Classics by the Beach: November, 2018

November 2018's Classics by the Beach get-together at Sandy Bay, 10 minutes' south of Hobart's CBD, was an impressive turn-out, especially considering the foreboding weather.  There was a good mix of vehicles on display, with everything from the immaculate GTHO Falcon shown above and below, right through to a trio of Super Seven-style clubmans, a couple of rare Galant hardtops and the usual array of Aussie, British, Italian, German, Japanese and American cars.

John's 3.9 litre Range Rover does double duty as a practical classic in its own right and the tow car for his ex-USA MGB roadster race car, as featured in previous UMPH Lufra Hill Climb posts.  It's one of several British classics in his garage, along with another Range Rover, a rare manual XJ Jaguar saloon and a number of classic motorcycles.

It's not often that you get to see three Lotus-style clubmans in one place at the same time.  I've never seen the Birkin above, or the Insane 7 below.  However, the white version is a semi-regular at the Classics.  All three looked fabulous!

This immaculate Mk IIIA Austin Healey Sprite is almost identical to, but is in much better nick than, the red one I owned until the early 2000s.  The IIIA is an Australia-only version - featuring wire wheels and chrome side strips that were usually only found on MG versions of 'Spridgets' - that resulted from a supply problem in the mother country and saw a number of Mk II MG Midgets rebadged as Sprites.

The Datsun Fairlady is an absolute ball-tearer of a car in its own right and deserves its place amongst the great roadsters of the 1960s and 70s, and is certainly the equal of anything similar ever produced in the UK, Britain or elsewhere in the world.  The one shown here was particularly impressive, featuring a 2.0 litre motor, four-wheel disc set-up, era-appropriate Superlight - or possibly Wantanabe - wheels, perfect duco and a lovely interior.

I'd always thought that the Daihatsu Copen was a three-cylinder car.  However, it turns out they're fitted with a 16 valve twin-cam four which, considering the car's diminutive size, probably gets them along at a reasonable clip.

Matt's 280Z is another great car, even if most people prefer the earlier 240Z and 260Z variants.  For me, the 280Z is the last of the series to mainain the classic Z style, albeit in a slightly 80s' fashion.  Matt pretty much rebuilt the car himself, having taught himself how to spray paint via YouTube and also learned to do upholstery.  He does all its maintainence, too.

This striking 308 V8 powered HQ GTS Monaro belongs to Matthew, who tells me he's had it for a few years now.  Matthew's not sure if the paint's original or not but he does suspect that it's largely intact and has only been touched up here and there.  It's a full-matching numbers car that retains all its genuine equipment, including a four-speed floor change, centre console and full-sports instrumentation, as well as brown vinyl seat facings rather than the more common black and white hounds tooth material.  The only ostensible modification are its slightly widened rear wheels.  Nice! 

Rather than bang-on about a car I know nothing about, I'll leave it to readers to digest the info in the sign shown above and below.  What I do know, however, is that I love Alfas and that this one, in particular, really took my fancy.

There would be very, very few XF Falcons of this quality left on our roads.  Apparently, it's a very low kilometerage car and it's clear that it's been well looked after, as evidenced by its near perfect duco and virtually unmarked interior.

Somebody always has to spoil it!  I mean, really, what sort of person brings a bogan-black six-wheel drive Land Rover to a classic car event?! 

Nice Mr Bean doorlock, Woodie!

This XB GT is a stunner!  It was one of two XBs on the day, the other being Nick's soon to be fully restored GS hardtop that was shown in more detail in last month's Classics post and is also just visible in some of today's opening photos of the GTHO.

The owner of this lovely 1974 GC Galant hardtop, Daniel, is very proud of the car.  And so he should be; it is, according to Shannons Insurance, one of only two known to them to be is such stunningly original condition.  The red version shown to the right of frame isn't too shabby, either!

Thanks, everyone, for having bought your cars out and helping to put on such a beautiful display.  Hoping to see you all again next month.

U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au).