Upper Middle Petrol Head:

Today's post comes via the West Coast Correspondent and is a bit of an enigma.  It's badged as a Datsun 1200 and, whilst a check of Google images does show some similar ute versions from circa 1960, they're all single-cab models, almost exclusively fitted with separate trays. As you can see, this one's a crew-cab with an integral tray, making it a bit of a rarity.  It could be that it was custom-made, possibly having been based on a station wagon.  However, it's so well finished that it seems more probable that it's ex-factory. Either way, it's a fabulous looking car with amazing duco and chrome, that's complimented very nicely by a set of six spoke alloys.  And if it is a Datsun original, it might just be one of the earliest examples of a crew-cab ever. U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) iPhone image.

Despite its Zapparian appearance, this item is not a First Church of Appliantology* fetish-satisfaction device.  It is, in fact, a highly-advanced Fiat X1/9 weight reduction machine! How so? , you ask.  Without giving away too much, there are cables and hoses, hot water and suds.  Plus a whole lotta suction.  Not at all fetishistic!      Forty one years is a long time, so the state of my Series 1 X1/9's upholstery is actually amazingly good.  Sure, there were four decades' worth of surface grime and stains but there weren't any tears, almost no scuffing and very little fading, either.   My X does, however, have its own unique smell**, quite possibly due to some sort of insecticide or other biological control agent sprayed into the car's erstwhile shipping container home when it was criss-crossing the world as a great big delivery box.  Sometimes I think I can feel my cells mutating just by breathing in its vapours!   Above and below:  driver