The article is a 2-page spread written by Top Gear Philippines Associate Editor, Paulo Subido who is also an oldschool enthusiast himself.  The issue also features fellow OSP member, Sid Sia’s Toyota Celica.

Imagine going back in time and instead of seeing Banawe St. filled up with modern day cars & SUVs, you find yourself back to the 70′s & 80′s. With the support of different oldschool car clubs and enthusiasts in the Philippines, Banawe St. turned back the clock and didn’t fail to impress passers-by upon seeing a fleet of classic cars lined-up along the sidewalks and street.

Click on each thumbnail for a complete view of the photos.
Photos courtesy of Retro Auto Club.

Don’t miss it!

How will this affect us since this is a US law in case it was passed you say?  Internet censorship.

In Section 102 of the bill the US attorney general is permitted to take action against foreign sites (those that do not fall under U.S. jurisdiction) if “the owner or operator of such Internet site is facilitating the commission of [copyright infringement].”

Note that the bill doesn’t clearly qualify if an offending site violates copyright infringement if the sole purpose of the site is theft, it just states that the site facilitates it.  This means that a site owner can be charged with copyright infringement even because of the action of its users, for example: posting a photo of a copyrighted material on a forum or uploading a video of someone (apart from the singer) singing a copyrighted song.

The bill thus allows copyright holders the right to issue lawsuits against website owners and operators, if their websites have features that make it possible to post infringing content.

If the attorney general takes action against a site for copyright infringement, a court order would require the following:

• Internet service providers will be required to block your access to the site within five days.
• Search engines will be forced to remove all references to the offending sites from their indexes.
• Ad providers will be required to stop providing ad service to the site.
• Payment providers will be required to terminate service to the site.

This obviously isolates a website and may in turn lead to its shutdown, considering how easy it is to violate copyrights, either by doing it consciously or not.  Scary!

Will the Internet turn dark again, this time permanently?

If you are a superhero in the late ’60s, which car will you drive?  The Batmobile of course!  Now would you believe that you can drive one now?  If you have £120,000 maybe you can!

A replica Batmobile is for sale online at Firebox.com, a website that sells outrageous, weird and unbelievable products.

Here’s the specs.

Features:

• Brand new GM350 crate engine
• Fibreglass body
• Working rocket exhaust flamethrower
• Roll top dashboard doors
• Flashing red beacon
• Automatic Batbeam antenna grid
• Glowing Detect-a-Scope radar screen
• Push-button ignition
• Dash-mounted DVD player
• Electric actuators that open the hood and trunk
• Six speaker sound system•Chromed rocket tubes
• Double ‘bubble’ windshields

Performance:

• 0 – 60 in 5 seconds
• Top Speed 90mph
• Engine: 3.5 Litre Chevy Crate
• Torque – 325ft/llb
• 280 Horsepower
• Automatic Gearbox
• Power Steering
• 6 miles to the gallon (unleaded)

Do you think this will smoke the drag racers at Macapagal?

Ever wondered if it can be recreated using an oldschool car?  The answer is yes!  No need to hire to professional recording studio to do so.    No need to be a very experienced rally/drift diver or a drive a souped up race car.  Just a lot of creativity I guess.

This video features a 1986 Ford Fiesta Ghia with Monster-inspired livery and the driver donned a motocross riding suit to replicate Ken Block’s videos.  Can you do this too?  Enjoy watching!

The Splash page

The Metro Manila Development Authority finally did something right in terms of monitoring the Metro Manila traffic situation.  One thing I like with this current government is their use of modern communications technology medium like the Internet.  Most government agencies still have stale and unprofessional looking  websites, but MMDA did a great job in providing public service on theirs by using the latest in technology.

The MMDA in partnership with TV News 5 and Interaksyon.com  developed the MMDA iOS app v1.0.  The app can be downloaded on iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads running iOS 3.0 or later.

The app allows you to view the traffic situation in System, Map or Line view, view problem areas so you can avoid them and share or report traffic info via Twitter.  Traffic data is downloaded realtime from the MMDA-TV5 Metro Manila Traffic Navigator.  It covers the whole stretch of EDSA, C5, Roxas Blvd, Espana, Quezon Ave and portions of SLEX.

The System View

The Map view

The Line view

It also contains important information and frequently asked questions from the MMDA website.

