Hot days, Cool cars: CARS & KOPI Summer 2023.

I’m quite sure, dear reader, that except for a few brief respites, our local weather has recently been at its most unrelenting. Yes, Singapore’s ‘Summer’ season is here, bringing with it the hottest day on record, with temperatures maxing out at 37 degrees Celsius just over a month ago.

There are, of course, upsides to this sunny weather, and one of them is that with little threat of rain, it created the perfect environment for the Summer 2023 edition of Cars & Kopi.

This time around, the wonderful folks at Porsche Singapore pulled out all the stops by shipping (towing) in the latest 992 GT3 RS, fresh from track duties at the Porsche World Road Show. This was no easy feat because, being left-hand drive, it had no excuse for being on our local roads. However, calls (and plenty of paperwork) were made with the relevant authorities up until the very last minute to make it happen and I think it’s safe to say that this was the first time a Porsche with plates from Stuttgart, Germany has parked up in Dempsey.

It was almost surreal to see and once again, I really must thank Porsche Singapore for the amazing support they have shown for our local automotive community.

There is not much need for me to introduce the GT3 RS, as I’m sure many of you are even more well-versed in the inner workings of Porsche’s latest and greatest track car for the road. I only wish more of you could witness it singing its heart out at full pelt at their event.

As we are still in the midst of celebrating Porsche’s 75th anniversary, the P-car brigade continued with a strong showing of cars. From two beautiful 356s to a Flachbau 930 and even a Singer Reimagined special, the utterly sublime Raffles Commision.

Presented in Yolk Yellow with dark ghosted stripes and lettering, the Raffles Commision was finished back in 2020 and to our knowledge, is the 2nd Singer residing on our sunny island.

Yes, I’m very much a fan. Though if it had to choose between a Singer Reimagined or a RUF CTR, I will swing over to Team Pfaffenhausen always. One is an automotive dream, and the other, is a childhood hero.

Or does your taste in cars skew towards more modern machinery?

Here’s something a litte off-beat, a Porsche-themed bike!

Back into the topic of dreams, here’s a gorgeous 246GT Dino just casually driving by.

I have always felt that this is one of Pininfarina’s most beautiful designs and it is a view that I still maintain up till today, I even had a prized 1/24th scale model of this back when I was still in school. Why Ferrari never officially stamped his name on it was just such a shame.

Petite, elegant and with so much emotion behind those flowing lines.

This bella machina turned the heads of every single person that walked by which really shouldn’t surprise anyone. She was immaculate and perfect.

Down to period-correct rubber.

I reckon evocative is an understatement in this instance.

Evocative could of course mean something totally different to another person as the above machines can clearly demonstrate. Choices choices choices…

The younger generation will probably never imagine that these cars were at a time, realistically “attainable”.

Yes, even this…

And this…

And this…

And this…

Yip… This too…

Maybe not these, unless you lived in Japan for a very short brief window of time.

And up till just a year ago, RX8s, Accord Euro-Rs and even Legacy GTs were very much realistically attainable too. I even seriously considered picking up a Type-RS in white! Kicking myself now. Or perhaps I dodged a rotary bullet? Will we ever see prices on the machines we so lust after come down again in the near future? Who knows!?! Yes, I have countless automotive regrets. So many missed opportunities but at least my 2002 ain’t one.

I reckon if your into it, you could probably still find a Fiat 126 for reasonable money. It’ll have to be on the classic license scheme though. But with taxes and rising costs ever increasing for regular vehicles, do you also think that classis will be the only way to go for enthusiasts like us? I shall leave you to ponder that thought as I share with you all the rest of my photos from our event that have been left on the cutting room floor.