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Random # 337: a 1979 HZ Holden Overlander 4WD Station Wagon

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This seriously tough, Western Australian-registered four wheel drive HZ Holden station wagon is a long, long way from home!  Or is it ... ? If the car's what I believe it to be - and it very probably is, there not being huge numbers of 4WD HJ - HZ Holden manufacturers out there - it may have actually made a home-coming to the island state where it was built.  And yes, I mean Tasmania. I won't bog you down here with the finer details (there are two links attached that provide more detail if you are interested) but in the 1970s, a bloke named Arthur Hayward - owner of Tasmanian company Vehicle Engineering and Modifications (VEM) - started building 4WD Holden Overlander vans, utes and one-tonners in his Launceston factory.  Later on, he expanded his range to include wagons. To my inexpert eye, this looks like Arthur's work, in that it's running beefy leaf springs all round with solid axles.  It sits high and is certainly solidly engineered, but otherwise there's no bad...
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Classics by The Beach: March, 2026

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March, 2024's, Classics by The Beach - Hobart's first-Sunday-of-the-month gathering of classic, sports and performance vehicles - was particularly well attended, with parking at a premium and lots to see.  Cars were literally two abreast in some areas, many surrounded by groups of keen admirers.   This delightful Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider didn't even make it to the car park at Sandy Bay's Long Beach venue, its driver forced to find a spot just outside the main action.  It wasn't the only exhibit to be found beyond the event's usual boundary, though; the immaculate XB GS Falcon ute shown a few pics down the page was parked opposite our Italian beauty, slightly further away again.    Many attendees' cars have featured elsewhere in this 'blog, so I've tried, as best as possible, to only include examples new to the event.  However, there's a chance that one or two have graced our pages before.  Apologies for that.   There were several more Alfas o...
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Random # 336: 1975 HJ Holden Panel Van

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This gorgeous green machine - a 1975 HJ Holden van photographed in southern Tasmania during February, 2026 - says a lot about today's classic car market.  And what it really, really tells us is that prices are out of control!  Seventy grand is a lot of moolah.  Yes.  $70,000 for an HJ! (According to its publicly available Transport Tasmania registration data, it is an HJ, even if it's wearing an HX grille.) It has GTS front mudguards, a set of very tasty five-spoke alloys and a classic bubble rear window in the very best of custom van tradition.  However, it doesn't appear to be a Sandman - it lacks the stripes and decals - and there's no indication whether it's a straight-six or a V8. None of this is to say that the car might not be worth every cent of its asking price.  The paint and panels are great, older Holdens in decent condition are getting harder to find, and the prices of genuine Sandmans and other models with cult followings - performance Toranas...
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Classics by The Beach: February, 2026

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The term "unprecedented" has become a bit of a trope, being used ad infinitum to describe our planet's ever-deteriorating climate - be it hotter, windier, wetter or drier than ever before - and the antics of one particularly unhinged world leader whose petulant attempts at world domination seem set to unravel eight decades' of relative global peace and economic prosperity in the Western world.    All of which seriously diminishes the word unprecedented’s utility in describing something for which there truly isn't any precedent.  Like the existence of vacant parking spaces at Long Beach, Sandy Bay, on the first Sunday of any month of the year.       That said, even if February, 2026's, Classics by the Beach wasn't particularly well-attended, the quality of cars on display was still excellent, with a couple that had, until now, not been seen by the UMPH team.  This lovely 1970 Lancia Fulvia coupe   hasn't featured on our 'blog be...
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