Classics by the Beach: March, 2022 (& Happy Birthday to the Jensen Healey!)

I'm reliably informed that the 6th of March, 2022, is the 50th anniversary of the Jensen Healey and am therefore very pleased to be able to bring you these photos of two excellent examples - plus their proud owners - taken at a popular monthly car meeting in Sandy Bay, ten minutes' drive from Hobart's central business district in Tasmania, Australia. The Jensen-Healeys on display were accompanied by a Jensen Interceptor, along with a host of other classic, sports and performance cars. Happy birthday, J-H!

Above and below are several photos of a beautifully restored Fiat 850 Spider. Coincidentally, the car that replaced the Spider in Fiat's line-up - the X1/9 - shares its 50th birthday with the Jensen-Healey, having also debuted in 1972. I know this, as I plan to attend a celebration of the Italian mid-engined masterpiece's big-5-0 in Canberra in April. More on that next month ... .

The quality of this Bertone-styled Spider's restoration is first rate, with deeply lustrous paint and a perfectly retrimmed interior. It's been finished with a fabulous set of Cromodora CD30 alloys wheels with Abarth centres. I'm not aware of any other 850 Spiders in Tasmania but, even if there were, it would be difficult to image them being better presented than this magnificent example!

Bloke really, really liked this big Merc! To be fair, it did attract a huge crowd; this was by far the fewest people it had gathered in the tens minutes or so I spent trying to get a clear shot.

American cars are, and have always been, a little beyond me, the more popular performance orientated models aside - the Mustangs, Comaro / Firebirds, GTOs and the like - but it's very, very obvious that the Packard Patrician was a car of luxury and distinction during its time! It also has eyebrows that put me in mind of the original Bat Mobile. And that makes it extremely cool!

Thanks, as always, to all the people who brought their cars to Sandy Bay. It never ceases to amaze me what's lurking in Tasmania's garages and sheds!

U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)

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