MotiV8tion

No sexy girls, no burning rubber, no excessively cool and pretentious guys with tattoos!

A down to earth and adult look at the muscle car scene in Manila. Normal people who explain their passion. Some parts are funny, some others engaging with bits of interesting trivia about Manila. One part is downright sentimental about a woman who met her husband in the US because of his car and now the son takes care of it in Manila.

I must honestly say that it was a pleasant surprise, because I feel we have been poisoned by fake and stupid reality car shows for too long. Is it because peoples attention span is now no longer than 5 seconds? If you like American muscle and NORMAL people, then give this one a try.

I stumbled across this on Amazon and was intrigued.

Vintage American Muscle car restoration in the Philippines? As a muscle car lover I just had to watch this.

I did not regret my decision. This very professional documentary is captivating and aside from the gorgeous cars, features an interesting bunch of individuals, real characters who tell fascinating tales. There is a former B-movie actor from Austria who sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger, a flying Scotsman with a beautiful Plymouth Duster 340 named "Gorgo", some Filipino American who likes Mustangs a whole lot and other colorful, rib-tickling Filipinos who own muscle cars and workshops. Their stories and insights into why and how they love these cars reflected my own impressions and it was wonderful to see that those vintage, V8 powered machines are not only appreciated in the US, but also in South East Asia. The locations in the film are tropical. They give you a real feel about the place and the environment and I was blown away by the awesome soundtrack, which upon further investigation, seems to comprise the best Filipino groups the Philippine music scene has to offer. The film is kept easy and casual about the topic, so it can be enjoyed by anyone, car-lover or not. I watched it with my wife who is not into cars at all and she loved it as well and never got bored. The documentary even has some funny animation sequences used as background re-enactment of stories told by interviewees.

The Filipino car restoration workshops featured in the Documentary show amazingly ingenious craftsmanship and dedication. One is managed by a comical woman, who runs the shop for her Norwegian husband who works on ships. Some of these shops would elsewhere be considered as junkyards, yet in the Philippines they give birth to restored cars that can rival the output of any American based restoration workshop. Here in the States everything can be ordered and delivered to your doorstep within 48 hours. No big deal to put a car together. But in the Philippines it's a different story. I takes ingenious creativity and I guess it's about your commitment and love for the car and not all about money.

Yeah, it's all about your "MotiV8tion" I guess!