Inside this month's Unique Cars gearbox...
1. Benz winglet
Have you seen the prices on gullwing Benzes lately? Never mind – it looks much the same as your telephone number. In the absence of a family fortune or a very substantial lottery win, plan C is to add this to your model collection. It’s a 1:18 scale 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300. The real versions not only looked revolutionary in their day, but boasted a direct design connection with the firm’s hugely successful endurance racers. This one from Bradford Exchange costs $300.
2. Wilwood brakes
Let’s just say you’ve spent a bomb giving your Mustang more power than the national grid of many third-world nations. What then? Well, call us sooks, but being able to stop it would be nice. Okay, so it’s not just a power but also a longevity thing – will your current gear cope with a sustained hammering, of the kind it might get on a track day? Mustang Motorsport will sell you an el-primo set of 15-inch six-spotter front Wilwoods for $3850.
And yes, they’re compatible with the stock master cylinder and ABS.
3. Hold that engine
If ever you’ve watched someone build or rebuild an engine when it’s out of the car, you can’t help but be envious of and impressed by the ease of access a rotating stand gives you. Need to get at the bottom end? No problem, just flip it over. The good news is that such a stand doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Hare & Forbes Machinery House will sell you one for $450.
4. Beetle cufflinks
Delving through the ‘life-style’ section of a car-maker’s online catalogue is not something we normally spend our leisure hours on. Or at least not most of us. However young Angelo, the designer of this fine family organ, may be guilty of this, as he managed to dig out something for the VW nut who thought they had everything: A set of cufflinks that replicate early Beetle wheels. Cute. Sadly we don’t have the price, but the stock number is 311.084.322.
5. Flash jacket
If you have Ford or even Holden-branded blood rolling through your veins, this should have some appeal. More so if you happen to be an XA or HSV owner. This jacket, branded ‘351 GT, Falcon XA’ is part of a modest line of car clothing offered by Best & Less. There’s a matching hat, plus an HSV jacket and hat. The jackets are $50 and the hats $10.
6. Time machine
According to the good folk flogging this somewhat distinctive looking watch, it’s “Designed for the more competitive driver, our RL-73 dial has been rotated for optimum racing use.” Righto. Somehow we reckon you might have other mid-race priorities, ahead of telling the time. Intended to look like a tacho and stand out a little from the crowd, it claims a Swiss movement and sells for US$349, or more like Au$450.
From Unique Cars #451, April 2021