23 August 2005

My motoring experience

Today I want to talk about my motoring experience since I got my driving license in early 1981 which the same year I joined the Bank. I joined the Bank in February and got my driving license in August. However, I could not afford to get myself any wheels when I started working.

After working for 6 months, I managed to save enough money to get myself a Honda Cub C70. At that time, it cost about RM2,500-00 (that's a lot of money at that time considering that I was earning only RM330-00 a month). The motorcycle registration number was WAD 8834. When took possession of the bike, I have not ridden a motobike in my life! I was on a "L" plate and sad to day that till today I do not have a motorcycle class in my driving license (I know that there are people out there laughing at me!!). I had a bad experience of falling off the bike while I was on the way to take my banking examination at University Malaya.

After having the bike for about one year in 1982, I was able to save enough money (from my overtime earnings) to buy my first car. My first car was a two door red coloured Honda Civic which I bought from a used car dealer at Jalan Changkat Thambi Dollah called Ban Fatt (the motor dealer does not exist today). The car registration was BAW 7017. Being a secondhand car, there were many problems with the car which was mainly caused by the carburetor. But I managed to get much fun with the car with my ex-girlfriend (who is now my wife). I did not have any savings since having the car after having spent the money on the car repairs, petrol and other compulsory expenses.

In 1985, my father bought a new Nissan Sunny, he offered me to takeover his old 1979 Datsun 120Y (the B310 the workhorse Datsun which was very popular for many years). In return, I traded in my Honda Civic for his new Nissan Sunny. The registration of the Datsun 120Y was WQ 6556.

I have the Datsun for over 5 years until 1990 when I was promoted and transferred to Internal Audit. I was required to travel outstation frequently and at the same time, we have shifted to out of my parent's house. My wife needed a car to travel to and fro from work and back t the house while I was outstation. So we decided to get the newly launched Proton Saga Iswara while still keeping the old Datsun 120Y which was used by wife. The registration number of the Proton Iswara was WCU 9549. It was a metallic blue colour car and my first BRANCH NEW car. I traveled extensively with the car all over Malaysia on my audit trips. The car had been very reliable and was also very economical (I used synthetic motor oil and adjective Tuff Coat which is Teflon based to make the engine wall smoother to reduce friction).

In 1996, I stopped traveling and was assigned to major system conversion project. It was time to change the car again and this time around the hottest and highly in demand car was the Proton Wira. I only managed to get the Wira after 6 months waiting time (at that time you cannot have a choice of colour, it was take it or leave situation at Proton). The Proton Wira was a blue colour one and have the registration WFA 5918.

I was transferred to BPP in 1997 and was still having the Wira. On Valentine's day in 2000, after having a romantic lunch with my wife at the famous Sakura Restaurant at Jalan Imbi, we walked over to the Honda dealer Roda BB to book our new Honda City Type Z. The car was delivered in two weeks time and have the registration number WHJ 9935.

The Honda City is a powerful car, considering that it has 100 horsepower on a 1.5 litre engine. I enjoyed the car very much. I am still having the car at the moment..... but there are good things yet to be announce. Keep viewing my blog for exciting happening!!

My Honda City parked outside my house



The dashboard.
The Sony single disc player which is hooked up to an amplifier and Kenwood speakers.

Photo credit: All photos were taken using my Nokia 3230 handphone

1 comment:

Chan Kok Kuen said...

The Proton Wira number plate 5918 came out as consolation prize in the Magnum 4 draw on 24 August 2005.

Which number would you guess that could will win a prize in the next draw?