Classics

After a long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SGRETROCAR is resurrecting their esteemed GT-Rally charity drive event with our Northern neighbours’ re-opened borders. This charity drive is scheduled to be held from 2nd December to 8th December 2022.

In order to participate, one would have to own a car which is above 25 years old. However, unlike previous iterations, this year’s itinerary would be more exclusive, as the group is limiting total convoy capacity to just 8 cars.

Classics

SGRetroCar Cross Country GT-Rally 2022

IN SGRETROCAR, Classic, Cars, Charity, Drive, 2022, Thailand, Donations

8 Cars. 2200km. One big retro car charity drive adventure.

Classics

Be mesmerised by priceless classics drifting on a frozen lake at ICE St Moritz

IN Concours, ICE St Moritz, Classic cars, Drifting

A gazillion times better than Disney On Ice

Strictly Off-road Use Only

Seen here is a right-hand drive BXD10 military-spec vehicle with a soft top. Due to them being mil-spec, the Japanese military kept all Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) documents, meaning these units cannot be registered for road use.

Classics

Did you know Toyota made a Humvee doppelganger ...

IN Toyota, Mega Cruiser, BXD10, BXD20

... in the mid-nineties to the early noughties?

Classics

Never give up, Never surrender | Retro Havoc 2018

IN Retro Havoc, Retro Havoc 2018, Malaysia, 2018

Malaysia's vibrant retro car culture descends upon Kuala Lumpur

Classics

Bentley Reigns In Road To Saigon

IN Road to Saigon, ERA, Endurance Rally Association, Singapore, Saigon, Ho Chi Minh, 2018

Rallying over 8,600 kms in 27 days, about 35 crews took on a series of challenging regularity and speed trials as they journeyed through Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam

With a myriad of activities ranging from regularity tests and speed trials held on a mixture of surfaces such as closed tarmac roads, rice paddy fields, rubber plantations, jungle tracks and dusty gravel, all participants stand an equal chance regardless of the car they’re in.

Classics

The Road to Saigon

IN Singapore, Rally, Road to Saigon, Endurance Rally Association

32 cars, 27 days: Classic cars go on a journey from Singapore to Saigon

A short timeframe of 13 months was all it took for the chassis, bodywork and power train to move ahead for this project. According to Bonfiglioli, it was in June of 1986 when they began designing the engine of what was known back then as Project F 120 A.

Classics

Happy 30th Birthday, F40!

IN Ferrari, F40, Ferrari F40, 30 Years, Ferrari Museum, Ermanno Bonfiglioli, Leonardo Fioravanti, Dario Benuzzi

With the iconic Ferrari F40 celebrating its 30th year of existence, we see what some of the gentlemen behind it had to say

Interestingly, project 'Galaxy' resulted in two model series: One Swedish and one Dutch. The underlying technology was developed jointly; after this, the teams split up. The Dutch company, Volvo Car B.V, went on to develop what would become the 400 series, while Volvo Cars in Sweden developed the 850 series.

Classics

Volvo 850 - 25 Years Strong

IN Volvo, 850, Sedan, Wagon, Volvo Cars, Volvo 850, Galaxy Project, 850 GLT, 850 T-5R, 850 AWD, BTCC

Almost unknown to most, this model was the result of one of Sweden's largest industrial investments and differed fundamentally from previous Volvo

Let's start with those shiny custom wheel covers. I marveled at how he still managed to source for such retro-looking wheel covers, and that's when he revealed to me that they were actually frying woks! How ingenious and utterly creative!

Classics

Kei Class Classic | Daihatsu Hijet S100

IN Kei, Daihatsu, Hijet, Classic, Van

A frying wok for wheel covers? You better believe it. This classic Daihatsu Hijet S100 kei van went through a 5-month restoration process and came out looking all clean and funky!

Classics

Classic Cars In Singapore - Do You Know Them? (Part 2)

IN Classic, Classic Cars, Vintage Cars, MG, Singer, British, MG Type Y Saloon, Singer 4AD Roadster

We bring you two more classic cars from - where else - our little island!

Ford Five-Window Coupe
An American engineer, Henry Ford, had a dream to build a car for the masses. The company he founded went on to mass-produce automobiles for 109 years and counting.

Classics

Classic Cars In Singapore - Do You Know Them? (Part 1)

IN Classic, Classic Cars, Vintage Cars, Ford, Ford Mercury Convertible, Ford Five-Window Coupe

In this exclusive vintage-only series, we bring to you some classic cars that are still running around our sunny little island

Classics

Back To The Old Skool AGAIN | Toyota Celica TA22

IN Toyota, Celica, TA22, Classic, 1974

When we featured this Celica 2 years ago, the internet community went wild. The photos were shared across the globe and the article has grossed the highest hits on our website. Anyone for seconds?

Classics

Subaru WRX GC8

IN Subaru, WRX, GC8

If there is one name that ALL car enthusiasts will surely know, it is the Subaru WRX. Such has been the success of this road-going rally-bred machine. It all started with the GC8...

