Just over a year ago, the Highball Motor Club, famous for it’s hugely popular Highball Cars and Coffee over in Clayton, made an announcement for a new event in a completely different location: Bell St Mall. Now, this place is much closer to me being in West Heidelberg so I was quite pleased to hear the news. Finally, a good car show that doesn’t take place on the other side of town. Bell St Mall is an interesting place with a unique charm that serves as a reminder of old times before the modern shopping center became a thing in the late 70’s. So, what does this have to do with cars? Well, Highball In The Mall is a celebration of the unique, cool and quirky machines that us car enthusiasts love to enjoy with our mates. It may not be as big as the show in Clayton, but this event is still worth your time and today I will show you why.
The first car that catches my attention is this blue Corvette C8 with it’s badge missing for some reason. As I mentioned before on this blog, the C8 marked a massive shift for the famed nameplate, realising years of promise and funky concepts that experimented with a mid-engine layout. Thankfully, you can still fit golf clubs in the back.
I am not the biggest muscle car guy, but when you see the number 442, you know you are looking at something rare. The 442 was the highest spec trim of the Oldsmobile Cutlass, but the number doesn’t represent cubic inches or horsepower – it stands for something a little more benign: 4 barrel carburetors, 4 speeds and 2 exhausts. This ’67 model is exquisitely presented with all the period-correct parts in what looks to be a proper restoration job.
AMG is the high-performance department of Mercedes-Benz, but before the tuning company was purchased by the German stalwart, they were totally independent. The most famous car to be raced by AMG, and the one that put them on the map, was the “Rote Sou” (pronounced as row-ta- zow) or “Red Pig” – a modified 1971 Mercedes 300SEL 6.3 with an impressive 428 HP. Putting a big sedan with a big engine on the track back in those days was unheard of, but the boffins at AMG made it work somehow. The sheer size, heft and speed of the car helped christen the now iconic car. This AMG GT pays tribute to that machine with this livery and additional headlights similar to those equipped on the actual car.
This little nugget is a Daihatsu Mira with what looks like a shed attached to it. I don’t know why this Japanese Kei car was even made, but it does make you smile because it’s cute in a weird way. You can stand up in it, so maybe it was built for delivering mail, but like I said, I don’t know. The car doesn’t have much performance but that’s not important as it’s right up there in the “quirky” section of the automotive library.
What happens when you put Carroll Shelby in charge of Chrysler’s performance department? You get a spiritual Cobra successor in the form of the totally unhinged, V10 powered Dodge Viper. Yes, Carroll Shelby had a hand in developing one of America’s most recognisable sports cars, challenging the famed Corvette in a way that only a Mopar could. The original RT-10 variation, like the two here, garnered a fearsome reputation for it’s innate ability to bite you when you least expected it. The car was unrefined with an average chassis and some suspect suspension tuning so if you didn’t know what you were doing, you’d hit a tree and die. Thankfully, Dodge didn’t take things lying down and they constantly improved the formula to make the Viper the legend that it is today.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you’d recognise this car from the first Highball In The Mall. It doesn’t matter where you are or where you’ve come from, the Lamborghini Diablo will always get people’s attention, particularly those who saw it featured in “The Need For Speed” video game. The car is still idolised to this day and hasn’t faded into obscurity amongst its more advanced successors.
The second-gen Dodge Charger is one of the best cars to ever come out of Detroit in the 60’s. This big piece of American iron was and still is a brute with the ability to own the road like nothing else. It’s appearances in films such as Bullitt and Fast and Furious cemented it’s place in pop culture. Oh yeah, let’s not forget the General Lee from The Dukes Of Hazzard. The ’69 model with the distinct split-grill design is by far and away my favourite muscle car, especially when it’s modified correctly like the one you see here. It’s unapologetic and I love it.
On first glance, this may look like an AMG GT Black Series but on closer inspection, you realise that it isn’t. The bonnet and the rear bumper is different, something that becomes all the more clear when you see the GT S badge on the back. Still, it had me and everyone else fooled for a while there. Not that it matters a huge deal because I really wanted to get up close and personal with this local icon doing the rounds on social media. I honestly didn’t expect to see it so I ended up spending way too much time hanging around in an awkward space. Definitely a highlight with the blue F1 Safety Car livery.
With all the talk about the Barbie movie, I had to take a photo of this pink NA MX-5 and feature it on this blog. For over 30 years, this sports car has provided pure driving fun for the masses, sticking to a tried and true formula that does away with excess and gimmicks. Mazda knew they were onto a winner when they totally destroyed the sales charts in the early 90’s, putting Lotus to shame in the most ironic way possible. Now I say ironic because the whole idea for the MX-5 was to create a modern Lotus Elan that was RELIABLE. It worked a treat for the crew in Hiroshima and they haven’t looked back since.
Now for another sports car from Mazda – the rotary powered FD RX-7 with a fantastic colour and a quality set of wheels. It may be more famous in yellow but you can’t deny that the car wears this dazzling red paint beautifully, seducing you like a pretty woman with the sensual curves. It’s enough to excite the most discerning man and make them feel things that they probably shouldn’t mention out in public.
Now for the bizarre sight of a Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution on the back of a Mercedes Unimog. Both of these vehicles deserve a piece on their own, but I’m tired and keen to get this over with so here’s a quick summary. The Mercedes Unimog is a truck built for all sorts of duties, but this one is an army variation previously used by Australian troops to transport supplies across the worst terrain known to humanity – all while avoiding land mines left behind by terrorist forces. The Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution was a limited edition homologation special built for rally raid competition in the late 90’s, showing up the very best from Europe.
Highball In The Mall showed me the importance of community and the passion that Melburnians have for their machines. The turnout may not have been as a big or as expensive as what I see in Clayton, but the interactions I have are just as meaningful. It makes my day and gives me a feeling of acceptance that I often found hard to come by at school. So for that, I thank the whole Highball team once again. Enjoy the rest of the gallery below.
DevMacCars 