Interesting sights along PLUS Highway – Proton MPV & some Classics.

Over the last weekend (8-9 Nov), I participated in the inaugural Top Gear Malaysia treasure hunt that took us from KL all the way up to Penang. Along the way, my mate Justin Ong snapped a series of pictures that might interest a few people in this blog:

Up close with the Proton MPV

Going past…

Leaving it behind… Note overtaking Waja for size comparison.

We spotted the car a good 30-40km after getting back to the highway at Tg Malim. The driver, and his passenger was doing a leisurely 100-110kph, and did not seem too bothered about our attention. I had purposely slowed down and stayed in front of it as long as I could before I had to pick up the pace and continue with the hunt.

Things got even more interesting on the way back to KL the following day:

A classic car rally…

… and there was a whole convoy of them!!

It was the Penang Classic Car Rally (more like leisure drive), featuring a whole convoy of old Beetles, Minis, the red Datsun you see above and the Morris Minor, also pictured above. We could even see the old leaf springs of the Morris work as we drive along. This next car, we saw during our petrol stop, I am not sure if it was part of the ‘rally’…

A Chevrolet Corvette C1

Wonder what’s wrong…

Making one last pass before moving on…

Not being an expert of American ‘muscle’ cars, I can only tell you that this car belongs to the first generation of Chevrolet Corvettes. Known as the C1 generation, this series of ‘vettes were manufactured between 1953 and 1962. Believe it or not, the outer bodies of these cars are made of fiber-glass. Early models ran on 150hp 235 cu in (that’s 3,851cc) straight-six engines with (I kid you not) two-speed automatic transmissions.

In 1955, the Corvette began using V8 power, starting with a 195hp 265 cu in (4,343cc) and ultimately culminating in a 327 cu in (5,359cc) version producing 360hp in 1962. Later versions also began to incorporate manual transmissions with three or four speeds.

In 1963, the C1 Corvette was finally replaced with the C2 that lasted in service for only four years. The generation succeeding the C2, the C3, went on to serve for fourteen years. The current generation Corvette, the C6 was launched in 2005, and will be eventually replaced by the C7 in 2012.