Classics by the Beach: February, 2023

Back in the early 1980s, vehicles like this HJ Sandman were commonplace in the car park that used to run the full length of Sandy Bay's Nutgrove Beach, creating a through-road where there's now a wide pedestrian promenade. This caused considerable annoyance to gentlefolk of the area and was a constant PiTA for the police tasked with responding to never ending complaints of hooning, drinking, swearing and other behaviour not quite in keeping with the post code!

Forty years down the track, it's hard to fathom that a Sandman - or any classic Aussie car, for that matter - is pulling the same sort of money now as a house did then. Not a house on the Sandy Bay waterfront, though; you could buy an entire 1980s Eastern Shore street for the price of a 2023 des res anywhere along the Long Beach / Nutgrove strip!

All of this makes the location of Hobart's Classics by the Beach, held on the first Sunday of every month at the remaining southern end of the Nutgrove car park, quite ironic. There's a fair chance that some of the cars - especially the Holden and Ford vans, Monaros, Toranas, GT Falcons, and Chargers - were there, displeasing the area's residents during the ‘80s whereas now they're a popular attraction.

Photobombing with purposeful resolution: Rhys gets in on some Hillman action!

There very likely weren't any Hillmans doing burnouts at Nutgrove in the 1980s. Or anytime, probably. However, there were two excellent Minxes at Classics - a sedan and a rarer station wagon - both of which were in excellent nick.

The wagon's had an interesting history if its collection of parking permits is anything to go by, having apparently spent time in Melbourne (at RMIT in 1970) and in New Zealand (at the University of Auckland between 1976 and '79). Its earliest Tasmanian rego label has it here since 1982.

It seems inconceivable that this Minx isn't, or at least wasn't, owned by the same person who took their Humber Sceptre to Classics way back in 2016 (please see https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2016/11/classics-by-beach-sunday-6th-of.html). The cars are just too similar, the Sceptre being, essentially, an upmarket Minx and both wearing parking passes for the same august institutions during a matching period of time. That'd just be too flukey!

Different windscreens and roofs for the sedans and wagons.

There's not much that I can tell you about this possibly pre-WW2 Jag, except that cars like it were much more welcome in Sandy Bay during their heyday than Holden and Ford panel vans ever were. The J prefix rego is new and does nothing to tell us about the car's immediate past history but, either way, it's a glorious thing!

This Cadillac Allante` was styled by Italian design house Pininfarina. Who knew? It wouldn't be too big a stretch to imagine a trident emblem on the grille and some different tail lights, making for a half reasonable looking 1980s' Maserati. There's arguably a bit of Lancia Gamma coupe in it, too.

Nice 128 3P!

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U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)

EJ or EH Holden? (Up-dated December, 2022)

EJ or the later EH? Several years ago, I posed the question: Can somebody please explain the difference between an EJ and an EH Holden ute or van? The response at the time wasn't overwhelming, so I did a bit of Googling and ferreting through my photos and came up with my own rough guide to EJ and EH identification. Sedans and wagons are easy to tell apart ; the EH's vertical rectangular tail lights are a dead give-away. However, the workhorse versions of both models share the rear-end treatment of the earlier EJ, making it harder to identify one from the other. No super obvious hints here. Or here ... . It turns out that the main clues are in the placement of the front H O L D E N lettering and GMH lion emblems, the style of the radiator grille and the width of the vents in front of the windscreen, with all EJs - sedans, wagons, utes and vans - having one combination and the EH line-up having their own . So what exactly are those diffe

Vick Auto Prima Fiat X1/9 Brakes: An Owner’s Assessment

At the end of 2022, I fitted a set of Vick Autosport Prima front brakes to my mildly worked 1.5 litre Series 1 Fiat X1/9 . I was fortunate, having picked them up at a very, very reasonable price, brand new but surplus to the needs of a fellow X1/9 Australia member who had imported them from the US. The kit included: New single pot callipers , new vented rotors (standard X1/9 front rotors are smaller, non-vented items), DOT approved stainless steel brake hoses, and all the necessary mounting hardware. They are a value proposition, being particularly well priced compared to other manufacturers’ packages - even at RRP - with everyone I’ve spoken to saying they’re made to a high standard, too. Here's a link to a piece that I wrote about them at that time, including some costings: https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-x19-gets-prima-brake-upgrade.html . Initial Assessment: I was a little underwhelmed by the brakes' performance, finding that although they had a tiny

Random # 301: Nanna-Spec KE36 Corolla

Once upon a time - six or seven years ago, actually - there was a lovely pale yellow GC Galant station wagon getting around Hobart. It was totally nanna-spec; its paint was umarked, the chrome work and hubcaps were immaculate, and its very original interior was pristine. Then someone stuck feathers in its dashboard. Next, the windows were adorned with Tibetan prayer flags. And a hubcap went missing. And the the rear bumper was pushed in, mangling the bodywork behind it. And a mudguard got dented. And rust set in. I fear for this sweet, innocent KE36 Corolla. Somebody please save it before it's too late. Nanna needs you to do it. U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Photos by GlamRock.

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