'Boot-ylicious' scale model meet - Dhaka Motor Show 2018

Photos: Farhan Ahmed

A car meet where instead of the engine bay, the trunk was open. Boot, as we Bangladeshis call it. 'Back-dalla', even. It was an unusual gathering of people furtively peering in the open trunks and hatches of parked cars. A lowered Corolla with miniature Hot Wheels stashed into the trunk, open for a seemingly shady trade. A VW Beetle displaying a few custom miniature Beetles, except the front end was open. There was a 3rd gen, bright red Subaru Impreza hatch carrying a huge collection of 1:10 RC cars in its massive boot. And then there was BMW 3 Series convertible with a ridiculously tiny boot, also showing off a rare assortment of model cars including a Boso styled Nissan Skyline Kenmary racer.

More cars kept coming in during the scale model meet at 2018 Dhaka Motorshow organised by Shift and Die-cast Car Collectors Club Bangladesh. A massive Crown showed up with roughly every generation of Skyline in the 'back-dalla' for display. One guy, Magdy, came by Uber with more than ten massive RC cars.

The gathering was terrific with a sincere display of community spirit. Tanweer Zaman brought along his Subaru thinking someone might need a trunk to display. Saadi Rahman of Old Car Club of Bangladesh brought along his Mini because, well, it's cute. Haseeb Chowdhury was one of the first to show up with his Corolla full of Hot Wheels. But he helped manage the crowd when things got chaotic.

Why model cars, though? Because that is usually where our love for cars begins. Bringing together this diverse group shows others what an interesting and hobby this can be.