The Continental

The Continental
Dennis Reyes, 2005
1971 VW Karmann Ghia coupe
www.geocities.com/igopaug/kg.html

I decided on a design theme I call "the continental" Retro-chic.

I wanted to create a look that is not very prevalent. As opposed to the California Look. Although Ghia is well versed in that language.

What is the continental look?

50’s Rock and Roll with a touch of early European racing and elements of the classic California look all merge into a style that evokes the charm of early European racing  marques. Heavy rock and roll influence provides the over-all attitude. I decided on a classic color combination, black and white, like a tuxedo. I wanted to paint Ghia black with a white top. Inside, original seats with black and white covers. Salt and pepper floor mats with white piping cover the floors. To top it all off, I just had to have wide whitewalls on chrome rims with hub caps.

Chuck Berry. Elvis. The Beach Boys. Bright Chrome Tu-Tone. Gives a nod to 50’s Hot

 Rod culture. Fuzzy Dice, George Barris, Daryll Starbird and the Hirohatra Merc.

The California Look influence can only be seen when you pop open the hood. There are

 no body modifications allowed. No scoops, no spoilers. The chrome trim and badges and bumpers are retained. Hidden is a strong, stroked 1915cc type-1 volkswagen engine. Ported and polished 042 heads, welded #3 cylinder, full-flow, twin 40 Dellorto carburetion, Bosch 009 distributor, Bosch blue coil. Decorating the engine compartment with aluminum engine panels and billet aluminum pulley and fan items. A lightened flywheel connects the engine to a 4-speed transmission. A dropped front-end with disk brakes, koni shocks all around, a fatter anti-roll bar all work together to plant Ghia on whatever road she encounters.

The European influence comes from the timeless Karmann Ghia itself. With DNA that traces itself to Porsche, the Volkswagen was designed by Ghia studios of Italy and built by Karmann of Germany. Italian design flair combined with legendary German precision and engineering. Europe has produced cars that enthusiasts drool over. And with breathtaking scenery, European racers like Nuvolari, Ferrari, Nardi put their distinctive signature on the cars they drove.

The engine detracts from an otherwise vintage look. It’s not period perfect but I haven’t had any regrets. My only concession was to retain the stock exhaust system, even if it did lose horsepower, mainly for looks. I just dig those pea-shooter silencers.

As much as I admire originality, I also equally value comfort and individualization and practicality. I enjoy listening to music while driving. So I installed a very good sound system from gifts. The speakers came from my previous car. Emy gave me my Pioneer deck for my 2003 Birthday . As sweet as the sound of the air-cooled VW goes, I’d rather listen to tunes.

I decided against flames, even if it would have been totally appropriate.

So there it is, the Continental look. A style equally at home driving up the Bob’s Big Boy diner in Pasadena, as well as driving up the Casino Royale in Monte Carlo and now cruising Manila, Philippines.

It took 16 years to accessorize Ghia. A lot of patience and diligence and the rewards

 are not easily measured. How do you measure dirt, oil, or rust? How about banged-up, bloody fingers? Aching backs? Cuts and bruises? Once in a while you threaten to quit. Give up. Pack it up and cart it all away.In the end, how can you?

Each day I wake up. The kids and the wife prepare for their day and I still smile every time I see Ghia in the garage. Ghia is now 34 years old and I’ve had her for 16. I had 4 great years in Los Angeles driving Ghia around town going to the best VW places. Seeing the sights. Making friends.. Ghia has endured. A true classic.

Now she’s free from the daily grind.  Heaven forbid that I expose her to the rigors of Manila driving. She’s too precious to expose to the harsh streets of Manila. She occassionaly stretches her legs. She’s eager to exercise her California muscles. She’s even looking forward to surprise an unsuspecting kid in a Civic with an impromptu stoplight drag. The old gals still got spunk! THAT’S HOT

An Ambitious Project - I.T. All You Can

An ambitious project, for sure. This years IT Week began with a simple objective of providing APC students with current trends in IT. This however quickly became a staging ground for our most elaborate and comprehensive activity to date.

Not only did we have experts from Academe, Industry and Government but we also had a very interesting international array of speakers (American, Japanese, Australian, and German). It was amusing to watch the reaction of the participants as they listened to the German powerpoint presentation of Mr. Thomas Rolf of the European IT Service Center. We even had a visitor from as far away as Zamboanga. We also tackled a lot of topics including software application development, mobile and wireless communications technology, web development, business process outsourcing, call centers, security and encryption and certification. Something for everyone, thus the theme “I.T. All You Can”

I would like to thank our sponsors: IBM, Media Gateway, PLDT, Smart, Globe, Innove, dotEnable, dotPH, MTV, Honda Philippines and Fusion Advertising. Without their help, none of these would be possible.

To the Marketing Department; Gerard, Timi, Heidi, and staff. Special mention to Oliver for the excellent advertising campaign that attracted a lot of sponsorships.

To the Building Administration; Lara, Arlyn, Chris. Special mention to Ronald and Mercy for the preparation of a comfortable and secure campus, and Leony for arranging the food and the movies.

To the Departments of Business, Multimedia, and Engineering for the support of their faculty and students. Special mention to Jed and Sarah Lee their sponsorship of the “Shout of the Crowd” contest.

To the English and Math Resource Centers, Intellect, Student Activities, Career and Placement Office, Guidance and Discipline and NATSER for their loyal support.

To the ITRG for their excellence with special mention to Jay-vee, Glen and the Web Developers Association, Jojo and Mrs. Jojo of “Cheers” for the flowers, Rodel and ISECU for their contest and speakers.

To the Library, with a special mention to Maan who emceed the “Shout of the Crowd” and “30 Seconds of Fame”, pwede nang pang Wazzup-Wazzup.

My APC-JPCS students, special mention to Mr. Jun Magallanes, father of our CSIT Freshman JR Magallanes and director of “eArt as Healing Foundation”.

To Toti for his unending oftentimes, suicidal commitment and perseverance. To Tito, Ray. Cesar, Mike, Joegene, and James To for inviting the CSIT Alumni to speak. It just affirms our belief that we have the best CS and IT program in the country.

To Rhea. Rumor has it that she has been cloned because she seemed to be everywhere. I categorically deny this. She is actually APCs first android.

A very special thanks goes to Mark Caballero, CSIT extraordinaire, for his support, expertise and dedication.

I am humbled by the show of support and hopefully I and my Department can somehow repay you in the future. You are in our hearts and minds, we are one with APC.