Sophie’s choice, car buffs’ voice

Photos by Tessa R. Salazar

If you want to know the history and culture of a country, visit museums and hit the books. However, if you want to know Pinoy culture in modern times, visiting museums and reading up on Filipino history isn’t enough.

A lot can be learned about us as a people in the cars that we buy, drive, spruce up, cherish, and even sometimes, let go.

Cars tell stories, often very personal ones, and this what the long-running TransSportShow manages to capture every time it is staged.

This year’s show, held from April 20 to 23 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, was no different.

According to Charlie Cruz, president of Lateral Drift Productions, “My driving life began when there was only one car meet, and it happened during Saturday nights when all roads led the gear heads to the open parking of the Greenhills Shopping Center, which was more popularly known as the ‘creekside.’

“Back then, no self-respecting enthusiast would dare show up without having his or her car clean inside and out—detailed at the expense of a whole day’s worth of elbow grease, laboring to make each car as presentable and as beautiful as it possibly could be.

“Car guys would roll the car carefully and meticulously to avoid dirt or water on the road just to park their cars and hang out.

“Mind you, this was just a regular Saturday night out.”

He added: “Imagine the cars that joined the TransSportShow at the time. They were all pristine, crafted tastefully, and immaculately painted.”

For Alex Isip of Alex Car Restoration, one of the pioneer participants of the 26-year-old event, “I remember my TransSportShow Best of Show award in 1996 because it was my first, and the car was a rare 1956 Mercedes Gullwing.

“Teamwork and long hours of quality checks gave the car its old glory. This has been Team Alex’s success formula for the last 25 years,” he recounts.

Gaby Dela Merced, who’s now a race car driver, athlete, and TV personality, recounts: “I remember going to the TransSportShow as a child. It was our family thing, and this was during the first few shows.

“I didn’t understand it then, except that it was my playground. In a way, that seeded something inside me which inadvertently honed my future.

“The TransSportShow thrusts you to a particular lifestyle centered on vehicles, wherein imagination is simply without bounds.”

“Since the early years of Porsche Club Philippines, it had always supported the TransSportShow by exhibiting classic Porsche 911s and 356.

“In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of the iconic Porsche 911, TransSportShow exhibited the grandest collection of 911s with the support of Porsche Club Philippines,” the club said in a statement.

“The Manila Sports Car Club turns 50 this year. Its history, filled with historic racing, hill climbs, concourse, long-distance tours, bow-tie dinners, breakfast meetings, all with the most interesting cars in the Philippines, is intertwined with the TransSportShow, without which MSCC’s history would not be complete,” an MSCC statement read.

Sophie delos Santos, president of Tradeshow International Inc. that stages the TransSportShow, said: “When your car show experience becomes a story to tell from generation to generation, then you’ve been to the TransSportShow.”

The annual TransSportShow exhibits over 90 entries ranging from classics to the new models, competing in the Best of Show awards for contemporary and nostalgic categories.

Delos Santos said that through the annual competitions, the event has become instrumental in producing most, if not all, of the best show cars in the Philippines, as well as in helping a thousand car shops, restorers, and craftsmen to be recognized with its advocacy on auto restoration excellence.

“It is amazing to meet enthusiasts who have been attending the show since 1992—who now have children with the same interest and passion, and have become TransSportShow patrons themselves.

“The TransSportShow literally spans generations and transcends demographic boundaries, drawing car lovers from all over. It has become the most important place where car enthusiasts are born and its resilience over the years makes it iconic,” said Delos Santos.

Among the cars this writer saw at the show were eye-popping personal showpieces of the Lamborghini Gallardo, a replica Lotus 11, a 1965 Ford Mustang GT350 Tribute and a 1965 Morris Mini Traveller.

Displays of the latest vehicles were also present, such as the reigning Car Awards Group Inc. (Cagi) Car of the Year and Truck of the Year, the Honda Civic RS Turbo and the Isuzu D-Max 4×2, respectively.

“It’s one way for the public to know that the citation given to these vehicles isn’t just any other ordinary award, but will go down already as part of Philippine automotive history,” said Cagi president Ronald de los Reyes.

And most probably, many years down the line, these two award-winning cars will be displayed once more in the TransSportShow, certainly older, but priceless for the personal history their owners endowed upon them.