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Magnetic mean green Hulk machine

Here’s a prime example of car creativity the whole family had a hand in. The Mean Green Hulk Machine is the product not only of years of experience, but each member of the Creighton family had something to offer in the build.

Spotted at the latest Killarney Motor Show, the wasabi green colour of this Hyundai H1 was a petrolkop magnet, drawing people from afar to wonder at this van.

Up front, you don’t see many Hyundai vans getting such treatment, and with that bodykit most people don’t know what they’re looking at. Keeps ’em guessing, the way good art should.

Husband and wife Siraaj and Fazlin Creighton have been buying, fixing and selling cars since the mid-1990s. With Fazlin into graphic design and Siraaj into fitting and tuning, they ran a successful engineering business for many years.

Fazlin tells of the range of vehicles they have restored and turned into collectibles over the years. These include a BMW 330i convertible, a BMW 530i diesel, a Renault Megane F1 Limited Edition, two Karman Ghias, a Porsche RSK 718, Renault Espace and the beast of them all: a Chevrolet Lumina UTE SS.

As Fazlin and Siraaj shifted their focus to car styling and accessories, their eldest son Tashriq got into their workshop and learned the art of molding plastic, with younger son Arshaad getting into

vinyl wrapping. Fazlin says: “They are both naturals.”

As a reward, the boys got a Gusheshe (BMW E30 325i), South Africa’s number one spin car, “to turn them to the dark side of being petrolkoppe”, says Fazlin lightly. Obviously, there was always a side skirt, rear wing and decals on them.

The Hyundai has received the full treatment. Starting with a debadging for anonymity, then a molded front bumper delivering attitude up front. Fazlin says: “We added sequential lights in the headlights, cut the front grille and dropped it lower, added side skirts and widened it to accentuate the wide arches. Then we added a molded doubled front lip to drop the front of the van even more, added a rear wing and rear diffuser.”

A Wasabi Green wrap and Hulk fists logos on the front and rear carry the van’s identity, but there’s more action in the rear. The interior build includes a full-blown Android TV, X-Box and speaker setup. Without going into too much detail, we’re talking five amps and as many speakers and subs of various sizes they power, supported by three extra car batteries and a 1,500 watt inverter. Somehow this setup annoys “a very distant neighbor that comes screaming and complaining that we are causing her windows to rattle, and she can’t bear the noise even when we play it at its softest.”

The engine hasn’t been touched yet as it was redone just last year, but Fazlin says they are considering either the famous 2J motor or a Lexus V8 engine. Riding on those 20-inch wheels finished in a custom gold spray, the Creightons are planning an interior seat makeover that will turn the Mean Green Hulk Machine into an eye-catching party bus.

The beauty of this van is that, for all its bells and whistles, it remains a workhorse and a mobile advert for Fazlin and Siraaj’s business ventures into the art of transforming people’s rides.

Fazlin comments: “People are sometimes afraid of building a body kit that looks different from the rest and then are blown away at what we are capable of if given the opportunity to create art cars inside and out. We build and mould body kits for any make and model of any brand of car, build and install sound systems and full car wrapping and vehicle branding.”

And back to the family, where everyone contributes, says Fazlin: “I’ve incorporated our own clothing merchandise branding that our daughter Sherazaan does in-house. Next, I’m encouraging my other son to do software and vehicle electronics.”

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