Old Beauties Quiz (7)

Can you identify the old beauty in this photo? Eh …… I am not referring to the two-legged one, though I must say that my old friend Peh Seng Ket looked rather dashing.

I am also very curious about this place. It looks terribly familiar but unfortunately my friend Peh cannot remember where this photo was taken.

Old Beauties Quiz (6) – Old Beauties @ Kuching

During my recent holidays in Kuching I visited a traditional market in Jalan Satok which was well-known for its local produce. We saw many interesting products.

This is the famous giant river prawn (udang galah) of Sarawak. I have actually eaten it many times before during my previous visits. It looks very impressive, with a huge head and can measure up to a foot in length. But actually it doesn’t taste all that great and is quite expensive with very little meat.

We also saw these fighting cocks, but thankfully did not witness any actually fighting.

But what caught my attention as usual were the old beauties. Here are 3 of them. Can you identify them? (I don’t know the answer to no. 3)

** Please note the above 2 photos are of the front and rear of the same car.

UPDATE (15 Jan 2009)

The first car, the white one is a Nissan Pulsar; at least that’s what we called it in Singapore. But it has another name called Langley which is the name shown on this car.

The second one, the yellow one is a Daihatsu Charmant. Not so popular in Singapore. So none of you gave correct answer. But I have seen a number of them in Ipoh.

I don’t know about the third one. But it definitely is not Morris Minor even though it looks British. Here’s another photo showing the rear.

Old Beauties Quiz (5)

Sorry no time to scan the answers to last week’s Roundabout Quiz 3. So here’s a real beauty for you to ogle at in the meantime.

This beauty belongs to my neighbour who loves vintage cars. The car has been restored to original condition. I will try to take some photos of the beautiful interior to show you another time. Meantime let’s see how much you know about this car; starting with the model name. Hint: Its engine is in the rear.

Old Beauties Quiz (4)

OK. Here are another 3 photos. Actually I am not too keen to put up these photos because their ‘beauty’ is somewhat marred by poor maintenance by the owners. But, as they say in Hokkien, bo he hey ya ho. (If you cannot get fish, you have to settle for prawns).

Old Beauties Quiz (3)

Rather busy lately and no time to do any serious blogging. So I will keep you occupied with another old beauties quiz. These beauties are a bit different from the previous ones. They are local beauties.

The first one was spotted some time ago at a multi-storey car park in Jurong West St 93. The second photo was taken last week at the multi-storey car park in Shunfu market/food centre.

PS – Perhaps I should ask Peter, the old cars, old buildings, old streets and in fact, old everything. expert to give chance a bit and let the others have a go first

Here are a couple more photos. Sorry the Alpha photo is out of focus. Apparently my handphone camera only good for close range shots. - 22 July 2008

Old Beauties Quiz (2)

Below are another 2 ‘old beauties’ that you won’t be able to find on Singapore roads. Let’s see if you can identify them.

Please note: these are two different cars. But since they look rather similar, I better number them. Actually, it's purely by chance that I picked two cars that looked so similar in shape, size and colour. Maybe Ipoh drivers like this colour. So please specify the model and not just the make ok?

Car No. 1

Car No. 2

ANSWERS (22 Apr 2008)

Full marks to Peter. Car No. 1 is Honda Accord. Car No. 2 is Opel Kadett 1200S. Below are two more photos taken from another angle.

I don't know much about the Opel Kadett. But that model of Honda Accord was very popular in early 80's. It's successor arrived around 1986. Two of my colleagues in NPB bought it and were target of much envy.

Old Beauties Quiz (1)

I am starting another round of quizzes which I think will probably interest only the men.

Below are photos of two beauties that used to grace our roads in the 70's. Now, of course, you can only see them in Malaysia. I took these photos in Ipoh in 2006. Can you identify them?

Answers (posted 29 March 2008)

As expected, the guys are better at this sort of things. The first one is a Ford Escort. I had the pleasure of seeing how they were manufactured at our own Ford Motors factory here in Singapore. Read my full story here. Below is another photo of the same car.

The second was a Fiat124. Here are a couple more photos.

So you can see that during my trips to Ipoh, while my wife is busy catching up with her sisters, and my kids are playing with their cousins, I roam the streets taking photos of Ipoh beauties. More to come!

My Uncle’s Favourite Car: The Toyota 700 Deluxe - Lam Chun Chew

Recently, there was some attention drawn to Chun See’s photo posted at the top right corner of this blog. It wasn’t Chun See or the dog, but the car; especially its number plate, that attracted some readers.

Anyway, I take the opportunity to tell you a bit about that car, which belonged to our Seventh Uncle uncle (the one who was a badminton champion) who lived next door to us in our kampong at Lorong Chuan/Lorong Kinchir.

After resettling down in Singapore, my uncle bought a brand new Toyota 700 Deluxe. This was sometime in the late sixties. To a certain extent, my uncle was a person ahead of his time, full of faith in Japanese goods, when most of us had an aversion to them, especially cars. At that time there were few Japanese-made cars on our roads. If I remember correctly, only Datsun cars, namely the few Datsun Bluebird could be seen cruising around the island. At this time, Toyota made its entry by introducing two models, the 700 standard (air-cool) and the deluxe (water-cool). My uncle quickly bought a deluxe model. I could not remember the price, maybe a few thousand dollars, definitely much cheaper than its European counterparts. His purchase brought in many critics, all expounding ideas that it was a wrong decision to buy Japanese goods. Some even said that if you were to scrap the under-carriage of a Japanese car, you could see the word ‘Ovaltine’ imprinted on it.

One day my mum and I hitched a ride on my uncle’s Toyota to KL (Kuala Lumpur) to attend my cousin’s wedding. Another uncle drove a Volkswagon competing against the Toyota all the way up to KL. I would like to give my verdict: European vs Japanese. Undoubtedly the Volks had the edge in stability, air-cool, excellent cornering, slope-climbing and comfort. The Toyota had some virtues also, namely: better fuel consumption, fuel warning light, fast pick-up and excellent paint-work. However, it was not fair to compare the two, one being a branded car of many years, and the other the Toyota being just a new-comer in the international car market. But my uncle was ahead of his time, Toyota is now fast going to be No.1 car maker of the world.





In Malaysia, you can still find many old cars that are no longer seen on Singapore roads. Above are 2 of the oldest models of Toyota Corolla I have come across – Lam Chun See


To side-track a bit, being obsessed with Japanese goods, my uncle used a Japanese hair lotion to groom his hair making it look good. Even my sister Pat commented favourably on my uncle’s good grooming, so much so my uncle felt elated, and bought her a bottle, but she was afraid to use, what irony! Likewise my cousin Richard (staying with us) and I were also afraid to use it. Indeed there was great prejudice against Japanese goods at that time. The said hair lotion is still available now in most shops, big or small, selling around $20 per bottle. It is the famous SANKYO hair lotion (I am not doing a commercial for this product). This story carries a message – do not under-estimate the ability of your rivals. We Singaporeans were once labelled in Asia as: naive and incapable. Today the word Singapore is an icon of honesty and integrity. That is why when Capital-land develops houses in China, they are being snapped up like hot-cakes - three cheers Singapore.