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Showing posts from May 9, 2021

Readers' Photos # 110 : Kombi Camper

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Told ya local architect Mark Drury was Vee Dub-mad!  He captured this crisp looking later model Kombi camper in South Hobart, in early autumn, just as the leaves began falling.  Mind you, when I say later model, it's still an air-cooled classic, built sometime between 1972 and 1979.  Not bad for a car that's at least 42 years old, eh? U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Photo by MPD.

Random # 395: Datsun Stanza SSS

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  This SSS -badged Datsun Stanza - captured in suburban Canberra - is from the UMPH "Soft-Focus Collection," before I realised how badly scratched the lens cut-out on my iPhone cover really was.  It was a really great looking car, finished in Datsun racing colours, and fitted with a very cool set of Simmons wheels.  I'd have loved to hear it fire-up, as I suspect that it'd have quite a nice note.   Today's Datto joins the SFC, alongside a magnificent - and really quite nicely modded - Valiant  Charger , pictures of which can be accessed via:   https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2021/04/random-393-valiant-charger.html .  Well worth a look, even if I do say so myself!     U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Shittily scratched iPhone images.

Auto Italia, 2021, Part 3: The Lancias

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Things (I think) I know about Lancias without resorting to Google:  Lancia was once its own brand but, at some time in maybe the late 1970s or early 1980s, they were subsumed by Fiat and started sharing platforms and mechanicals with their new step-siblings.  Lancias were considered to be quite high-end, generally offering more luxury than Fiats.  The then all-conquering Lancia Stratos was dumped by Fiat Group executives as the company's numero uno rally car, in favour of the sedan-based Fiat 131 Abarth.  This made Lancia lovers quite irritable, which was probably fair enough, although the 131 in Abarth form was actually pretty kick-arse in its own right.  HF stands for High Fidelity and has nothing to do with stereophonics (maybe I learned this from Google ages and ages ago).  Blue, and sometimes red, elephants are somehow HiFi (maybe Google also helped me with this).  The colour red really, really suits Lancias, especially when it's teamed ...