Cambodia's favourite backyard mechanic unveils second home-made car
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - A year after causing a stir by building Cambodia's first car, backyard mechanic Nhean Pholeouk is at it again and doubled home-grown production with a second zippy model.
Pholeouk's lime green convertible has all the touches a Cambodian car connoisseur might demand: seats that turn into massage chairs with the flick of a switch, a state-of-the-art sound system soon to be joined by a television for drive-along karaoke, and a rock-bottom price.
In a downtown garage next to the car-wash business he runs for his day job, Pholeouk assembled his "Angkor 2004" model for 2,700 dollars, less than half the cost of a typical second-hand, Japanese-made automobile in the kingdom.
"This new car was 99 percent made with my own hands," he said, boasting of the stylish four-seater, which took 15 months to finish.
Admittedly, the engine was made in Japan and picked up for a song at a local market, the front headlights were taken from a 1998 Toyota Corolla, and the air-conditioning system was bought ready-made.
But Pholeouk, 47, said the rest of the car was mostly shaped with his own hands, from the sheet metal he painstakingly cut to the rear headlights inserted inside plastic waterpipes sprayed silver.
He even bought a sewing machine to craft the seat covers.
"I didn't believe that I'd be able to do it. I had to struggle -- sometimes I hit obstacles that made me want to walk away, but I reminded myself that I had to be successful," Pholeouk said.
The Angkor 2004 has a top speed of 120 kilometres (75 miles) per hour, and its 50-litre tank can clock 700 kilometres.
In a bustling city where motorcycles and bicycles are still the primary mode of transport and just a few models of imported cars weave through the traffic, Pholeouk's dashing effort is turning heads.
The bright colour is shocking enough, but the sight of a car's roof peeling back as it cruises the streets is leaving jaws slack and some people opening their wallets.
"When I drive along the road, they ask me whether I bought the car from Germany or Japan," he said.
"There are a lot of people in the city who have asked if they can buy the car from me, but I've told them I haven't decided yet whether to sell it."
Pholeouk's hope is to snare the Cambodian government as a partner in order to start mass producing an "Angkor" brand, named after the kingdom's prized ancient temple complex.
Home-grown entrepreneurs are few and far between in destitute Cambodia, an aid-dependent country slowly emerging from nearly three decades of armed conflict that ended just six years ago.
