Every bonnet-protector ever - and the 1984 Telstar TX5..

...on a 1984 AR Ford Telstar TX5 at the wreckers a couple weekends ago.
Ironic when the bonnet protector is fitted to stop the nose getting stonechips, but likely does more damage as a rust trap.
Like dirty cloudy headlight-protectors.
Like a stone caught behind a car-bra.

Sort of sad that its far from uncommon to see accessory protector parts on cars at the wreckers; knowing that the best intentions were in mind up until the car ended up thrown away anyway..

In the world of most old cars though? Bonnet protectors.. headlight protectors.. car bra's.. floor mats, dash mats, seat covers - whatever - these are no longer items merely used to protect..!
Seat's ripped? seatcovers!
Hole in the carpet? Floormats!
Crack in the dash? ..well a dashmat will hide that!
Maybe so far as a bit of front end damage? ..a second-hand car-bra might just be enough to stall out some paintwork..!

..but back to the TX5.
Sports variant of the first generation Ford Telstar - and Ford's equivalent of Mazda's GC-chassis 626/Capella. Locally built, with production starting in 1983.. and the next generation arriving four years later. 1984 puts this as one of the pre-update 'AR' cars, with a facelift for the first genetation cars happening ~1985.
Power came from your choice of either a 2litre single-cam four cylinder.. or... the same 2litre single-cam four cylinder. Nope.. there was no choice here! It sent a fiery ~70kw/100hp to the front wheels through an automatic (like this car) or a 5speed manual.

This particular car was a little banged up in places, but painfully original. It looked like it had been a nice car that sat under a tree for a long time in its later days.. before eventually getting dragged off to the wreckers. When even the later TX5 Turbo variants aren't worth a whole lot, things unfortunately don't fare too well for these. Old and valueless... they just get thrown away.

As I wrote a couple years ago on this post here, I love these damn wheels! For a factory wheel, there definitely up there as one of the most unique and interesting. Not just another mesh or spoked variation of the same same.. no, this 14" one-piece alloy is a hot-cross-bun-esque chunk of amazing..
..with square centre-caps..

Inside is one of the nicer areas on these cars, and as I've said before about this era of Madza-ford; materials, build quality, and subsequent survival-rate is reasonably high. I'm not sure the steel is much to write home about (..they rust..) but the plastics and fabrics are fantastic.

Metal-spoked steering wheel with LARGE dual horn buttons, and there's a symmetrical paddle-like set of switches at your fingertips.

Full set of gauges is a really nice detail - and with a light grid design in the background, and an odd 120degree tacho cutout - they look fantastic.
This car has done only 182,000km (~113,000miles)...

..and last pic for now, of the factory adjustable shock switches.
Sad to see it was sport-to-the-end (!!), regardless of whether or not that may have just been because the shocks were going out..!


Done.
Another classic that doesn't get enough love.

Melbourne Datsun Day 2015..

...righto then; next up, how about a little Datsun content?

..Well, more Nissan in this case; but 'Melbourne Datsun Day' had a little more going for it than 'Melbourne Nissan Day'... which just sounds like a 0% finance weekend offer at a Nissan dealership..!

Finally-ish getting around to posting these pics anyway, with the show being a little over a month ago. First Datsun day. Good location (in the Melbourne Yarra Valley winery region). Nice weather. All 'round good things..
Car-wise? I love shows like this. I'm sure no one ever expected a standard bronze Bluebird station-wagon to ever get any appreciation, but thanks to days like this (..and 30years..) here we are. Lots of R31 Skylines as expected, but a ton of variety in-between.. and all in all a show I'm keen to go to again..!

So.. moving onto the car pics. For the sake of regularity and potential running-jokes.. I'll get into it the same way as the Classic Japan 2015 post..

...with some R31 SVD Skyline Silhouette GTS2! I know I've gone through these before somewhere, but these second-series cars are all (*bar a handful) identical to this one - so it's a given I was going to see a couple of these there!

All red with white wheels, unique aero, warmed over RB30E, bigger brakes, Scheel seats, and so on. I love them, and would definitely love to own one at some point...

One step down from the Silhouette GTS, is the regular Silhouette. This one has a few factory-plus style modifications, in the way of a GTSR front spoiler and rear wing, GT side mouldings, and very appropriate Impul Silhouette wheels!

