Today, the Proton is the dominant automotive life form on Malaysian roads. Nevertheless it hasn’t at all times enjoyed such an autocratic rule.
I feel it’s protected to say that automotive enthusiasts generally swing to the East or the West side of the automotive sphere. In fact, some people swing each ways. I’d like to throw my keys in a bowl with someone with fantastic automotive tastes like Mark Riccioni, since you never know what you is perhaps driving home in. German, Japanese or Italian, you’re guaranteed to be in for an excellent time.
Most countries have – or no less than once had – a bias towards domestically produced cars. But some places, like Australia, had a relatively balanced availability of foreign and domestic models.
Malaysia has had each Western and Eastern cars in two very distinct automotive eras. The primary began across the 1900s under British colonial rule. Naturally, most cars sold were British, with high tariffs placed on American vehicles.
Back then, Singapore was also a part of what was often called Malaya. Ford’s first Malaysian garage opened in 1926 and the primary complete assembly line in Southeast Asia had its ribbon cut in 1941. By the Nineteen Sixties, the Mk1 Cortina was one among the region’s biggest-selling cars, being assembled in Malaysia using complete knockdown (CKD) kits from Ford of Britain.
General Motors made a couple of attempts to establish shop in Malaysia but, ultimately, the British made life difficult for them and GM put down manufacturing roots in Indonesia. Even so, I expected to see a couple of more Morris Minors and Volkswagen Beetles at Retro Havoc 2024. Or much more Mk1 Ford Cortinas, considering the long history of local assembly.
GM eventually took a share of the market, selling the Australian-made Holden Kingswood in Southeast Asia in a rather less offended spec than the one you see above. This automotive is owned by an Aussie chap living in Malaysia. It’s had all the great things from the Australian-spec GTS, like a GM 308ci V8 and body trim, plus a Weiand supercharger, Turbo 350 transmission, and a Pajero diff with custom axles.
When Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965, each countries began to buy foreign automotive investors to open recent plants for local assembly and production. By the last decade’s end, Singapore had mostly German and British plants. Malaysian plants were predominantly Japanese.
In 1967, the Malaysian government approved plants for Volvo, Fiat, Renault, and Opel, but a brand new era was dawning. I didn’t see any Amazons or Manats on display at Retro Havoc either; perhaps they’ve all been snapped up by overseas collectors?
This Porsche Cayman with a 3.8L 997 GT3 RS engine running forged internals made up for the shortage of classic Beetles.
Eastern Rule
The primary Japanese cars arrived in Malaysia within the Fifties, and by the ’70s they were well and truly eating up the Western competitors. Nevertheless it wasn’t a simple takeover.
In Malaysia, early Japanese cars were criticised for being low cost and flimsy. In fact, by the point the Land Cruiser, Civic and Lancer began to look in Malaysian driveways, Japanese cars were much loved for his or her reliability, durability and low price in comparison with their defeated Western equivalents.
Over the subsequent 10 years, Mitsubishi rose from eighth to third place on Malaysia’s recent automotive sales leaderboard, knocking Ford from third to sixth. Mazda knocked Mercedes-Benz from 4th to ninth and the remainder is history.
In consequence of Japan’s successful automotive dominance of Malaysia and wider Southeast Asia, cars of the Eastern persuasion easily outnumbered those from the West on the show.
Civics from Thailand, a V12 GT-R mash-up, a rare Lancer Evolution V RS, and an R34 GT-R-facelifted Stagea were amongst the various unique cars on display at Retro Havoc this 12 months.
But none of those held my attention for so long as this trio of Nissan SR20DET-swapped Mitsubishi Lancer EX 1800GSRs.
The funny thing is, I’ve heard there’s an entire club dedicated to those Evo predecessors in Malaysia.
Who desires to see more features from Malaysia and Southeast Asia? There’s plenty to find.
Take a look at the paint on this Nissan Cefiro and Fairlady pairing, and the Eagle-themed Mitsubishi Galant VR-4.
There was a robust Mitsubishi presence at Retro Havoc 2024, and that leads us to the subsequent chapter within the history of the Malaysian automotive industry: the rise of Proton. But that’s a story for next time.
Toby Thyer
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tobythyer.co.uk
Cutting Room Floor
This Article First Appeared At www.speedhunters.com
