CARS - LEMONS AND MISFITS

We have made a lot of mistakes with our cars over our many years in Africa starting in 1953 and ending in 2000. The first was the car that we chose to take with us from America. Our Chevrolet Carryall had the appearance of being perfect for poor roads. Mechanically, it was fine and service was readily available, but As South Africans would say, “eina!” (ouch!). There were problems. The first was a minor one. When the car was offloaded from the ship at Cape Town, it had a flat tire. Of course there as no service available at the docks to fix that. A bigger handicap was that it had left hand steering in a country where the rule of the road is to drive on the left side of the road. That meant that we, new to the country, drove from a position next to the left curb. Fortunately, we soon left city driving in Cape Town and started seven hundred miles north to Kimberley. Almost immediately the roads deteriorated to corrugated and potholed gravel. This called instant attention to the next problem. The backs of all the seats were all closed with sheet metal, directly against the springs. They set up a clamor that had to be heard to be appreciated. Again, there seemed to be no dust seals of any sort. We were traveling with a seriously sick baby riding in a car-cot. We had to place a baby blanket over the whole cot and it was soon red with an accumulation of Karoo red dust. The Great Karoo is semi-desert. Before we reached our ultimate destination of Windhoek we had replaced a new tire ruined by sharp rocks, and had spent four days on terrible roads. We drove that vehicle until our first furlough, when we gladly parted with it.

Back in America, we bought a new 1957 Chevrolet sedan. We loved that car. (Wish we had it now.) It is now a classic model. It had been slung in a net and lowered into the hold of the freighter that we traveled on for our return to Africa. A few dents here and there, and the inside had been twisted off, but not so serious. Fellow passengers had “encouraged” us with the tale of a former passenger who had a beautiful new luxury car which they had dropped into the hold from the boom when they loaded it. They did not tell him until he went to claim it after it had cleared customs. Ours arrived, only minus the battery and with the inside rear view mirror twisted off. Phyllis later got her South African driver’s license from the head of the traffic department who personally road-tested her right down town Kimberley, and had her maneuver through the parking area of the fruit and vegetable market on a Saturday morning. He wanted to make sure that she could handle that "big" American car in heavy traffic, particularly because it was also a left hand drive.

Another, was our tiny Fiat Multipla, I don’t recall its age, but it had to be the ugliest car we ever owned. It might have looked like a green cracker box, but it was an absolute pleasure to drive around town. The engine was in the rear, and sat crosswise to the body. The cooling system was totally inadequate. After our only out of town trip with it to go to Bloemfontein, a hundred miles away, we almost seriously commented that we got 40 miles to the gallon of gas, but ten miles to the gallon of water. I literally watched for windmills and water tanks all the way there and back. I used it to drive our children and those of some of our friends, to school, where we were greeted by the jeers of the children in the playground, “Look at that funny looking car.” One stormy day when Phyllis and Annette had gone into the black township for the regular Thursday afternoon women’s meeting, Al and I struggled through the deep puddles of water with the Chevrolet, only to see the ladies returning home through those same puddles crossing them like a happy duckling on a rainy day. They had given up on their meeting because of the intense noise of the rain and hail on the church’s tin roof.



Our Commer van was a very serviceable vehicle. (Picture above.) I bought it second hand from a Kimberley dealer, and asked that he have glass put in the sides of the back. Their driver, taking it to have that done, had an accident at the very door of their own business, so they took it to a Pannel Beater’s (Body shop) instead, and hoped I would not notice. It was later delivered, with the glass and the repairs done, but of course the truth will out. I drove it at night right away, and discovered that the left headlight was shining high up in the trees on my left. That was apparently the side that was hit. We used that van as a church bus and often had it maxed-out with small Coloured children going to church and Sunday School. On one occasion, we had 30 people in it at a road block. The cops never said a word, they just waved us through. On other occasions I went to churches in the surrounding towns to conduct classes. At one I slept in the van at a little camping park near the river. I had placed a mattress in it for those occasions. That particular time it was winter and I nearly froze! It had absolutely no insulation.

Our last left hand drive car, was a Fargo pick-up with a V-8 engine. That carried the shell of our Bible Kiosk. It was terrible to drive in wet weather. The slightest splash, caused the engine to stall out. We still had it when we moved to Johannesburg, and it was there that I determined, “Absolutely, Never again!” I had parked alone in heavy traffic on the left side of the one-way street, and realized too late that I simply could not see behind me to back up and get out of the parking spot. I had to lie across the seat, take a quick look and try to edge out. I did not keep that truck long. When furlough time came, it was out of there and we replaced it, when we returned, with a smaller, newer South African assembled truck. I had once driven downtown Johannesburg in the Fargo, passed a one-way street, and turned at the next street that I expected to go the other way only to find that there were three one way streets together, all of them going the same way! All praises to the Lord for answered prayers, I got out of there, turned around, and no traffic cop saw me, or if he did he took pity and looked the other way. I never drove it down town again.

Once in Johannesburg, I bought a yellow Citroen, very second hand and cheaply. That car was a dream, wonderful to drive. It was so streamlined that it slipped through the air so easily that I actually had to hold it back with a foot on the brakes. Its hydraulic suspension was so cushioned that it could only be described as floating. That suspension had three levels and permitted a ground hugging low, a medium clearance, or a very high clearance for crossing streams, or placing a stand in lieu of a jack. It had no jack provided. You could actually drive it on three wheels by leaving the flat one in the trunk and making sure that the missing wheel was one of the rear wheels. Unfortunately our car had hydraulic problems. That is why it was so cheap. Park it and the engine end dropped first to the lowest clearance leaving the tail end high in the air! The only way I got rid of it at all was that I traded it in on a new 4 cylinder Ford station wagon. I am sure they just wrote the Citroen off. Other than the fact that the Ford shorted out and burned out the wiring on the first trip we started to make; once that was repaired, it gave excellent service. The lemon-yellow Citroen was gone but sadly greatly missed and never forgotten.