Upper Middle Petrol Head:

A couple of months ago, I was fortunate to pick up a brand new set of Vick Auto Sport Prima front   brakes for my X1/9 at a very reasonable price, without copping the outrageous cost of freight from the USA.  And when I say outrageous, how does $US1,000 (AU$1,500 at the time of publication) sound?   Just to be clear:  we're talking the cost of transporting them from the US to Tasmania.  It does not include the actual purchase of the brakes themselves, which, at today's rates, come in at $US500 ($AU750) per pair.  The freight component is as per Vick's quote, although they did note that it was less expensive to ship to mainland Oz.  Not their fault but still a firm no thanks from me! Powder coating is a Vick option, although mine came raw and have been painted with Duplicolor caliper paint.  US$ 30 buys slotted and cross drilled rotors, too.    According to Vick's website:     O riginal vintage Fiat brakes utilize archaic ...

Today's Datsun 120Y - aka B210 or Sunny , depending where it was sold - comes to us courtesy of the Canberra Chief Correspondent.  It's the third in a recent unplanned series of 120Y-related posts that includes a JDM-spec liftback and another sedan that's not dissimilar to the one featured here.  With no driver / owner to quizz, we can only comment on what we can see.  It looks ostensibly stock, save the LED light bar, chrome steelies and sports steering wheel that are shown in the CCC's pics.  Other than that, we can add that its paint, panels and chrome look pretty good, as is what's visible of the interior. It's classic ADM (Aussie domestic market) through and through, featuring what looks like a second series grille, a single rear vision mirror on the driver's door - as opposed to fender-mounted units - and 120Y badges.  What's not clear, however, is if it's running stock mechanicals or has been modded, as has the other sedan showcased in this se...

For those of you who are late to the party, this is Part 2 of When Too Many Datsun 120Ys are Barely Enough .   There’s a link to Part 1 at the end of this post in case you feel the need to also check out the really cool 120Y lift back featured there. Whereas Part 1’s feature car was one of the rarer 120Y variants, this one’s the more bread and butter four door sedan.   That doesn’t mean it’s common, though; even the family econobox is nearly as rare as a Tesla petrol flap these days, making this sighting a tiny bit special.   The approach taken to doing this one up's slightly different to the lift back, with nifty LED headlights and a custom stainless steel roof rack having been fitted.  However, it mainly sticks with the 1970s' theme with 13" mags and an interior not too far removed from stock.  It's a great look!   There’s also credible info that it’s running an L20B Datsun engine, coupled to a five-speed ‘box.  That’s a lotta donk for a very, very l...

It's probably ill-advised to begin an article by being a smarty-buttocks.  But here I go anyway, writing stuff lots of people are unlikely to give a rodent's bot about or may even dispute.  However, I'm pretty confident that those in the know - owners and lovers of Willys vehicles, in particular - will appreciate the pedantry ... . Willys is pronounced Will iss , with the y making an i  sound.  There's no apostrophe; the Willys company does not belong to Willy but was founded by Mr John North Willys. And now that I've lost the remainder of my already very modest readership, we can move on to discuss this very nice early- to mid-1930s Willys 77 pick-up, photographed at November 2022's instalment of Hobart's Classics by the Beach.  According to Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willys_77 ), it's powered by a 2.4 litre four cylinder engine that gave what in its day was considered excellent fuel economy - just short of 30 mpg - and allowed for a to...