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 ...

One of the founders of the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Sir Henry Royce once said, “Small things make perfection, but perfection is no small thing”. It is in this vein that Rolls-Royce presents perfect 1:8 scale models of the Cullinan, the marque’s stellar SUV. As daily motoring pleasures have been curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some other of life’s little ...

While watching the first John Wick movie where Keanu Reeves’ titular character went after and killed the young Russian mobsters who killed his dog and took his black 1969 Ford Mustang, I overheard a comment from the group of young people watching in the row behind us: “I don’t get it – all that carnage for a dog and an ...

At the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2007, the Ford Motor Company displayed their Ford Verve concept car, which would eventually be released as the sixth-generation Ford Fiesta. Also known as the Fiesta Mark VI, the car is based on Ford’s new global B-car platform. Production of the Fiesta started at Ford’s Cologne plant in Germany in August 2008, followed ...

When I was a young teen, one of my favorite TV shows was “VEGA$”, an American private detective crime drama series that aired on Philippines television around the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. The TV series stars Robert Urich as private detective Dan Tanna, who drove to his cases around Las Vegas, Nevada in a red 1957 Ford Thunderbird convertible. ...

When BMW Philippines introduced the all-new BMW X3 (E83) sports activity vehicle in early 2004, they organized a fun activity for the local motoring media. They set up a short slalom course in the adjacent parking area and the media guest with the fastest time through the slalom course gets a prize. At the time, I was representing The Philippine ...

Inside a clear acrylic display case on top of my model collection shelf is a battery-operated Bump ‘N Go race car. It’s roughly a 1:18 scale model of Malcolm Durham’s 1970 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Funny Car dubbed as the “Strip Blazer VIII”. The tin toy was given to me by a good friend, Frank Koh, to augment my collection of ...