One-Woman Show

In terms of creativity and ability, there is no stone that women have left unturned even in domains that are usually dominated by men. Yes, women are equal to men in intellect and talent and the recent innovation by Fizza Shabbar proves that. Her creation is something that has been a specialized field run by men all over the world. She is a fine arts graduate from Anjuman-e-Himayat-e-Islam College in Lahore, and has turned an old Vespa scooter into a motor car. What is touching is the motivation behind this creation being a tribute to her lost brother, a car enthusiast, who died owing to a brief illness in 2011. prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The car itself is made by using recycled materials and thrown-away parts of a Vespa scooter. If creativity is all about making things out of nothing, Fizza has gone even further and has successfully converted the scooter into a four-wheeled convertible car. The design was first displayed at the Pak. Wheels Lahore Auto Show in 2015 and it car won the first prize for being the most innovative automobile produced by a Pakistani - and that too a woman.

“I am thankful to Pakwheel.com for providing me an opportunity to publicly display my creation,” says Fizza. “Without their support, it would have been almost impossible for me to let others know what I have created single-handedly. Since my childhood, I have been a recycling freak and I love combining different things to create something totally new. This obsession is really helping me in my creative work, from making a micro-scale sculpture to designing a four-wheeler out of second-hand parts.”

Using a Vespa engine for making a 4-wheeler sounds strange, but gifted souls like Fizza love finding shared correlations between seemingly dissimilar objects. This small car has everything to appeal to automotive fans even though it is a Vespanized auto sensation. The homemade car looks like a black-headed, dark-red spider moving quite smoothly on motorbike wheels, without adding more noise to our already polluted environment. Though it has been converted from a two-wheeler to a four-wheeled vehicle, its auto load balancing has been expertly configured in terms of centre of gravity, despite the fact that a scooter’s centre of gravity is totally different than that of a car.

The fabrication comprised many time-consuming stages and cumbersome procedures, such as welding, metal-joining and soldering, etc. Fizza Shabbar took charge of everything and designed the frame structure herself - a tough task, especially when it comes to making an open vehicle into a closed one.

Right from the addition of the two front tyres to building the frame, Fizza has crafted a canopy that has an aesthetic appeal and a sensual feel, as it offers a sense of ease, comfort and style. Fizza’s recycled masterpiece has also attracted auto companies and prospective investors due to its commercial viability and commuting needs in Pakistan where people are desperately looking for some form of an affordable auto transport.

It took Fizza almost 4 years to complete the car despite limited financial resources, time restrictions and unfavourable working conditions due to constant load-shedding. It became a ‘one-woman show’ in the end, as she had to manage everything on her own, starting from investing in the project till its final completion.

“I am always open to new techniques, methods and materials, as this openness helps me discover the hidden potential of various materials and components which remain untapped otherwise. Why confine yourself to a particular trend when you are served by the whole cosmos?” shares Fizza.

These days Fizza is working as a curator at the Nairang Art Gallery in Lahore and is also pursuing her car-making dreams in her spare time through self motivation, determination and an undying commitment to making her mark in auto engineering. Her next project is a sports car for which she will again use a motorcycle engineer.

According to Fizza Shabbar, we face a barrage of problems and challenges while pursuing our dreams. “For me, it is always better to starve the problems and feed the opportunities,” she states.

Now that is truly inspiring isn’t it? So, all you women out there, never let your gender come in the way of your dreams. If you truly have a talent, no one can stop you from excelling in it.