With the help of this important, yet least known designer, most of the prolific cars from the 50s had input from this man. From Alfas to Ferraris this man was in the midst of it all. Yet the Spitfire was almost never built because of the collapse of the Triumph-Standard company. If not for the fact that the car was spotted by the new management under dust covers in the corner of the factory, the Spitfire would have been long forgotten.

Classics

A Love For Music And One Car | Triumph Spitfire

IN Triumph, Spitfire, British

It’s not often that you get to meet a man in love with his car. One car, with no temptations to sell it or store it away. This car in particular, a Triumph Spitfire Mark IV.

On local shores, we hardly recognize it as the DeLorean. My mum recalls it as that time-machine from my favorite time-traveling trilogy. While I’m having a crack at summoning 1.21 “jiggawatts” of nuclear power to go back in time, it is all but fictional. However, the fictitious DeLorean Time Machine brought back fond memories of the past, including my maiden visit to a cinema when I was slightly younger. Back To The Future was the first ever movie that I caught on the big screen with my mum after copiously threatening to burn my school books if she didn’t bring me to watch it. I was barely 10, and I was in love with The Time Machine, one of the sporadic relationships I had that she did not protest against. The tickets were modestly priced at $3.50 for a child and you even get a short screen break at the hour-mark of the movie to visit the washroom. My mum was my first date, I’ll always tell my friends. Shortly after the movie, I made up my mind that I was going to buy myself a two door coupe with butterfly wings and a hooked fishing rod at the top and wait for lightning to strike. I seriously wanted to do 88 miles per hour and break the time-barrier.

Classics

Back To The Future! | DeLorean DMC-12

IN DeLorean, DMC-12, Michael J Fox

Our guest writer travels back in time for some nostalgic revision of his childhood.

The good people from Noble have managed to extract an astonishing 425bhp from a three litre Ford Duratec V6 mid-mounted engine that is sometimes awfully squandered on the Ford Mondeo ST220. It has modified fuel injectors, high-lift camshafts and twin turbo-chargers, making it a roaring feature on the track. The superb power-to-weight ratio of 400bhp/ton suggests how it should be named and you can’t be too wrong about that. The German Getrag six-speed manual with Quaife LSD transmission is clearly the trigger and what you would call, a better playmate than your Gran Turismo gamer.

Classics

Noble Intentions | Noble M400

IN Noble, M400

A year ago, I was on the verge of being reduced to combating for reserved seats on the public transport because I was left with three points on my driving record.

They not only anchored a quirky 1.3L engine in its bay, the car gulps on petrol like how a deprived Asiatic elephant does to a river. You have little time to realize that you are coughing up nearly two dollars for every six kilometres, and you are rivaling in proximity to that black Chrysler cab.

Classics

Rotary Heaven | Mazda RX-7 FD3S & FC3S

IN Mazda, RX-7, FD3S, FC3S, Rotary, 1.3, RX-8, Efini

Our freelance writer laments at the practicality of RX-7s of old, but celebrates the fact that they were never made for that anyway!

Instead, it was Keiichi Tsuchiya, the Japanese Drift King who took it sideways around the corners and popularized it with such reverberating fanaticism which transformed the fortunes of what was once an underground sport. Drifting in modern days has become a worldwide culture. Without Tsuchiya, Takumi might be transporting his tofu in a Nissan Silvia S15. But what is so special about these automotive antiques?

Classics

Riders On The Storm | Toyota Trueno And Levin

IN Toyota, Trueno, Levin, AE86, Hachiroku

Riders on the storm, riders on the storm, into this house we're born, into this world we're thrown...

The two-door soft-top roadster sits two, and was in production from May 1991 to February 1996. I have to say that it is not particularly handsome for a cabriolet, but if you do realise where I’m coming from, the Keis were meant to be cute and friendly. Four bright color variants are available in white, yellow, red and silver. The limited edition Version F and Version C comes in metallic green and blue, respectively. Mechanical upgrades like ABS and LSD were optional features on the Version Z.

Classics

On The Beat | Honda Beat

IN Honda, Beat, Kei, 660, Convertible

I went online hoping to rediscover one of the fascinating Kei cars in the 90s. My search returned with a Marian Rivera on a two-wheeler arousing my fantasies of topless riding. Well, not really...

The stock 3.6-liter engine is rebuilt to displace 3.82 liters. The engine has been recreated with premium components successfully developed and proven through Ninemeister’s racing exploits. The Singer 911’s engine achieves its displacement with Ninemeister 103mm pistons and cylinders, the 76.4mm crankshaft of the 997 GT3, and the 132mm lightweight titanium connecting rods. The large bore, short stroke combination can spin to 8000 rpm, but offers a broad, flexible torque curve.

Classics

A Modern Vintage | Singer 911

IN Singer, Porsche, 911, Orange, Original, Modern

Earlier this year, American company Singer Vehicle Design restored, reimagined and rebirth-ed a Porsche classic - putting new technology into an all-time favourite. This is the Singer 911.