Highball In The Mall 05: Driving The Cold Away

Winter is not an easy season to get through. The colder temperatures, rainfall and lack of events often leave you feeling a little bit more isolated from the rest of the world. I’ve been at home for the majority of the last few weeks, sheltering myself from the bitter cold and wasting a heap of time watching people review terrible movies on YouTube. Going outdoors at this time of year is an activity quite often fraught with danger, but there are a few bright spots that help me, and I assume a lot of other people, forget about the bad stuff that comes with a Melbourne winter. It also helps people to forget about Victoria’s crippling debt, a corrupt construction union, constant traffic and soft bail laws creating a new wave of crime. Anyway I’m not getting political because this place is all about cars, and the 5th Highball In The Mall had some special ones. Being able to talk and connect with fellow enthusiasts is just what I need to drive the cold winter away. Pun most definitely intended.

This car was undoubtedly the star of the show for this edition of Highball In The Mall. It’s a Ferrari SP3 Daytona and it’s a special V12 supercar that pays tribute to the 330 P4 and Testarossa. You could add the F40 to the list because it has pop-up headlights – sort of. They’re more like eyelids that raise up when the headlights are turned on. Still, this car is Ferrari’s V12 love letter to itself, going without turbocharging and hybrid power for the sake of purity and theatre. This car cost the owner 4 and a half million dollars, making it one of the most expensive cars ever seen at Highball Cars And Coffee. No one expected to see this multi-million dollar car at such a meet, and it caused quite a stir for the few minutes it was there. No special treatment, no barriers and no pedestal – just a small space on some pavement at the front of a suburban mall. Most people who own a Ferrari like this would never even consider driving their car down to such an event, because “average folk are too good for me” or something like that. Well done to the owner for bringing this thing out because it brought immense joy to all those lucky enough to see it.

Seeing an “SN95” generation Ford Mustang in Australia is rare at the best of times. Rarer still are the right hand-drive versions that were converted by Tickford and Ford Australia between 2001 and 2002. But you know what’s rarer than that? A MystiChrome coloured car from 2004. Yes, Ford really had this colour as a FACTORY option for the Mustang SVT Cobra, otherwise known as the “Terminator” because of it’s powerful supercharged V8. This is significant because the previous iteration produced less power than the advertised figure, which in turn caused outrage amongst Mustang enthusiasts. This led to lawsuits accusing Ford of false advertising, leaving the Special Vehicle Team with egg on their face. Not to be embarrassed again, the “Terminator” was unleashed in 2003 with a more powerful engine producing 390 HP – 100 more than the ’99 model. However the HP number quoted by Ford was a conservative one, because when people put them on dynos, HP was between 420 and 430 – an impressive number for the time. The MystiChrome colour was only offered for 2004, and some parts of the interior had the same colour too. 500 were hardtop coupes and 500 were convertibles, but none of them were officially offered with a right hand drive option, making this car with an aftermarket right-hand drive conversion EXCEPTIONALLY rare. This may be the only one of it’s type in the world. I love it.

Much has been spoken of the R32 GT-R, and in a recent poll on GT Planet, the forum I regularly visit for all things Gran Turismo, sim racing and cars, it was voted as the best Skyline GT-R from the 3 generations. My favourite is the R34 but I can’t deny the legendary status that the R32 has acquired. When Nissan wanted to bring back the GT-R nameplate for the Skyline after a 16 year hiatus, they wanted to bring it back with a bang. Nissan used the latest technology to outplay and outclass the established players, showing that Japan had the capacity to create proper sports cars. It was a force to be reckoned with in Group A during it’s final years. And no, the car did NOT kill off the category like many people will tell you down here. The FIA killed off the category due to skyrocketing costs and dwindling interest in other countries. The BTCC had already ditched the formula and DTM were effectively done with it, moving to a brand new rule set in 1993. Anyway this particular car is owned by Ryan (@R32.Ryan) and it’s a quality piece of JDM iconography.

The 2015 iteration of the Porsche 911 GT3 may not be the latest and greatest but it’s still a fantastic performance car. The GT3 nameplate was added to the line up in 2000 and has gone from strength to strength, using a naturally-aspirated flat 6 to deliver some atmospheric thrills akin to the Cup racer. This version of the car is softer than the RS with less aero and less power, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing in my opinion. Less aero means a much cleaner look to the car, and this example in yellow really shows that sometimes less is more. Porsche designs have never challenged the status quo but I don’t think this one will age poorly.

The Lotus Elise is a classic. Launched in 1996, this little pocket rocket redefined the British sports car with it’s aluminium chassis and engine configuration, lending itself to a tremendous driving experience. There are very few luxuries and no electronic assists, so you have full control of the car at all times. This may feel a bit too intense for some but for others, it’s exactly the sort of thing they’re after. It may not produce much power but the small, lightweight chassis gives you a fantastic connection to the road. For many, this is the perfect embodiment of the Lotus ethos and seeing a first gen model in orange was definitely a highlight. It’s a car soo good that not even Lotus themselves have been able to follow it up. We will never see a car like this being built again, so expect prices to increase.

The Toyota Century is Japan’s premium sedan and the choice of high-ranking diplomats. This car was never officially sold to the public, but nowadays it’s possible to import them direct from Japan. This is a second-gen 2000 model with the V12 engine, chosen for its smoothness and effortless power delivery. Toyota didn’t make the engine for long though, and it never saw use in any other application – at least not officially. Smokey Nagata put one in a Supra, heavily tuning the engine to produce over 800 HP. The car, known as the Top Secret Supra, became an international star when Smokey ripped it down some of the UK’s double carriageways at top speed. He was then banned from ever setting foot in the country again. But that’s a story for another day. This Century here is interesting because it has leather seats instead of the regular cloth, which the Japanese preferred for maximum comfort and sound insulation.

I’ve seen many 930 generation Porsche 911’s, but I haven’t seen one modified like this before. I saw it as I was coming in and I knew that I had to get a closer look. No, it’s not as dramatic as an RWB but it doesn’t have to be, because the metallic blue and five-spoke wheels seem to work really well here. I don’t know if the car has been modified internally, however I can tell you that the front bumper is not a standard issue 930 piece: it’s from the Group 4 race car. However I doubt that it’s a genuine article part because it’d be quite expensive – if you could find one at all. I’m not going to hold that against the owner though.

I can’t exactly pin down exactly what Mercedes this is, but I believe that it’s a 300 CE made to look like the AMG version with Brabus wheels. Yeah that sounds like a strange mashup of bits and pieces but who cares, it’s a 2 door Mercedes and they don’t come up often. I haven’t seen this car before and I do like it, but unfortunately I don’t know a whole lot about it. I’m sure there’s an interesting story somewhere though so if there’s anyone out there who can help me, that’d be great.

Now for a few shout outs:

Nick Visser’s 8 Series, on loan from BMW

Stalis D’Rozario’s DC2 Integra

Benedict D’Rozario’s EK Civic

Gabriel Shaw’s E36 M3

It was good fun talking to people about their cars again after a few unsavoury weeks here in Melbourne. The world can be a cold and cruel place sometimes, but the car community makes it much, much warmer. I’m soo happy to be a part of it. Doesn’t matter how much money you have or where you come from, the passion for the automobile transcends all boundaries.

Here are a few more highlights for those who’ve made it this far: