His Midas touch turns ugly scrap into glam machines

VADODARA: You can call him the city's own Dilip Chhabaria. But unlike the ace car designer, 63-year-old JL D'souza has no degree in automation designing. In fact, he is a failed his class X student, who has been passionate about cars since his childhood.
Yet, with sheer hands-on experience and the love for the machines, he has now the acumen to convert old, outdated and completely discarded cars into brand new ones.Be it old vintage cars to present day models, he needs six months to give them brand new look at his small garage in Fatehgunj.
His mastery over car modifying is so well-known that customers from Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Indore to Chhattisgarh come to him. One would expect him to be one of those high-profile person given his customers, but surprisingly D'souza does all of this for his passion. He leads a very simple life with no fancy comforts.
"Nobody in my family is involved with car repairing, leave alone owning a garage. I am the only one who was happy soiling my hands in grease. I picked up the skills by sheer observation and gradually gained confidence through practical experience," said D'souza.
At one time, he owned a garage-cum-workshop in posh Alkapuri area in the city with over 20 mechanics working under him. Due to a land dispute, the garage had to be shut down. "I was shattered, as it was a place I had built with hard work. For almost five years, I was jobless and managed to start a small place doing small time car repairing. I then started buying old worn out cars from scrap dealers. If there were customers interested in getting it modified, I would start working on it," added D'souza.
His cars started becoming cynosure of many while their owners took them out on the roads. Slowly people started coming to him with their old vintage cars to give them brand new look.
"I have worked on an Austin 1945 model, which was completely charred. One would think that this car was as good as dead. But for me it's like giving it a new life. I don't use computers to prepare design and instead work on-the-spot with the welder along with my seven-member team," shared D'souza, who learnt most of the nuances by observation and keeping track of recent developments in automation industry.
"I never took work to make huge profit. All the expenses are incurred looking at condition of the car and owner's budget. In the entire process, I only get satisfaction of giving life to a car," D'souza said.