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RWB Porsche Meet in Yogyakarta

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RWB Porsche Meet in Yogyakarta

After finally sharing the experience of our trip to Smart Volks Works last month, I've jumped back into the photo archive from my trip to Indonesia in late 2019 to bring you coverage of a small RWB Porsche meet we attended.

Whispers of wide arches...

Laurent and I were particularly lucky that our tour guide for this trip was Indra, our Sales Rep for Indonesia, but also a chap who seems to knows everyone in the car scene across SE Asia. From the moment when he collected us from the airport and mentioned this meetup, I was on his case to make sure we could go and check it out.

Cars and Coffee

Parked on the forecourt of the Uttara Icon Hotel, surrounded by armed guards and conveniently situated next door to Starbucks we found a handful of RWB Porsches. Along with this collection of mental metal was a pair of very contrasting 356s and a couple of old VWs too. The hotel happens to be owned by a serial car collector and owner of the orange 901 car, Wawan Dalbo. I'll tell you more about him another time!

What is RWB?

RWB stands for Rauh-Welt Begriff, or translated from German: Rough World Concept. The style and the brand is the brainchild and hard work of one man from Japan, Mr Akira Nakai-San. To quote the RWB UK website "Why have something preserved in its original state for the future when the future cannot be seen, RWB owners live for today." The style might not be to your taste, but these cars have an unavoidable presence when you see them in the flesh. Each car is fitted up by Akira Nakai-San himself, regardless of where the vehicle is located in the world. This isn't a mail-order body kit that can be fitted by your local body shop, they are a bespoke build.

Introducing Terror Garage

Terror Garage is the Indonesian agent for RWB and this bright blue Porsche 993 belongs to head honcho Yanto Widodo. Along with design partner Michael Lesmana, who owns the unwashed 356 they convoyed from their HQ almost 8 hours away, in the company of the other cars we can see parked here. Just like us, all are in town for the biennial JVWF event, check out the show coverage here. 

The Porsche 901 RWB

From what we have been told, the orange car is built on a 901 chassis... What does that mean? The 901 was the model name for the Porsche 911, prior to Peugeot pulling rank due to copyright over vehicle model numbers with a zero in the middle. These early cars are highly sought after and according to Wikipedia, only 84 were built between September and November 1964. Sat on Urban Outlaw 1552 wheels, it sports wide arches but models a subtle ducktail rear spoiler rather than a series of huge wings like the blue 993 cars parked up. The very mention of 901 and RWB in the same sentence would reduce some purists to tears. But, as the sticker says "Zweite Entwicklung" which means second development, and the owner is more than happy with his reborn 'Rough World' creation.

Yanto's 993 RWB

This bright blue car is the absolute epitome of the madness that RWB can represent. Ridiculously wide with a towering stack of rear spoilers and wheels wider than most are tall. Oddly enough, most of these cars are standard underneath the engine lid. This particular vehicle suffered a rear suspension failure on the drive to Yogjakarta, and it was only through the driving skills of Ron Flemming (the legendary aircooled drag racer who was also in town for the JVWF show) that saved it from spinning out and smashing into the motorway Armco.

Beru Barndoor Bus

Tucked at the back of the car park was a Barndoor Bus with some beautiful period style signwriting. This was another of Yanto's personal collection from what I gather. Along with the Porsches, it would be on display at the JVWF show the following day, and it too had partaken in the 600km convoy.

More Volkswagens...

Parked out the front of Starbucks was a cool Type 3 Squareback, a dropped and narrowed Karman Ghia and of course more RWB action in the shape of a battleship grey 993 Targa. My preference for these cars is definitely with a ducktail, rather than a monster rear wing. I'm not sure I'd be ordering one as my first post- lottery win car, but I can see the appeal for the car collectors who have everything else!

Dark Green Machine

This dark green car was about as understated as RWB gets. A subtle colour, a little spoiler but still ludicrously wide around the hips. We didn't chat with the owner, but it's clearly cherished.

In the 356 corner

These two cars couldn't be much further apart in style. We've already introduced Michael Lesmana. Designer partner at Terror Garage and a car collector who radiates cool and style. His silver car hasn't been washed in 3 years but even the type of dirt and the position of the stickers look considered! The green car picked up an award at the show, following a beautiful restoration at the hands of Volkswise. It belongs to a Mitsubishi rally driver by the name of Rifat Sungkar. He's a pretty big deal over in Indonesia!

Big Blue 993

The dark blue RWB car belonged to a businessman and collector. His staple was Japanese performance cars, he owned a Supra and an NSX amongst others. This car had been built with a real nod to the Indonesian culture. The rear spoiler and interior panels featuring traditional artwork. As with the others, the engine was stock. Once finished, all RWB cars are named by Mr Nakai-San. This particular car was given the moniker "Tsubaki" which means Camellia; a beautiful flower without scent. The owner had a photoshoot engagement at a local airport to get to, so we had the pleasure of watching him leave. The hustle of the city streets with a million mopeds and his wide arched, floor hugging Porsche was a wonderful juxtaposition. TheRWB crept onto the road at a snail's pace, slicing through the traffic with the majesty of a biblical miracle, admittedly, the owner did benefit a little from a local traffic warden wearing a hi-vis and waving his hands. A big thanks to Yanto, Michael, Rifat, Wawan and the other folk we met at this meet up. As with all of our trip, we were on a tight timeframe, but I hope these photos do the vehicles and the event justice. It truly was amazing. Andy
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