Today, he no longer plays with toys but rather custom-built cars, complete with 5.0L engines and 8-speed tiptronic gearboxes.
Top Revs met Chichi during the Ricky’s Custom Car Shop motor show at Ramatex, where he displayed two of his cars and promoted his business, Chichi Style Auto Repair and Panel Beat.
Chichi says his cars get a lot of attention when driving on the streets of the country.
Sometimes, pedestrians and hawkers on the side of the road will encourage him to “rev it up” or “put some pedal to the metal”, so that they too can also enjoy the hum of the powerful V8 engine.
But Chichi is not only there to entertain, he means real business once he dons his overalls and gets under the bonnet to do jobs according to his customer’s specifications.
Both his customised green Ford Cortina and cherry red Jaguar speak volumes about his love for cars and display his automotive talents and abilities, with even the upholstery, the sound systems and other accessories telling a personal story.
“I bought the body of the green Ford Cortina from people where it just stood on the road, and I started to build it from scratch,” he says.
Even the engines are often re-built when damaged or not in good working order by the self-taught mechanic and panel beater who loves nothing more than working with his hands in his workshop.
The Jaguar’s body was bought for a mere N$ 4 000, he says.
But that is when the real work started to rebuild it into a work of art that still has very distinctive Jaguar lines.
The previous owner wanted to take the body to the scrapyard when Chichi intervened, adding a Lexus engine, sound system and a panoramic sunroof, and what’s better – the car is roadworthy.
Taking into consideration that the Jaguar’s body dates back to 1973, after almost 50 years, the car transformation is part of Chichi’s dream to create “the new from the old”.
“I like taking old school cars and converting them into new shapes to attract people,” he says.
He called on young people to join him in working with their hands, while achieving their own dreams.
“Stop depending on others and stand up and do things for yourselves” he says.
Find Chichi on Instagram@chichistyle88
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