June 02, 2019, 09:53 PM 
If you haven't heard of the Mystery Machine, it comes from the childhood cartoon "Scooby-Doo" that many Singaporeans growing up in the 80s and 90s are likely to be familiar with.
It is the van that transports Scooby and his sleuthing friends on their mystery-solving adventures.
Mystery Machine spotted in Singapore
We're telling you about this because a Mystery Machine hit the roads in Singapore recently, and was spotted by some people who likely did double takes.
One of the most recent public sightings of it was in Bendemeer by Faiz Isa on the evening of May 31. He posted a photo to Facebook, and it has garnered more than 8,700 shares, drawing attention from the international community too.
Photo cropped via Faiz Isa/Facebook.
Here's a video of the roaming Mystery Machine in Ubi posted to Twitter on April 30:
the kid in me jumped out guys omfghdh i sighted a scooby doo van in singapore!!!! AHHAHAH SO CUTE pic.twitter.com/1kMXpCPgn5
— shifa ☾ (@hellonlutfiyah) April 30, 2019
https://giphy.com/gifs/H4zLnaeESRk3bWBBd3
Giving an old van a new life
The Mystery Machine has indeed arrived in Singapore.
Its owner, one Clarence Tan, shared with Mothership.sg that he bought the van from a friend who was about to send it to scrap.
He says he has always wanted a Mystery Machine, and since the van had the right size and shape, he decided to turn one of his favourite childhood cartoon icons into a reality.
Here's what the minivan, a 1991 Daihatsu Hijet, originally looked like:
Tan cleaned the van up and found the right base colour to wrap it with.
Tan even has a 60cm-tall Scooby-Doo soft toy, which he originally bought for his children, but now sits in the van with him as he drives around.
While the Mystery Machine looks as good in real life as one would have envisioned it to be in the show, Tan tells us his restoration work — on the wheels and interior, for instance — is still ongoing and will take another two to three more months to fix the old van.
Photo from @Mysteryvan1991/Instagram.
Doing this for his children
As it turns out, Tan tells us he is a classic car collector, and his passion for cars started when he was a vehicle mechanic when he was serving National Service.
Tan also said he was motivated to have a real Mystery Machine so he can bond better with his young children.
But of course, he is also happy to bring joy to people on the streets and roads outside as this, he explains, is one of the things that money just cannot buy.
"I am doing this for my kids. So that could have something fun to remember. I have three kids, aged one, three and five. My wife supports my hobby in classic cars. I am happy to share with others wonderful memories from the past.
So far the best reward is to see the smiles on people face. Some may feel I am crazy but the nicest moment is when I got two kids jumping and saying they can't believe the Mystery Machine is REAL!!!!"
But the Most Excited Person To See The Van award probably goes to this lady, who danced to the Scooby-Doo theme song:
Aww.
Top photo collage from Faiz Isa's Facebook post and @mysteryvan1991
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