The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of India’s Favourite Scooter | History on Wheels

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[00:00:02][music] >> India in the 1980s had a rhythm to it.

[00:00:11]>> [music] >> A government job, a house to live in, and a scooter parked outside. That was the dream. Not a big dream, a real one.

[00:00:25]This was a time before you could walk into a showroom and simply buy a vehicle. You applied for one, then you waited. Months, sometimes years, sometimes 10 [music] years. This was the license raj, a time when almost everything was scarce. And in that scarcity, owning a two-wheeler meant something. It meant your family was moving forward. This one machine carried everything. The kids to school, the groceries home, the family's pride, quietly, every single day. And if you knew that lean, that tilt and kick, you knew one of these.

[00:01:08]By 1990, more than half of every two-wheeler sold in India was a scooter, not a motorcycle, not a moped, a scooter. But through all of it, one name stood taller than the rest, Bajaj. It started in 1960, [music] a licensing deal with Italy's Piaggio to build Vespa scooters in India. When that deal ended in 1977, Bajaj did something that changed everything. [music] They built it themselves. Every part, every component made in India. Demand exploded, but the license raj had other ideas. The government capped how many Bajaj could make, and no matter how fast the factory moved, the waiting list never caught up. It got so extreme, used scooters in some cities were selling for more than a brand new one, because at least you could get your hands on it today. Families planned their weddings around the delivery date of their Bajaj scooter. Let that sink in. A vehicle so desired, it made it into the wedding calendar. The Bajaj Priya, launched in [music] 1975, 150cc, two-stroke, three speeds, seven horsepower, a monocoque body where the shell itself [music] is the structure, engine mounted on the right, seat on springs, so every pothole felt like a Kinder. Simple, honest, built to last. [music] It wasn't trying to be exciting. It was trying to be dependable. And for an entire generation, it was exactly that. Then came the Chetak, named after the legendary horse of Maharana Pratap, a horse that carried its rider through the hardest battles [music] and never gave up. The Chetak became more than a scooter. It became a character in Bollywood, in family albums, in memories. At its peak, Bajaj was selling 100,000 of them every single month. But time moves whether you're ready or not.

[00:03:03]The 1990s brought liberalization, new competition, new [music] ideas, a younger generation that wanted to ride, not cruise. Hero Honda promised better mileage. Yamaha promised excitement.

[00:03:15][music] And slowly, the scooter began to feel like yesterday.

[00:03:24]Inside Bajaj, a son was watching all of this very carefully, and he had a plan.

[00:03:29][music] In 2005, Bajaj stopped making the Chetak. In 2009, they stopped making scooters altogether. Rajiv Bajaj had made his call. Bajaj would be a motorcycle company, not everything to everyone.

[00:03:44]>> [music] >> He compared it to Harley-Davidson choosing to do one thing brilliantly.

[00:03:48]His father, Rahul Bajaj, the man who had spent decades building the Chetak into a cultural institution sat across from his son on live television and said, "I feel bad. I feel hurt." Rajiv wasn't wrong.

[00:04:03]Bajaj went on to become one of the biggest motorcycle manufacturers [music] in the world. But here's the thing about a vehicle that carried an entire [music] generation's dream. You don't just switch it off. While Bajaj decided to close the chapter, some people refused to turn the page. This is the story of one of them.

[00:04:27]>> Hi, my name is Aniket and I own this Bajaj Priya 1988 model since 2019 [music] now.

[00:04:35]Basically, the Priya scooter was never a just a scooter for me. It was a emotion since childhood as my father was a very passionate about vintage scooters, bikes, cars. So, it was always in my mind that sometime in my life I'll get a scooter. I'll rebuild it on my own for his in his memory. Getting a scooter or rebuilding it, it was never for a show off. I want to [music] cherish something. I want to relive his dreams for me.

[00:05:08]I got a call from my dear friend from Bombay, Rohit Yadav. He told me that, "Aniket, I have found something for you." [music] He was like, "See, it is the scooter is lying at the same place since a decade now. So, you have to do a ground-up restoration. If you are ready for it, I'll send the scooter to your place." I took a moment and I said, "Okay, send it to me." When I saw her for the first time, the scooter was completely rusted, the wheels were locked. It was completely immovable.

[00:05:37]Everything was jammed, gone. And I was like, "Oh what is this? And how can how I will rebuild it? And how much time will it will take? How much effort I'm going to put in and I don't know. I was I was completely blank at that time, but suddenly after thinking for some time, the thought came again that I'm doing this for someone who is not with me, but I have to do something for him. So, I just did it.

[00:06:10]>> [music] >> Priya is not a very hard project to restore, you know, but since this was very much rusted and the flooring was completely gone, so we had to rebuild the flooring and other components which were rusted. Paint was the most difficult job because of the rusting, so we had to look at each and every piece for the perfect finish. I used to go to workshop daily just to check the scooter and its progress, but there was a time when there was a lack of manpower, few parts were not available, everything was stuck [music] and then I thought, will it be possible to me bring it back everything together? Every time I felt tired, I remembered that this project is not just a restoration for me, but I'm doing something for my father. The day, the time we cranked and she started, everyone were present at the workshop.

[00:07:02]Everyone was looking at each other and all happy faces, all struggles paid off at that time.

[00:07:09]>> [music] >> I was [music] just 7 years old when my father passed. My dad was a person who was a passionate about scooters, cars.

[00:07:22]I can proudly say that the passion which came to me is absolutely from him to take care of the vehicles and other belongings. For many people, this scooters might be a piece of rust, junk, or useless machines, outdated designs, a waste of time, energy, and money, but for me, this is not a scooter. This is my child. For me, Buland Bharat Ki Buland Tasvir Hamara Bajaj is so much powerful that I think it is more than a slogan which represents generations and decades. I just wish that the people will understand that these are not useless or time-spending machines. We build them with a emotions and lot of love. Sometimes they carry legacy, >> [music] >> charm, and memories that newer ones doesn't.

[00:08:12]>> [music]