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Showing posts from April 1, 2018

"For sale: Alfa 33QV. No rust, any offer, be quick."

The video above arrived in the UMPH Facebook feed, titled:  "For sale:  Alfa 33QV.  No rust, any offer, be quick." There's a story - apocryphal, perhaps - that there are only two road-registered quad-valve Alfa 33s in all of Britain. A tall tale? Maybe not. Consider this:   UMPH has had two mates who used to own  (note the past tense here)  33QVs. Both of their cars caught fire. Split rubber fuel lines, apparently. Worth getting them checked ... ? Probably.   Alas, poor Alfa.  I knew it well. U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Image and video by Scott.

Random # 212: Two Porsche 356s

Regular readers may have noted the development of a distinctly Tasmanian west coast flavour to the 'blog, with a predominance of classic cars on tour in the area being featured.  First there was the Armstrong Siddeley contingent, then a Cobra replica and, now, these two lovely Porsche 356s - one from New South Wales and the other from Victoria.  The blue one shown here - cleverly balancing a small SUV on its roof (a spare, perhaps?) - is a 90 , whereas the white version is a 60 .  Reference to Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsche_356 ) doesn't explain what this means.  However, taking a taxonomic approach to what Wiki does offer suggests that both are 356 B s, as they do have the twin vented rear engine covers but not disc brakes.   Interestingly, the white one is a left hand drive car, so it has almost certainly been imported from the USA or Europe.  Other than that, UMPH can't actually shed any further info on either car, as neither vehicle's ow

Classics by the Beach: Sunday the 1st of April, 2018

What's better than a GC Galant hardtop?  Two  GC Galant hardtops, obviously!  Here are two of the south of Tasmania's more regularly seen examples - Daniel's excellent fully original white 1974 edition and the not so standard, but still era-appropriate, red '75 Upper Middle Petrol Head version - photographed at the April Fools' Day Classics by the Beach in Sandy Bay.   There's another GC hardtop - an immaculate and highly modified green one - in the Hobart area and there's a further red example that's rumoured to be making a comeback to our our roads soon.  However, they seem to be the only ones still about ; UMPH hasn't seen the yellow one that used to live on the Eastern shore for several years, nor does he know what's happened to the light green one from West Hobart, either.   There was a black 2.6 litre hardtop with Hotwire wheels many, many years ago but it now seems only to exist in Galant fans' distant memories.  If you kn