Upper Middle Petrol Head:

This is what's commonly referred to as a "Blitz Truck" or a "Blitz Buggy," a World War Two military four-wheel drive that was concurrently produced by Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.  Reference to wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Military_Pattern_truck ) reveals its official title to be a Canadian Military Pattern Truck, or CMP for short. In precis, CMPs were produced in Canada and supplied to the militaries of other Commonwealth countries and saw action throughout the world, especially as one Anglophile friend of mine puts it, when "half the globe was pink."  (Back in the days when pink in an atlas denoted lands "belonging to" the British Empire and had nothing to do with people of the same gender frolicking together and having a cheery old time!).  The wiki-entry is highly recommended should you wish to know more about WWII vehicles and less of the hijinx of confirmed bachelors.       We digress!  This CMP - going by th...

  Not only is "The Longley," as it's known locally, a great pub, a revered live music venue and the real-life setting for the fictitious watering hole in Luke McGregor's very popular TV show, Rosehaven , it also has this ripper Datto 1200 ute for its daily runabout!  So, Ms Celia Pacquola, you're not the only star associated with the Longley International Hotel!  (Not that you're not a star, too, Luke!) U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) iPhone images.

  There are people who believe that French vehicles are beautiful.  Not me!  Even the much vaunted Citroen DS - aka the  Goddess - leaves me wondering WTF Italian stylist Flaminio Bertoni* was thinking when he penned its weird spaceship meets cockroach design.  Interesting?  Yes.  A mechanical and technical   marvel?  Undoubtedly!  An icon of car design, even?  I'd concede that.  But beautiful?  NON !    * Yes - Berton i  with an i , not to be confused with the Italian design studio and coach-builder Berton e with an e .   However, even the weirdo-mobile DS looks a million francs compared to this munter-on-wheels, photographed in the Canberra suburb of Barton.  The "Hux Custm   [sic]  Built" plate doesn't absolve Citroen of blame; I've seen other similarly homely truck and van versions of the marque, so I'm confident that Hux's role was one of interior fit-out rather than determini...

This is the Alfa Male's side project, a fuel-injected 1.7 litre Alfa 33 (Tipo 905), that he bought to replace his 16 valve Tipo 907 33 that self-immolated several years back.  It's also his "practice car" - a chance to hone his panel beating, spray painting and reassembly skills before he finishes the other project he's got on the go - a 1.5 litre twin carb Tipo 905 33 that's undergoing a ground-up rebuild. The main pics, at the top of the page and the two just below, show the car as it is now.  The one immediately above depicts it as it was when the Alfa Male bought it:  straight, free of structural / major rust but viewed close up, in need of a little TLC. Suffice to say that it's had its TLC and a bit more, too.  A few minor dents and creases have been removed, some light rust treated and its dullish, crazed paint has been replaced by a good few coats of crisp white duco and another of clear to finish it all off.  The bumpers and skirts have been given ...

Classics by the Beach kicked off 2021 in emphatic style with a large turnout at Sandy Bay's Long Beach.  Not only were there numerous cars on display, the quality and range of vehicles at the regular first Sunday of the month  gathering  proved, yet again, that it is the very best event of its type in southern Tasmania. Upper Middle Petrol Head's January coverage of Classics features eight distinctly different but equally engaging cars, and one motorcycle.  We'll begin with the Alfa GTV pictured above and below but there's also a magnificent XW Fairmont  GS , a pair of lovely E30 BMWs, a very interesting Volvo van, what appears to be a genuine Shelby Cobra and a contemporary kit version of the same model, plus a Norton Commando with a brilliant metal-flake paint job.   Matt's 1985 Alfa GTV might just be as a good an example of the model as there is pretty much anywhere!  He tells me that he's owned it since the early 1990s, it has approximately 13...