WBN 2301 — that was the registration number of the Proton Saga that was assigned to me as a company vehicle in the early 90s.
The car had seen and borne witness to everything — from general elections to weddings to funerals and to bounty fishing trips across the peninsula.
It was and still is a good and reliable car. Hailed as the first national car, the Proton enjoyed good sales for many years after its introduction. Preferential duty privileges for components enabled it to be sold at affordable prices.
My Saga has seen it all. In fact, in the early 90s, a finance minister took a ride with me when he had to rush back to his office in Jalan Duta. How come the car smelt of fish, he asked. I had forgotten to wash the car after the weekend fishing trip!
“No worries, YB! This car will get you to your office safely and in good time,” I told him. As the minister got out of the car, he said thank you: “Wash the car. I like the drive and the sound of the exhaust.”
Immediately after getting the car, I had refitted the exhaust system. I replaced the exhaust manifold and the exhaust pipe to give it a far louder sound. Matspeed — that was the sticker proudly pasted on the door!
News that a new Proton Saga had been unveiled a couple of weeks ago evoked some nostalgic moments for me. And maybe in others too. The birth of Proton in 1985 drew a lot of attention, not all of them complimentary, of course.
It drew flak from many quarters, including university professors and even Tun Musa Hitam, deputy prime minister then. Car dealers mocked the Saga, asking if it could be driven up to Genting Highlands! Of course, it could!
Back to my Proton Saga. Three other Sagas assigned to other colleagues rolled out with mine on the same day. But when I sent mine for servicing at the one-year stage, my mileage had exceeded the total mileage of all the other three!
I believe that Proton helped to change the perception of automatic cars in Malaysia. Automatic cars then were not cheap and affordable.
When Proton introduced the Proton Saga 1.5i, it created some buzz. The “i” stands for Istimewa, not Injection as some people thought. In automotive jargon, the “i” stands for injection, denoting that the car’s ignition system is fuel injection.
For many ordinary folk then, the Saga was indeed istimewa (special). The Proton Saga 1.5i was not a fuel injection car but it had automatic gears, which made city driving easy. This model cost a bit more than the manual version.
Over a short period of time, more people were clamouring for the automatic models as traffic congestion became worse. Today, buying a car with automatic transmission is almost a must.
I recalled a trip to Kuala Terengganu with Manja Ismail and Azam Aris, both editorial bosses now at Media Prima and The Edge respectively. It was during one of the election campaigns in 1990 and we drove in the Proton Saga.
The car took us all over Terengganu without any hitch. In fact, we had one full load of durians in the booth to celebrate our adventure in the east coast. To me, the Proton is a car for all occasions. It’s a “take anywhere car”.
I had an even earlier adventure with Proton. Soon after the car was introduced in the mid-80s, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) was one of the early organisations that promoted the car to an international audience.
The NUJ had organised an international conference on journalism. It was held at Merlin Hotel, now known as The Concorde. The Merlin was one of the most popular five-star hotels then.
That conference lasted several days, covering pertinent issues affecting the work of journalists. Proton gave us five Sagas to use as the official car for the conference. They were used to ferry international delegates, especially from and to the airport. Most of them gave the thumbs up to the cars.
It’s not uncommon to see many households having a Proton or two. After the company teamed up with China’s Geely, there was renewed interest with the introduction of the Proton X70 which seemed to have gained in popularity among car enthusiasts.
Proton is not without its share of critics. The car windows not functioning properly is the most common complaint. Even Proton bosses admitted that this has been one of the most nagging problems the car faced.
I like to believe that Malaysian car owners are more aware of cars with the introduction of Proton. In my household, we have used seven Protons — two Sagas, one Inspira, two Satria, one Wira and one Suprima. We missed the Arena, the two-door pickup which was very popular in Australia.
The domestic car market is very competitive. Last week, Tay, a friend of mine, said he booked the latest Saga and is waiting for delivery. He’s going to use the Saga as a Grab car. And Tay is confident the car will pay for itself within the agreed loan period.
My motto when I was driving the Saga — Have Proton Will Travel.
Twitter: @aatpahitmanis
The writer is a former NST group editor. His first column appeared on Aug 27, 1995 as ‘Kurang Manis’