Classics by the Beach: April, 2025

 

Team UMPH were quite excited to see this ripper Fiat 127 vaguely heading in the direction of Classics by the Beach, Hobart's regular first-Sunday-of-the-month cars 'n' coffee, hoping that it was going to make a stop at the Sandy Bay venue.  Fortunately, it did!   

The yellow lenses aren't permanent.

According to owner Oliver, who bought the car in Melbourne during the Covid 19 lock-down, its body remains pretty much as-was but the suspension and brakes have had an upgrade, including trick new shocks all 'round, imported from Italy; lowered front springs and rear control arms; and cross-drilled and slotted front rotors.  The handling package is nicely completed by a set of four 13 x 7" Superlite-style wheels. 

Inside there's a tasty Momo Prototipo steering wheel, a nifty gear knob and a pair of very era-appropriate bucket seats, the latter because, being a tallish bloke, Oliver didn't really fit into the car with the original pews in place.  It's all been done very nicely, while the carpets, door cards and other trim are all in great nick, too.    

127s are powered by a 900 cc update of Dante Giacosa's 100 Series push-rod engine, as first seen in 1955's Fiat 600.  It's the same same iteration of the donk that was used in the ever-so-beautiful Fiat 850 Sport Coupe, albeit punching out 3 fewer kilowatts in 127 guise.  

Oliver reckons the little four-pot goes rather well in the 127, aided by very, very low gearing that sees the lightweight Italian accelerating briskly but revving hard at only 80 km/h in fourth gear.  He says there's an Arbarth version available that he'd love to fit to his mighty machine.  

While we're in diminutive vehicle mode, we might as well take a peek at this Honda Z600 Kei car.  It's in really good condition, seemingly only missing its front grille, which is actually good for us as it allowed a view of its tiny air-cooled engine and what seems likely to be motorcycle-style exhaust pipes.  It's as cool as a cool thing and almost certainly more fuel efficient than a Toyota Prius!

Air-cooled cylinders, a-la motorcycle engine.

As a percentage of vehicles present, yellow Kei cars would appear to be the dominant force at the April event.  And both of them were Hondas!  There was also a rather cool survivor spec Accord hatch-back that isn’t included this time, as it got a run in last month's write-up of the event (please see; https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2025/03/classics-by-beach-march-2024.html).

The UMPH team aren't sure if we've featured this 3.8 litre V6 Holden-powered BMW before or not.  There's some suggestion that it was at a Picnic at Ross many, many years ago but the general consensus is that the car shown then was white.  Maybe it's the same car, resprayed? 

Either way, the properly mod-plated engine swap has been done extremely well and fits neatly beneath the E21's bonnet.  The entire car's similarly well finished; it's both subtle and visually quite arresting.  Mid-70s German styling seems to have been all about understatement. 

Wrong side up, Miss Jane!

This VN Commodore SS was immaculate and apparently standard, apart from a set of Simmons wheels that really enhanced its overall look.  The metallic gun metal grey paint scheme really suited it, too, the dark colour adding a true touch of class. 

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U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)