Sunday, June 20, 2004

It is Sunday and today is the Tampin Run planned by the Kelab Volvo Kelasik Malaysia The Malaysian Volvo Classic Club, a day trip to the small town of Tampin in the state of Negeri Sembilan.... It is my first trip on such a run for now I would be driving my own Volvo Classic... In the past I just follow in a friend's car, a member of the club or just follow along driving my Honda....This time with my own Volvo classic... I am on my own... We were ask to meet after the Sungei Besi Toll Plaza, at a Shell station just after this Toll Plaza.... It is a normal place to rendezvous when going on a trip to the south of the country... It is Sunday and the traffic were rather light, moreover it is early morning.... Just at eight in the morning with my wife and our daughter joining the trip I drove the Volvo to the rendezvous site, the weather was fine, with light cloud and it look like it is going to be hot and humid day and I was hopping that it would not rain today, for if it rain I would have a big problem ahead in driving... For the wiper of my old faithful Volvo sometime decided to stop working in the mid of a heavy down pour, you have to get out and push it with you hand before it start working again... I guess it is an old age problem of this wiper,remember the motor is thirty eight years old and still working...Or sometime working... I have ask my mechanic to have a look at it and he say that it is only a minor problem, if it happen then you have to check the fuse... Or just push it with your hand...Well easy said...You get soak in the rain to get it started again... You talk about it with friend , you laugh and sometime I wonder if the others had the same experience of getting it start again in the rain.. I supposed that is the fun of owing this old classic.... A manual way of starting it, to make it move again.... Well it happen before when it rain.. I had to stop the car and push the wiper to make it work again... For it is really hard to drive during the rain and it is dangerous, sometime it pours and you just could not see where your are going, and if it is just for a short distance around the neighborhood, it would just be alright... But not today.. It is going to be a long drive, not less then a hundred kilometer for the first leg of the run, if it rain then I would have a problem.... So I hope that it do not rain... It is my first trip on this run driving my old classic...I just want it to go well and enjoy the trip.... I arrived at the rendezvous site just before eight forty five.... I thought that I was early... But on looking I saw a numbers of other Volvo were already park there and as usual it was a happy meeting the other members of the club with their spouses and kids, some even brought their baby along.... A friend had his mother and the maid also following in his Volvo, so it soon turn into a great families get together.... As for our daughter, this Volvo classic that she is in is almost seven years older then her, so for her it is just like going back in time, to a period that she has yet to be born.... What a great experience for her to be able to ride in a car which is much older then her.... When everyone arrived, after a short briefing, we proceed on a convoy toward Tampin, a small town to the south..... It was a convoy of eleven cars of all the colors of the rainbow.... It makes a colorful scene on the highways.... We travel on the highway for the first part of the journey and just after the city of Seremban we took the interchange at Senawang and then convoy on the country road toward Tampin.... It is really nice to drive on the country road on a convoy... With curios people looking and waving as you passes by....I have not driven on this country road for years already since the highway was built, for there was no reason to use this old road.... Today on this run, to make it more interesting we took the country road which winds its ways through traditional village.... The scene along the road were great, with the green of orchards and plantations of rubber and palm oil, we drove slowly and enjoy the scenery of country side Kampong houses of bygone era still standing surrounded by farm and orchard....A scene that we use to see before the highway was built.... Actually I found out that driving this old classic on the country road more enjoyable then driving it on the Highway... For on the small winding country road we had to drive slowly and not fast as on the highway.... You feel really nice to be driving this classic on the country road.... I guess this cars are made to be driven on country road rather on highways of today... Eventually after about an hours of driving we arrived at another rendezvous site to meet the local club's members, we soon were greeted by the others and the number of cars swell to twenty one in numbers.... So it is going to be a long convoy of twenty one Volvo classic all the way to the town of Tampin.... After a brief stop and a chit chat, with all our cars laid for a photo session.... It was indeed a very colorful sight to see, all the twenty one cars in a rows, all well polished for the days event..... With the photo session done, we slowing drive following the local to the destination...... [ to be continue ]

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