Upper Middle Petrol Head:

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 t...

I'm quite taken with this late '80s Nissan EXA N13 on two counts.  Firstly, it's in really, really good nick, appearing to be in almost showroom condition and, secondly, as a concept, its design was very clever. Reference to Wikipedia reveals that today's example, a second gen EXA - aka the NX in the USA - was penned by Nissan Design International in San Diego, California, incorporating styling cues from the contemporary Pathfinder / Terrano 4WD ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_EXA , accessed 08 JAN 23) .  These design elements are most obvious when the triangular rear side windows of both vehicles are compared but aren't quite noteworthy enough for me to bother finding a photo to illustrate the similarities. However, it’s not the car’s looks that impress me, although I do quite like the EXA's aesthetics.  To my mind, it is its super-convertibility - achieved by swapping lightweight roof and other panels - that is so admirable, being configurable as a full...