Video: Sunday with an Alfa Romeo 156 V6 & Some thoughts about Alfa Romeo

This is a short video about an Alfa Romeo 156 with a 3.0liter V6 engine inside of it. It belongs to a friend of mine and it looks superb inside and out. I think this could be the nicest 156 in the country at this moment.

HISTORY CON® REGIONAL BRANDED EXPERIENCE LAUNCHES INAUGURAL MALAYSIAN HISTORY CONVENTION 2017 - LOTS OF NICE CARS & BIKES THERE!

The facelifted and upgraded Isuzu Mu-X was launched at the History Convention 2017 (History Con 2017) on Friday, 3rd of August 2017. It is actually quite an event for the motorhead. There are a lot of automotive related displays and even celebrity guests who have automotive related shows on the History Channel. Which is what the event was all about. HISTORY Con 2017, is an entertainement convention linked to the History Channel and it launches for the first time in Malaysia at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) in Selangor from 4th to 6th August 2017. You can still catch it and this is why I am writing about it.

Classic cars: Back when Hino made cars - the Hino Contessa 1300 Coupe

HINO is known in these parts as a reliable truck maker. It has been like that since the 1970s when the first set foot into Malaysia and slowly grew their brand into what it is today. Of course, it wasn't like that in the mid-1960s. The company made cars then.

Alpine reveals first images of the new A110 before its official premiere at the Geneva Motor show.

Ahead of the Geneva Motor show, (Renault) Alpine has revealed the first images of the new two-seater sports car it will premiere at the Geneva Motor show.

The original BMC, BL (and maybe Rover) Mini and its Riley Elf, Wolseley Hornet, Mini Moke, Clubman, Countryman & pick up variants at the Auto Bavaria Mega Fest 2016

Lots of original, classic British Motor Corporation / British Leyland (and maybe Rover) Mini (with their owners, obviously) attended Auto Bavaria's Mega Sales event a couple of weeks ago. Here are some photos of it. Note the Riley Elf variant above and below (the one that has a different front and rear end). The Elf was the 'luxury' version of the Mini together with the Wolseley Hornet - exterior differences between the two include a different grille and the dashboard  

Classic Cars: Elvis Presley's BMW 507 gets a stupendous restoration after being 'missing' for over 50 years

Elvis Presley's old BMW 507 roadster now looks stunning after a sympathetic rebuild to its authentic or as close to original condition consisting of many original parts by BMW Group Classic. You guys out there know who's Elvis Presley right??? 

Spotted on the streets: Toyota Sports 800 - Classic Japanese sports cars way before JDM was cool

This is a rare car that has been spotted by long time reader Siva Bhakta. It is a Toyota Sports 800 from 1965 or thereabouts. He managed to chat up the owner who also mentioned that there was at least fifteen or so of this car in Malaysia. That is quite a number as according to sources like Wikipedia, 3,131 units were made and about 10% have survived to this day (with most in Japan).

Interesting cars around town: Classic Mercedes Benz 220se cabriolet

This was spotted by a friend over in Shah Alam recently. A nice Mercedes Benz 220se cabriolet from the 1960s. It sports a new number plate and I believe it is a recent import using a classic car status AP. There are two or so importers specializing in these sort of cars and I am glad there is a market for it.

Would love bringing in an Audi Quattro, a Lancia Delta HF turbo  (versions from 1985 should qualify) or the Integrale (first versions may qualify)  or even a Mercedes 190e Cossie from the 1980s if I had the dough.

The MGB GT

The MGB GT is a car that I had driven many years ago but one which I remember like I drove it only yesterday. It was a car that my late father once owned and sold around the time I was born (circa 1972) and a car that I had the pleasure of driving very often during the 1990s. To the friend of mine who let me drive the car, you know who you are, and I am extremely grateful for the experience. No,my father didn't actually sell the MGB because I was born. Some other incident happened so I am safe to say that I wasn't the reason my old man sold his sports car!

"The 1.8liter engine sounds typically old school. The twin SU carburettors (which need proper fettling to get it in-synch) and that simple four branch manifold as well as how the engine is tuned for the MGB (instead of, say a pathetic Austin Maxi) makes for a very butch sounding 4 cylinder engine. You won’t find this much bass in any new car these days. The sound on idle and when it starts to move is something which you could never replicate in a new twin cam, multi-valve and fuel injected engine. "


Click here to read more about it. Posted over on MyAutoblog.org.

