Mr Beard's Adventures in Bridport (aka the 2023 Shannons Show 'n' Shine)

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First, there was the late 1960s / early 1970s Super Roo range of Australian performance-orientated Ford Falcons, Capris and Escorts.  Then there was the Super Rhino, which, as far as we can tell, was an option available on Aussie-built, South African-delivered XY GT Fairmonts.  Super Rhinos were, in effect, Super Roos rebadged for the South African market. 

Now some clever bugger has made made a Super Barra - barra being short for barramundi, a tropical Aussie game fish - as well as being the codename for the six cylinder petrol engine range powering the Falcon and Ford Territory from 2006 to 2016*.  The result is a stunning lime green Barra turbo-powered XW Falcon wagon featuring XW GT side stripes and bespoke Super Barra decals, in lieu of and clearly based on the original kangaroo and rhinoceros versions. 

As you can see, the car is a riot of '70s-inspired colour and pays a very tidy tribute to the GTs of the era.  Mind you, it might be that the original also needs to give its restomodded reincarnation some respect, given the cars' respective power outputs:  290 BHP at 4,800 RPM from the GT's 351 cu Windsor V8 versus anything between 322 HP at 5,250 RPM to a whopping 436 HP at 6,000 RPM for the turbo-charged versions of the Barra**!  

To be fair, we can’t say which engine has been fitted to the Super Barra - Wikipedia lists six turbocharged variants (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Barra_engine#Turbocharged_Petrol, accessed 13 JAN 23) - but there’s no doubt that the Super Barra is no pale imitation of the car that inspired it!  It must be an amazing drive!  


It wasn't all cars, cars, cars at the 2023 Shannons Show 'n' Shine, though; there was also this gorgeous Riva power-boat, as well as a number of nice motorbikes.  But to be honest, 95% of what was on display at the Bridport site on Tasmania's north east coast were cars, which suits us at UpperMiddlePetrolHead very, very nicely indeed!



We can tell you that this tidy-as HZ ute has a mere 34,000 k on the clock and that, other than a brief stint in NSW, it's always been a Tassie car.  How do we know this?  Please see below.




We're not doing much further commentary on this event, other than to say that the range and quality of the display was excellent!  The pics - taken by roving correspondent Mr Beard - tell the story, anyway.  Please enjoy!  




These two hot rods are so cool, I've given them their own soundtrack!  https://youtu.be/7wRHBLwpASw.  Go on... .  You know you want to!  (I guess this might be considered commentary, too.)















U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.co.au.)

Photos by Mr Beard.

* We know you know this shit.  However, not all our readers are Aussies, so please excuse the egg-sucking lesson.

** Acknowledging that BHP accounts for frictional losses, whereas HP doesn't, and that this results in the former always reading as lower than the latter ***.

*** The Super Barra is still precisely one metric shit tonne gruntier than the XW GT!

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