thailand’s car scene is better than england: Das Haus Classic Car market!
Back to the blog and back to Thailand. Some people who follow my IG account may know that I visited England for July just gone, spending a lovely summer holiday with my wife’s family (thanks guys!). We had an awesome four weeks, with lots of outdoor time with my daughter, seeing friends and family of course, and even a little bit of fishing, which was fantastic after maybe 8–9 years without wetting a line. All good things, except… the car scene! Let’s dive into this.
Better Than England?
Well, I don't know if I actually qualify to make that call, and it is probably an unpopular opinion, but I do genuinely believe that the car scene in Thailand is better than in England. Let me explain.
I've been involved in the car scene in Thailand for around 3–4 years now. Every single time I make my way to a meet-up, a show, or an event of some sort, the turnout is absolutely insane! The standard of cars that you find is always mind-blowing to me, but not only that, it’s the number of cars here in Thailand that truly astounds me. You have this magical combination of hundreds of cars in all but perfect condition.
In England, however, I fancied sampling the car scene. After living in the Kingdom of Thailand for over six and a half years, it's been a long time since I saw any car events back home, and I expected it to be, well, better than it was.
When you browse social media, you see a lot of nice cars, casual get-togethers, and the like all over the UK. I wanted a piece of that cake, but it’s safe to say that the cake was somewhat stale. Now, don't get me wrong, one of the events/meet-ups I attended was good, with around 15 cars showing up. Classic Fords and classic Vauxhalls were the main features, with a few cool surprises thrown in, such as a gorgeous 911 Turbo. But… 15 cars compared to the hundreds you get on show here in Bangkok? Well, it’s safe to say I was a little, erm… disappointed.
Not to be deterred, I decided to give England a chance to redeem itself. Probably shouldn’t have, as my father-in-law and I made our way to Cars & Coffee in Liverpool on a very blustery English morning. We sat in the car park for 35 minutes with our coffee, and one car showed up. Yes, ONE SINGLE CAR. Safe to say, I didn’t even get the camera out and headed home in a bit of a sulk.
I actually think that Liverpool, my home city, is not the best place in the UK for the car scene. I will grant the UK that grace and say that I saw the amazing Legacy Driven, who are based in Otley, held a meet-up on the same day and had a great showing of cars. So, if you want the UK car scene, I'd suggest maybe giving Liverpool a miss and heading to Yorkshire or down south towards London. I think the car scene in those areas is much stronger and healthier.
Anyway, with all that doom and gloom out of the way, let’s talk about the Thailand car scene and specifically, the awesome Das Haus BKK: Classic Car Market.
Das Haus Classic Car Market
Wow! Wow, wow, wow. A swift 6:00 AM alarm, and I jumped out of bed with all the energy and grace of a slightly jet-lagged 34-year-old man (yes, not all that pretty a sight), made a quick cuppa (proper tea, by the way), and drove the 20 minutes to one of my favorite spots in the whole of Bangkok: DAS HAUS BKK!
Granted, I was far too early and even got very politely ushered out of the main display hall. Oops! So I wandered around, and finally, the first piece of awesomeness arrived. An E30 M3 AC Schnitzer. YES… I know. For me, as a BMW nerd and absolute fanatic, this would have been enough, honestly. But OH no! We are back in Thailand, remember, so that was just the start.
Soon after the E30, the sound of a BMW straight-six was getting louder and louder, and sure enough, here comes another E30, another AC Schnitzer, and another absolutely stunning old BMW sitting in front of me. Mind blown already at this point. Just for good measure, Thailand decides: "Here Arran, have an E9 3.0 CSi." I was all in a muddle and actually didn’t take any pictures of the E9, but I got some beautiful video footage, from which a Reel will be made and added to the YouTube film from this event coming soon!
The day went on, and car after car showed up. Mr. Tenn rocked up in his gorgeous old-school Porsche Turbo. An F355 Berlinetta and countless other stunning Porsches arrived, and then, for me, maybe the most shockingly awesome car was the GT4 Manthey that really drew a crowd and had everyone’s jaw hitting the floor. What a beast!
The last car I’m going to give a special mention to is the latest RWB in Thailand: a 997 Carrera 2 by the name of SoHo, I believe. What a work of art this thing is! Not the first RWB I’ve seen in Thailand, but definitely my favorite. The width of this thing from the back is nuts, the color is gorgeous, and the wheels are perfect. Akira Nakai-san, you really did yourself proud with this one, mate!
What an Awesome Morning
To wrap up the morning, I was asked by a good friend, Jamie, a 14-year-old superstar photographer of the future, to come along and photograph a beautiful GT3 and the awesome E30 AC Schnitzer I wrote about earlier. That was great fun, and I let the young superstar lead the way with the shoot. Go check out his IG account and give him a follow, please!
As always, thanks for reading. And if you ever get the chance, make sure you visit Thailand. Not just for the food or the amazing scenery, but come here for the cars. Wow!
