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Unique Cars and Parts: News |
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The
Big One:
Mount Panorama. Bathurst. The first weekend in October
is a highlight for every Ford and Holden fan, as
the V8 Supercars battle it out across the mountain
in a test of driver skill, determination and, most
of all, endurance. Put it in your calendar, and regardless
of your allegiance, remember these guys give their
all for our arm-chair entertainment year after grueling
year. Why? It must be in their blood. |
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Ford Capri - For
Enthusiasts
Only:
When it comes to owning a very
"classic motor", there are only
a handful of post 1970's
English bred Fords that will
fit the bill, and none more so
than the Capri. Over the years,
it has garnered an ever larger
allegiance of fans, and
deservedly so. Few cars have
ever offered such a sweetly
sorted chassis encased such
beautiful sheet metal - that it
is one of the most searched
cars within this site comes as
no surprise. |
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Everything
Old is New Again:
So many were salivating over Holden's concept "EFIJY",
is there a re-surgance in the old classics? Many
media outlets were asking the question, but here
at Unique Cars and Parts we never doubted what was
old is today highly esteemed and Unique! (well in
most cases). This web site will never forget the
past, for that is the stuff that has made this site
so popular with so many - thank you for your support. |
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Truck
Art, graphic design at its craziest...
What happens when you run a competition for the most
original application of graphic art to a transport truck?
The entries were outstanding, and well worth a look.
We didn't want to spoil it so the image at left is from
the 7th placed entry. Click
here to view the other winners (although our favourite
came runner up)... |
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I
Sold It on Unique Cars and Parts:
So why not tell your friends? We have never charged for
advertising, yet our inbox is continually filled with
emails asking what the catch is! There is no charge for
anything on this site - period. You are free to place
as many classifieds as you wish, with up to 20 images
per ad. You can promote your club's events and become
a contributor to the car gallery section, or discuss
your favourite car in our forum section. Get busy, be
creative, dare to contradict, debate our collectability
rankings - but most of all tell others to do the same! Click
here to go to the free Classic Car and Classic Car
Parts Classifieds... |
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A
Tribute to ItalDesign and Giugiaro
On the 40th anniversary of Giugiaro's wonderful designs
that included the Fiat 850 Vanessa, Isuzu 117 Coupé,
Maserati Ghibli and De Tomaso Mangusta we thought it
time to pay tribute to the work of this creative genius.
That the Golf, now in its fifth incarnation, is a rounded-off
and modernized version of his original is testament to
how the proportions were right back in the late 1960s
when he first penned it. One can track the trends of
automotive design over the following three decades and
continue to find Giugiaro at the forefront. He is also
credited as responsible for the trend toward taller cars,
in a quest for more interior room. |
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A
Rotary powered HJ Prem? You Bet!
The intelligent and advanced concept of global
outsourcing applied to the development of the
Mazda Roadpacer AP offered a high-quality small
volume mass-produced vehicle with a shortened
development time and less cost in terms of investment.
Well - that was the theory. By 1974 Holden had
established itself as a major exporter, but one
of the lesser known exports was that of HJ Premier
bodyshells to Mazda in Japan. Upon arrival, the
bodyshells were fitted with the 13B Wankel rotary
engine. This hybrid became Mazda's top-of-the-line
domestic model, known as the “Roadpacer”,
the latest to feature in our Unique Car Gallery... |
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A
Brief History of the Automobile:
We would like to thank all who have emailed letting
us know how much you have enjoyed the "Lost Marques"
and "Heritage" feature articles. To add to
these, we have just finished writing "A Brief History
of the Automobile" - from Cugnot's 1770 “Fardier”
to the 1950's, by which time many manufacturers had succumb
to financial difficulty, we have tried to capture all
the important events and milestones of our favourite
invention. In many ways the 1930s were a watershed -
they saw the last of the big luxury cars from makers
such as Hispano-Suiza, Duesenberg and Minerva, as well
as the end of many small, independent manufacturers and
coachbuilders (victims of the swing to mass-produced
cars with pressed-steel bodies). The motor industry had
reached the point where it had become vital to the economic
well-being of the major industrialized countries. Now
it was to prove just as vital in providing weapons of
war. |
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84% of New Car purchases are
decided by Women:
Leastwise that is the claim in some circles of the media
following a survey of new car purchases. We discovered
years ago that, when visiting the local car dealer, taking
your young son as "wingman" instead of your
wife would result in a hassle free tyre-kicking experience.
But how to convince your partner that you need a classic
or unique car remains a conundrum. So, to all the men
(and perhaps women) out there that have found themselves
in exactly this situation, we would love to hear from
you with your suggestions so that we may share them with
others, and perhaps use them ourselves! A suggestion
from the Editor goes "There are only 3 things that
get better with age, good wine, classic cars and of course
you my dear". This suggestion is by no means endorsed
by Unique Cars and Parts and we suggest you try it at
your own peril. |
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Classic
Cars Television and Promotional Film Archive:
Our Classic Cars Television and Promotional film archive
continues to grow, our most recent additions including
some wonderful (and old) documentaries from Hot Rod and
Custom Car meets held in the USA back in the mid 1950's
(they are located on pages 3 and 4 of the Unique Cars and Parts Video Vault). In fact, you will find some wonderful
old commercials for American Motors, Chevrolet, DeSoto,
Dodge, Edsel, Ford, General Motors, Holden, Olsmobile,
Peugeot, Plymouth, Pontiac to name just a few. While
it takes us a little while to configure each film for
satisfactory streaming, we will soon be adding some additional
commercials from Subaru, Jaguar (including one for the
E-Type!), Chrysler, Audi, Jeep and even Isuzu (for the
Gemini fans). Make sure you check back real soon. Click
here to take a look... |
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The
Mazda Bongo Van - the weapon of choice for radical
modifications?:
To be honest, the Mazda Bongo van was a last minute inclusion
on our lemon
list, but it seems a lot of people out there have
used them as the platform for some radical modifications.
We were recently contacted by "Feral Errol"
from Datrats who wrote "I also had a 1000cc Bongo
that got the transplant treatment (An 1800 mazda engine
with extractors and side draft weber 45DCOE). It would
wheelstand in first gear given the right amount of boot.
Another Bongo van in Burnie (Tas) had a rotary and was
a regular wheel stander. I fitted 14" Holden rims
to get the gearing up and also stiffer shocks and dropped
the ride height down to get some better handling. I was
very prone to picking up the inside wheel when cornered
hard through the Hellyer Gorge area in Tassie. I also
fitted a flat radiator between the chassis rails with
a small air scoop for better cooling". To the staffers
here at Unique Cars and Parts, this all makes the riding
of a motorbike seem a whole lot safer! You can visit
Ferals site at DatRats. |
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Alvis,
the latest to join our lost marques section:
Coventry, England. Home of many great Marques, but one
lesser known (particularly for many Australian’s)
is the Alvis. The companies initial success was due in
no small part to one G.P.H. de Freville, responsible for
the importation to Britain of DFP cars before W.O. Bentley took on that concession. Not only did Freville design
the engine for the very first Alvis car, the 10/30 of
1920, but he also invented the marque name Alvis. We have
found several sources that contest the name carried no
more significance than that it rolled nicely off the tongue!
To find out more, why not check out the "Lost Marques"
section of the site... |
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