CONNECT COMMENT EMAIL MORE VINELAND - Santos Pagan laughs now about when his protective parents denied him his own ride when he was at Vineland High School. “I didn’t get to drive, I had to take the bus,' said Pagan, a Class of ’89 graduate. “My parents didn’t want nothing to do with me driving when I was in school because the kids get careless.” But Pagan, 44, who now goes by the moniker “Saint,” found his way into the auto world with access to some of the world’s most exclusive vehicles.

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On Tuesday, he celebrates the premiere of “Unique Rides,' a television show airing at 9 p.m. on the Velocity Channel. Santos, now part of car designer Will Castro's team that customizes rides for a celebrity client list, was on hand in the Long Island, New York, shop where six episodes were filmed last year. “One of the reasons I got into customizing — everyone has a Honda; everyone has BMW; everyone has Mercedes — what we do, we make it your own,” he said.

“It’s us making it one of one.” “We make it unique so when you are driving down the road, you can pull up to another Mercedes and you know that it’s not the same,” Pagan said. After he graduated from VHS, Pagan played some college baseball and then got his commercial driver’s license. When he moved to Miami, Pagan said he crossed paths with Castro, who offered him a job transporting high-end vehicles. “In Miami, we see a lot of Bentleys, Rolls Royce, Ferrari Italia, Porches, a lot of exotics,” he said, noting the show was then called “Unique Whips” and aired on the Speed Channel.

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Pagan recalled his first celebrity client encounter, when he delivered a freshly-customized black wide body Challenger to Yankee Stadium for then-starting Yankees starting pitcher A.J. “I treat them normal,” he said, trying not to get star struck when he's among the who's who. Among this season’s clients are singers Jason Derulo and Busta Rhymes, as well as the New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony and New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.