The Filipino can!

Never say it can’t be done until you’ve really, really tried. Then try some more.

All of us will go through life and will be told at one point or another that something just can’t be done or that we are bound to fail if we try. That comes with the territory. The real test is if what we know and believe is greater than what others think, even our personal heroes or experts.

Sometimes it is the personal relationship or title that often ties us down and stops us from even trying. Because we believe or trust someone, we tend to abort rather than try.

I found myself in such a situation about five years ago when one of my “car heroes” told me about how he wished “we”, meaning Filipinos, had the skills to make cars out of aluminum rather than fiberglass. That, he said would really put us on the map.

Without batting an eyelash, I told him that Filipinos have the skills and that the project he had in mind was entirely feasible. We may not have all the sophisticated equipment but “If there’s a will, there’s a way”.

Unfortunately, my elderly mentor could not be convinced. As far as he was concerned we did not have the technology and much less the experience handling the alien and exotic metal we call “aluminum”.

I felt so bad after that talk because I knew it could be done, that Filipinos could do it and if he only believed, he could have had his dream come true. Unfortunately, he was overwhelmed with expert information from people who never actually tried or tried hard enough. He signed off his vision on the opinion of others.

In spite of that, he was one of my car heroes and he left me with a challenge that was just too good to pass off, to actually make his idea a reality.

If my car hero gave the challenge, I have to be honest and say, that I had a lot of help from God.

For two years, I had searched for a 1965/66 Mustang Fastback just like my dad had, which he also acquired from my car hero. There was a rumor that a rich old man in Tanauan, Batangas had dumped such a car inside a piggery and that he was not selling.

So I spent about a year or more following the trail, finding the man, made friends with him and eventually bought a totally rusted, dilapidated shell of a ’65 Mustang. Everyone who saw the car said I lost my mind or wasted good money.

When the boys at the shop saw the car they told me it was beyond repair and that we would simply have to make completely new panels. So imagine where I was. My hero said it couldn’t be done, people tried to hide the location of the car, my friends laughed at me and now even my own crew said: “just throw it away”.

That’s when I told them: We are making the first all-aluminum bodied 1965 Mustang in the world!

My “Latero” thought I was nuts. In fact he openly expressed his doubts and hesitation since he never tried it and no one he knew had ever attempted to make a full size aluminum body.

I told him: “Trust me”.

I then spent the next two months studying how the project would go, what would be required and asked my other mentors for their thoughts on the project. Sadly everyone said, “You can’t do it” or “It can’t be done”. But that, I told them, was the very reason I was doing it. Because Filipinos can!

The first lesson is never to let go of your vision or your belief. The second is to prove to yourself, in your mind or on paper how it can be done and how it should be done. Then pray for the almighty God to sustain you through the journey and to open doors for you.

As you get your nerve and hopes up, be willing to make mistakes and willing to fail if it comes to that. Finally, “Just Do It”.

When your crew, family or employees realize that you are far more interested in trying and that failure will not be taken against them, when they see you that you are more excited about the adventure, the challenge, more than the costs, you might discover that they will soon take ownership of the challenge as well as the vision.

Once we had lift off, we had a crowd. The naysayers became the curious and then became the cheering squad. Once word got out that it was a mission to prove Filipinos can, we suddenly had a handful of supporters ready and waiting to provide parts and technical expertise once we made the aluminum body.

It took us nine months just to make the body, we used basic tools, hammers, rubber mallets, home made implements and ordinary oxygen / acetylene torch. The project started sometime in 2009 and we completed it in time for my birthday last April 2011 or about two years total.

I was recently approached by Top Gear Philippines and they made a video about the car, about the project, and about how the Filipinos did.

If you want to view that video, go to http://www.topgear.com.ph/features/feature-articles/filipino-classic-car-enthusiast-makes-an-aluminum-ford-mustang.

To God be the glory as well as to the Filipinos who believe.

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