Mark Wahlberg signed a Penang man’s Kelisa. He turns 51 this week.

Raymond Koe never expected his birthday to include a moment with a Hollywood star. The owner of Koe Used Car in Penang turns 51 on 19 July, and he says this is the best birthday gift he has ever received.

Koe’s Kelisa, a car many Malaysians grew up knowing as an everyday budget ride, was picked for a role in Netflix’s upcoming film The Big Fix. The Kelisa was once Malaysia’s answer to affordable motoring, a common sight on Penang roads and in workshops rather than film sets. For one to end up in a Hollywood production marks a strange turn for a car more associated with daily errands than the big screen.

What Koe did not anticipate was that the film’s star, Mark Wahlberg, would get into the car in person and leave his signature on it. For a man who spends his days buying, selling and valuing used cars, watching an A list actor sit behind the wheel of his own Kelisa was not something he had ever imagined as part of the job.

“This is truly the happiest birthday gift I’ve ever received. 🥰🥳✌️” Koe said. “Mark Wahlberg got into my Kelisa and signed his autograph. I never imagined something like this would happen. Thank you for making my birthday so special!”

For Koe, who runs his business selling used cars in Penang, seeing a vehicle from his own lot connected to an international film production is not something he saw coming. A Kelisa sitting on a Hollywood set, with a star like Wahlberg behind the wheel, is a long way from its usual life on Penang’s roads. It is the kind of story that turns into something Koe will likely be telling customers and friends for years.

News of the autograph has already caught attention among car enthusiasts in Penang, many of whom see the Kelisa as a piece of local motoring history rather than a candidate for Hollywood fame. Whether the film itself brings more attention to Koe’s dealership remains to be seen, but for now, the timing of the moment, arriving just before his birthday, has made it personal in a way Koe did not expect.

Koe says he has no plans to sell the autographed Kelisa. For now, he is keeping it, and he says he is simply grateful for a birthday he will not forget.