According to sources Rakesh Babu's passion for vehicles is in his blood and his father has a workshop near his house in Cherthala of alappuzha district, where he grew up watching and practising the skills of a mechanic from childhood. His love for vehicles intensified day by day and he assembled a bike, jeep and a few other vehicles, but these were not very successful projects.
Furthermore he has now assembled a small car, in the model of a volkswagen Beetle with the scrap he got from his father's workshop. Rakesh tells TNM "It's all out of my love for vehicles. In 2009, soon after passing out of my diploma in industrial training, I assembled a motorbike. Later, I also tried to make a jeep. But these were not so successful as I couldn't spend money on them. I was without a job. They were just made out of scrap".
Moreover he used the engine of a Suzuki Samurai bike and the tyres of an autorickshaw for the car. Since he couldn't afford a reverse gear, he made one by himself. "The first model I made had to be kickstarted by the pedal. Later, I designed a self start system. This might be the first time that someone's assigning a self start system with a two stroke engine," he says. He designed the body by looking at the pictures of the Beetle. Currently Rakesh gets many calls asking him to assemble different vehicles. However, since he is using engines and parts of other old vehicles, there are legal restrictions on how he can use his skills for commercial purposes.
