'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

Recently when social media netizens stumbled upon the Afghan sports car 'The Black Swan' they became transfixed. A sleek and low-slung black model with a throaty exhaust note and a Toyota Corolla engine — it stirred up a lot of enthusiasm and awe. 

But as I followed the frenzy online, an old memory tugged at me — the memory of a similar low-slung black car built from old Volkswagens, that too on the streets of Dhaka in the late 1990s. I remembered Leemobil, Leepusine, and all those car conversions on the History channel; and I remembered Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu, a Bangladeshi car automotive engineer and designer, who is currently residing in the United States with his family. 

The first thing that makes a striking impression is perhaps Leepu's mutton chops on his wide face, similar to that of the iconic Elvis Presley. And as it turns out, Leepu indeed has been inspired by the king of rock and roll. He wanted to be the Elvis of Bangladesh, not with music, but rather with the art of his automobile designs. 

The connection might be slightly stretched, but once you get to know Leepu and his extraordinary talent for turning old junk cars into gorgeous luxury duplicates, you could understand the link with Elvis. You see, while Elvis was popular in multiple music genres (including pop, country, rhythm, blues, gospel, etc), a maestro of music, Leepu's expertise in cars is vast and wide, making him a virtuoso of cars. For instance, he can turn a Toyota Sprinter into a Ferrari, a sedan into a limousine, and a Volkswagen into a Lamborghini. 

Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Essentially, Leepu gives a new look to the old four-seaters. 

Then finally, in 2012, Leepu made his own four-seater 'Suruj.' "The day I finished making it, I felt as if a boulder was taken off my chest, [it felt] as though the storm inside my head calmed down and I became as light as a feather. 

Photo: Collected

"And now I am not crazy about cars anymore. I have achieved everything that I wanted," a proud Leepu told The Business Standard.  

Well, I thought, he might be entirely correct. Following a passion for automobiles, being featured on AFP and BBC at the age of 35, having a show on Discovery, co-hosting a show with Pitbull on the History channel, and then finally acquiring the E11 visa (immigration rule that offers green cards to individuals who prove to be the "best of the best" in their field) to the US — if that's not a lifetime achievement for a veteran car enthusiast and expert, then what is?

'I had my first car at the age of 16'

Leepu was born in 1968, to a well-to-do family in Dhaka. His father was an officer at the US embassy in Bangladesh and then in Saudia Arabia. Leepu grew up in Jigatola and Dhanmondi. And he studied at Dhaka Residential Model College.

"I failed my matric final exam in mathematics. I was never good at it and I didn't want to copy from my friends. My father, who had never stood second in his academic life, got frustrated," recalled Leepu, adding, "It was not like my father didn't try. He hired the best maths teacher [for private tuition], and paid Tk6,000 back in the 1980s. But I never paid any attention."

In 1986, Leepu was taken to Saudi Arabia with his family and he was admitted to the Bangladesh International School in Jeddah, where he passed the secondary certificate exam with seven letter marks.   

At the age of 16, he became fully invested in cars.

In Riyadh, Leepu first saw the luxury cars that were owned by the Saudi princes. Rows of dazzling branded cars with never-seen-before dents and models. Italian sports cars were his favourite — Lamborghini, Ferrari and Limousine. 

"The colour that those cars had were customised and the rich princes bought the copyright for millions of dollars. That's where I first had my eyes on a red Lamborghini Countach and I just fell head over heels for it," reminiscenced Leepu, with a hint of glee rising in his voice.

Later, when Leepu got admitted to college for higher secondary studies there, his father got him a driving licence and a Japanese Mazda. "I wanted to buy that Countach but my father had said that he couldn't even buy the tires, let alone the car itself. I didn't mind as I was the only 16-year-old in my class who drove his own car," he continued. 

Photo: Collected

From there, Leepu's father wanted him to study abroad in the US. But Leepu wanted to make that Countach for himself and he knew he wouldn't be able to in the US. As the Awlia family returned to Bangladesh, Leepu took over the garage of their Jigatola home and started working on his project. 

Without any higher education or academic training, Leepu taught himself the anatomy and physiology of cars. 

"For the next three years, I bought six to seven cars — old Hondas, Toyotas, and even Volkswagens, dismantled them and studied what was inside. I used to roam around the city and found motor workshops to see how they work, the kinds of tools they used, and where they sourced those from. I ordered motorcar magazines and books, and read all about cars."

Although his father did not approve of Leepu's interest, he still financially sponsored it. "I had the luxury of having a garage to myself and a father who gave me the luxury to play with cars at the age of 17," said Leepu, admitting his privilege. 

