It could be the unicorn-glow that catches your eye. Or the flash of your own reflection. Either way, Ali Latif knows that if he passes you in his car on the streets of Toronto, you’re going to take notice.
Having wrapped his Model Y in reflective vinyl — the feat took the industry professional 38 hours with the help of his wife, Reema — Latif, 33, says his tightly clad ride now serves as a showstopper.
It’s a sort of portfolio-on-wheels, a moving business card. It signals that, in the realm of automotive wrapping and embellishment, this specialist knows his stuff.
Beneath the glitzy outfit of Latif’s car is a simple, trusted Tesla, a tangible reminder of the hard work that made his dream come true … and of the woman who’s been along for the ride.
Latif takes up the story:
“I met my wife — at the time, my girlfriend — in 2015. Her birthday was coming up, and, of course, I wanted to impress her. She’d been talking a lot about this amazing electric car being developed by a company called ‘Tesla.’
At the time, this car that didn’t need fuel seemed like a brand new idea, and she was fascinated by it.
Unfortunately, buying a Tesla for her birthday wasn’t an option — seeing as though it was about $100,000 out of my price range.
So, instead, I did some research and found someone in º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøhad one and was willing to rent it out to me for the day. I picked her up for her birthday in that Tesla as a surprise that year. She loved it, of course …. But me? I really loved it.
The Tesla’s flashy exterior may be impossible to miss, but it’s the quality of the car underneath that initially grabbed his attention, Latif says.
for º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøStarI’ve always been a car guy and after driving the Tesla I couldn’t get it out of my mind. The complete lack of maintenance, the growing charger network and the instant torque … I was hooked. And I started renting it, and I did that again and again.
As the years went by, the company got better and supercars eventually came out. I kept thinking maybe, just maybe, one day, we’d have one of our own. I rented the Tesla for our road trips. I rented it so many times after that, I think it started annoying my wife.
We even got married in a Tesla.
Financially, though, it was always just a little bit out of reach.
All this time I’d been working in finance and accounting, and when COVID eventually hit, I was forced to figure out a new form of income. Looking towards self-employment, I’d seen someone wrapping vehicles on TV, and, professionally speaking, it seemed the perfect fit. I’d always wanted to work with cars, but was just not a huge fan of getting my hands dirty. But this was the polished side of the industry. I signed up for as much training as I could find and afford.
Fast forward to today and I now work full-time as a PPF (Paint Protection Film) installer and automotive protective care professional. I work for private garages, and, often, with luxury cars, such as Rolls-Royces and Aston Martins.
It’s been a wild ride.
In the midst of that massive change, about a year-and-a-half ago, my dream of owning a Tesla finally came true. We considered it a business purchase, or at least that’s what I told my wife to convince her to take the leap. It was a joint purchase in the end, and it coincidentally arrived on our wedding anniversary.
When I decided I wanted to wrap it — this was sort of an experiment for me to improve my skills — I asked her to pick the colour. We wrapped it together, starting on a Friday evening and finishing on a Sunday night at 3 a.m.
Since then, it’s generated so much business. People approach me all the time when they see it and ask me what I do for a living. I tell them that I don’t have my own shop quite yet. That’s another dream … one I hope will come true this year.
A wrap like this one will theoretically last two to three years, but my wife is now kind of antsy to change it up again … maybe to something like a silver, maybe this summer.
But me, I’m not sure. I think I’d like to keep it this way just a little bit longer.
Ali Latif says hand-wrapping his Tesla in chrome film took 38 hours, a project that couldn’t have been accomplished without the help of his wife Reema.
for º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøStar“I love the way it looks, and so does everyone who sees it.â€
For the exterior I used a vinyl wrap that’s applied along the car’s exterior — a chrome film. Yes, it’s primarily for esthetics, but it does provide some degree of protection. A solid wrap, such as a pink or purple, is difficult enough to apply, but, because this has a mirror-finish, it takes much more time and precision. The goal is that, if you stood in front of it, you could see your own reflection. I often notice people taking off their glasses off when I pass by, thinking they’re giving off a sheen when it’s just the wrap — and kids really seem to love it when I pass by a schoolyard.
“Tesla’s safety features have allowed me to let my vehicle shine.â€
The Model Y is actually Tesla’s bestseller class and it’s in high demand — it’s a crossover version of Tesla’s fleet — and we picked it because of the space and because of the safety. Tesla’s safety features are just amazing: sentry mode, for example, records whenever someone is close to your car when its parked and saves a clip. The 360-dash-cam is a huge plus if you ever get into an accident or in trouble, and the car is connected to the Tesla network remotely if ever it were stolen. I personally believe, given how my Tesla looks, it would have been stolen or vandalized by now if it were any other car.
NOTE: If you love your car, write and tell us, briefly, why at wheels@thestar.ca
