KARACHI:
Fifty years after ‘Bullitt’, a car enthusiast in Karachi’s Khudadad Colony has re-introduced the legend of the Fastback to Pakistan, revamped to compete with its 2015 counterparts.
Shakeel Ansari, 47, took up the project of revamping a ‘gem’, and brought a 1965 FOrd Mustang back to life.
“Anyone can go and buy a 2015 model, but can anyone make a 1965 classic as good as new?” Shakeel asks humbly. “Any person with a passion and love for cars would go to lengths to buy a scrapped Ford Mustang,” he adds.
Shakeel learnt the skills from Asian Autos back in 1980 when he was just 17-years-old.
“Later in 1990 I started my own workshop (Shakeel Autos). I have never thought of this as a job, but as a passion.”
“I started my work with a very small workshop which only had the capacity to accommodate one car. Slowly and gradually I expanded my workshop to an extent that there is now space to hold 30 cars. Today, after so many years, I also have 30 to 35 workers employed at my workshop,” the Shakeel, a well-known personality in the auto repair business, says.
Shakeel Autos has dominantly worked on restoring Japanese-made cars but the American-built 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback was brought to them as a challenge in 2014. “This car is manufactured worldwide but I don’t remember it being manufactured or restored ever before in Pakistan,” Shakeel says.