Austin Mini 1275GT

I wrote a piece for Carthrottle.com on the Mini 1275GT recently. Imagine that, driving a tiny little car all the way from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur. I left at night from Simpang Pulai near Ipoh and it was raining. The wipers were intermittent in that the wiper motor did not have enough juice to move them all the time (due to faulty grounding) and I was basically driving a dark B-road in the rain. Quite a scare but at least the very old car had good lights to balance things off slightly.

On those B-roads I felt like Paddy Hopkirk driving in a rally. Of course this wasn't a snowy Monte Carlo but it was pretty wet nonetheless. Driving a Mini on a B-road is certainly one of motoring's greatest pleasures.

Driving on the highway was slightly unnerving at the start. You feel slightly small until you get used to those lorries and busses passing by or when you're passing them instead. At least you can maintain a steady cruise of about 100km/h so that progress isn't that slow. It was a nice slow drive basically, one that I could actually enjoy listening to that 1,275cc engine and transmission do its Mini-like thrum. No other car has a noise combo like it so much so that when BMW made the new Cooper S, that supercharger actually mimicked that original gearbox whine.

 "On the B-roads it was a little bouncy but on the 12 inch Minilite wheels and tire combo the ride felt waaayyy better than the original 10inch rims and tires. I suppose this is due to the improvement in modern rubber. The Mini actually cornered better and rode more comfortably than when it first left the factory nearly 35 years ago. "

Read more about the Mini 1275GT here.

p/s. I did not drive back to KL without some semblance of back-up. Two cars left for KL that night, the other was this car from the cat family. A real mis-match.

Its Harry Potter Time Again, The Ford Anglia, The VW Kombi, The Morris Minor 1000 and the Perodua Myvi?

It's that time of the year again. Another Harry Potter movie for us to consume. Another Harry Potter movie for kids from age 0 to 99 to get all excited about. Another Harry Potter movie for the producers, director, stars and JK Rowling to rake hundreds of millions. Another Harry Potter movie to finish off the series.

I have posted once before about good ol', or young, Harry. To me, this chap is the ultimate nerd hero. He wears glasses. He's pretty short. He's all goody two shoes. He still lives with an uncle and aunt that hates him yet does not blast them to oblivion (or to someplace like the Bermuda Triangle) with this magic wand. He has a friend that is equally nerdy, one who has a dad that drives of all things, a Ford Anglia. He has not bonked Hermione after so many sequels even though he does have the hots for her (why Hermione seems to like nerdy ol' Harry is another thing altogether and would need some analyzing). He is also the chap that, with his friends, can outwit all the adults with years (some with centuries or eons) of experience.

Lorinser Mercedes 450SEL 6.9....How They Did It Those Days

A Lorinser bodykitted 450SEL 6.9. It is quite interesting to see the press photos and write up on this old Lorinser Mercedes. This car integrated the bumpers of the twin chrome bumpered W116 450SEL 6.9. It looked like an early prototype of the classic W126 S-Class. Slightly weird as we know where it came from but quite an upgrade from the original. It's like those old Mercedes and what ever older car we see going around Malaysia that their owners have put newer bumpers in place of the original's chrome bumper.

Remember the trend where every other car you see was running the Proton Iswara bumper? You used to see that car on a Datsun 120Y, Mazda 323 (like the one above), Ford Econovan (Yes, I saw one using such a bumper before) and various other old Japanese cars. Of course, the Iswara owners had moved on and bought those super modified BMW M-technic or Nissan  GTR look bumpers.

 I wouldn't say that this is the same thing as it was from a time when chrome bumpers were the norm. And THIS was really something unique in the late 1970s. This was posted on MyAutoBlog. Click here to read more about this.

Mazda photo:mudah.my

Of Harry Potter and Of Classic Cars....

I recently went to the Borders bookstore at the Curve and I picked up the latest and final Harry Potter instalment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. In this context, ‘picked up’ meant that I picked up the book, flicked to the final 15 or so pages and read the ending there and then, and later put the book back to where it belonged. Which was on the shelf of some bookstore or some 13 year old girl or boy’s bookshelf. It was as expected, Harry lives, Voldemort dies, the kids (now at least 18 years old) end up back at the point where they part ways and move on with their lives.

