Upper Middle Petrol Head:

Mrs UMPH isn't a bad sort, really, especially when she spots and photographs classic Italian cars for me!  I've seen the car she snapped - the lovely Lancia Fulvia shown above -  in and around Hobart but I've never been able to capture it myself.   There's a second blue Fulvia that's occasionally seen in the city that I believe is an ex-South African vehicle, as well as one that was under restoration by Steven Swade of Swadeology fame.  However, I have no idea what's become of his car now that he's left Tasmania.   Two  Fulvia  Zagatos  - one red, the other blue - also live in the southern part of the state and both have previously featured on this 'blog, as have a number of other Lancias.  The marque is, however, one of the rarer and lesser known Italian car manufacturers, which I reckon is a great excuse to showcase a few examples here.       If the cars above ...

CACT has come through with the goods again, this time by capturing these images of a gorgeous Lotus Elise.  I think what makes this car particularly appealing is its red, white and gold-accented livery, which puts me in mind of a classic Elan paint scheme.  There's nothing wrong with any of Lotus' more recent   colour palette, of course - their bright green and orange offerings being absolutely stunning - but sometimes a nod to the past works a treat, too.  An Elan in classic 1960's livery U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) All iPhone images.

There are a few things that I'm really, really into, classic cars, proper coffee and good food being extremely high on my list of favourites, which is why I look forward to the annual Festa Italia - the premier event of Hobart's very active Italian community - with such gusto !  2020's iteration of the event did not disappoint!      An UMPH X1/9 & Scotalie's Fiat 132 However, food and coffee aficionado that I am, I will confine today's post to Festa Italia's cars (although I will say that double-shot short blacks and cannoli do make for a sublime breakfast!).  And even then, I won't bang-on too much about specific cars - especially the magnificent fleet of Ferraris that was present - letting the photos do the talking in most instances.        Mike's Zagato-bodied Lancia Fulvia - one of several cars present at the festival courtesy of Club Motori Italia (CMI) - does feature quite extensively elsewhere on the UMPH ...

Ci è voluto un po 'più del previsto, ma la mia Fiat X1 / 9 del 1978 è tornata sulla strada. In effetti, ho avuto entrambi i miei X1 / 9s rinnovati - o ricompositati, a seconda del tuo punto di vista - scambiando tutti i bit rapidi (ish) dalla mia Serie 1.5 del 1980 nella Serie Speciale del '78 mostrata qui, usando il suo parti non modificate per riportare la prima su un'auto ordinata, praticamente standardizzata. L'idea originale era di scambiare semplicemente la testa, la camma lieve e i gemelli IDF Weber, forse riutilizzando l'accensione elettronica Mallory e forse le ruote Stilauto da 15 ". Quindi uno dei miei meccanici e ho pensato che potremmo anche fare il motore, holus bolo, che a sua volta ha reso più possibile uno scambio completo del cambio, portando alla fine al momento "xxxx it, we may do do the lot!". Alla fine, siamo andati con tutto quanto sopra, più i coilovers della nuova auto, radiatore e due ventole, e ha gettato in una ...

It took a little longer than anticipated but my 1978 Fiat X1/9 is back on the road.  In effect, I've had both my  X1/9s  rebodied - or re-componentised, depending on your point of view - swapping all the quick(ish) bits from my 1980 Series 1.5 into the '77  Serie Speciale  shown here, using its unmodified parts to return the former back to a tidy, virtually bog-standard car. The original idea was to just exchange the head, mild-cam and twin IDF Webers, maybe reusing the Mallory electronic ignition, and possibly the 15" Stilauto wheels.  Then one of my mechanics and I thought we may as well do the motor, holus bolus , which in turn made a full gearbox swap more feasible, ultimately leading to the "xxxx it, we may as well do the lot!" moment.  In the end, we went with all of the above, plus the newer car's coilovers, radiator and twin fans, and threw in a set of brand new stainless cooling pipes for good measure.  Just w...