Upper Middle Petrol Head:

  Introducing the Roller Wagen, the car you drive when your regular wedding limousine is that tiny bit too large to negotiate medieval Tuscan streets.  And what a beauty it is: a classic Pantheon grille, what appear to be genuine wire-spoked wheels and a convertible top allowing uninterrupted views of all that magnificent Mediterranean scenery.  Che bella macchina! Grazie, signora Cat! Did you enjoy this post?  If so, why not browse the rest of the uppermiddlepetrolhead site?  There are loads and loads of classic, sports and performance vehicles featured, as well as stacks of car shows and motorsports events.  Even better, you can follow either the 'blog itself or do so via Upper Middle Petrol Head's Facebook page.   And please do like, comment and share! U M P H ( uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au .)

Today's images come to you courtesy of Correspondent McBeard, who's currently exercising his inner-lumberjack in Canada.  We're not subscribing to any particular theme - "big" might cover it if we were - but it's mainly "because."   Because in an Australian market, this Mercury 100 would be a Ford F100.   And because the eponymous Jeff, from Aussie YouTube channel Home Built by Jeff , happens to being using an almost identical vehicle to build his Frankenhauler project truck ( https://youtu.be/-DMlfB8spSg?si=nt62y5KsNowbbZEf ). Because we at UMPH love this classic Jeep Cherokee. ... and he's OK! Because where else on the planet do you see snow coaches like these? And because even though Canada's very, very much NOT the USA - which is just as well, given McBeard's social media profile - their fascination with big-arse American utes (pickups) is as impressive as the country itself. Did you enjoy this post?  If so, why not browse the rest of...

  When too many Renault 4s are barely enough!  Today's beauty - brought to us by OMiT - is the second example he's snapped in as many weeks and the third to grace the pages of this 'blog (links available at the bottom of the page). The plastic grille suggests that it's a post-1974 version, as the two previous iterations (1961-67 and '67-74) wore metal air intakes, the first with multiple vertical bars and the second featuring a single horizontal aluminium slat ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_4 , accessed 28 SEP 25) .  There's not much otherwise to externally differentiate between examples built during the model's 33 year, 8,000,000 unit production run.     Yes. That's eight million Renault 4s, which is why they're not an uncommon sight even today, some thirty years after production ended in Slovenia (ibid.).  They're cultishly popular in Madagascar, too, as the following two excellent DW Rev videos demonstrate: https://youtu.be/kOJGg4XvuJ...

  Today's car - a 1978 Triumph TR7 photographed in southern Tasmania and bought to us by the Egg Man - looks rather striking with its dark grey duco and colour-matched wheels. The TR7 and its brutish twin brother, the V8-powered TR8, were the first of the Triumph TR series to adopt monocoque construction, with all previous iterations being of body-on-frame construction.  According to Wikpedia, they were also the first TRs to not be launched as a drop-head coupe (a "convertible" in American speak), being available only in fixed-head coupe guise until 1979 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_TR7 , accessed 15 SEP 25) . Did you enjoy this post? If so, how about checking out these recent pieces from UMPH? https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2025/09/from-our-man-in-tuscany-early-70s-fiat.html ; & https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2025/09/from-our-man-in-tuscany-renault-4.html . U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) iPhone images.

Hi, Jeannie! OMiT has done it again!  This time, it's another legendary European car - French, in this case - in the form of an immaculate Renault 4. Like the Fiat 124 OMiT wired us just last week ( https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2025/09/from-our-man-in-tuscany-early-70s-fiat.html ) , the Renault 4 had a genuinely astounding production run, beginning in 1961 and ending in 1994, racking up an extremely impressive 8,000,000 units.   Now, astounding as that may be, it isn't quite up there with the 124's total of well in excess of 15,000,000 examples made in Italy and a further eight countries.  However, this little Frenchie tops our Italian when it comes to lands in which they were built, coming in with a very creditable 20, including Australia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_4 ) . I can't help wondering if the world wouldn't be a better or at least less-polluted place if all car manufacturers had built more no-frills, frugal, long-lasting vehicles ...

  Bellissimo!  From what we at UMPH can gather, this to-die-for Fiat 124 Berlina - photographed by OMiT - hails from sometime between 1971 and 1974, based on its double-stacked rear taillight / indicator assemblies.  (Earlier versions' rears had single horizontal bar-style lights.) We've further gleaned that "our" example is not a 124  S or a Special T , as those variants have quad-headlight front ends.  Not that this one isn't special in its own right, mind you; it's a stunning example with perfect duco - Fiat's "Brilliant Green," possibly - gleaming, straight-as-a-die chrome, and a lovely interior.  Not even Wikipedia could provide production numbers for the 124 Berlina and the unasked-for AI summary gagged at providing one, too.  What can be said, however, is that there were lots   of them built by Fiat in Italy between 1966 and 1974, with production continuing in eight other countries  well into the new millennium, and  Russia produc...

Circa 1980 RA42 Celicas are rare enough.  Lift-backs, like this one - photographed at a chilly and wet Classics by The Beach at Hobart's Sandy Bay - are even thinner on the ground.   Making this one even a bit more spesh is the straight-six engine lurking beneath its bonnet.  I'm not sure what it is - a Toyota 1JZ or 2JZ, possibly - but it was a very tidy, properly engineered installation (it has the plaque to prove it), turning the car into a resto-mod equivalent of the original six-pot Celica XX / Supra, but gruntier.   And while we're on the subject of modified Toyotas, this is Edward's extremely cool KE 30 (?) Corolla van.  In this case, the mods are a bit more old school:  a 1600 Celica donk with a Weber carbie and matched five-speed 'box, a set of tasty alloys, a slick paint job and a very tidy interior.  It even has an under-stated rear roof spoiler that someone's cleverly made of light gauge steel. Stately Jags don't come much better ...