Ultimate Aussie Dealer-Installed Option

They're called, for reasons that should be fairly obvious, "roo bars." After failing to get photos of the late-model Holden Commodores and (maybe) Ford Falcons I kept seeing fitted with slick, flush-mounted, body-colored ones, the real prize turned up parked in front of a foofy restaurant in Brisbane: this W124 Mercedes outback-burner with the full road warrior treatment. Roos beware.

Click on the pic for a closer look

"They Don't Make Em Like This Anymore": 1978 Volvo 280E

Indeed, they never made them at all!

Click on the pic to check out the auction

It's a Wolseley ... why?

Scene Report: Island of Valiants

American flavor...



...and homegrown.

Scene Report: Ute-opia

Why do I have no sympathy for the plight of the American auto industry? Because if you totaled up all the money those jackasses forfeited by not selling these things in the U.S. for the past two decades you could bail 'em all out twenty times over.

Spotted around Sydney during an hour-long walk this morning:

























Holden or Ford, take your pick (they're virtually impossible to tell apart). This one even has its Chevy bowtie already in place!