What’s a wedding car...
With Alden in the studio, and YayaDub on remote broadcast, the show’s producers and writers came up with ingenious ways for the two lead romantic characters to interact. Through video monitors provided at both ends of the venues, Alden and YayaDub profess their romantic intentions by lipsynching popular love songs, writing pick-up lines on paper, making facial expressions—everything they can except, for YayaDub’s case, through speaking (YayaDub, like the “Transformers” character Bumblebee, has no voice, and she only expresses her feelings via dubsmashing, masterfully lipsynching recorded sound bites, famous quotes, and songs, the skill that basically launched Maine to Internet superstardom).
The Kalyeserye began a little over two months ago, and the romantic momentum had been building up ever since. Each day, a growing number of the show’s viewers had been clamoring for the two to finally meet face-to-face.
That opportunity came on Saturday, Sept. 19, when Lola Nidora finally allowed her caregiver to have that first date with Alden. Days before, when Lola Nidora announced the date, the social media Twitter lines began humming, snowballing into millions when the show started at noontime on Saturday. By the time the day’s episode ended, over 8 million tweets had been generated with the hashtag #AlDubMostAwaitedDate.
Alden and YayaDub did meet up face-to-face, but only so briefly, because the poor girl discovered that she inadvertently brought along Lola Nidora’s life-sustaining meds. YayaDub had no choice but to rush back to Lola Nidora’s remote location, leaving Alden hanging and forlorn.
The next day, Sunday, the Twitter lines continued buzzing. As of last count, that Saturday first date had generated a record-breaking 12 million tweets, and counting.
Bitten by the “love bug”
There were plenty of extra elements during that Saturday’s Kalyeserye episode that benefited from that multimedia exposure. One of these was the stunning white Volkswagen Beetle that YayaDub rode in when Lola Nidora sent her off from their remote location in Barangay Kaunlaran in Quezon City to the Broadway studios.
The driver of the Beetle, whose face was but very fleetingly shown on TV, is Robert Bautista, the owner of the popular Don Robert Bridal Cars which maintains 35 vintage (including a 1929 and 1957 Cadillac) to new models such as the 26-ft ultra-stretch Lincoln Limousine with sunroof, a bar, DVD/TV, and intercom.
Bautista was featured by this writer in the Philippine Daily Inquirer broadsheet’s motoring section three years ago. Back then, he showed a number of his BMWs and Mercedes Benzes (including a C180 model), a 2006 Chrysler 300C, a Lexus Executive Series, and a 2011 Camry, being used by clients about to tie the knot.
Bautista told this writer over the phone a couple of days after the TV appearance that the Beetle is a model 2000 with a 2.0-liter engine. In fact, it was already the third car used in the Kalyeserye, the first being his limousine (used by Lola Nidora, and the second a sports car used by YayaDub’s spurned millionaire suitor “Frankie” (portrayed by Jose Manalo before “transgendering” to Lola Tinidora).
Bautista revealed, however, that the Beetle wasn’t the first choice of ride for YayaDub. It could have been a 2012 Mazda3, which was unavailable at the time.
And as fate would have it, the wedding car rental owner himself had to chauffeur YayaDub. None of Bautista’s drivers were available at the time. The thing was, he wasn’t informed by the show’s producers who his celebrity passenger would be.
He considers it a privilege to drive for YayaDub, on one of the most important dates in TV and social media history. “It was a chance of a lifetime,” he gushed.
Bautista literally had the driver’s seat to the unfolding Philippine TV history. His Beetle was escorted by four motorcycles and two vans. People came out of their houses as the entourage passed, causing a bit of a traffic buildup, he recalled.
He said that even Volkswagen car clubs were happy to see his Beetle in the show. In a way, he said, Eat Bulaga helped position his business and car collection more on the mainstream.
His selfie with YayaDub while they were inside the Beetle—tweeted by Maine Mendoza herself and captioned “More Selfies with Manong Driver” garnered many re-tweets, which made him “so happy.”
Asked how YayaDub was offcam, he related that “she was busy with the floor director’s instructions” and that “there was not much chance to talk to her.”
And like the many millions of the dubsmash queen’s online and TV fans, Bautista observed that she was, indeed, “a genius at transforming her face into funny contortions.”
