Welcome to the fourth edition of Highball In The Mall and the final Highball event of the year before some of us bugger off for our summer holiday. It’s fair to say that this year has been big for the Highball Motor Club, with strong attendance and a wide range of cars turning up to each show. The popularity of these events have attracted the eyes of manufacturers like Ford, who showed off their new Mustang at Highball 12. It could also be one of the reasons why Motorclassica didn’t happen this year, but I can’t confirm that for sure. Either way, it’s clear that people are more interested in seeing and hearing the cars move around. Highball Cars And Coffee really has become a one-stop shop for all car enthusiasts in Melbourne, showcasing the amazing breadth of car culture that we are soo fortunate to have. Disappointingly, this show didn’t have a huge attendance, potentially owing to the iffy weather, but there were still some great cars that I hadn’t seen before.
This new Porsche Cayman GT4RS, owned by Fabio (@fab.garage.au), got a lot of attention. It’s a decent upgrade over his Exige, with a 500HP flat-6 engine lifted from the 911 GT3 put into the middle. Putting that engine into a small chassis may sound like a recipe for disaster, but the engineers at Porsche made it work. The result has been praised the world over by the motoring press, providing a huge amount of fun and sharpness that leave many competitors for dead. The superb performance offered by this exquisite package is nothing short of extraordinary, especially in this day and age where cars are getting bigger every day. Porsche hasn’t gone mad with power and the GT4RS is all the better for it. This car will become a classic, not just because of it’s rarity.
I’ve said enough about Lotus but this red gen 1 Exige is a car that I can’t ignore. Based on the Elise, the original Exige was a miniature supercar power by a 4 cylinder Toyota engine with a supercharger. It may not sound like a lot but for a car this size, it’s plenty for some hardcore performance driving. This does however come at the cost of driver comfort on the road, where you are not safe from any bump or pothole – even with some tartan trim. When the suspension is so stiff and the dampers so rigid, you soak up the bumps more than the car does but on a race track, it’s exactly what you need for the full experience.
Some people argue that the BMW M3/M4 of today is too far detached from the essence of the E30, E36 and E46, becoming more of a grand tourer than a small rear-drive coupe. This is where the M2 comes in. Now in it’s second generation, the car offers a driving experience that closely aligns with the older machinery’s philosophy, and a lot of people have warmed to it. I do not find it ugly, and I don’t know why anyone would because it’s the closest we’ll get to a modern E46 M3. The wheel and colour combination on this particular M2 is excellent.
A standard R32 GT-R is interesting enough, let alone one with the iconic HKS livery. The Japanese tuner has put this colourful livery on a bunch of cars, but the most famous car to wear the livery was the Group A touring variant of the R32 in 1993. A lot of effort has gone in to replicating the livery for this road car, which I think is great. However I don’t think the performance has been forgotten about, and the clean engine cover suggest to me that it’s been properly built from the basic RB block. Definitely one of this year’s highlights if you ask me.
Continuing with the Group A theme, here we have a Mercedes 190 E – a car that dominated the German Touring car championship for a few years. This may not be the most extreme variation of the 190 E chassis, known as the Evo II, but it still gets my attention because that front end is impossible to miss. The strong lines and general design language of this car gives it a distinct personality that’s captured the hearts of many enthusiasts, including world-famous rapper Tyler The Creator. To the untrained, it may look like an old Benz but for those who know, it’s a legendary machine that’s transcended the motoring world.
The Porsche 911 Turbo has become a staple of the model’s lineup, but they aren’t always soo common. This is the 964 generation 911 Turbo and you don’t see a lot of them, particularly in such nice condition. I didn’t think it was possible to see a good one outside of a video game like The Crew Motorfest, but here we are. The jump from the 930 to the 964 was significant, with smoother styling, a more robust engine and better handling to make it less of a pain to live with.
An original ’78 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am in the correct colour with the “chicken” on the bonnet has long been a part of popular culture. The unexpected smash hit movie titled “Smokey And The Bandit” propelled Pontiac and Burt Reynolds to international stardom, going viral before the term was even coined. Some people wouldn’t know the exact name but they would still be able recognise it as the Bandit’s car from the movie. There were 2 sequels but they never had the same level of success as the original, possibly owing to the silliness that followed and the birth of ANOTHER franchise, starring a car which did some serious shit at 88 MPH.
Looks like someone’s getting into the Christmas spirit early with their E36 BMW M3. I don’t know how it would go as a delivery vehicle but I’m not here to judge it’s cargo-carrying capabilities. Christmas tree or not, this E36 has been done right with a fantastic set of wheels, snug fitment, tyres thicker than those seen on a bicycle and a dark metallic blue colour. I’m more a fan of the E46 but I can’t shun the E36 because it too has a story of it’s own, spawned out of some crazy moments from the 90’s. If I recall, Sabine Schmitz became the first woman to win the Nurburgring 24 Hours behind the wheel of one of these.
An unmodified Integra Type R with the stock wheels in Championship White is just what the doctor ordered. It’s good to see that Dean (@dean.traj) appreciates the beauty of the standard car, which I feel is overlooked amongst fully tuned machines. Honda weren’t playing around when they created this car in the late 90’s – it was designed to be the best front-wheel-drive sports car you could buy. People quickly caught onto this and because the car was relatively affordable, a lot of them were modified and then blown to bits. Nice ones now command a hefty premium as a result. Not that this one is being sold anytime soon.
Like the Integra, the Nissan 180SX was the choice of many young kids in the 90’s who wanted something cheap and fun to drive. Not many are left in good condition for this reason, and prices have risen dramatically despite playing second fiddle to cars like the Supra and Skyline GT-R. I don’t get it because for many years they were dirt cheap and nothing more than cannon fodder for young drivers who wanted to get sideways. This is not the case anymore. Anyway the things on this car that caught my attention were the front bumper and the gold wire style wheels. Clean, simple and effective.
If you’ve made it this far, well done. You are important and you love cars as much as I do. A total of 6 events have been put on by the Highball Motor Club between their 2 locations of Bosch HQ and The Mall this year, which is just insane. The sheer amount of cars that have turned up has been incredible and with something new to discover each time, it will remain a staple of Melbourne’s car scene. 2024 can’t come soon enough.
DevMacCars 