The plot twist for the ending was something like ‘the wand of power will be passed on to its rightful heir if the following occurs:

1. in the case whereby my current owner decides to die, he is entitled prior to his death name a heir which will in all realms be my rightful heir. Or

2. if in the case where my current owner decides to die without him naming such an heir, I, the magical all powerful wand capable of destroying the one who in so many Harry Potter books whose name cannot be mentioned will choose my rightful heir.

Of course, in the case of the book, Voldemort didn’t read the fine print, and basically gets killed to death because of it. Somehow, you’d be surprised that in the real world, rich, corrupt businessmen on the same level of evil as Voldemort wouldn’t have a battery of lawyers that could decipher fine print. In this case, fine print as stated on the ownership of an all powerful and magical wand. The ending was too easy; it wasn’t like an ‘Elvis has left the building’ kind of grandeur, but more like a Proton Saga being crushed as it has outlived its usefulness. No one would remember that ol’ Proton Saga unlike if you crushed one Ferrari Enzo. In other words, the ending of the saga of ol’ young Harry Potter didn’t rock my boat.

Somehow, the reason Harry Potter sold was because I’d buy it if I were a teenager. I’d relate to it. I grew up reading Enid Blyton and her books gave the same same pleasure as reading Harry Potter. Kids would actually believe that they would be heroes, even besting grown wizards and warlords. But notice in the real world, a 13 year old kid may end up dead due to various crimes made by adult bad people. It is just fantasy, and in real life or in adult novels, 99% of the time it’s an adult who will solve a crime or a storyline. This is also another thing about Harry Potter novels that fail to rock my boat. It reads like a mystery novel. I rather get my hands on a thriller or horror and not a whodunit. I suppose it’s all about what you fancy in the end. But if I wrote Harry Potter, it’d have death matches instead of funny broomstick chasing a ball type of matches or flying Ford Anglias.

In my version Harry would zap to death his opponents, gets to bonk Hermoine all the time and other girls on a daily basis like James Bond as well as have more of a ‘rock star’ attitude. I mean, he’s Harry Potter, the guy who survived an encounter with some evil dude that no one else has. He SHOULD have some attitude as he’s still a teenager and popular and famous teens should be all cranky and worked up. Voldemort would be like the Emperor or a cross between a Balrog and Mum-RA, Dumbledoer would be more energetic like Gandalf and all the adult wizards would have more brains that they have now. I mean, Harry is young, naïve, while skilful as well as being protected by some scar on his forehead. But these older wizards have experience, which should account to something actually. Maybe that’s why I prefer classic fantasy by Tolkein and even Stephen King; they’re either classically written or morbidly written or with a better plot twist at the very end. However there is bound to be those who think I am just plain spoilsport but think about it. It's absolutely true what I am writing about the Harry Potter series.

Now this brings us to old classic cars. Don’t buy them. They’re useless aside from making you remember your childhood. Unless you are young and your childhood was filled with Honda Civics from the 1980s and 1990s. If you intend to buy a classic MGB GT or something of that sort, make sure you got the money and a lot of time to pamper it. I’ve driven an MGB GT, it drove superbly, steering has more feel that most modern cars and pretty ample handling for its 1.8l engine. But expect more from it like a daily commute in Kuala Lumpur or asking it to stop letting it’s petrol fumes from entering the passenger cabin is a hard thing to do. The parts you will have to order from England and they’re not cheap and I hate anyone who’d plonk in a Japanese engine in this car.

Even more recently, I helped reverse a 1957 Austin Healey 2600cc from its garage and I tell you it was hell. The door was small, the steering large, the seats unadjustable, the controls rock hard, the clutch high and the gear vague as doctor’s handwriting. To enter was agony as I had to be slim as a broomstick. To reach the clutch I had to actually reach it with my toes as the seat cannot be adjusted. I’m average in height mind you and I had to reach in. The only thing I enjoyed about that car is its looks and the power. Aside from that, it was sheer hell.

Now maybe that Jaguar Etype would be a different story altogether. Now if only I was ever given the chance of driving one of the most beautiful classic coupes of all time my mind may change on classic cars.

By the way, I have read a Harry Potter novel in full its just I don’t remember which one while I’m writing this and I couldn’t be bothered to look for the title.