...where those spoilers originated: a proper navy-blue HR31 GTS-R.. the RB20DET-R powered Group-A homologation variant. Sitting on a set of period, SSR-made, Watanabe RS-8's too - with caps!

Another red-over-silver series3 Skyline Silhouette, this one on neat SSR Reverse Mesh..

Series3 Skyline Ti (..I think..), with an interesting grille, and what look to be step-lip Simmons B45's.
Spotto a neat, late, WC34 Stagea too..

Another slightly more original Series3 Skyline Ti, that was very tastefully done. White SVD Silhouette GTS1 wheels..

..and an impressively neat RB30E+T setup. To whoever owns this: very nicely done!

Wrapping up the seventh-gen skylines with what would've been my favourite car there; this HR31 GTS-X on Work Ewing 1's. Will make a separate post for this in the coming days...

Jumping from the HR31 back 7-or-so years... to this pretty bronze 1980 A10 Stanza/Violet! Can't say I see much of these..

..also rare to see nowadays, this 720 King Cab.

 Light metallic blue over brown. Deluxe...

Wasn't much in the way of N13's there unfortunately, but here to represent the Pulsar; a pair of RNN14 GTI-R's and an ET. Factory-turbo trio...

Very clean late Z31 300ZX/FairladyZ, on large SSR Koenig's..

Late ironmask DR30 on a set of now-uncommon Volk Racing GTP's..

A bit of luxury, in the way of a metallic-maroon Y30 300C/Cedric/Gloria..

two of a variety of different R32 Skylines there; a GTR-esque sedan (with sunroof!) and a very special Australian-Delivered BNR32 GTR. From any angle you can spot interesting little differences that made the Australian cars unique...

...and FINALLY back around to a car I mentioned at the top of the page. An Australian 910 Bluebird station-wagon.
In Bronze.
..a license to print money by the time you get to Series Three, no?





That's all for now though! I'm (finally!) out of pictures..
So, good! Great! Done! Now off to do something somewhat more constructive...

Triple-Black Flachbau..

..I may need to rob a bank for this next one.

To get the most tragic part out of the way first: there is absolutely no way I'll ever be able to afford something like this. Too bad, so sad.. that's what I get for not spending my time in a (financially)constructive way...!
Currently for sale at Code.9 International, a Porsche dealer just outside of Tokyo.. for near-enough-makes-no-difference 22million yen. Which for additionally dramatic effect thanks to todays not particularly flash Australian dollar, is the equivalent of $260,000 to me. Ouch.

..But whoa, what a car.

1988 930 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Flatnose.
Triple Black.
Absolutely top-of-the-line as far as factory efforts went. Its a turbo, its a cab... and then has the Porsche Sonderwunsch-programm (special order program) flatnose bodywork? Deluxe.
Aerodynamic in the daytime, while front-mounted air-brakes at night... you lose the signature Porsche front.. whatever, I dont care. It's different, its iconic of an era, and it looks great!
As along with those sleek front fenders and pop-up light units; there's the lower and side skirting, and huge side strakes before the rear wheels. From any angle other than looking directly at the rear, you could tell its something special.

The wide Fuchs', with matching black centres of course...

Top dropped.
At this point its worth mentioning how good this looks in the dealers spotlight-lit photoset. Cant help but imagine cruising through a city on a nice night.. it just looks so sinister..

Inside there's a perfectly suited and equally-excessive, power Recaros. I'm going to have to have a proper look into what these are actually called (I'd love some input - anyone??) as I've cautiously called them Idealseat-C's in the past (meaning they're just Recaro 'C') but seem to be likely known as the CSE? Regardless, these were on the cover of the 1988 brochure I've seen.. and were no doubt the best Recaro had to offer when this Porsche was new.

Four? Yep, 1988 also happened to be the last year of the 4spd manual in the 930's..

..and one last pic, of the venerable 3.3litre air-cooled flat-six - Turbo of course..

So there we have it.
When everything Porsche these days is Singer Reimagined, Magnus Walker, or wild RWB conversions.. here's a little Gembella or Rinspeed-esque factory cool. I love it.

So yeah - who wants to help me rob that bank?