2015 Picnic at Ross

UMPH is at a loss to know where to begin.  There were so many wonderful cars at this year's Picnic at Ross, it would be impossible to cover them all or to even try.  So, to take a leaf out of Swade's book (or should be a 'page out of his blog'? - http://www.swadeology.com/2015/05/2015-picnic-at-ross/), UMPH is just going to go with a few of the vehicles that particularly appealed to him ... 

This early 70s Ford Transit belongs to good friends of UMPH.  It was originally purchased in Britain, whereupon its owner and his wife drove it to Western Australia, via the Middle East.  One of the great stories that attaches to Mrs Thatcher, as she's affectionately now known, is that whilst driving through Iraq, its owner noticed that the temperature was rising rather rapidly.  Upon inspection, he discovered that a hole had been shot through its radiator.  Being a practical sort of bloke - an engineer, so the story goes - he soldered it up road-side and resumed his journey.   

Meet Upper Middle Petrol Hound.  Note the original UK rego plate above the door.

Lots of love, attention and creativity have gone into Mrs Thatcher's restoration - not to mention a few dollars here and there!  She certainly attracted some attention on the day and made a magnificent chuck-wagon to boot.  For more info, go to heidiwoodheadfloralaritst.blogspot.com .

Some very nice egg and bacon rolls, plus some delicious plunged coffee, were prepared in Mrs T and served right here.

Okay, UMPH has sworn off Italian classics.  But can you really blame him for including the beauty featured below? 

Todd's 9 something other than 11 Porsche.  A front engined, turbo-charged, rear wheel drive job.  A 944?  Nice, anyway.  PS:  Todd has since told UMPH it was a 924 Turbo that was unfortunately written-off during an incident during the 2015 Porsche Tour.  Sad! 

The two Celicas that follow are UMPH's kinda thing.  Both feature twin-cam engines and have mirrors mounted well forward on their mudguards in classic early 70s Japanese style.  UMPH wasn't lucky enough to hear them fire up, but he reckons they'd have sounded pretty meaty.

A fuel injected 16 valve.

UMPH followed this immaculate beetle up the Midlands Highway and was wondering how it was able to maintain an apparently easy 110 km/h.  Then he saw its engine ...

Wonder no more!  A supercharger.

Orwell said "Four legs good, two legs bad."  UMPH has his own saying:  "Four doors boring as bat-poop, two doors the height of automotive design."  The astute amongst you might see a developing theme here.

Two too many doors but fabulous none the less.

What a colour scheme!  Love it.

The Capri shown below was beautiful.  As far as UMPH knows, this model was never available in Australia.  

What was the name of that British TV show?  You know, the one with two undercover types - one with a Capri and the other a hot Escort.

The owner of this almost showroom Fiat 128 wasn't around when UMPH saw it.  However, his very obliging son was more than happy to explain the car's history and even moved a couple of chairs out of the way to improve the photograph taken from the front.  It's clear that both father and son are rightly very proud of the car.

Current annoyance with Italian classics sentiment aside, it was impossible not to admire this car.

This Kombi is as good as UMPH has seen in a long time.  Not so sure about the dodgy old bloke that seemed to belong with it.  (Hint: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7165367970551834236#editor/target=post;postID=1411228409624317255;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=1;src=postname ).

A very distinct phase of Alfa styling.

A mate of UMPH's has done one of these Datsuns up, reckoning that as one of the currently less-well regarded Zs, it's a future classic.  He might just be right.  This one looked pretty sharp.  

The Galant's younger sibling.

Turns out that this Jensen Healey belongs to an ex-colleague of UMPH.

"Four doors boring ... ," so this is a gem

The owners of this Lotus Europa only recently moved to the state.  Welcome to Tasmania, people.  UMPH hopes you enjoy our great roads in your mid-engined classic. 

A really tidy Escort, circa early 80s.

What's not to love about this XC hardtop?

Each and every one of these P76s was in great nick.

A tough looking early Escort.

There was a large contingent of Cortinas.

This classy HQ had really nice wheels.  They looked like the steel jobs available from the GM factory during the
70s.  However, closer inspection revealed that they were alloys.

An interesting Mini variant, the Wolseley Hornet.  The Riley Elf was almost identical.

That dodgy Kombi bloke admires this truly cool Austin van.

If UMPH's memory serves him correctly, the red and white Charger on the left was a limited edition known as the Sportsman.  Rumour has it there were only 500 ever made, all in the same livery as this example.  They were released and marketed around the same time as the GC Galant hardtop.  

There was something about this lovely Morris 1100 ...

Hard to put a finger on exactly what ...

UMPH's mum's Morrie never looked this cool!  It appears that the roof-line's been lowered.

There were Mustangs a-plenty but, for UMPH, this was far and away the nicest.  And being the nicest in a collection of really nice cars is no mean feat. 

Another great car day out in Tasmania.  Thanks to the Post Vintage Car Club, Rural Youth and the people of Ross.  UMPH's appreciation, too, for those that kept an eye on Upper Middle Petrol Hound, who was feeling less than chipper on the day, and for the breakfast and coffee made in the chuck wagon.

UMPH.

PS: If you enjoyed this post, please visit http://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au for more classic cars, route suggestions and Tasmanian dining experiences.