For a little over two decades, 38-year-old Tariq Moosa has been building cars in his garage.
This past year, Moosa and the staff members at Chicano Customs in Johannesburg built and shipped a custom BMW E9 2800 CS named Nkabi, to the United Kingdom, where it beat over 6,000 of Europe’s best cars at the Slammed UK show in Birmingham.
IOL spoke to Tariq Moosa about his journey in car building, what it felt like to win at such a high level, and what the win meant for South Africa in the eyes of the international car community.
"Building cars was always a side hustle for me. I started when I was 16. The first car I built was an old-school Mini. The Mr Bean shape. I have always built cars in my garage, no matter where I lived.
"After high school, I did an apprenticeship at Nissan, and I think that really set me up for the future," Moosa recalled.
Before starting Chicano Customs in 2016, Moosa worked at Outsurance as a sales assistant and then manager.
"I worked corporate during the day and built cars at night."
At the beginning of 2023, Moosa was in the market to expand his car collection and set his eyes upon the most notorious car on South African roads, the BMW 325iS.
He finally got his hands on an original one with matching numbers, but the deal slipped through after the seller pulled out of the deal at the last minute.
"I was disappointed, but then I came across the E9, which is something I have wanted for a while but never found," Moosa explained.
How ironic it is that the BMW E9 Moosa later found belonged to a doctor who lived in four different countries and shipped the car around with him wherever he went, was also shipped around the world by Moosa.
"This car has been to more countries than me. It has been to five countries now, including Germany. It has stamps in the service book from BMW in all the countries that it has been to. It is really special," Moosa said.
Enter Slammed UK
The Slammed UK Show 2023 edition was held in Birmingham and is by invitation only.
Moosa’s shop, Chicano Customs, also has a YouTube page and other social media accounts where they post car content. The organisers of the event saw this content and decided to invite Moosa to the show.
"Social media really helped connect us at Chicano Customs with the world. When I got the invite, we decided to build the E9 because it required the least amount of work.
"Initially, we were just going to put in an air suspension, new wheels, and an interior. But after we got into the project, we found other problems, like rust. So we decided to rebuild the entire car.
"We chromed the engine bay, the wheels are custom built, and we also got a custom paint job. But the best part about it for me is the interior. The amount of detail and time we spent on the interior was crazy. We even hand stitched the seat belts," Moosa said.
For five weeks, after the staff members and Moosa finished their working day at Chicano Customs, they would close up shop and begin working on the E9 project.
"We worked from 6pm to 10pm for five days a week and some Sundays for five weeks straight."
Moosa said building a car at this level would not have been possible without the help of the numerous sponsors they had, including Hi-Tech mag repairs, Vees auto pipes, Airlux for the suspension, and Discit for the number plates and registration.
IOL asked Moosa why he named the car Nkabi, which is a Zulu word for hitman.
"When we were discussing the build, we knew the car needed a name and a personality. So the team said the car was going to take out the competition like a hitman, so that’s when we decided to name it Nkabi."
Once the automotive beauty was ready, the next challenge was getting her over to the UK. Despite being such a momentous and stressful task, Moosa said he was extremely lucky.
"I got contacted by this company called C and R Global Logistics. Two guys named Sham and Stuart. They were complete strangers, and I never met them, but out of the blue, they contacted me and said they would sponsor the shipping.
"To put the cherry on top, when you ship a car, you need to pay at least half of its value as some form of insurance. I did not have the money, so we said we were going to pull out of the show. Sham and Stuart said they would cover the deposit and that I should just make my way to the UK. They were unbelievably helpful," Moosa said.
This added pressure to the fact that Moosa did not have a visa to enter the UK.
"When I shipped the car, I didn’t have a visa." That stressed me out like crazy. I had to double up and make a second application because my first visa application was denied."
Moosa used the comments from the international car community from his social media posts and the invitation sent to him from the UK to help support his visa application.
When the car got to the UK, a team from Car Audio and Security kept it for Moosa and even fixed some of the minor faults.
"I did not know these people, but they also just helped me out and made this whole win possible," Moosa explained.
Moosa’s E9 beat 595 of Europe’s most tricked-out cars and placed in the top 5 at Slammed UK.
But winning the car show wasn’t the best part, he said; the way South Africans showed up to help him was.
"When I got there, there were so many South Africans at the show. This one last came with her two sons and started to speak to me in Afrikaans, and she said she missed speaking in her home language.
"Another guy formerly from PE heard that a South African car was coming to the show. He travelled for 8 hours to come see us. He wore South African socks, pants, and a Bafana shirt. He stood next to the car the entire time and told people it was from South Africa.
“The support we got was just so emotional to digest. I could not believe how many people supported and helped us. I never met any of these people but they still helped us and supported us. When South Africans need to show up for each other, they show up,” Moosa said.
IOL