I remember like it was almost yesterday. The rides I used to take with the family, the places we went, the people we visited, and moments shared with my dad looking at the scenery go by. I remember staring at the moon, and asking why was it following us—to the amusement of my aunts sitting alongside. I remember the faint, weak glow of the instruments as the pointy needles attached to them repeatedly went up and down as the muffled engine hummed along.
I remembered it all the moment I opened the door, and caught a whiff of a very familiar smell. A pleasant, almost pungent smell, containing faint hints of synthetic materials mixed with a splash of petrol. It was the smell of an old Mercedes W108, and it was the smell that brought back a flood of memories.
Welcome to Singapore, and welcome to Cars & Kopi (Kopi being our local term for traditional Southeast Asian-style coffee). From a small roadside coffee shop meet with a handful of friends, it has, over the course of a short year, slowly grown to a rather unique morning car meet where cars usually hidden away are able to come together. (more…)
Re-shared from Petrolicious, Text by Louis Soon, Photography by Andrew Chow, Louis Soon, Abel Tan.