Upper Middle Petrol Head:

Today's offering - a Fanta-tastic Datto 180B SSS - comes from the Special Correspondent for Places with Sandy Coastlines.     It has nicely combined a bit of old school - in the form of a set of 13" "jelly beans" - some JDM - a pair of fender-mounted mirrors - and finishes the look off with colour-coded bumpers.   In my book, it's very nearly perfect:  1970s, Japanese and a hardtop! If only it were a Mitsubishi! U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Photos by Humpster. Like your 70s and 80s Datsuns? How about this ripper 200B SSS:   https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2021/04/readers-photos-106-datsun-200b-810-sss.html ; an ultra-rare 1600 SSS Violet:  https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2021/04/random-394-jdm-datsun-1600-sss-violet.html ; a SSS Stanza:  https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2021/04/random-394-jdm-datsun-1600-sss-violet.html ; or the greenest of green 240Zs:  https://uppermiddlepetrolhe...

Shiny and straight bumper with only minor rust stains from where driving lights had been mounted. I once made a serious tactical error, several beers into a work social event, suggesting to my bald-headed boss that his head was akin to a mudguard: all shiny on top but sh*t underneath.  To his credit, he didn't biff me at the time, choosing instead to play the long game.  1985 was a very, very drawn out year! P3P's bumpers put me in mind of Wayne's head.  Quite shiny on top, but, rather than being faeces underneath, it was rust that contaminated what was below.  It seems that this might be a common issue with Fiat chrome of the era, as both the replacement front 'bar and the rear one that came with the car are both similarly corroded, even though their outer surfaces are in remarkably good nick.   Above and below:  a different story altogether, with some heavily pitted corrosion. Fortunately, P3P's bumpers are made of seriously thick steel, meaning that ther...

  My iPad made me a video.  Or possibly the photo app on my iPad did.  All I know is three years ago, I took some photographs at the Baskerville Historics and now, all this time later, they’ve been put to music and sequenced into some sort of slideshow.   You might enjoy it. If so, please let me know.  I’ll tell my iPad and / or the photo app what a kung fu job it’s / they’ve done.  Cheers, U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)

The main benefit of following the Elephant Eating School of Car Restoration should be obvious:  not biting off more than you can chew!  As an amateur with only basic skills, a modest tool kit and no workshop of any consequence, I do try to keep my tasks down to manageable chunks so that I can celebrate my occasional wins, not get too hissed-off when I c*ck things up and I don't find myself having too many WTF moments! I admire the intrepid bare-metal, nut and bolt restorers and resto-modders - especially the D-I-Yers - I really, really do, but am faint of heart by comparison.   And kinda lazy, too.  Weekend jobs are more my thing; half-dayers if I think I can achieve something worthwhile in such a short timeframe.      Staying true to the elephant-eating philosophy can, however, be easier in theory that it is in the real world.  Example:  new seat belts were required for P3P.  Their removal meant that the rear trim had to be ta...

Don't get me wrong;  P3P is, in restoration terms, a mere doddle.  It's very almost complete and what few parts I've needed - the front seatbelts, for example - haven't been too hard to source, thanks to the efforts of my mechanic, Steve.  Even the nice-to-haves - the Alfa "wineglass" wheels, spring-loaded bonnet prop and replacement front bumper - have almost fallen into my lap as either mates' rates bargains or other reasonably-priced local purchases.    Even so, it does occur to me now, several months into a resto that only requires professional assistance for the mechanical and metalwork side of things, that bringing an old car back to life is a bit like eating an elephant.  How am I approaching this mammoth task?  One bite at a time! The front seatbelts certainly weren’t the first chomp of the resto, as regular readers will realise, but they were badly sun-damaged, with faded webbing and stitching that was coming apart, as well as some light ...