Vintage culture appreciated for style, not just ‘nostalgia’

The number of local fans and supporters of so-called “Vintage Culture” has been growing over the past few years. Such a trend has been adhered to by people of all ages and from all walks of life. This culture, characterized by having an interest in antique items and doing certain things using old methods, can be seen in a wide range of activities. Such culture has been particularly noticeable through the growing interest in vintage vehicles.
To further understand locals’ interest in vintage cars and other aspects of vintage culture, the Times spoke to Eddie Lam, the Chairman of the Macau Vintage Vehicle Culture Association (MVV), in an exclusive interview.
Although he clearly states that the association aims to gather members who own vehicles that are at least 20 years old, Lam told the Times that age is a flexible aspect.
“We love old cars and especially the ones that are over 20 years old. But this is not a mandatory criterion [to be part of the association] as sometimes there are vehicles that are not that old but are somehow unique, which is what we want to highlight,” Lam explained.
“Some of their uniqueness is due to the fact that they are models of limited production, or because there are only very few of them in Macau. Even if they are a common model, they may be special because they have been particularly customized by their owners, making them very different from others,” he added.
Noting that many vintage car owners in Macau have a nostalgic attachment to their cars which comes from old memories and old days of Macau, he also noted that not all the motivation is based in nostalgia and that not all members of MVV are “elderly people.”
“We currently have 108 members with ages that range from the early 20s to 70s. Some of them like vintage cars because they evoke old memories and feelings. Either their car is from a long time ago or is a car owned by their parents or family members with whom they have a deep attachment and emotional relationship,” Lam said.
“But that is not always the case. Some people just acquired an interest in vintage culture and vehicles on their own. For those people, I think the old comic books [namely Japanese Manga] play an important role. Many fans of vintage cars started as fans of ‘Initial D’ [a Japanese street racing manga serialized in a Weekly Young Magazine from 1995 to 2013], for example. But I guess there many other influences,” he added.
The number of vintage vehicles in Macau is hard to quantify with precision, but Lam tried his luck in advancing a number. “Well, we have over 100 members and of course that is a small percentage of the vintage car owners, but I can say that our members, on average, each own two to three of these vehicles [placing the number on certainly over 300].”
Lam recalls that, after the participation of MVV members in a vehicle parade last month, during the Macau Grand Prix event, “I immediately received around 15 new requests from people wanting to be members of the association.”

Expensive lifestyle supported by passion
When questioned as to how expensive it is to acquire, maintain and care for these types of vehicles in Macau, Lam does not hesitate to acknowledge this to be an “expensive lifestyle” but also one that requires, above all, a lot of passion.
“These are our babies,” Lam says, comparing the ownership and maintenance of the cars to raising a child, “We treat them like that and so all our efforts are dedicated to them,” he says, noting that the feeling of seeing a well-taken care of vintage car running smoothly is very rewarding.
One of the difficulties noted by all members is the parking, as the rental fees of car parks have grown exponentially in the past few years too.
In a bid to cope with such difficulties, MVV also provides members with space where they can keep their cars for a very attractive fee.
“Last year, I managed to rent a big [old warehouse] at a reasonable rental fee and also the rental contract is acceptable. There we can park over 40 cars. This is very important because if you have a safe space – a safety garage [where you can keep your cars] – you are more willing to invest in them and to keep them and even buy more,” Lam said.
And to increase the owners’ knowledge of how to care for their cars, the MVV is already planning a series of workshops, which will start next year.
“Most of the owners are actually not very knowledgeable about car mechanics or bodywork. We know this, as I am not either. But we aim to invite people who can pass some knowledge to the owner about what they should focus more on or pay attention to when rebuilding or maintaining vintage vehicles,” Lam said. He noted that other workshops on how to proceed in the case of an accident or if your car stops on the bridge or a dangerous area are also being planned by the association.
“We want people to be more knowledgeable and more aware. This is something that we want to do also to contribute more to road safety and society in general. Especially in Macau, we see that most people do not know how to proceed in situations like this [failures and malfunctions] and in which, many times, people put their lives at risk,” he added.

Special Car Show x Christmas Mart starting this weekend
Starting this Saturday, December 19, and running until December 26, MVV will be hosting a special end-of-year event together with Macau Tower.
A vintage and custom car show will enliven the area of the Macau Tower as part of a Christmas Mart that aims to attract not just car owners and fans, but entire families.
“We have done several of these events before, but this will be special, since it is an eight-day event. We have partnered with several people and organizations including the Macau Tower to present an event that is directed to all families and that, besides the car show, includes a mart and art workshops dedicated to the younger children,” the chairman of MVV said, adding that contrary to other events of this kind, this will have a different dynamic.
“We usually do two-day or three-day events that present the same cars during that period. This time, it is an eight-day event and we want it to be more interesting so we are not going to present the same cars during the eight days but, instead, we will have different themes every two or three days ranging from customized cars, vintage cars and also the [very popular in Asia] Japanese Kei cars [microcars] so people can see different things and can return to the venue several times during the holidays period,” Lam concluded.
For the chairman of the association, this will be a very meaningful event, as 2020 was a very difficult year for everyone, remarking, “We want to welcome 2021 with renewed energy [that is why the event was named ‘ReBorn’]. We will restart our engine and give it a deep step on our accelerator [to the future].”