April, 2024's, instalment of Classics by the Beach - held at Sandy Bay, 15 minutes' drive from the Hobart CBD - wasn't an event for quiche-eaters, with cold, wet weather seemingly having reduced the attendees list to only a handful of the heartiest of souls! Of course, that also affected the number of cars on display but there were some extremely nice ones, nonetheless. Take, for example, this lovely 1962 Type 14 Lotus Elite . According to Wikipedia ( https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7165367970551834236/6534627791194892006 , accessed 07 APR 24) , the Elite was constructed using a " stressed-skin glass reinforced unibody ... for the entire load-bearing structure of the car," unlike the Lotus Elan , Europa and Esprit , all of which featured a fibreglass body on a rigid central "backbone" steel chassis. It was powered by a 1,216 cc Coventry Climax FWE - the FW standing for feather weight - based on an engine originally designed t
Sadly, the Holden Gemini, a darling of the Aussie small car set during the 1970s, '80s and '90s, has become a bit of a unicorn. The gorgeous coupe version is even rarer and might just be the automotive equivalent of a zebra-striped unicorn - so rare, they're rumoured to exist only in minuscule numbers. This one - bought to you by GlamRock - is either a TC or TX, hailing from from circa 1977. It's an absolute treat with great paint and chrome, a bang-on for era front spoiler and a nice set of alloys. It also appears to be running a 2.0 litre donk. Noting the transplanted heart of today’s example, it’s a pity that Holden never did a GT/E version of their take on GM's T Platform car, as Opel did, as by all accounts they were real screamers with their 1973 cc fuel-injected engines and other performance upgrades (inset). That's not to say that Aussies didn't extract more grunt from the local 1.6 litre versions, though; there were plenty of quick Geminis i