A local car designer who built a car for Wesley Snipes will display his work at this weekend?s car show.

Kevin Busby has been around the car business all his life and still works out of the Pembroke garage of his father, Calvin Busby.

?I have been doing this my whole life, since I was a toddler,? Mr. Busby said. ?I was brought up in the business.?

Hidden at the back of the garage, Kevin Busby and the employees of KB Custom Design turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.

He is presently working on a conversion between a Mitsubishi Montero and Lincoln Navigator.

The truck and two other cars will be going to Las Vegas to represent Bermuda at the the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas from November 1 to 4.

?The SEMA show is the premier automotive speciality products trade event in the world,? he said. Mr. Busby is used to displaying and designing cars in the United States as he was headhunted by a Florida company and he worked for them for years designing cars for celebrities.

Two Washington Redskins? football players have had cars designed by him, as has Penny Hardaway of the New York Knicks and actor Wesley Snipes.

The interior of David Mathias? conversion car has been completely refitted.

?The equipment he has in here is over $15,000 at least,? he said. Having spent three months of labour on this one car he wanted to save the unveiling of the interior of the Mitsubishi?s for the car and bike show on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m to 8 p.m. at the Bull?s Head Car Park.

Mr. Busby said it took him six weeks just to fit the front of a Lincoln Navigator onto the Montero. ?The main body of the Montero is a Mistubishi,? Mr. Busby explained. ?It?s just had a face lift.?

The rear bumper of the car is identical to one owned by basketball player Shaquille O?Neal.

However, the American design was two feet too large to fit on Bermuda?s roads and Mr. Busby had to shave it down.

He also installed unique fibreglass and PVC designs which he has been working on for the last three months.

?It?s very expensive,? Mr. Busby said. ?The cars start out at $4,500 and go up to $35,000 to $45,000.?

But he said the refit of Mr. Mathias? car was closer to $60,000.

Since moving back to the Island five years ago Mr. Busby has designed about 15 cars.

?The market is small here,? he said. ?Only a handful of people can afford it at this level. In the States it is profitable because of the celebrities and ballplayers.?