Upper Middle Petrol Head:

I thought that it might require a little research to determine what year this Edsel Ranger  hailed from.  Wrong!  Turns out that the Edsel - a marque within the broader Ford Motor Company, named in honour of founder Big H's son - is either a 1958, '59 or '60, as they're the only three years that Edsels were produced. Today's example - photographed at the April, 2023, instalment of Hobart's Classic by the Beach car enthusiasts' gathering - was quite extraordinary, not only being in first rate nick but also having a very, very cool custom paint job.  The bonnet and boot each featured some presumably hand-painted (?) pinstriping, while the roof was adorned with a nifty floral  motif.  Photo courtesy of A J Lackington This is LA's old-school Cressida.  It's in what looks to be in very original condition with shiny duco, great chrome and a pristine black vinyl roof.  It's ostensibly stock, although it does sit on a very nice set of JDM-style alloy...

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...