Once Refused Raffi Ahmad's Offer When Wanting to Exchange His Car, Here are 8 Photos of Oplet Si Doel Donated by Rano Karno to the Museum

Rano Karno donated the oplet that he had bought since 1953 to the museum. “Maybe you don't believe that this is the original engine of Si Doel's oplet. So, the first engine of that oplet was this one, only 800 CC, and I happened to change it to 1000 CC. That oplet has changed its engine three times. I raised it again to 1200 CC,” explained Rano Karno.

The oplet that Rano Karno bought in 1953 was priced at IDR 500,000 in a condition without wheels. “Back then, I bought it as a chicken coop, meaning it didn't have wheels. But for the sake of the movie, I deliberately didn't fix it like this, imagine if you see it always breaking down, I made it like that on purpose, so that it looks old, and so on, because it's for the movie. If now, I have fixed it,” he said.

Rano Karno bought that oplet out of obsession and as a classy transportation in his mind at that time. He also revealed, "Back then, I used to walk to school every day, my house was far from school, so the oplet was a dream, when could I ride an oplet to get to school. That's the philosophy, that's why I brought the oplet into the soap opera.”

Oplet became a part of the production of the film Si Doel in 1992. However, at that time, oplet was no longer popular in Jakarta. Nevertheless, Rano Karno's oplet became the center of attention again and many children asked about the history of the vehicle.

Rano Karno expressed, "Actually, the history is that it was a Chevrolet, but the Betawi people couldn't say that. Finally, they called it oplet. At that time, there were 2 types of transportation, one of which was the Chevrolet that could carry 12 people. That's the short story.

The Classic Motor Museum is located at SMK NMC in the city of Malang and holds the MURI record as the first Classic Motor Museum owned by a vocational school. There are 400 types of classic motorcycles in the collection, grouped by brand and production period, starting from 1930.

Among the many collections in this Classic Motor Museum, the Oplet Si Doel is positioned as the icon of the museum, right in front of the building. A sign is also displayed to provide an explanation of the history of the oplet.

Rano Karno admitted that he was initially hesitant between selling his oplet or donating it to a museum. However, he decided to donate it considering that it could provide benefits for others. “Suddenly I just believed, because I saw that it had benefits for future generations, so I said okay you take this, keep it properly, take good care of it,” said Rano Karno.