An eye-catching purple 1969 Dodge Charger customized by a Mississauga autobody shop was among the most talked-about vehicles at this year's Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo, offering a rare showcase for the collision repair trade on one of Canada's biggest custom car stages.
The vehicle, named VIIOLA, was positioned in a place of prominence at the entrance to the main hall at the International Centre near Toronto Pearson International Airport when the three-day event ran March 7–9, ensuring it was among the first things thousands of visitors saw each day.
It was built by Jagraj Grewal and his team at Co-Up Auto Body, the Mississauga shop his father, Kuldip Grewal, founded in 1989 on Kimbel St. Over more than three decades, the shop has grown from a collision repair operation into a full-service facility handling everything from passenger vehicles to heavy equipment, serving clients across the Greater Toronto Area and beyond.
Jagraj, who grew up around the shop and now works there as a licensed autobody technician, spent 10 months building the Charger. Finished in Plum Crazy purple using Cromax products from Axalta, the car rides on 22-inch TIS wheels and is powered by an aluminum-headed 440 cubic-inch RB engine topped with an 8-71 supercharger.
The build made its competitive debut at the 2024 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, where it finished as a runner-up.
"Growing up, I always liked the Charger in The Fast and the Furious," Grewal said. "I didn't want it to be black because I wanted it to have its own identity … and I love purple. It looks really nice with the chrome accenting."
Grewal said he entered his first custom car competition in 2013 and had long had a Charger build in mind. When the chance finally came, he decided to go all out — and to use the project as a way to show what a collision shop is truly capable of.
"As a bodyshop, we do focus more on collision, but this lets us showcase exactly what our team is capable of," he said. "That really helps us stand out to customers."
Elsewhere on the show floor, Les Sutak, a retired auto manufacturing veteran who spent part of his career as a tool and die technician at Ford, displayed a restored 1935 Ford pickup he has been building for the past nine years.
"My wife always told me I'd have plenty of time for this after I retired," Sutak said. "I guess she was right."
The finished truck features a rolled rear pan and a grille sourced from a 1933 model.
Motorama, now in its second decade, is one of Canada's largest indoor automotive events, drawing hundreds of custom vehicles, race cars and aftermarket exhibitors from across Canada and the United States each spring.