MMDA FAQs

Traffic updates can also be viewed online.  The website also includes traffic information from Commonwealth, Ortigas and Marcos Highway.

Online site

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”  A quote in one of the poem of Robert Frost.

I never even imagine myself liking old things since I was a teenager and used to love new things, latest gadgets and new models of cars.  Maybe it’s just a coincidence when I met someone who owns an old school car.  That was the time I started appreciating Old school things.

We started to travel here in Pampanga since we are from Pampanga.  Before we leave checklist first: camera (digicam) , shades , cellphone , radio on, Toyota SR oil, fuel, air and lastly MONEY.  Funny thing when we travel there are times that we lack fuel so we need to find a nearby gas station.  When we travel our subjects were old houses, old cities, etc.  I always ask myself that time I’m not used to this kind of things but now I love it!

I created a page on facebook which is RETRO on the ROAD.  Retro is a shortening of “retrospective” meaning “looking back” , comes with ROAD as we can presumed as travel.  Retro on the Road made its first long drive in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.  The Toyota SR or we called it Bapa (Uncle) undergoes several repair and fixing to assure a smooth long drive. Ten hours before we reach our destination and everything was road-worthy.

Now we are targeting Miyamit Falls here in Porac, Pampanga.  It’s my first time to experience Miyamit if time permits us this August. It will be challenging and really requires body strength in this travel but I know this will be all worthy when we reach the place we really wanted to see and experience. Most of the people we could encounter in Miyamit were Aeta.  Something tickles my heart and I just decided to have a fund raising for them. I know it’s not that easy to conduct this kind of event but when you love what you are doing and you are dedicated to help there would be no worries.

Travelling it’s not just about travel, going different places, taking pictures, enjoying but you have to give it a twist to a more enjoyable but a helpful manner. Put them together TO TRAVEL AND TO HELP. Retro on the Road new mission: RETRO TRAVELS… RETRO HELPS…

Everyone’s getting hungry and it’s now time for lunch. We drove into downtown Leyte and stopped at a very much recommended restaurant. We parked the cars near the entrance and these local boys took time out to pose in front of the Gem.

We checked out Ocho restaurant which is famous for its fresh seafoods.

Posted in front are some of the recommended food to eat.

The place was quite packed as it was Sunday and people were eating after attending their respective church services. We decided to order right away and JP was assigned the task of choosing what we were gonna eat for lunch.

We had grilled squid, Grouper in Taosi sauce, sea grapes and fish eggs…

the fish belly with eggs was really delicious…

….the kids had a blast eating shrimp and roast pork.

After consuming all the food that we ordered, JP and Rouel did some updates on the blog as the place had free wifi.

Chad ordered some desserts for us, leche flan and buko pandan.

After lunch, the gang set off for the Leyte Landing Memorial, the site of General Douglas MacArthurs’ return to the Philippines (October 20, 1944). We were advised to go during daylight as the place is not that safe at night. From this photo you would think the statues are life sized….

…. up until JP comes into the scene begging the general to take him to America.

After doing a quick GPS check, we realized that we can actually reach Mindanao if we drove for another 160 kilometers away from Leyte towards the port of Liloan. We didn’t know the ferry schedule but we all decided to take a gamble as it was still early.

We drove through some of Leyte’s beautiful coastal towns and mountain passes. The roads were really nice, perfect for driving. We stopped at this bridge, high up in the mountains for some photo ops…

The Cressida looked really nice on the bridge. The fog and rain added a lot of character to the shot.

Joao decides to take a look at what’s below the bridge… plenty of natural vegetation… the bridge resembles some of the bridges JP tried out for bungee jumping in the past.

After two more hours of driving we finally reached Liloan port, our jump off point to Mindanao. Yes, you read that right, we’re going to Mindanao!!!

We inquired with the local authorities about the ferry schedule and we were lucky because a ferry was leaving for Surigao at 10pm.

After paying our fares we went for quick dinner and took our cars into the loading area. This will be our second ferry ride and Rouel always make sure that the ramp is set properly so our lowered cars would be able to get on board without any major issues. Usually, the buses and trucks are loaded first into the belly of the ferry.

Last to board are the private vehicles, that’s us. Rouel enters the ramp head on to avoid scraping the ramp.

Once in, he executes a u-turn so the car is facing forward when we get to our destination.

JP on the other hand reverses the Gem into the ship.

The dynamic duo are now side by side…

… and all set for Mindanao!