When the government placed Metro Manila under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in March 2020 to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus, my wife Shawie and I took the opportunity to declutter our home, especially the other part of our duplex that I use as my office – slash – mancave. Since we have been working from home (WFH) since ...

In 1949, General Motors (GM) gave Chevrolet their first new styling after World War II, with the Deluxe as the up-market model. At $1,492, the 1949 Chevy Deluxe Styleline 6-passenger 2-door sedan was the most affordable model and it was equipped with the tried-and-tested 92-horsepower “Stovebolt Six” 216.5-cubic-inch (3.5-liter) inline 6-cylinder engine, 11-inch drum brakes, full instrumentation, and front stabilizers. ...

The Ducati Corse team had many reasons to look forward to the 2009 Motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) season. Their lead rider for the Ducati Marlboro racing team was Australian Casey Stoner, who obtained Ducati’s first MotoGP World Championship title in 2007. Partnering with Stoner was the 2006 MotoGP World Champion, Nicky Hayden, who was nicknamed “The Kentucky Kid”. The two ...

When Piaggio Aircraft, the Italian helicopter factory was closed by the Allied Forces after the end of World War II, owner Enrico Piaggio was driven to produce a motor-scooter to provide affordable transportation for the masses. He wasn’t too thrilled with their first product, the 1945 Piaggio MP5, which was nicknamed “Paperino”, so his engineers went back to the drawing ...

The iconic 1953-56 Porsche 550 Spyder is often associated with the late American actor and Hollywood icon James Dean. It seems that glamour, speed and danger are part of the racing sports car’s mystique. For the benefit of those who are not in the know, the Porsche 550 is a mid-engine car with an air-cooled horizontally-opposed 4-cylinder engine. It followed ...

To continue our story from yesterday’s Miniature Wheels feature about Chevrolet’s Plastic Fantastic, we leave our 6-cylinder 150-horsepower Pennant Blue 1954 Corvette behind and go over to our V8-powered 290 hp Venetian Red 1957 Corvette. As we mentioned yesterday, these “solid-axle” Corvettes are first-generation cars (C1) that debuted as a roadster in 1953 and underwent several upgrades, starting with a ...

In 1951, Harley Earl, the head of General Motors’ Styling Section convinced his bosses at GM to build an all-American two-seat sports car. As avid fan of sporting cars, Earl observed that soldiers returning after serving overseas following World War II were bringing home small European sports cars. Earl’s Special Projects crew began working on the new car under the ...

From 1945 to 1947, Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche had the difficult task of steering the small fledging company founded by his father, Dr. Ing. Ferdinand Porsche, who was imprisoned by the Allied forces on December 15, 1945 for alleged war crimes. At the same time, Ferry, as the younger Porsche was known, was working on a new two-seat sports car ...

What is it about the Sixties that some people find so groovy? Besides the outrageous parties, psychedelic clothing, and the phenomenal growth of rock and roll, the ’60s were also the era of iconic automobiles. In our modest collection of scale model cars, I found three miniature sports cars that were born in the late 1960’s and eventually became icons ...

The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R debuted in 2004 as a compact, short wheelbase liter bike with a high power-to-weight ratio and handling that can rival a 600cc sport bike. After a successful three-year run, the ZX-10R underwent a drastic aesthetic change in 2008, and then underwent a major mechanical and styling overhaul in 2011. In 2013, Tom Sykes became the first ...