Lé Vespa aficionado: Sajib Islam
Till now, Sajib has accumulated a total of 16 Vespas in his collection.
Hobbies often stem from childhood memories and experiences stacked over the years. As a child, Sajib spent incalculable hours going back and forth from home to school on his father's 1961 Italian Vespa VBB.
In his early teens, Sajib would sneak out with his father's VBB and drive around.
Sajib grew old and so did the VBB. As years passed, the VBB started spending more time lying in its garage bed than riding the streets. It seemed like its 26 years of service had finally paid off and come to an end.
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However, after almost a decade, while heading out of Old Dhaka's Bismillah Kabab Ghar, Sajib crossed paths with a beautiful 1984 Vespa Alpha that had just been restored by the Vespa maestro - Badsha bhai.
That momentous inspiration swayed Sajib to bring his father's Vespa back to life as a token of appreciation.
On the night before Eid-Ul-Fitr of 2015, Sajib surprised his father - Golam Mohammad, with the restored VBB.
"My father did not recognise his Vespa at first. He thought I had bought a new one for him. The moment father realised it was his very own Vespa, he found no words that could express his happiness."
His father's appreciation that night ignited Sajib's long lost affection for Vespas and since then, collecting Vespas has grown into a passion.
Till now, Sajib has accumulated a total of 16 Vespas in his collection. His line-up consists of seven Italian and nine Indian Vespas.
Over the years, Sajib has sourced his collectibles from different parts of Bangladesh. He mentioned that Italian Vespas are very rare, hard to find, and hence, are highly desired by Vespa enthusiasts.
The Indian ones, on the other hand, are moderately available but have a lower demand compared to the Italian Vespas.
Compared to the four-stroke motor vehicles, the two-stroke can be very high-maintenance.
While talking about the challenges of maintaining Vespas, Sajib said, "Maintaining a Vespa can become quite challenging. Some parts are readily available in the market while others are like rare gems - hard to find. It was a lot more challenging when I started collecting but as people have started growing interest in Vespas, spare sellers have started importing more varieties of parts."
Sajib mainly sources his required parts from Jashore and even if all the parts are available, Sajib expressed how hard it is to find mechanics for Vespas.
These scooters were very popular till the early 1990s and since then, the demand for Vespas dropped drastically. It has led Vespa mechanics to shift their profession as well.
Now, only a handful of people who know how to work Vespas remain and they are spread across the country.
In this regard, Sajib said, "Badsha bhai works on my Vespas in Dhaka and the ones I source from Cumilla are worked on by Akkas chacha. They only work on the engine. I have to get the rest of the work done from different places in Dhaka."
With great passion comes great responsibility. To restore a Vespa, Sajib gets the engine, denting, and painting work done from different garages. He sources the general accessories from Bongshal.
On top of that, he collects certain accessories from different sources which often take time.
Speaking to Sajib made me realise that enthusiasts need to have a lot of patience to maintain and expand their collection.
The restoration timespan of a Vespa completely depends on its condition. The better the condition, the lesser time it needs to be restored. The same is the case for the restoration cost; the worse the condition, the higher the restoration cost.
So, why do you think Sajib keeps up with his passion for Vespas?
Sajib said, "I collect Vespas so that when the next generation (my nephews and nieces) grows up, they can experience its heritage and carry on its legacy. I want to keep collecting Vespas for as long as I can. Someday, if I can, I will build a museum for my Vespas. My father would have been happy today if he were alive."
In memory of his father, Sajib named his collection GM Vespa Società. To know more about Sajib's collection, visit:- https://www.facebook.com/gm.vespa.bd
