Neck Breakerz: Air Lover

Now the story to this one is interesting, when Neck Breakerz started I attended Motor Mania 1 and this is where I first laid eyes on Shakeel's Caddy. Everybody read his registration, "O SO LOW", and we all thought - "man this must be a joke". Little did we know that he had recently done a full Air install. He then lowered the Caddy before everyone's eyes and needless to say the way that Caddy lay frame was a first for many who witnessed it, even for me.

I had been trying to track this scarce work of art down for probably a good three months, talking to friends, random people and even to event organizers. I was in luck because at BMW vs VW I stood again face to face with the Caddy but sadly the owner was nowhere to be found, I packed up my hopes of ever getting to do a feature on this hypnotic ride.

It had been about another month of searching and I happened to get together with a close friend who I began expressing my admiration for the Caddy, as I spoke his face lit up and he told me he knows the guy. I wasn't short of being overexcited and he said it wouldn't be a problem to get him for a shoot.

Low and behold a few weeks later I got in contact with Shakeel and the shoot was arranged.

Its 1995 model that he got when he swapped his Toyota twincam for it but things didn't always look so good for this caddy. He says it was white and very ugly with a huge canopy riding saddle at the rear.

It would be simple for him having been in the car industry for many years, the first step was to change the doors for the newer full window doors and give the car new life with a good respray in black and also adding a new spec dash.

With new paint the caddy had started to turn heads and before long it was featured in VDUB magazine a few years back. After the feature, Shakeel wanted more out of his project and power was first on the agenda. It simply boiled down to getting a 1.8 20v motor and run a cable shift transmission accompanied by diktator to have the whole set up run smoothly. It ran flawlessly but Shakeel quickly got bored and changed the set up throwing in a T3/T4 turbo, 600cc injectors, decent down pipe and full exhaust system. Power figures were brought to an impressive 187KW's but was this enough? Shakeel begged to differ and explained "I wanted more."

He imported candy apple paint and after 20 coats of the new color it looked superb. With the paint looking all shiney and clean, Shakeel knew the interior left to many hints that it was a 95 model. He picked a set of E90 BMW seats and it just stuck so good that he went and did his dash in cream white.

Having his own company that deals with custom mods, he couldn't help but take it a bit further so the doors were shaved and a complete remote set up was installed (talk about convenience). It was then time for a little detail, he molded out his door panels in fiber and covered in red leather to complete the entire Candy Apple feel.

Shakeel named his company "Lowrider Customs" and the caddy had no low rider written on it. He took pretty much the final step, so that his company would be represented in the proper fashion, by installing front bags and doing something of his own for the back. "Now we can drop it like its hot," exclaimed Shakeel.

He also assured me that it took lots of funds to get the caddy where it is today and the hours put into it came with lots of sweat and tears. He is currently busy with a fully customized Nissan Hard body that should be due for release soon to the public.

The Cabin set up isn't to busy as he set out for simplicity and style.

Shakeel says as it is the motor has been built for power and surely needs some tidying up but with the ideas he has in mind this wont be the last we see of this Caddy. As a matter fact it wont be the last time we see some of Shakeel's work on NeckBreakerz.