The Grand 3 Ring Time Machine

MANILA, Philippines - Not even thunder and lightning at the onset of the rainy season could prevent around 45 thousand car enthusiasts from visiting the Grand 3 Ring Motoring Event held last May 26 to 29 at the SMX Convention Center. Presented by Phoenix Fuels and Tradeshow International, the Grand 3 Ring held the 20th Trans Sport Show, the 1st Philippine Nostalgic Motor Show, and the 4th Manila Sports Car Club Concours d’Elegance under one roof; dozens and dozens of fine automobiles all the way from a pristine Studebaker SF-Four to the fastest and baddest, modified production cars of today.

With so much gleaming metal to pose with, crowd favorites were the 1957 Mercedes Benz 300 SL Gullwing, the lustrous 1976 Lancia Stratos, and even the 1924 Ford Model T that could have been lifted from the storyboard of Cars. Herewith are some of the highlights of the show...

This year’s much coveted Trans Sport Show Cup Milestone winners produced two Best of Show winners – Best of Show Contemporary which went to the 1999 Porsche Boxster restored by JWorks Unlimited which also won Best Euro Sports and the Best of Show Nostalgic which went to a classic 1974 BMW 2002 Turbo by LNS Paint and Bodykits which also won Best Classic and Best in Paint for Nostalgic. Reserve best of show winners were the 1995 Lamborghini Diablo VT of Unique Autowerkes for the Contemporary and also Best Exotic and the 1957 Volkswagen Beetle of Wash Ride Go which also won Best Resto Mod.

The judges for the Nostalgic Group were Eduardo Salonga, Martin Galan and Martin de los Reyes while for the Contemporary Group, there were Pepon Marave, George Apacible and John Escobar – who specifically judged for paint.

For the Concours d’Elegance, a 1971 De Tomaso Pantera, which placed first in the Modern Category, grabbed the prestigious Best of Show award. The Italian sports car was entered by Jose Mari Camus, who restored the car for two years. Second place award for Modern went to a red 1973 Porsche 911S, and the 3rd place award went to a 1974 Triumph TR6.

The panel of judges was headed by Osamu Hasegawa (Japan) and was joined by Minoru Goko (Japan), Kenji Yamazaki (Japan), Peter Chan (Singapore) and Boyer Kalugdan (USA).

The 4th MSCC Concours d’ Elegance was sponsored in part by Phoenix Fuels and House of Precast and managed by Tradeshow International, Inc.

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