In 1989, he had already made a version of his dream car, the Lamborghini Countach, using the chassis of an old Honda. Leepu named the car Leemobil (Leepu Mobil)

From 1991 to 1997, Leepu was in the US where his father enrolled him in the General Motors education programme to study automobile engineering, but Leepu was not interested. Instead, Leepu enrolled in a vocational training centre in Los Angeles where he garnered practical experience in handling cars. 

Later he established his own workshop in LA where he repaired and customised automobiles. 

"By this time, my father had stopped giving me money and left the US. I was all alone and I was missing what I wanted to do — making cars of my own designs. 

"In 1998, with just $2,000 in my pocket, I returned to Bangladesh. My family was not happy with whatever I had been doing all these years," said Leepu. This is also the year when he went to his maternal grandparents' home in Brahmanbaria, where he married the girl chosen for him by his grandfather.

Photo: Collected

I made my own 'Leepusine'

"I always dreamt that I would be in a limousine at my wedding. Instead, I was on a boat during the devastating flood of 1998, wearing my grandfather's pajama-panjabi. I didn't have the money to do anything," said Leepu. 

The same year, he would return to Dhaka, take over the old garage and start his own business of repairing cars. In his specially converted garage, Leepu worked with four mechanics, stripping down Japanese cars and replacing their bodywork with metal cut in the form of a sleek Italian sports car.

The sheet metal they used came from the same stock used to make rickshaws. "That's it. That's the one job I learned — working with automobiles. I repaired cars, customised them, and my wife took care of the family," said Leepu. 

Soon, in a few year's time, Leepu made a loose copy of another one of his dream cars — a Lamborghini Diablo. "My version is called a Leepu," he said. 

And in 2002, Leepu made a 22-feet long limousine by welding together several cars, powered by a 2.8-litre diesel engine. "I wanted to be on a limousine when I went to marry. Instead, I made my own Leepusine and took my wife and kids to a wedding in the capital's Sheraton hotel. Everyone was looking at my car as it stood in the row," recalled Leepu. 

It took him 40 days to make the limousine, which contains a drinks cabinet, onboard TV, intercom, and stereo. He estimates that it would be worth more than $50,000 if it was sold. "Most people in Dhaka had never seen such a huge car," he remembered, and it was something to see everyone's jaws dropping. 

In 2002, Leepu was featured on AFP and then again on BBC in 2003. Photo: Collected

From Bangla Bangers in 2007 to a show with Pitbull in 2015

In 2002, Leepu was featured on AFP and then again on BBC in 2003. After that, he caught Discovery Channel's attention, and in 2006, Leepu and Bernie Feynman were featured in the channel's programme called 'Bangla Bangers' about making customised cars in Dhaka. At Discovery Channel, he was tied up for eight weeks to make two cars, which he did in seven weeks with Bernie Feynman.

In April 2006, his first car was unveiled during a three-day show at the Dhaka Motor Show. This show was held at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre. The car was one of Leepu's sports models made in four weeks using a 22-year-old Toyota Sprinter chassis. 

On 7 May 2006, Leepu's second car was unveiled. In June, Leepu was invited to work on a car project by Rich Mix Centre in East London, where he worked on the project for two months. That year, he was invited as the "artist in residence" in London. His task was to be part of the company's opening exhibition project. 

In 2007, Leepu built a car called The Angel Car. The car was on display at the Baishakhi Fair in Brick Lane, London.

Leepu and Barney Feynman were also present on the sequel "The Chop Shop London Garage" of the Bangla Bangers. The main challenge of this reality show was to provide customised cars at low cost as per the demand of the clients.

In 2015, he appeared on the History Channel, which hosted a reality show called Leepu and Pitbull at Steve Pitbull's Trimble Garage. At the show, they showed how to convert an abandoned car into a supercar, which was later sold commercially.

By the time this show happened, Leepu and his family had already moved to the US.

Photo: Collected

'The day I made Suruj, the car craze somehow left me'

After he returned to the country in 2011, he built a car called 'Suruj' — his maternal grandfather's namesake. "My nana was an inspiration for me. Whenever  I was in trouble, whenever my family lost hope in me, nana came and supported me. I wanted to dedicate the car to him," explained Leepu. 

He chose the colour green for Suruj. This car runs on gas, oil, and even electricity. And the price will be only Tk4 lakh. 

"I want to make affordable cars for everyone and maybe arrange workshops for young enthusiasts who call me regularly by saying that they want to learn from me," said Leepu.  

And now Leepu has a car workshop in California where he sips his coffee, thinks about life and looks at the cars for repair. Leepu usually returns home at two in the morning, where his wife waits for him.