Upper Middle Petrol Head:

This very tidy VW Beetle was spotted outside the excellent Small Fry cafe and bar in Bathurst Street, Hobart, on a pleasant Autumn morning.  According to its friendly owner, it's all original but has been recently reupholstered.   It's not the owner's only VW ;  he told UMPH that he's also got a number of engine-less Kombis that he hopes to get back on the road some day.      U M P H ( uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com .)

UMPH thought he'd stumbled across something really special when he saw this sleek Giugiaro-styled coupe in Hobart.  Turns out  out h e was both wrong and right ; what he thought was a Fiat Dino ended up being an Isuzu 117 coupe and that was no disappointment at all. The grill badge: not all that Italian. Absolutely classic lines. No need for decals - Giugiaro's signature is in the actual design. Admittedly, UMPH didn't know that Isuzu ever made the 117 .  But, now that he does, he's a big fan. A double (twin) over-head cam was quite advanced, and fairly rare, for a Japanese car of the 70s. Only here, in the rear-end treatment, does it depart from a more European look. This particular car featured flawless metallic silver duco and an unusual, but not unattractive, red vinyl roof.  The interior was very tidy while the exterior was finished off with a set of five-spoke alloys that would have looked at home on any Italian classi...