By The Community
Not a promotion. A standard.
Let Me Tell You What I Saw
I walked into RPS in Islamabad the first time years ago with no agenda. Just curiosity.
I’d heard the name. Real Performance Shop. Conversions. AMGs. The purple Skyline that everyone talks about.
But what I found wasn’t what I expected.
I expected a typical high-end workshop. Owner’s cars inside. Customer cars waiting outside. Good work, sure, but the usual hierarchy.
Instead, I found something rare in Pakistan.
A shop where the work comes first. Where customer cars get the garage. Where the owner’s own Skyline sleeps outside, this confused me…why is the skyline lying outside while other cars even changan alsvins have the stage here?
And I left thinking one thing: Why isn’t every workshop like this?
The Man and The Team
Raheel bhai started RPS. He’s been in the game for years. MR2s, Skylines, the whole JDM era. Then he adapted when the scene changed.
But he’s not alone. He has partners. One of them owns the Corvette C6 on nitrous, LS7 powered a monster of a car. (big respect to Mustafa bhai , his car also is in the magazine) The team works together. No single ego dominates Mashaallah.
That matters. Because what RPS has built isn’t one man’s vanity project. It’s a collective standard as ive observed.
The Cars That Tell The Story
Let me list what sits outside RPS on any given day.
A purple Skyline R33 GTS with a 2JZ GTE swap. Owned by Raheel bhai. Not an RB lol.
A Nissan Stagea. A Corvette C6 on nitrous, LS7 partner’s car, not his. An RS6 sedan . Not the Avant. The sedan. Rumor says only three or four exist in the world.
And where do these cars park? Outside. In the open. Under the sun.
Inside the workshop? Customer cars. A BMW 340i that absolutely dominated social media with viral clips, thousands of views. AMGs. M cars. Regular sedans getting proper care.
Fasih ki gari pata ni kyun hazri lagati udhar often , lovely guy too btw mashaallah :p
I’ve seen the opposite at so many shops. The owner’s collection parked inside under covers. Customer cars left to bake, waiting for attention and mazay ki baat that is common , people have ruined cars after one swap or such.
At RPS, Opposite tha….
That shouldn’t be remarkable. But in Pakistan, it is.
The Work Itself
RPS pioneered conversions in Pakistan. Not the idea but the execution.
Because of our tax system, you can’t just import a C63. So shops buy a local C200, source a full cut of a C63, and transform it. RPS mastered this process.
Walk into their workshop. It looks European. Lifts, tools, organization. Not a typical garage with oil stains and scattered parts.
The craftsmanship? People drive from other cities. The 340i that went viral? Built here. The Corvette? Tuned here. The purple R33? Maintained here.
And the parts network is solid. Even small, obscure parts get sourced in good time. Fair pricing. No “come back next month.”
The Islamabad Factor
Here’s a theory.
Islamabad runs on paperwork, regulations, order. Not the wild west of other cities. That environment encourages honest work. You can’t survive here on shortcuts. Customers check. Word spreads. Social media exposes bad work fast.
RPS thrived because they chose to do things properly from day one. Not because they’re special. Because in Islamabad, “chalta hai” doesn’t fly.
Other cities have talented builders too. But the culture of cutting corners is stronger there. Here, honest work wins.
Maybe that’s why RPS leads in conversions today. Not luck. Not just skill. A city that rewards integrity.
What I Want to See
I’m not writing this to put RPS on a pedestal.
I’m writing this because I want every workshop in Pakistan to ask themselves: Why aren’t we doing this?
Why is customer priority remarkable? Why is clean work the exception? Why do we accept mediocrity from so many builders?
RPS proved it’s possible. Fair prices. European standards. Customer cars inside, owner’s toys outside.
That should be the baseline. Not a legend.
The Carnama Connection
Before the magazine launched, the idea was evaluated messily in this shop. Conversations led to ideas…..
RPS didn’t just build cars. They helped build a vision for documenting Pakistan’s car culture.
But the real story isn’t the magazine. It’s the standard.
Something Is Cooking
There’s a new project at RPS right now. Revolutionary, they say. Four series hai bas 😀
If it raises the bar again, good. That’s what we need. More shops pushing higher.
The Truth
RPS isn’t perfect. No shop is.
But they do something that should be normal and in Pakistan, it’s not.
They put work before ego. Customers before collections. Quality before speed.
That’s not praise. That’s a standard.
And I’d love to see more shops meet it.
What’s Next?
We’ll visit more workshops. Some good, some bad. We’ll call out what works and what doesn’t.
Because the scene deserves better than “chalta hai.”
THE FULL STORY
Find more in the Carnama magazine.
Special Thanks
To Raheel bhai and his partners. For making customer cars the priority. Even when it meant a 2JZ Skyline slept outside.
That’s the standard.
From all of us who were there, and all of us who still are.