DC — from district Columbia? No it’s Dilip Chhabria silly!

Onlookers are mystified as to what these vehicles are? And the mouths open with shock when people get to know that they are ‘Made in India’.

DC actually stands for Dilip Chhabria, a Mumbai entrepreneur and auto-enthusiast, who has stripped and re-modelled just about every car seen on the Indian road.

He is here again with an Ambassador, a Tata Sierra, an Esteem, a Zen, a Gypsy, even a Yamaha RXG.

In his Mumbai facility, cars are completely stripped and barring the original chassis, the complete car is made to wear new clothes. All hand-crafted. At a price, of course.

The remodelled Ambassador for example costs Rs 5 lakh besides the basic cost of an Ambassador. A Tata Sierra costs Rs 8 lakh over the basic cost. But few people would have seen an Ambassador look so beautiful. For that matter, one wonders if they can even recognise it. The vehicles wear a completely new look, looking like some firang car from the yankyland.

According to Chhabria, it takes between five to six months to redesign each new car, and subsequently anywhere between two to three months for a repeat order.

Are there enough takers? To this Chhabria gives quizzical looks and says "there will always be enough takers for a work of art."

In any case, who cares about orders, Chhabria does it for pleasure. India is yet to mature into a market where such remodelling can be thrust down the throats of gullible buyers, who can buy anything that looks sexy, and well, walks or runs on four wheels.

A word of caution to all those whose pulses must be racing already! The vehicles present here haven’t been tested on the road as yet, but there is little chance of any problem, assures Chhabria. "In all the vehicles, we use maximum number of OEM components," he claims.

These redesigned, made-to-look-sexy products are not for the masses, but surely worth a dekko!