Upper Middle Petrol Head:

We at Upper Middle Petrol Head are huge fans of souped-up versions of mainstream small cars like this late '60s Cortina  Mk2 GT .  It's something that Ford, in particular, did very well, offering some ripper motorsports / "fast road" variants of what were sometimes quite prosaic vehicles, including sporty Lotus  and GT Mk1 and Mk2 Cortinas, the luxo-sports Cortina 1600E, and Escorts in various high performance guises - the Mexico, Twin Cam, GT, RS1600, RS1800 and RS2000, as well as the Aussie Super Roo .       Today's immaculate car is a great example of Ford breathing a bit of life into their regular offerings, taking an everyday four door sedan and equipping it with a slightly larger engine - a cross-flow 1600 cc unit -v- lesser Cortinas' 1.2, 1.3 and 1.5 litre power plants - with a modified cam and head, extractors and a 32mm Weber carby.  There were other upgrades, too; the split front bumper, quartz halogen driving lights (unlikely to be Narv...

March, 2023's, edition of Classics by the Beach - held 10 minutes' drive from Hobart's CBD, at Sandy Bay’s Long Beach - wasn't as well attended as it has been of late.  However, that didn't even slightly affect the quality of the cars in attendance, as the following photos will show. The Giulia Super on the right of the image above is a semi-regular at Classics.  Its spectacular neighbour, on the other hand, is a new and very striking addition to the event.  Rumour has it that its owner has also recently joined Club Motori Italia, where there's no doubt that he'll be made very welcome indeed!  Benvenuto !  This Datsun 1600 / 510 is the very definition of a "survivor car," wearing its fifty-plus years of existence with pride.  Sure, it's not perfect but, considering its age, it's in wonderful nick with barely any rust, straight panels, good paint and straight, relatively unblemished brightwork.  The sun-visor and original hubcaps topped it o...

Picture this: A muggy, drizzly day.  I'm Googling. Up comes the following image: Mmm , I think.  A bit like mine.  A LOT like mine.  Blows photo up.  IS  mine! Turns out that P3P* was listed in Unique Cars’ sales section way back in March, 2001.  The paint was redder then; it looks like someone still cared for her. Then, sixteen years later, Unique Cars' Cliff Chambers pens this gem:  https://www.tradeuniquecars.com.au/feature-cars/1701/lamborghini-countach-fiat-128-the-cars-that-got-away  . Seems that one of the cars didn't really get away, though.  My best guess is that P3P didn't sell and ended up under a tree in the would-be-seller's back yard where it stayed, unloved, until I bought it at auction in late 2021. Rust did eventually "show its pock-marked face," as Cliff so poetically put it, but, fortunately, only where it was easy to cut out.  Her duco's not as red as it was, either, but that’ll be fixed some day. Just in case yo...

Yes.  I agree.  We are getting a little ahead of ourselves; installing accessories does, more often than not, come towards the completion end of a project.  However, I'd generously been given a set of vintage Cibie 91I driving lights - last fitted to mate Mark Drury's long-gone '70s Mitsubishi Lancer hatchback - and was looking for an excuse to muck about with P3P. Luckily, thirty five-plus years in a box had been kind to the lights, which came with clear, chip-free lenses, almost completely unblemished reflectors, perfect plastic cases and two pristine black covers with Cibie logos printed in a chrome finish.  I guess this shouldn't be a surprise, though; Mark's training as an architect clearly informs his almost archival approach to storage.  FIRST THINGS FIRST: GETTING THE LIGHTS WORKING ... The thing is, one of the lights didn't work and a faulty bulb wasn't to blame.  Closer inspection revealed that organised and dry as Mark's cache may have been,...