Upper Middle Petrol Head:

This lovely old Toyota Corona liftback is a perfect example of survivor car meets modder.  Its panels, paint and chrome are in amazingly good nick with just a tiny hint of rust near the fuel filler and a trivial dent on the rear bumper.  The only hint that it's not still with its original owner are the fattish black and chrome D-slot steelies and a Slowasf*ck sticker on the driver's side.   Corona sedans and wagons of the same era were Aussie-assembled and shared Holden's poxorific  Starfire 4  engine from the four cylinder Torana / Sunbird and Commodore line-ups (yes, there were four cylinder Commodores which I know is a bitter pill for GMH fans to swallow!).  However, the liftback versions of the Corona were fully imported from Japan and featured the 21R 14 motor from the concurrent RA46 Celica coupe and liftback, making for a much more satisfying - if still not awe-inspiring - driving experience.  The liftback was also beautiful...

It's been a very, very long time since I travelled in an XA or an XB Falcon.  My first experience of the early 70s flagship of the Aussie Ford fleet was being driven from Melbourne to Burleigh Heads, Queensland, and back again in a 351 V8-powered XB panel van.  It was metallic green, equipped with a four speed floor shift, full windows, a mattress in the back and barn doors.  My aunt and mother took turns driving while my three cousins, brother and I lolled about in the back, unfettered by anything as annoyingly restrictive as seatbelts.  You may have already guessed it was the 1970s ; this would doubtlessly be frowned upon today, especially when I caught my mother hitting 80 mp/h (130 km/h) overtaking a truck! Several mates had XAs and XBs early on during our driving careers, too.  Flakey had a sinister black XA van that looked cool but was pretty much a bucket of pus!  He reprised his love of the model with a sky blue V8 XB van with bl...

I'd love to say how good is this mid 70's Corolla coupe?  But I can't, the term How good is ... ? having been rudely appropriated by a conservative Australian prime minister who's about as genuinely blokey as his most recent Labor predecessor was likely to shake a sauce bottle. It is good, though.  Its red duco - Toyota's, in particular, being notorious for fading   to almost pink - still has depth; the panels are straight and rust-free; and the chrome's nice and shiny.  It even features its original side stripes and slotted steel wheels. U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Photos by GlamRock on his belatedly-smart phone.

Things I know about the Giocattolo:   The company that made them - oddly enough called Giocattolo, which is Italian for toy  - was a mid-80s Australian venture that sadly went broke.  The car started out as a front wheel drive Alfa Veloce Sprint running a 1.5 litre, front mounted boxer motor, mated to a five speed manual gearbox.  A great little car but nothing startling. The Giocattolo engineering team swapped the four-pot, front-mounted donk for a stonking 5.0 litre Holden engine, mounted amidships, and bolted it up to some sort of heavy duty transaxle driving the rear wheels.  The Alfa shell was significantly strengthened and bolstered, presumably with a fair bit of fibreglass (too early for Carbon fibre, I reckon). Oh, and I realy, really want one!  This is fantasy, of course, but a bloke's allowed to dream, isn't he? The one shown here, captured outside Hobart's uber-chic MacQ1 hotel, is every bit as fabulous as it looks in these pho...

For several years now, Upper Middle Petrol Head has been bringing you all the most desirable cars.  I think you'll agree that the photo above is a case in point and a great introduction to 2020! See!  There's not just Daniel's white one, but this truly magnificent red example, too, resplendent with its awesome Cibie lighting array.  Seriously, who doesn't love a Galant hardtop?!   This lovely rust-free and apparently original Serie Speciale Fiat X1/9 is also very cool.  It still has its ladder stripes, features the optional Cromodora alloy wheels and would appear to be about as honest an unrestored example as you might ever find.  Here's hoping that it's soon joined by a certain metallic orange, ex-UK version featured elsewhere on this 'blog!  I'm very taken by this no-nonsense 'step-nose' Alfa 105.  It's a testament to the styling of the 105 that they almo...