April, 2024's, instalment of Classics by the Beach - held at Sandy Bay, 15 minutes' drive from the Hobart CBD - wasn't an event for quiche-eaters, with cold, wet weather seemingly having reduced the attendees list to only a handful of the heartiest of souls! Of course, that also affected the number of cars on display but there were some extremely nice ones, nonetheless.
Take, for example, this lovely 1962 Type 14 Lotus Elite. According to Wikipedia (https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7165367970551834236/6534627791194892006, accessed 07 APR 24), the Elite was constructed using a "stressed-skin glass reinforced unibody ... for the entire load-bearing structure of the car," unlike the Lotus Elan, Europa and Esprit, all of which featured a fibreglass body on a rigid central "backbone" steel chassis. It was powered by a 1,216 cc Coventry Climax FWE - the FW standing for feather weight - based on an engine originally designed to meet a British Government request to build a powerful, yet lightweight, fire-fighting pump (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry_Climax, also accessed 07 APR24).
The Elite was very, very high tech for its time and this particular example - finished in classic BRG with wire wheels - still looks great to this day, 62 years after it was built. If only all products of the swingin' 60s were so well preserved!
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| Definitely needs a roof rack ... . |
This is not a Citroen 2CV! It's actually a Dyane and, while it is based on 2CV running gear and underpinnings, almost no panels were shared between the two quintessentially French models. It's also worth noting that as well as having been released after the 2CV, the Dyane's production run fell short of that of the of the machine on which it was based, with the former being built between 1948 and 1990 while the latter's manufacture only spanned the period 1967 to 1983 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_Dyane, accessed 07 APR 24).
I got chatting to the Dyane's owner and totally forgot to take close-ups of its roof rack, which had really taken my eye, as I'm quite keen to get one for my Fiat 128 3P project. This particular style - featuring galvanised side runners with a series of holes running their length and tilting front and rear bars wrapped in black plastic - were once very popular, so, if anyone's got one lashed to the rafters of their garage, gathering dust, and wouldn't mind selling it ... .
Although we at UMPH usually try not to include cars already covered elsewhere on this site (please see: https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2024/03/classics-by-beach-march-2024.html), we're making an exception in the case of this Suzuki Swift GTi now that a bit more info has come to light. What’s revealed might surprise a few readers, given how well it presents, others are likely to recognise it and most will be impressed with the engine it’s running.
Chatting with the owner reveals that it's an ex-race car, having been campaigned on mainland Australia and, for the past few years, here in Tasmania at Baskerville and the Club Motori Italia Domain hillclimb in 2022. It was part of a double act, often being paired with the yellow Swift shown below and driven by a female competitor. From memory, both shared the same sponsorship and wore similar livery.
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| Above and below: at Baskerville (UMPH images) |
Since its retirement, the car has been put back into road-going trim and given a first class paint job. The roll bar's gone, as is the front strut brace. However, the suspension remains the same. It's powered by a twin cam, 16 valve engine of 1,800 cc capacity, up a half litre over the 1,300 of the stock GTi unit. It's the same basic block, though, albeit it fractionally taller to accomodate a longer stroke. At a bee's penis under 900 kg, that's likely to make for a pretty impressive power to weight ratio!
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U M P H
(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)
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