Upper Middle Petrol Head:

It occurs to me, as I sit at my computer, shuffling images and attempting to turn a really fun day's outing into narrative, that part of Graham Mitchell's genius is to be found in his venue selections.  Salamanca Place - on Hobart's waterfront, where Club Motori Italia's 2020 cryptic country drive kicked off -  was established in 1804. Bothwell's pub - The Castle, where the event culminated - has been continuously licensed since 1829, pre-dating the town's post office by three years.   You very likely didn't know any of this and were probably also unaware that, once you did, you'd find it quite interesting.  The way Graham book-ended the event between historic Tasmanian sandstone was, to my mind at least, the very spirit of a cryptically-themed event and, therein, lies his twisted genius!  That or I'm just reading way too much into it!* As already mentioned, the day began in Salamanca Place - at The Retro, to be more accurate - with a dozen o...

  I like Canberra.  A lot, actually.  And I find it strange when others say that they don't. It might be that I'm a bit biased, though.  I was born there and I studied there.  Work sees me visit reasonably often and the Correspondent for the ACT - who sent in today's excellent images - is my naval officer younger brother. It also happens to be that Canberra has an vibrant classic car scene, quite separate to the SummerNats.  (Really not my thing, all that burn-out doing and general hoonery!).  My father was even a founding member of the Light Car Club of  Canberra ( https://www.lightcarclub.org.au/ ) , which is why my own X1/9 proudly wears LCCC stickers, in honour of his life-member status.  Of course, all this is just a really convoluted way to introduce today's cars -  a Jaguar XK8 and an MG TF -  both photographed by the CACT in Canberra.  The two are, however, more closely linked than just being British rag-tops located ...

We have a winner!  Sort of.  If Sandy Bay's monthly get-together of petrol-heads and their treasured cars were a competition - which it's not, of course - this striking Mazda RX3 would take first prize.       There's no doubt that it was popular with punters, especially the leather jacket-wearing profligate seen loitering in a couple of these pics.  At least the cops will have a lead should the car going missing.    No wonder the car was attracting attention!  It looked great with its crimson duco, flawless panels and chrome, and very tidy - and original - black interior.  And, while we're on the topic of originality, this car's running an early single-dizzy 13B motor, so it's properly old-school!   In fact, it's so old-school that the front discs appear to be original (certainly not slotted, cross-drilled or bigger than standard), as do the rear drums.  There's nothing too tricky-looking ...