THE GARAGE
This is the original garage, home to Aw Boon Haw's famous "Tiger Cars"
Aw Boon Haw bought the site of Haw Par Villa to build a house for his brother Aw Boon Par. The magnificent dome shaped house was situated on the highest point of the hill and it has a panoramic view of the sea. Aw Boon Haw, the flamboyant marketing genius behind the success of Tiger Balm ointment used to drive through these gardens to visit his brother.
This is the original garage, home to Aw Boon Haw's, famous "tiger Cars". The first Tiger car, a German NSU was made in 1927. A tiger head covered the radiator, two fangs protruded from the tiger's jaws and wire whiskers were fashioned onto the tiger's nose. Two red bulbs were placed in the tiger's eye socket and the sound the horn produced resembled a tiger's roar.
The second car, a Humber, was built in 1932 with a bigger tiger head on the radiator and gold tiger stripes painted on the body. The number plate, 8989, was a lucky number. The number "8" (pat) in Chinese sounds like the word for "prosper" (faat). The cars were unmistakable and typified Aw Boon Haw's flair for promoting his Tiger Balm business.
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