Upper Middle Petrol Head:

Any idea what this might be?  I was thinking late 1960s, early 1970s and definitely American.  Maybe a Pontiac GTO?  It's a bit Ford Fairlane but not quite.  Other than that, I'm (even more) clueless than normal.  If you know, please feel free to enlighten me and other readers. UPDATE: Thanks to Alan, from the Custom, Street and Muscle Tasmania FB page, it's been identified as a '66 - 67 Mercury Comet Cyclone GT  hardtop .  That's quite a name and a very interesting read via Wikipedia  ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Comet )!    U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) An iPhone image.

Peripatetic sometime UMPH international correspondent Mr McBeard spotted this lovely German registered MGA in a French car park.  As he says, "Three nations in one day."  Das ist gut, ja? U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Photos supplied.

RS2000 Escorts are well-loved by Aussie performance-Ford lovers.  However, it's not well known that our own home-grown editions, whilst strongly resembling their British namesakes, have a number of fairly significant differences.   Externally, there's almost nothing in it .  The Pommie RS2000 s - like the one recently photographed in Manchester, England, by David Mathewson - feature simple flat-faced black exterior rear view mirrors whereas ours are fitted with the ubiquitous FoMoCo aero style versions, colour-coded to match the car.   The signature 'snoot' noses are common to the UK and Aussie RS , as are the sporty interiors with a sports steering wheel, centre console and heavily-bolstered  Scheel front seats.  Both have the same black rubber rear spoiler, too.  Our cars come equipped with Volante  alloy wheels, unlike those fitted to the British version, as shown above.  The staggered RS2000 sticker is the same, as the image below demonstrates. I

"Fair cop, Guv!"  This classic British police car was photographed by our newest UMPH correspondent, the cider-sippin' David Mathewson, who now calls Manchester, England, home.  It looks like it's just been driven off the set of Heartbeat or maybe the 2010s' prequel to the  Inspector Morse TV series, Endeavour , starring Shaun Evans as the younger version of the inspector during the formative period of his career. It's a great looking vehicle but as a police car ... ?  Let's just say that the bobbies' Australian contemporaries probably didn't know how lucky they were to be driving 351 V8 Falcon "Candy Cars" or hotted-up Valiant Chargers on patrol!  Given the choice, I know what I'd rather take the wheel of! U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Photos supplied.

New From everything I've read, this Renault Alpine - snapped by Mr McBeardie during his seemingly never-ending European sojourn - is a car that genuinely excites me!  Why?  It's a proper reinterpretation of a classic car that's more than a cynical retro-styling exercise, reproducing not only the aesthetics of the original but its very essence.  It's faithful to Alpine founder Jean Redele's vision in a way that the contemporary Minis, Fiat 500s and recently discontinued VW Beetles are not and never will be.  For more info, please see:   https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/alpine/a110 .  Classic ( forza.fandom.com ) U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.com.au.) 

Mr McBeardie spotted this ripper contemporary Lola in a Parisian basement and flicked the photos through to UMPH.  He wasn't sure what it was, so, like anyone that's curious about anything these days, he Googled it. The text he sent with the photos says it all, I reckon:  " 900kg. 500hp Corvette engine. Steering wheel removed for security.  Phwoar!"  Just about sums it up, don't you think?! U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Images supplied.

German vehicle maker Audi has knocked out some spectacular designs over the last couple of decades, including but not limited to their awesome mid-engined R8.  And they're still holding their own in the style-stakes, having set themselves apart from from their German rivals BMW, who have recently gone a little over-sculptured, and Mercedes, whose designers have frankly penned a few shockers of late! So how is it that Audi have been able to consistently deliver cars that are contemporary and stylish, yet aren't as try-hard as some of the other high-end European marques?  An educated guess is that their design ethos is more refined, focusing on clean, classic lines and an approach that references and respects their earlier works.  One of Audi's all-time most iconic cars, the  TT , is a case in point.  Having first appeared in the late 1990s, subsequent iterations of this sweet looking coupe / hatch have maintained much of the first edition's original appeal by