This automobile maker faced many challenges in his life to keep himself on his dream track.

Leepu, though popular in Bangladesh for a few years, attracted the attention of BBC Online, AFP and several foreign national dailies as the maker of Ferrari from Bangladesh.

"Making cars is my only passion and I am committed to working in this field in my own country that I love very much," Leepu told The Daily Star. "I have left behind all luxury and money I had when I was in Los Angeles just to devote myself here where the field of automobiles seemed totally barren."

His passion for automobiles grew when he was a child growing up in the Middle East with his family. "I wanted to be a computer scientist, but an automobile show in Jeddah in 1986 changed my mind and hence my life. It attracted me so much that instantly I decided to make cars on my own."

By 1989, he made one of his dream cars resembling Lamborghini Countach and decided to carry on. After his education in the US, he opened a workshop and ran it smoothly.

"I have done a diploma in Los Angeles in automobile engineering where I studied model designing, automobile mechanics, automotive refinishing and automotive structures," he said.

"Leepu is the best student I had in my career," said Farnandez, Leepu's automotive diploma instructor in Los Angeles.

But his struggle started when he wanted to come to Dhaka. His parents, relatives and friends discouraged him to come back where, they believed, had no prospects in this field.

He learnt almost every aspect of automobiles to do the job here. "I can imitate any model you name and change the interior and exterior of the car," Leepu said.

"Though I was gaining some reputation in LA, I made up my mind to return to the country. But my father sold the Countach to stop me coming to Bangladesh," he reminisced. "It really made me crazy and delayed my coming."

"After debates, discussion and quarrels with my relatives and family, I -- almost vigorously -- grabbed the ground floor of my father's house and made it my workshop breaking the walls down." He started literally 'penniless' when he took to making limousines.

He designed several cars resembling world famous names like Lamborghini, Nissan Skyline, Mercedes and Hammer. Leepu came into the limelight by building a Lamborghini Countach lookalike out of a VW Beatle.

He built what he calls Leemobile 2000, which, by the way, is powered by a Toyota Publica engine. After that he tried his hand in German cars, not remodelling but trying to make them.

A Mercedes was built that had a rear end almost like the SLK and power like a Toyota as it was built on a Toyota EE-80 engine and chassis. Next out of his assembly line came the Nissan Skyline lookalike built out of a Datsun 110 but the most applauded work has been the limousine.

It was a Nissan Laurel, which he got from his cousin and he chopped it into two the very first day. This 22 feet long car has all the luxuries of a limousine packed in it and powered by a straight 6-cylinder, 2.8 litre Nissan Diesel engine.

Currently, he is working on two cars, one of them looked like a Hammer that he calls Hammer Jr. The base of this car is a 1000 cc Maruti Gypsy; but the work of this car seems to be on hold because Leepu has got an order to build a Ferrari F50 out of a Honda Prelude. The car is almost an F50 apart from the fact that its engine is in the front.

"I don't like importing material and adding them to the cars I make, I rather enjoy designing my own. I like to be self-dependent. I like to take up the challenge of making them all on my own, even if Bangladesh does not manufacture it."

Although Leepu is now manufacturing cars for the burgeoning enriched people in the capital, he wants to export designed cars in future. He also has on his mind to produce some low-budget cars for the middle-class people.

He does not work with engines, but only redesigns the exteriors. He has four hands to help him in the garage: Karim, 19, Bachchu, 21, Manik, 17, and Gani, 18.

Leepu wants to use Doel, the national bird of Bangladesh, as his emblem for the cars he manufactures. He does not even want to name the cars in foreign names he makes. "I will name them in Bangla, and the world would someday learn these words as they are compelled to learn German and Italian names."

This could be the new era of the automobile history of Bangladesh. "Everyone thought I was nuts when I started, but now people are recognising me after seeing a bit of what I can do. These are not the best. I can even compete with many renowned companies of the East."