A 1956 Porsche 356 and a Scion xB impressed the crowd at the 19th Trans Sport Show and bagged the Best of Show awards in the Nostalgic and Contemporary categories.
The Porsche 356 cabriolet, which made it to TopGear.com.ph's list of must-see cars, also won the Best Vintage title over the weekend (click this link to see the list). It is owned by Benjie Atilano, who rarely uses the car and takes it out only on special occasions.
"He (Atilano) loves this Porsche very much and having repainted this black shows just how dedicated he is to this since even the tiniest scratch on the black paint can easily be seen compared to, say, if he kept the original white paint," said one of the painters from Zinggoy Paintworks, where Atilano had his Porsche 356 painted.
Meanwhile, the Best of Show award in the Contemporary category went to a first-generation Scion xB entered by John Lee Hagoriles of JWorks Unlimited.
The car started out as a Japanese Domestic Market Toyota bB MPV but with the many modifications done starting with the conversion kit to turn into from a right-hand drive bB to a left-hand drive xB, JWorks entered it as an xB at the Trans Sport Show.
"The only thing bB that's left in the car is the body. Other than that, almost everything else we installed on it came from an xB so it's practically an xB already," Hagoriles said.
Besides the Scion xB conversion, JWorks also did some extensive works on the interior by fitting it with ten LCD monitors and by hanging two subwoofers on the ceiling that are both powered by a Hertz audio system as well as installing digital gauges on the dashboard. To give it a nice, clean look on the outside, JWorks installed a custom-made bodykit and shaved the door handles and fuel lid cover. Underneath, JWorks chromed the entire exhaust system, changed the stock brakes with big rotor kits and installed an eight-way air suspension system on all four wheels.
JWorks turned the car from a stock bB into the award-winning xB seen in the show by working on it for 24 hours nonstop for almost one and a half months. Hagoriles even doubled his manpower during the period to get the car ready for the Trans Sport Show.
For Hagoriles, all the work has paid of. Besides winning the hotly-contested Best of Show - Contemporary Award, his entry also bagged the Best in Paint and Best Mini Crossover awards.
The Scion xB now serves as a rolling showcase for the kind of work JWorks can offer to customers. When asked whether or not he'd sell it if someone makes an offer to buy the car, Hagoriles said, "I'll have to think about it since we worked on it a lot but I just might and use the money to start working on another project car."
