From backyard grease monkeys through to sleek, professional car customising companies, the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre was filled with anticipation as to whose ride would be judged the best.
The collected petrolheads, chrome addicts and paint job obsessives had gathered in the capital for the Barbican Turbo festival. A total of 125 customised cars were in hotted-up competition for an assortment of prizes. It was tough for the judges to distinguish between the efforts of those who fund their car customising from their own pockets and the big companies.
As well as a wide range of trophies and honourable mention certificates, there were two ultimate winners - a professional "Car of the Festival" winner as well as a prize for the best amateur. Although, as show organiser Dan Anslow said at the prize-giving ceremony, there was nothing amateur about any of the cars on show.
The winner of the pro section was Liberty Motor Sports, a firm of customisers based in Sharjah, with a pearly orange Cadillac Escalade featuring an interior tricked up with plenty of orange crocodile leather. In a nation overrun with indistinguishable SUVs, the orange Escalade is one that would certainly stand out on the school run.
The winning car among the non-pros was a rich red Ford Mustang GT owned by Ahmed Zayed. The judges were impressed by the retro-styling of the 4.6-litre GT with Anslow saying this machine "ticks all the right boxes."
There were plenty of prizes awarded to other cars that were talking points among the crowd and judges alike. Perhaps the only rightful winner of the "Craziest Modification" prize was a chop-topped Hummer H2. This beast is a testament to the region's love of bling - the badges were decked out in crystals and the seats were upholstered in an eye-popping combination of tangerine suede and Louis Vuitton branded leather. The logomania extended to the Louis Vuitton print finding its way to the dashboard, steering wheel and gear selector as well as the seats. Despite the obvious attention lavished on this car, one passer-by wasn't impressed. "Are they diamonds? No! They're fake!" he declared when he spotted the crystal-festooned badge and quickly moved on.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
