Upper Middle Petrol Head:

  Sadly, the Holden Gemini, a darling of the Aussie small car set during the 1970s, '80s and '90s, has become a bit of a unicorn.  The gorgeous coupe version is even rarer and might just be the automotive equivalent of a zebra-striped unicorn - so rare, they're rumoured to exist only in minuscule numbers.   This one - bought to you by GlamRock - is either a TC or TX, hailing from from circa 1977.  It's an absolute treat with great paint and chrome, a bang-on for era front spoiler and a nice set of alloys.  It also appears to be running a 2.0 litre donk. Noting the transplanted heart of today’s example, it’s a pity that Holden never did a GT/E version of their take on GM's T Platform car, as Opel did, as by all accounts they were real screamers with their 1973 cc fuel-injected engines and other performance upgrades (inset).  That's not to say that Aussies didn't extract more grunt from the local 1.6 litre versions, though; there were plenty of quick Geminis i

Hands up everyone who thinks the Subaru-powered 86  was Toyota's first foray into boxer-engined cars.  Wrong!  (This includes me, by the way.)   Turns out their 700 - or Publica or Paburika (model code UP10), depending on the market into which it was sold - was powered by a horizontally-opposed  two cylinder engine waayyy back in  1961.  Not only that, various versions of the 700 - sedans, wagons, vans, and utes - were offered packing flattie two pots until 1 972.   ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Publica ).   As a 1964 edition, this 700 - photographed in southern Tasmania on a glorious Autumn day -  is from the very early stages of that fairly long production run.  It looks pretty basic, featuring an auto 'box and what looked like an after-market heater / demister, but was in excellent, possibly even unrestored, condition.   Its party-piece (other than being cute, obviously!)?  According to its Wikipedia entry, it did 85 miles per imperial gallon or 3.3 litres / 100 k

Info on the John Goss Special version of Ford's XB Falcon hardtop is a bit sketchy when it comes to production numbers, with Wikipedia suggesting that there may have been as many as 800 built in two runs of 400 each ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goss_Special ) .  However,  Survivor Car Australia magazine reckons the total was 700, as follows: Thanks, Jon! And then there's this excellent Tasmanian Featured in Five video - also courtesy of Jon, as is the black and white image that follows - that supports the final figure being 700 cars:   https://youtu.be/gG8zUyJ8hTQ?si=yGlQD9lCOZpJHea6 .  It's really, really well produced and is definitely worth watching! Most fans of Aussie muscle know the rest of the story:  Built to celebrate Goss's 1974 Bathurst 1000 victory, as well as Ford Australia's 50th anniversary, they were based on a Falcon 500 shell and equipped with a 302 cu Cleveland V8, either a four speed floor shift or a three speed T-bar auto and featured th