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G L A N C E S |
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| By
Jason
Ang Photos By Jason Ang and Ulysses Ang |
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There are some cars that take on a special significance beyond their utility and dependability. Our Galant GTi-16V is one such car. For us, we’ve developed a fondness for the silver sedan beyond its performance figures, rally image and seemingly limitless abilities. Our car-crazed brain is filled with some wonderful memories about this car, and it has carved out a permanent place in our mental showroom. Acquired brand new, this car survived college with both me and my brother, and we graduated 10 years apart. We’ve been to countless places and discussed the most important matters driving this car. More than that, though, we will always remember it as mom's car. The GTi is not quite the usual choice for a mother of three. But then my mom had the privilege of having the pick of whatever was in our stable. That meant that she always got to drive the newest car as her own. I can remember that first, she drove a beige VW Brasilia, with its machine-gun boxer engine and rock-hard pedals. Then came the macho machine Corona hardtop, with an image that was even more brutish but in truth much more comfortable. Replacing the long-serving Corona was this Galant. I pestered her for several months to choose this car over the other offerings at that time, praying that she wouldn’t choose the anemic but cheaper Super Saloon. One car that fueled my desire was a professor’s car, one of the first GTi-16Vs I’d seen anywhere. Seeing that midnight blue car pull into the faculty lot fueled my desire to own a GTi. The pestering paid off, for in the dying days of 1991, we finally got a silver GTi-16V. The Galant’s tank-like countenance (thanks to its huge air dam) didn’t really gain much favor with my mom. She hardly drove this car, letting us do much of the pedal-pushing. The Galant only clocked 1000 km in its first year. I took it out every chance I got, relishing the throaty sound of its engine and the instant response from the accelerator. It blew away all of its rivals, including the Mazda 626, Nissan Bluebird, and Toyota Corona. |
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