrome and everything - including its top of the line  SL/E  colour-coded mirrors and very elegant alloy wheels - are still present. Given Geminis' rarity these days, I'm certain that there would be plent...

This apparently daily-driver  Type 3 wagon comes hot on the heels of the Mega-Random VW edition of UMPH, posted mere days ago.  It rounds out the Type 3 range nicely, as both sedan and fastback versions were featured in the previous article, leaving only the wagon variant unrepresented.  The Canberra Bureau are certainly earning their pay!   I've always thought that the Type 3 wagon was what Subaru Leone AWD drivers drove before the latter was invented, given the Volksie's quite impressive off-road abilities.  It certainly wasn't uncommon to see wagons like today's example - plus the equally popular at the time Renault 12 wagons - laden with kayaks, bikes and camping gear back in the 70s and 80s.   The one shown here today was in great nick, with good all-round duco, straight chrome and no apparent rust.  Not bad for 50-odd years' worth of service eh? U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.c...

It's not clear if this gathering of classic VWs was a club event or an informal get-together of Volksie fans out for a post-Covid 19 run.  What is obvious, however, is that the owners picked a perfect early winter's day to do it and that their cars really did, quite literally, shine! Classic car action seems to be ever so slowly coming back to life, as these shots from the Canberra Bureau chief photographer show.  It's the same down in Tasmania; it doesn't seem to take much of an excuse to fire up the engines and head out for a drive, even if it's not the brass monkey-friendliest weather ever! Regular readers will know that the lovely low-slung Karmann Ghia above isn't the only one getting about in the Australian Capital Territory, with a lustrous deep red example already gracing the pages of this 'blog.  It was also great to see that in addition to a couple of Beetles and an early Kombi, there were two Type 3s - a sedan and a fastback -...

By my dodgy reckoning, there hasn't been a Classics by the Beach since February this year, thanks to the dreaded Covid-19 virus.  That equals three months' worth of catching up to do! Fortunately, there was a down-scaled, socially-distanced version of southern Tasmania's best regular get-together of classic car fans - complete with elbow-bumping in lieu of handshakes - to make up for the forced hiatus.  And, even better, the quality of the vehicles on display didn't disappoint! The first car to take my eye was Mike H's magnificent MG TC Special.  For anyone that might be wondering where the car came from, it used to belong to the godfather of woodfired pizza and mushroom-man extraodinaire, John Clare, although it's certainly come a long way from its former light yellow livery.   Mike's dab hand at car restorations, owning one of Hobart's better fleets not to include a Galant hardtop or a Fiat X1/9, and is responsible for the ...