Beetle transformation
The modifications Bautista had done on the Beetle included painting the top with gloss black, installing a carbon-fiber design interior, and 18” White Advan Rims.
After he posted an image of him on the driver’s seat with YayaDub at the rear passenger’s seat, he lost count on the number of FB shares of that image.
In 2004, when Bautista was 27 years old, he borrowed his businessman father’s 1997 BMW316i as a bridal car for a friend. He earned P1,000 for that.
Word then got around that Robert was a bridal car-provider. Soon, he was asked if he had a Mercedes Benz for another wedding. Bautista traded his red convertible Pajero for a MercedesBenz. From then on, he and his bridal car rental business was off and running.
By 2012, Don Robert’s Bridal Cars had the widest variety of bridal cars, and he was reaping not only the financial dividends—rental rates ranged from P4,000 to P14,000—but recognition as well. Bautista has been a recipient of international awards for bridal car rental services.
Bautista’s office-garages in Mandaluyong City and Tanza, Cavite, resemble a museum/showroom of classic cars: a 1947 Jaguar Mark V, 1960 Jaguar Mark II, 1933 Ford Convertible, 1932 Studebaker, 1965 Mercedes Benz, 1948 Buick, 1962 Beetle, a Bug Eye Mercedes-Benz E240 with 20-inch chrome rims and audio setup and HID headlights, a Mercedes-Benz S-Class (the Princess Diana model) with 19inch Lorinser mags, a Mercedes-Benz E220 with 17-inch Benz rims, Mercedes Benz 300E with 17-inch Elegant Benz chrome rims, and more.
Bautista’s bridal cars have had other moments in the showbiz limelight. The Lincoln Limo, which Robert claims is the longest limousine in the country, was used in the reality TV show “Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition 2” and the local telenovela “Marimar.” The 1929 Cadillac was featured in the indie film “Rosario” and in the “Budoy” teleserye. His 1932 Studebaker was also seen in “Pinoy Big Brother Season 2,” in the “Trudis Liit” TV soap, and used by Bea Alonzo’s character “Gelai” in the “Magkaribal” TV series. Actress Anne Curtis rode the 1960 Jaguar Mark II in “The Wedding.”
Don Robert’s cars are also top-ofmind in magazine pictorials and wedding expos.
For this, and other achievements, Don Robert’s Bridal Cars (check out bridalcars.com.ph) has earned the 2008 Consumer’s Choice Award as the “Most Innovative Bridal Car Rental Services,” 2009 Asia Pacific Excellence Award’s “Outstanding Bridal Car Rental Service,” 2010 Top Quality & Talent Awards Asia “2010 Best Bridal Car Rental Provider,” 2010 Most Sought After Wedding Supplier, 2011 and 2012 Top Booker Getting Married Bridal Fair Bridal Car category, 2011 Consumer Quality Awards “2011 Best Managed Bridal Car Rental Company.”
For Robert to say “Don Robert’s Bridal Cars has proven its name in the business” may be understating things a bit.
Full-time car lover
Robert, though, is a lover of cars first, and foremost. “My first car was a Mitsubishi Colt Mirage (US version) which I got for my 18th birthday. I loved dressing it up and putting loud speakers. After that, a Nissan EX Saloon, then an MR2 Sports car.”
Don Robert’s maintains its own detailing, car paint and restoration shops. “The most meticulously maintained are the vintage cars like the 1929 Cadillac, 1930s to 1960s collection, parts of which are very hard to find. The easiest to maintain is the Honda VTI-s, the parts of which are available everywhere,” Robert said.
Robert’s wedding with his lovely wife Shellita Chloe Bayot in 2009 was a showcase of the company’s cars. The occasion used 18 bridal cars, and was featured in kasal.com. Robert said his dad, Angel, was beaming with pride that day, probably because he didn’t need to borrow a wedding car for his son’s wedding.
Now, could wedding bells (the reel and real kind) be not so far off in the Kalyeserye’s future episodes? Well, let’s not jump the gun. As the wise Lola Nidora says, “Sa tamang panahon (everything in its own time).”
Photos courtesy of Robert Bautista, Don Robert’s Bridal Cars, erosport.com, Robert Sarayba, Jessie, and Eat Bulaga Facebook page.
Reprinted from www.tessdrive.com.