If you've been a car enthusiast back in the '80s until the '90s, chances are you hung out at the Creekside parking lot in Greenhills on a Saturday night.

With Bass Hour blaring from custom car audio setups, moonglow underbody lights, and the occasional twin-side carburetor-equipped Toyotas and emerging B16 VTEC DOHC converted EG hatches prowling the lot for their next quarter-mile victim along Ortigas and later on, White Plains avenue, this was what Fast and the Furious Part One was like in the Philippines. 

Now, minus the street races, JBL Car Audio hosted a similar get-together of car aficionados last November 11th. The first-ever JBL Car Audio Tunefest was held at the rooftop parking of O-Square 2 in Greenhills Mall, San Juan City.

Of course, the focus was on audio enthusiasts and installers showing off their best in-car JBL set-ups, but it was also done to highlight the dynamism of the Filipino car community. 

There were a total of 15 competition entries across 3 categories:

• STADIUM - featured the premium JBL line
• OPEN STAGE - cuts across all JBL product lines
• SOUND & STYLE - a special category that spotlights the Club and ClubSQ range and splits points between audio performance and the car’s aesthetic styling

In addition to the official categories, there were three other special awards.

• The People’s Choice Award
• The Mayor’s Choice Award - chosen and presented by Rocco Zamora, on behalf of San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora
• The Special Style Award - chosen from among the car clubs and attendees that joined the event.

The car audio entries were judged on-site by an esteemed roster of judges who were trained
under the European Mobile Music Association (EMMA), namely Adison De Ocampo, Bong
Matias, Dong Matias, Arvin Ramos, Martin De Costa, and Peter Gaw. Style awards were
selected and judged by Bryan Revilla of MSC, Jonathan Chio of B2B, and Kevin Carlos of
SPMF.

STADIUM CATEGORY

Champion - Mickey’s Autosound
1st Runner Up - MSO Audio
2nd Runner Up - SimpleSound

OPEN STAGE CATEGORY

Champion - Natune Car Audio
1st Runner Up - David’s Street Sound
2nd Runner Up - Team Car Center

SOUND & STYLE CATEGORY

Champion - JC Car Audio
1st Runner Up - Team Car Center
2nd Runner Up - David’s Street Sound

MAYOR’S CHOICE AWARD

Stadium - SimpleSound
Open Stage - Audio Essential
Sound & Style - JC Car Audio

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

Stadium - SimpleSound
Open Stage - ZT Car Accessories
Sound & Style - Audio Essential

Like the fabled Greenhills Sabado nights, the JBL Car Audio Tunefest also had refreshments, but these were a step up from the Tapaking across the creek 30 years ago.  There were Bahn MI Kitchen Vietnamese-style sandwiches, Coffee Nook brews, and coolers, Crepe Talk teats, EDSA BDG cocktails/ mocktails, as well as Slap Stacks Burgers. 

Much has changed in the city's landscape, and with nearby residents of commercial centers always complaining about the loud boom-boom music of these custom sound setups, and it gets harder and harder to revive such celebrations of car culture.

Fortunately, we do get pocket events such as these from time to time, just so we can remember how fun it was to own and customize a car back when we were young.