Upper Middle Petrol Head:

Told ya local architect Mark Drury was Vee Dub-mad!  He captured this crisp looking later model Kombi camper in South Hobart, in early autumn, just as the leaves began falling.  Mind you, when I say later model, it's still an air-cooled classic, built sometime between 1972 and 1979.  Not bad for a car that's at least 42 years old, eh? U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Photo by MPD.

  This SSS -badged Datsun Stanza - captured in suburban Canberra - is from the UMPH "Soft-Focus Collection," before I realised how badly scratched the lens cut-out on my iPhone cover really was.  It was a really great looking car, finished in Datsun racing colours, and fitted with a very cool set of Simmons wheels.  I'd have loved to hear it fire-up, as I suspect that it'd have quite a nice note.   Today's Datto joins the SFC, alongside a magnificent - and really quite nicely modded - Valiant  Charger , pictures of which can be accessed via:   https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2021/04/random-393-valiant-charger.html .  Well worth a look, even if I do say so myself!     U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Shittily scratched iPhone images.

Things (I think) I know about Lancias without resorting to Google:  Lancia was once its own brand but, at some time in maybe the late 1970s or early 1980s, they were subsumed by Fiat and started sharing platforms and mechanicals with their new step-siblings.  Lancias were considered to be quite high-end, generally offering more luxury than Fiats.  The then all-conquering Lancia Stratos was dumped by Fiat Group executives as the company's numero uno rally car, in favour of the sedan-based Fiat 131 Abarth.  This made Lancia lovers quite irritable, which was probably fair enough, although the 131 in Abarth form was actually pretty kick-arse in its own right.  HF stands for High Fidelity and has nothing to do with stereophonics (maybe I learned this from Google ages and ages ago).  Blue, and sometimes red, elephants are somehow HiFi (maybe Google also helped me with this).  The colour red really, really suits Lancias, especially when it's teamed ...

Such is the popularity of Classics by the Beach that some participants have taken to parking slightly off piste and, as a consequence, these two magnificent cars missed out on being featured in the main UMPH article.  But never fear!  Roving correspondent GlamRock was near!! This Triumph TR6 was a treat to behold, while the very rare and super special Mini fastback (a Speedwell edition???) has to be as interesting an example of the marque as there is.  Either one would be very welcome to take up residence in the UMPH garage!   U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Photos by G M B.

Today's photos of a pristine split-screen Kombi come from VW Group - Volksie, Audi and Porsche - tragic and local architect Mark Drury.  Such is the design guru's love of the parent company's offerings that he's infected his entire immediate family with the bug (get it? 😜), which sees his current driveway and recent automotive history chockers with VW Group product.    According to Mark, this absolutely mint example looked fabulous and even sounded good as it drove away.  And Mark's a man who knows his aesthetics, so there's no argument from the UMPH team!  U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) iPhone images supplied by M P D.