Legaspi Car Meet | Come for the Good Vibes

The local car meet scene has been growing over the years in Metro Manila. It was almost eight years ago that this concept of a meet-up with car owners was unheard of. It’s not often happening back in the day, and it’s only an ‘exclusive club’ for most of the car owners who have the unique car cruising in the streets of the CBD. Usually, local car meets happen in the early morning, where “Coffee and Cars” type of hang out happening over a warm cuppa and just chopping it up with a fellow enthusiast near a supermarket car park, or just the area where cars can park for free. It never happens in that kind of stuff in the Philippines.

But other countries have their own car culture scene that has been established long enough for other countries to catch up in this type of setting. It’s not every Sunday or even a Saturday that you ever see a group of car enthusiast would be there parked in rows and share their insight and knowledge of how they set up their car.

There’s always a build-up of ‘unofficial’ car meets somewhere out there nowadays that only a few have the opportunity to witness that kind of environment. But slowly, there are local organized car meets somewhere in a city in Metro Manila almost every weekend. But this one at Legaspi Village, along Esteban Street, at the corner of Dela Rosa Street, is slowly becoming part of the fabric of the local Makati scene every Sunday, just like the local Sunday Market that has been around since the early 2000s.

During the tail end of the pandemic, the Legaspi Car Meet wasn’t the weekly thing. But there was a slow growth in becoming something to look forward to every Sunday, where now there’s a packed crowd at the nearby café, and other locations along Esteban Street that used to be just a street for businesses without any convenience store or local café scene.

When Sunday arrives, the first thing you see in the morning is these cars from different eras. They are a sight and sound to appreciate, because they are not held behind a stanchion, but just park along the curb with their fellow enthusiast just enjoying the morning brew over a good convo among those who appreciate the interest, and that is a rare thing nowadays when most communities exist in local digital chat groups, not in the real world.

It’s different when you meet them in person, not behind an avatar or a character, because it is genuine communication, not hiding behind a mask or an identity, and that is what we solely need to be, straightforward and genuine interest, and not about flexing what we have or what we know, but sharing it in a real-world setting.

You don’t see that in any aspect of a hobby these days, but in these car meets, you see it through their faces how they appreciate and share their knowledge, at the same time, get to know the person behind the wheel. It’s not all about the gloss of the paint on the loud muffler. It is how you also get educated on how the car works, and that is why these car meets are a rare thing, not to be taken for granted, but to be celebrate a growing community that thrives with common interest.

This is not an ‘everyday thing’, just simple things on how people communicate and foster that interest in everyone from different backgrounds and social statuses. If you have the time to pop in and check Esteban Street in the early morning, you won’t miss the rows of different cars, and be also mindful that, like any community, be gracious and don’t touch the displays.