After several decades and changes in ownership, a 36-year-old vintage limousine ended up in the garage of a couple it had served 31 years ago in Pingtung County.
Restored to its former glory, the vehicle — one of the first batch of the Yulon 803 model manufactured in Taiwan in 1979 — drew a lot of attention at a classic motor show in Taitung on June 21, owner and Pingtung resident Chung Yao-kung (鍾耀恭) said.
The indigo-blue sedan stood side by side with other vintage cars at the show in Guanshan (關山), Taitung, including a 1970 Volkswagen racing car owned by singer Gary Chaw (曹格), a 1950 Austin Mini, a military jeep active during the Korean War and an elongated Mercedes limo, with each vehicle valued at more than NT$1 million (US$32,134), Chung said.
Photo: Wang Hsiu-ting, Taipei Times
Chung and his wife, Lin Mei-hsiu (林美秀), said the car — purchased by chance at an auto repair shop two years ago — was the same one that they used for their wedding 31 years ago.
At the time, it was the only unlicensed for-hire vehicle serving the Pingtung-Taipei route, and Chung spent NT$1,500 to rent it for the wedding.
The much-coveted luxury car cost about NT$300,000 then — roughly equal to the value of 970m2 of farmland — and buyers had to wait for six months to get their hands on one, Chung recalled.
Riding in such a car was a special experience and the couple took a picture with the limo to mark the occasion, he said.
About two years ago, Chung visited an auto shop to have his car repaired, and the owner told him about a vintage black diesel sedan that he had been keeping for more than 10 years.
Chung thought the car was a good buy and purchased it for NT$150,000.
He started work on restoring the car, stripping off seven layers of paint, and to his surprise, saw that its original finish was an indigo-blue polish that was exactly the same as the car used at his wedding.
He took out his old wedding photos to match them with the car, and traced the vehicle’s ownership history. His conclusion: It was exactly the same limo used at his wedding, he said.
The car was looking for its rightful owner and it found the couple, Chung said, adding that he drove the car with his wife and nephew from Pingtung to the show in Taitung and was satisfied with its excellent performance.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS