My Ferrari 360 and gold-plated BMW

When competitors spend hundreds of thousands of dollars turning a car into a work of art they want the world to know what they've done.  Take Mohamed Ibrahim, the owner of a Sydney custom paint and panel shop.

He owns three Ferraris, has had about 10 over the years, and his job is to create great-looking wild machines for a host of customers.  His latest Ferrari fleet includes a red 2002 360 Modena, a white 2004 360 Spyder convertible and a yellow 355.

And there's his gold car, a BMW.  "Tell them Mohamed Ibrahim, Queen St Smash Repairs, is coming to MotorEx this year to kick some arse."  Ibrahim says he has spent about $200,000 on gold plating the German supercar. Every nut and bolt is gold. The exterior is black.

He estimates it will be worth close to $1million when it is unveiled at next weekend's MotorEx custom, modified and collectable car show at the Sydney Showgrounds.  It's the 10th anniversary of the show that proudly promotes chrome, polish, extravagance and wild machinery and everyone's putting in a big effort to make it the best ever.

And Ibrahim is certainly playing his part with about 10 cars modified by his shop to go on show. He says the gold-plated car is aimed at making a statement for Australia in the showcar world where in the US, Asian and the Middle East showcars now come encrusted in crystals and diamantes.

Ibrahim bought his red 360 Modena F1 Ferrari two years ago in stock condition.  The 3.6-litre V8 2-door coupe was capable of firing from standing still to 100km/h in 4.5 seconds in stock form though it drank fuel at the rate of 13.6L/100km according to the official statistics.

He says it underwent a three month makeover where he added 22-inch wheels, upgraded the engine and exhaust and re-did the interior.  Now it's such a head-turner that he says he watched stunned recently when a driver in another car was taking such a good look at the machine, he didn't apply his brakes and crashed into another car in front of him.

The red (it's actually called brandy wine) Modena now spends most of its life earning its keep as a wedding car for people to hire.  Ibrahim says while he enjoys many brands of cars Ferraris have a special feel for him.

"I've always loved them from when I was a little kid," he says.  The Modena will appear at MotorEx in a new category known as Street Elite, for the best cars that can be driven on the street.

Meguiar's MotorEx managing director Bruce Morrison says: "The emergence of elite levels of body, paint, engine bay, interiors, plus the use of innovation, special effect finishing, clever engineering and drivability fit into more of a Street Elite category.

"Driving this new category are the people still prepared to spend what it takes to build their dream car and show it to the world, but also want to drive it."

Apart from wild show cars, this year's MotorEx will also feature displays of muscle cars, custom motorcycles and luxury supercars.  The ShowTime freestyle motocrossers will also perform their array of aerial craziness.

On Sunday week Shannons will have a custom and collectable auction featuring about 40 vehicles as part of the show.  The stars include an original Holden Torana A9X hatchback.  Shannons says it was the first homologation special built in 1977.

It says: "It was initially one of two GM-H press and promotional vehicles before being acquired by leading Sydney Holden dealer and racing driver Ron Hodgson and has covered just 16,000km since new in the hands of a series of careful collector/owners."  The Torana is expected to fetch up to $290,000. 

Also up for bidding is an ex-Dick Johnson racing 1983 Mustang GT.  Johnson imported two cars for the 1985 Australian touring car season and raced them with limited success until he replaced them with the giant-killing turbocharged Cosworth Sierras in which he eventually won the Bathurst 1000 in 1989. The auctioneers say the car should fetch up to $220,000.