Upper Middle Petrol Head:

This quirkily French take on the Mini Moke is a Citroen Mehari .   Named after an apparently quite fast dromedary, it’s powered by a monster 602 cc flat two cylinder engine (the same one used in the 2CV), weighs in at a corpulent 535 kg and is made of ABS plastique.  I think it’s pretty cool in a Gallic kind of way.   Ironically, this one was photographed in Italy, just over the border from France, whereas the Fiat 500 Jolly featured last week ( https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2023/07/fiat-500-jolly.html )  wa s snapped on the French side of the boundary between the two countries.   Not that it’s much of a border; crossing from bon jour to buona giornata is about as auspicious as passing through the Flannelette Curtain from New Town to Moonah, but without the sudden abundance of car yards, muffler shops and smash repair businesses.  It is, quite literally , a stroll.  Unless you’re an asylum-seeker, that is!   The French police are very keen that no illegal immigrants sh

As of a week or so ago, uppermiddlepetrolhead looks like being on track to scoop British car magazine Octane by being first to publish a piece on this recently rebuilt Iso Rivolta.  Not bad for an obscure classic car ‘blog from Down Under, eh? Mind you, I’d still be grabbing a copy of August’s edition of Octane if I were you, because I’m sure their piece will be slick.   I know that’s what I’ll be doing! Football legend George Best owned a Rivolta and I can easily understand his choice! So, how did this minor publishing coup come to pass?  My car-disinterested brother-in-law, Aussie Dave, has been living in Manchester, England, for the better part of two decades and, being the social sort of bloke that he is, has made a few mates along the way.  One of them is product designer and all-round accomodating chap Peter, owner of the Rivolta.   Dave doesn’t really “get” the Giugiaro-designed Rivolta.  In fact, it’s hugely unlikely he’s heard of the man who penned the car’s svelte shape on be

  Of the eleven variants of the beyond-iconic Fiat 500, this quirkily named Jolly would have to be the very, very rarest and coolest of them all!  Sure, it doesn’t have quite the pint-sized pugnaciousness of its also ultra exclusive Abarth 695 Esse Esse sibling - which, until today’s encounter, was my favourite Cinquecento  - but it does have charm in absolute bucket loads! From what I can glean, the Jolly was intended to be an automotive tender that the mega-rich and famous - Aristotle Onassis being touted as an example - could store aboard their super yachts, ready for land-based sorties in whatever Mediterranean resort city they found themselves gracing.  This is apt, given that Mrs UMPH and I stumbled upon today’s example in Cap Martin, France, about 15 minutes’ drive east of Monaco. It’s also reported that many were also deployed to high-end resorts, much like the ubiquitous Mini Mokes that once undertook tourism-related duties on Australia’s Gold and Sunshine Coasts, and beyond.

This gnarly Mk 1 Cortina was the first car to catch my eye at July, 2023’s, Classics by The Beach, mainly because I liked its bumper-less front end treatment, stance and classy Rota alloys.   It turns out that there’s a bit more to it than looks, though; it also runs an 4A-GE twin cam from an early ‘90s Corolla, sporting later model 20V ITBs, 288 degree cams, as well as a very, very sexy set of serpentine extractors, and a nice aluminium radiator.  I’m guessing that it’s a bit of a goer! The next car to get me all hot and bothered was this hand-built Milano Roadster.  Unfortunately , I wasn’t able to glean much about the car but I can tell you that it features a fibreglass body over a steel tube frame, it runs four wheel disc brakes and that it’s utterly gorgeous.  That’s it, I’m afraid.  There ain’t no more!   Two for one parking! It seems that there might be a tiny bit more to this lovely Kombi  - or what might be more accurately called a Microbus -  than meets the eye!  Sure, it’s i