‘Having fun with historic vehicles’

June 2017

1939 Pontiac Plexiglass Deluxe 6 ‘Ghost Car’ built by GM and Plexiglass who invented the process in 1934.

I wonder where it is now?

From the Editor

The 4x4 Club’s Jamboree held over the weekend of the 27/28 of May was a real winner! It gets better and better every year! Well organised and held in a delightful setting! Congratulations to all concerned!

Thank you also to our members who put their classic cars on show. They drew a lot of interest and comment but the prime attraction was Alain’s Riley, so many people wanted to have their photos taken alongside it. We had five classic cars and my 1928 vintage Rudge Whitworth motorcycle on display.

I have had no replies, yet, to my suggestion that we open a VCCZ Facebook page. I’m not giving up! I use it frequently visiting several sites to keep in touch with family and friends as far back as my school days, it helps to restore old long lost contacts and friendships and brings new friends! It’s a very useful tool! I believe that a VCCZ Facebook page would increase interest levels in historic cars and bikes in ‘Zim’ and attract new members. Members could post their own sale and wants adverts dealing directly with buyers and sellers as well as chatting with pals around the world. It would need two or three administrators to keep an eye on things. This is not an onerous task, I hope that somebody will step up!

I hate spelling errors...... you mix up two letters and your whole post is urined.

Recent and Forthcoming Events. ‘Out and About’ on 21st May again drew an interesting selection of cars! Mike Bremner rode in on the club’s vintage 1920 Albion Merryweather fire engine closely followed by Alain Dejeagere’s 1930 Ford model ‘A’. Ian Gray just back from holiday over in Australia visiting family arrived in his 1936 Austin Sixteen. Ralph Stead came with his beautifully resprayed 1970 Corvette, resplendent in white with black bonnet stripes and new member Steven Gamble showed us his MG while other members showed off a varied selection of classics from a Land Rover to a Porsche.

Slade Barnard was hobbling around on crutches and for those who don’t know, Slade is an expert at de-rusting fuel tanks (if they are saveable) and protective lining them with Glatex. He has done the tanks on my 1937 Triumph Tiger 80 and my 1928 Rudge Whitworth motor cycles. The ‘blend’ that passes for fuel is very corrosive. I now use only 100 octane avgas in my bikes. They start instantly, first kick, and the carbs stay clean and don’t gum up.

Biker’s Braai 3rd June We again had a good turnout of forty plus members enjoying lunch at the club. The day was marred by a break in to the boot of Pieter and Mary Debruin’s motor car parked on the ‘Tiger Wheel and Tyre’ side of the clubhouse. We always provide a guard on the other side near the Church (from 11.30 am to 4pm or when the last car leaves) relying on the club managers’ guard at the front. They have a ‘general purpose ’guard who is usually there but I have since learned that they are not contractually obligated to provide security. For the July Braai we will have two guards on duty, from 11.30am to 4pm one each at the front and the back and will make plans for future needs.

Classic Fun Day 10th June. Rob Weston’s hard work and infectious enthusiasm always gives us a great day out on the track! Last Saturday was no exception, with American muscle cars to Lotus Super Sevens, a Formula Ford race car and even a Toyota ‘bakkie’ everybody had fun! Tony Jordan blew the cobwebs out of his recently acquired Mercedes 500 coupe, a far cry from his 2CV ‘Dolly,’ finding extra pace by removing the carpets from under the pedals!

The Hare and the Tortoise? (...on different days.)

