What is your daily drive?
A 2017 Mercedes S550. I love everything about it, the aesthetics of it, the technology. Growing up as a kid, everybody said I want a Ferrari, I want a Lambo — and I had those cars. But, when I was growing up, if you had a Mercedes, you were somebody.
So I had that image in my head that one day I was going to own an S550. I have owned probably six of them since 2004. When I am here at work, everything is so fast-paced.
The only time I have a little bit of peace is driving home and coming to work. And this Mercedes is very comfortable.
Have you personalised it?
It’s all factory except the licence plate that says Avorza, which is my brand. Every time I have owned a car I loved and personalised it, and I park it in the front, within a week someone walks in and says is that your car? I want to buy it. My wife said don’t personalise your Mercedes, and that way they don’t buy your car off the lot.
Anything else in your garage?
I have two Polaris Slingshots. Polaris gave them to me to use for their events and I customised them pretty nice. That is more of the weekend going around when I want to enjoy Miami sun.
It’s a big eye-catcher and, trust me, a lot of people want to buy it. But it has a sentimental value because it was a gift, and I personalised it the way I like it.
You have lots of famous customers?
By the time I opened my company in 2004, I had a great following. Fifty per cent of my business is the clients I have had for a few years and I do work for a lot of dealerships. But the other 50 per cent yes, we have a lot of athletes and a lot of celebrities. A lot of ball players.
Biggest names?
Marc Anthony owns six yachts and I have done custom theatre systems, sound and music, and custom furniture for them. We have done a Mercedes limousine for him.
On the show’s last episode, people will get to see us do a Mercedes Metris that he calls his land jet. We just finished doing a 1968 Mercedes SL for Jennifer Lopez, she had this car from a long time ago, Marc gave it to her and we bought it back to life for her. Other customers are Vin Diesel, Floyd Mayweather, Usain Bolt ...
You hadn’t heard of Usain Bolt?
I heard we had Usain Bolt’s Jeep in and I asked my staff who he was. My staff said, are you crazy, he’s the world’s fastest man! I called him up. He said is this Alex Vega? I said is this Usain Bolt? It was kinda funny.
His Jeep was a fun project, we did it in Jamaican colours, yellow, green and black. Also in the back when we did the sound system, we did the Olympic rings.
Biggest customer?
I would say Hanley Ramirez. The last team he played for was Boston Red Sox. I have a file of all the clients and their cars. His file probably takes one fourth of it. He probably has 63 cars.
Most outrageous request?
Songwriter-singer-producer Akon bought me a truck that was literally a chassis. I have the process on my Youtube channel. He wanted to build a studio like a box truck that looks like a commercial truck but he said “Inside I want a studio with a bedroom”. It took me a year, it was like building a house.
Whose car would you like to do?
I would love to do a car for Robert De Niro, if he is as interesting as he is in movies, I can just imagine doing a car for him.
How many vehicles are you working on?
Probably over 60 cars. I have more than 36 employees — in Miami and in our manufacturing plant in Los Angeles where I manufacture our own wheels.
Cars most popular with stars?
The most common are the Jeeps. You can make them look so different. There are so many things you can do to change them. And people love the fact that almost anybody can afford a Jeep. They see them in the streets and go wow, look at that Jeep. The owners love the attention.
● The Auto Firm with Alex Vega screens on Sky’s Discovery Turbo Thursdays from July 12, 8.30pm.