Upper Middle Petrol Head:

Cool things to know about this stately Wolseley 24/80 Mk II:  1/. It does not belong to a crusty old man with bushy eyebrows and hair growing out of his ears, instead being owned by a youngish woman who has had it for the last twelve years or so; 2/. she recently drove it from her home state of New South Wales to Hobart, Tasmania, where UMPH correspondent GlamRock photographed it; and 3/. said owner loves her classic car dearly. Other moderately interesting stuff:  a/. The Wolseley 24/80 had a production run spanning 1962 to 1965 and shared the body and trim of the much longer-lived four cylinder 15/60 and 16/60 variants (1958 - 1971);  b/. the 24/80 was powered by a 2.4 litre straight six-cylinder version of the BMC B-Series engine, developed in Australia and known as the Blue Streak; c/. all three versions - 24/80s, 15/60s and 16/60s - look much the same, although Wikipedia reckons it's possible tell them apart by reference to their front bumper overriders;  d...

  I love this early 1970s' Austin Tasman,  captured by the CCC in suburban ACT, purely for its Aussie-ness.  It is, effectively, an updated Austin 1800, sharing the basic platform and doors of its slightly older British-built cousin, known colloquially as the "Land Crab." It's Aussie-as because even though it was (re)designed, built and marketed here and also sold in New Zealand, it was never available in the Land Crab's home country.  Therefore, it's quite exclusively ours. And the real kicker is that even though the Poms missed out on our boxy update of their innovative, fluid-floating front-driver, they did benefit from the Australian-developed in-line six-cylinder engine that powered it, as it ended up being fitted to their Austin Princess and other British Leyland stablemates.  Our contribution to that car isn't lost on at least one dryly amusing British YouTuber, as he explains in the following rather entertaining  clip:  https://www.youtube.com/...

  Today's photos come via the Italiene Correspondente, who recently found himself on the streets of Rome during the filming of a movie.  He was chuffed to see this lovely Alfetta - most likely fitted with the 1800cc twin cam engine, and probably built in the early '70s - being loaded onto a car transporter after its no doubt starring role.   It is also possible that the car is one of the later 1600-powered Alfettas, the smaller displacement variant having started life with with one round headlight per side and not receiving its bigger brother's quad light front end until 1977.  That's what wikipedia reckons, anyway ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_Alfetta#:~:text=The%20Alfetta%20name%2C%20which%20means,suspension%20%E2%80%94%20like%20its%20modern%20namesake ).  Might the IC also be making an appearance in this yet-to-be-named cinematic masterpiece?  We won't give too much away but look out for the bloke wearing a VB T-shirt, Stubbies sho...

Wild thing*, you make my heart sing!  Why?  Because this wild Mk I Cortina has been restomodded and, of all the current forms of automotive obsession, the restomod scene is arguably one of the most interesting and vibrant.  * https://www.google.com/search?q=the+goodies+wild+thing&rlz=1C5CHFA_enAU816AU816&oq=the+goodies+wild+thing&aqs=chrome.0.0i355i512j46i512j0i22i30l3j69i64.5333j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:da892022,vid:tr4HpC2luKs 🤣!  Restomodders take classic cars and give them contemporary upgrades, generally retaining their period looks, whilst endowing them with up to the minute performance, handling and safety.  Who wouldn't kill to own an MST Escort, an Alfaholics GTA or a Porsche 911 reimagined by Singer? Of course, not everyone has the sort of money required to have their vehicles comprehensively re-engineered by the likes of MST, Alfaholics, Singer or any of the other firms - I can hardly not mention ...

The UMPH editorial team nearly got a loose theme going at December, 2022's, Classics by the Beach, with a few links and parallels between some of the cars on display.  That almost-theme could've been stronger, mind you; it would've been more obvious had the chief photographer not nattered away several opportunities and let a couple of the exhibits get away before he could snap them!  The writer-in-chief could've and should've chased a few leads up, too. Almost Theme #1:  This stunning Ford Customline is nicely complemented by the equally beautiful example of GM's Chevrolet Bel Air shown a few pics further down the page.  As both cars hail from the USA during the same era, it's not unlike lining up a couple of contemporary Ford Australia and GMH products from any given decade - an XA Falcon and an HQ Holden, for example - and seeing where they're similar but  how they differ . It's probably reasonable to say that the styling of each of these American ...