Upper Middle Petrol Head:

This EH Holden ute, photographed the Correspondent for the Australian Capital Territory in downtown Canberra a week or two back, looks great.  Annoyingly, the upper-facing clear coat is letting the rest of the car down - having blistered and peeled, as often happens - but otherwise the metallic grey duco really suits the car, its panels are straight and free of rust and the chrome's in fabulous nick, too.  The Aunger "jelly beans", wood-rimmed steering wheel and sports mirrors are all bang-on for era and the bucket seats don't look out of place, either.  U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) iPhone images by the CACT

There's not much that needs to be said about this wonderful old XP ute, really.  It presented more like a five year old car than one that's fifty five, having as it did excellent duco, straight, rust free panels and really good chrome.  It was running a set of twelve-slots but, other than that, appeared to be totally unmolested. U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) AlliPhone images  

This Valiant Regal coupe - photographed on an early Spring day in Hobart's Salamanca Place - exhibits a rare combination of muscle and elegance in one stylish package.  Its closest Ford and GMH equivalents of the era are the Falcon hardtop and Holden Monaro coupe, respectively.  All three cars are equally fabulous.  However, the Falcon and Monaro are, arguably, a bit more edgy - aggressive, even - than the stretched Valiant.  That doesn't mean that Valiant fans had to forgo a bit of attitude, though ; anyone wanting that could always choose the shorter, more performance-orientated Charger coupe.   U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) AlliPhone images  

Fortunately, the good people at General Motors weren't shy about identifying their products, which is the only reason I can confidently tell you that today's feature vehicle is an Chevrolet  Apache Fleetside .  It's about the same size as Ford's F-Series of the same era - the late 1950s, at a guess - and was doubtless intended as GM's answer to the former. Interestingly, there seems to be a real passion for Ford and GM light trucks of the era, with numerous examples now gracing Tasmania's roads, many of them doing duty as part commercial, part promotional vehicles for local businesses.  It also looks like a lot of these vehicles have been imported from the USA - especially the Chevs - although left-hand-drive F-Series Fords are also quite popular.   For anyone that's interested, this site features quite a few similar light trucks from the 1940s through to the 1970s.  Just use the search facility in the top right-hand corner of the homescreen to locate them ...

  The 2020 Fathers' Day edition of Classics by the Beach did not feature a competition of any kind.  There were no categories, judges, prizes, people's choice awards, or trophies.  By extension, there weren't any winners, either.  Except this Series 1 Mazda RX7.   Why?    Because it was the purest automotive expression of the 1980s that I've seen in a very, very long time.  It arrived sounding like a WWII fighter that had just taken a strafing from Gerry and was about to put down behind enemy lines.  Its body, finished in dazzling Arctic white, was perfect, as was its interior.  It was fitted with  Daytona style wheels that could not have looked better and even its forward-mounted JDM rear vision mirrors, which I normally think look stupid, actually suited this car rather nicely.   Interestingly, it was running rear disc brakes when Series 1s came standard with drums.  I suspect - but have no way o...