Brocky’s Opel Monza

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Any full blooded Aussie can tell you that the Holden Commodore of the 80’s was based on an European Opel, they will also tell you how much of a legend the late Peter Brock was and how much he loved Holden’s. In about 1984 Brocky saw the potential in the Opel Monza, a two door hatch based on the same car the Aussie Commodore sedan was based on, Compared to the Aussie version it had a few good bits like a independent rear end that Brocky liked the idea of so he come up with a plan to import them down under and whack a decent V8 under the bonnet. At the time the concept got a lot of publicity, but it was never to happen. Brock did import one over for evaluation and kitted it out with an array of hot bits including his infamous Energy Polarizer, today the car is in the hands of a collector who has decided to part company with it. So if you got an endless bank balance and want a piece of Brock history check out the full story. The video above is of a Opel Monza from a similar era, if you are from down under would have you bought one back in 1984? let us know in the comments field.  

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Toyota IQ at Geneva

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Toyota has put a cute and revolutionary ultra compact vehicle on it’s stand at the Geneva Motorshow. Called the IQ Concept this little car is less than 3 metres in length and is Toyota’s solution to over crowded city streets. Designed at Toyota’s design studio in the South of France the car although very small has good package space and even a good size luggage compartment compared with similar size micro cars. The interior styling is even as daring as the exterior with a centre console which looks more than a manta raw and striking vents, switches and dials. The steering wheel even has a mock snake skin leather cover which looks surprisingly stylish. The vehicle has a pretty clever GPS system which is clear, and allow the drive to see through when it is turned off, and there is a clever sun roof which darkens at night time with some clever technology in the glass. Toyota hasn’t’ said too much about whether this car will go into production but it is pretty obvious most of that is not too far away from hitting the showrooms and a show room ready version would not be too much of a stretch from this concept. Time will tell so start saving those pennies.

The Dodge Zeo sports wagon

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The New York Motorshow starts this weekend and one of the star concept vehicles will be the Doge Zeo which is a interesting four passenger sports wagon which is equipped with an all 200 kw electric lithium ion battery which powers the car for 250 miles without a charge. The performance figures are pretty impressive too, with its light weight aluminium body and aerodynamic wedge design it will do 0-60 miles an hour in under six seconds which is astonishing for this type of a vehicle. The American motorshows so far this year have had quiet a few models which are a bit kinder on the environment but they have also had their fair share of fuel guzzling SUV’s and the like which the Americans still love, but with petrol prices increasing, the mood is very slowly starting to swing.

MOTAT Museum of Transport & Technology

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MOTAT is the largest transport and technology museum in New Zealand with over 40 acres of exhibitions. Opening in 1964 the centre is built on a site where a pump station pumped water from Western Springs to the centre of Auckland. The centre has hours of educational entertainment for all ages, there’s an activities centre with over 20 displays including a huge Hand’s on Science Centre. There are all forms of road transportation, trams, railway stock, aviation, military, busses you name it- if it moves they have it. Some of the more notable items in their collection include the only Solent Mark IV Flying Boat in the world and one of only a handful of WW2 Avro Lancaster Bombers in the world, the first chilled beer tanker in the World and Billy T James’ 1954 Chevrolet. MOTAT also has one of the largest fire engine collections in the world. A very impressive collection indeed.

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Toyota FT-HS the hybrid sports car of the future.

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Toyota are streaming ahead with hybrid technology allready several cars are on the market around the world and in Japan most of the range is available in Hybrid. Toyota think the hybrid is the centeral technology needed to make the ultimate eco-car and over the next few years this techology will improve and be a real alternative to full time petrol or diesel. So to showcase this techology Toyota have the FT HS hybrid sports car on their stand at the Melbourne Motorshow alongside their hybrid Prius and locally made Camry and Aurion sedans.  The FT-HS is hot of the stand of the Detroit Motorshow and is one of the most exciting cars at Melbourne. The 400 horsepower hybrid car may see the return of the classic Celica or Supra time will tell.  Toyota are stating this vehicle will do 0-60 in about 4 seconds and it would sell in the price bracket of mid $30,000. It has a 3.5 litre V6 engine Sounds too good to believe we will have to wait and see.

Mitsubishi Concept cX at Melbourne

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Poor old Mitsubishi hasn’t had a good run in Australia lately, they have recently announced that they would cease manufacturing in Australia stopping their troubled 380 six cylinder family car. But import wise they have been doing fairly well with some exciting products like the all new Lancer., And looking at the Mitsubishi Concept cX on the stand at the Melbourne Motorshow this week, the future will look even brighter. The Concept cX is a compact crossover vehicle which made it’s debut at last years Frankfurt Motor Show, it is powered by a 1.8 litre clean diesel engine which cleverly features a VG or variable geometry turbo charger and a DOC which is a diesel oxcidation catalyst which makes it Euro 5 ready. There’s a twin clutch SST Sports Shift Transmission fitted and together with the engine give remarkable fuel economy and performance while being kind to the environment. Inside the car also keeps our fragile environment in mind with Mitsubishi’s own special green plastic, its made from plant based resins instead of oil based, something we should expect to see in production vehicles in the not to distant future.

Holden’s Coupe Concept – The next Monaro?

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The Australian arm of GM, Holden has put a stunning 2 door coupe concept on show at the Melbourne Motorshow this week. Based of the Holden Commodore or Pontiac GTO, Vauxhall VRX or even Lumina in some markets. The concept car was designed to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Holden. The vehicle features pillerless windows, a s tough body kit with Diamond Silver paint and a 6 litre LS2 V8 Engine. The car is finished with 21 inch slick wheels, LED taillights and twin side exhausts. Holden isn’t saying too much about the future of this car but if they were to make a new model Monaro, one would expect much of the DNA in this vehicle would be carried over to the new design. Like the 2 door coupe showed in 1998 which later became the Monaro, enough public interest might just be all Holden needs to take the design a bit further and invest in this project to put it in the showrooms in a few years time. Time will tell.

The Queen Mary

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The Queen Mary is one of the few pre world war 2 ocean liners to survive to this day. Originally used as an ocean liner from 1936 to 1967 the RMS Queen Mary was at one point the fastest way to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Ocean liner business was huge in those days but after the war when long distant faster aircraft developed numbers on the pre war ship dwindled and she was finally retired in  1967. Fortunately she was saved from the scrap heap like many grand ships before her. The city of Long Beach in California wanted to set up a maritime museum and what better building to do it in than a ship with such a grand history. Today much of the ship has been converted into museum, hotel or function facilities. The attraction has had a chequered past of financial success but its future looks bright with a new company recently taking over the lease with plans to refurbish. One interesting thing to note is that the new Queen Mary 2 has been fitted with one of her original horns.

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