Owning and building a car in Malaysia isn’t cheap or easy, but despite those hurdles, the scene is still huge. For over 10 years now, Alie Kuoppa, Farah Darlings and their team behind Retro Havoc have done their bit by bringing Malaysia’s modified and custom car enthusiasts together with well-organized events.
In other countries, the notion of tens of thousands of petrolheads congregating at a show would be seen as an opportunity for police crackdowns, but not here. Retro Havoc has the full support of the Malaysian government, which sees the events as opportunities to help grow the local automotive industry and, from a tourism perspective, bring in visitors from all over the world. And they come.
The 2024 event was once again held on the B2 level of The Curve’s underground carpark in Selangor. This is a great spot, with all the room required for the car displays, plus parking for everyone and a shopping mall above for any friends and family members who want some time out during the show.
As always, a small outdoor showcase the evening before the main event was used to officially kick off the festivities. The lineup included Retro Havoc’s bright pink Devil Z – now with a new RB25 powerplant – two Toyota Cressidas – one powered by a 1UZ-FE V8 and the other a Century V12 – a Pandem-kitted RX-8, a refreshed Tamon Design FC3S RX-7, and a BWW E36 M3 inspired by the Need for Speed Most Wanted hero car.
In planning the event, Alie decided to limit show car registrations to a lower number than in recent years. A 900-car cap was decided upon, but overwhelming demand saw the number quickly blow out. Not that anyone was complaining. It’s a great endorsement, and one that shows just how hyped the Malaysian car community is for this event.
But it’s not just Malaysians attending with their cars. Once again, a large contingent of enthusiasts made the trip from Thailand. Driving from Malaysia’s border to the Retro Havoc venue is over 700km (435mi) alone, and it is not an easy journey at the best of times. So making the drive in highly modified cars like it’s nothing is just insane. Hat’s off to these Thai guys and girls for their commitment.
There were plenty of cars at the event deserving of a closer look, and Toby has a number of follow-up stories planned to tick that box. The ‘Motor Maniac St’ section was packed with wild builds, including a number based on locally-made Proton Satrias.
The red Satria is a heavily modified track weapon that can often be seen lapping Sepang International Circuit; the black Satria is another track car, though still under construction.
Drifting is big in Malaysia, and there are plans afoot for an international event later in the year, which will only increase its popularity in this part of the world. I loved this LS V8-swapped S15 Nissan Silvia Varietta.
The Proton Saga is another ultra-popular Malaysian car, 99.9% of which you’ll find in stock standard condition. These stance examples are not; how good do they look?!
Before visiting Malaysia I had never even heard of the Mazda Lantis, known as the 323 and Astina in other markets. While other countries got the model with a 2.0L V6 option, Malaysia didn’t, so all the cars here with V6 power under the hood have been engine swapped.
I’ve been lucky enough to attend Retro Havoc a few times now, and it’s always a wild ride – especially during the ‘Roll Out Party’ at the end of the event. There is so much passion for car culture in Malaysia, and that’s reflected in the sheer size of this event.
While it is not easy being a car enthusiast in Malaysia, as long as there are events like Retro Havoc around to entertain and inspire, the local scene has a bright future.
Stay tuned for many more stories from the 2024 show. In the meantime, there is huge gallery below for you to check out.
Rick Muda
Instagram: ardskellig
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Huge event. Reminds me of the parking lot meet in Tokyo Drift combined with early Hot Import Nights. No idea why the bolt in cage stuff is so popular with people. Very dangerous not the right way to be safe. My thumb almost fell of by the end from scrolling. Lots of photos!
Non-factory rollcages are actually illegal in Malaysia, so a lot of these are not even actual cages: they are either cars from Thailand, or are bars made to simulate rollcage looks.
Wow. That’s uh…wow. The whole roll cages being illegal in street cars is interesting. Obviously if you have a normal seat with a 3 point it’s a great way to Jeffrey Epstein yourself but if you have a properly mounted bucket and a good harness I don’t get why it’s a big deal. Cages with proper harnesses are safety than damn near anything a manufacturer is making. I was actually just in a 5 point harness with a carbon tub and would trust an impact at triple digits without even blinking an eye. My other ride does not have roll cage or a seatbelt though so it’s funny in a way. Sometimes safer to get throw out than to be strapped in.
The reason why rollcages here are illegal because there has been cases of shoddily built cages, which made crashes worse than it's supposed to.
Wild. So you have experience unlike the other people in these comments as to what happens when a cage isn’t built right.
Imagine being one of these guys in the comments who says respect all builds then you have a mechanical failure and their legs don’t work ever again.
I wonder if they would still respect all builds…and say there’s no right to criticize a builder lmao. Some really stupid comments about cages in that other post. Mainly the people saying not to ever critique.
No, I don't have personal experience. I don't hope to ever get into any situation where I'd need a rollcage to save me. Lol!
However, if the cars comes with standard cage, like Porsche GT3 RS and BMW M3/M4 GTS, then they are fine because the manufacturer themselves has done all the engineering at the factory itself.
Well hopefully you never do. A good cage maker who can weld tig and knows how to get proper penetration of the metal is an immeasurable asset. For road cars I think it’s largely just BS flexing but for a vehicle on track you can’t spend enough on safety.
One of my former teammates flipped a can am car at 160mph and had his helmet come off. He was not wearing a HANS device and the lack of hans which enabled him to duck mid air actually saved his life.
Racing is crazy. Sometimes you just get lucky. And I’d rather be lucky any day of the week lol.
To think back racers of old used to have their personal preferences in terms of safety. I remember reading drivers back in the 50s like avoid wearing seatbelts, so in case of fire they could jump out of their cars quickly, but had the side effect of being thrown out of their cars in severe accidents (the 1955 Le Mans disaster was the best example). Then we had Dale Earnhardt who refused to wear a HANS device because it restricted his head movement. That probably contributed to his untimely death in 2001.
It's really crazy to think how far safety standards have come today.
That is very true.
anything get vandalized this year?
heard couple of car caught fire when exiting..
What a lovely thing to have to worry about.
Been waiting for this! Was watching retrohavoc unfold on instagram and getging excitied for even more pics here!
Loved that GK5 fit!
Whoa this meet is like on the same level of the parking lot meets in Japan
Absolutely insane this is crazy
The cars here are amazing. I really love the variety of colours. Seeing some of the cars here reminds me of my regret in selling two of my favorite cars. A 1969 roundial BMW 2002 and my 2000 Proton Satria GTI with a 4G63T.
I'd love to see a write up about a Satria GTI with a 4G63T and AWD conversion. There were a couple drag racing in Australia I believe and one in Germany that was insanely quick (that may have actually been a Mitsubishi colt that Proton had bought the tooling for from Mitsubishi to make the GTI).