Motor Sport in Zimbabwe is very lucky to have the Donnybrook complex for track racing, motocross, go-kart and 4x4 events with each having their own ‘playground’ area with their own buildings. The whole facility is well managed and kept in immaculate condition (toilets anywhere are always the acid test of public facilities!) and is in a wonderfully natural setting among the msasa trees. The cost of using the track has recently increased leading to a need for more entries to spread the cost, your club has never made a cent out of the Classic Fun Days. We seek to only recover costs (and sometimes that doesn’t happen). The next events will be; 18th June. ‘Out and About’ at Pomona Food Court, see ya’ there! 1st July. ‘Bikers Braai’ at the clubhouse. We will have two guards on duty to protect our vehicles July 4th. American Independence Day celebrations, we will have four American cars on display at no. 3 Tina Close adjacent to the Ambassador’s residence. July 16th ‘Out and About’, meet, greet and chat about cars and bikes and show them off to everybody! July 23rd ‘Mazowe Commemorative Run’. This event reprises the first motoring club run held in Zimbabwe when on the 16th of July 1913 four cars and nine motor cycles took a drive out to Mazowe. August 5th ‘Bikers Braai’ at the clubhouse, classic and vintage cars and all bikes park in the garden. August 20th ‘Out and About’ ...our regular monthly get together at Pomona. August 25th to 28th ‘The Eastern Highlands Run’, our premier annual event, all are welcome, notices to follow giving details of costs. 10th September, ‘The American Classic Braai’. The Ambassador, Harry K. Thomas jr, has generously and kindly offered to host a braai for the VCCZ at No 3 Tina Close. This event is for members and their guests. You will be required to pre-book with the club committee.

Casually elegant members of the LLMC (London Ladies Motorcycle Club) having a smoke break. The bikes appear to be side valve engines, brand? Two filler caps on the tanks, (fuel and oil?) windscreens and legshields. Nice eh? Yea, the bikes too!

Historic Stuff. Last month after flighting photos and articles about the first cars to arrive in South Africa and Zimbabwe I pondered on the question of when did the first motor cycles arrive in Zimbabwe? I have always been convinced that bikes were being used in Africa before cars. Single track vehicles can follow ancient footpaths more easily. Well, what do you know? Out of the blue I found this photo and details, fuzzy and grainy, (remember that photography was also in its infancy) but historically important!

This photograph, taken at Gwanda in 1902, shows policeman Walter Lawrence BSAP number 211 and a Werner motorcycle. (made in France) This was three years before the first car, a French ‘Gladiator’ was imported into Zimbabwe by Colonel and Mrs Duly.

The bike is probably a 1901 model. It is fitted with Werner’s own engine first used in 1900 in place of the De Dion Bouton engines which were used from 1896 when they first began production.

‘The Fastest Machine in the World. As advertised at the Exposition Universelle held in Paris in 1889. This three man racing bicycle predates the car, the motor cycle and the aeroplane but NOT the trains. When you realise that the Orient Express averaged just 35mph at that time then I suppose the claim could be true! We have become used to fairly high speeds so this advertisement rather shocked me when I saw it and on reflection realised how far we have come in a short time from pedal cycles to Atlas rockets that can take us to the moon and back!

Members News.

This month we welcome three new members, Chris Erasmus, on secondment from South Africa, I believe that Chris is a technical expert on medical machines, MRI, X-ray etc, welcome Chris! Steven and Katrin Gamble, and their MG, introduced to the club by Wally Hankey, joined us at the last ‘Out and About’ meeting on the 18th of May. I was intrigued to learn that Steven was born in Nairobi, Kenya. These three new younger members pull down our average membership age by about a century!

Thanks to those members who responded to my 2017 subscriptions reminder! If you are still in arrears remember that you can pay by bank transfer into CABS, account no 1002660211, The Vintage and Classic Club of Zimbabwe. Your ‘subs’ enable us to pay for club events.

The boys are in town! Can you guess the year, the place and the brands of bikes?

Overseas tit bits * Did you know that the prototype for the Morris Minor, designed in 1944 by Alec Issigonis,was named the ‘Mosquito’? *The automotive world is currently obsessed with driverless and electric vehicles, cars and bikes. I watched the TT ‘zero’ (electric motorcycle) race in the Isle of Man last week, they just WHINE their way around the circuit! Horrible! I like driving and I like the internal combustion engine, so I’m almost glad that I’m getting older! *Volvo is now developing a refuse truck that follows its operators down the road as they collect household garbage! Now that is useful! Imagine it! Go on, do it! *The first MG cars went on sale in September 1924, the factory phone number Abingdon 251 provided the start for their chassis (VIN) numbering. * The Knysna fires which took people’s lives and homes have also destroyed several classic cars, E type series 2, MG B and MG TC.

*In 1969 General Motors, researching an alternative fuels strategy, commissioned the building of a steam powered Chevrolet Chevelle. It currently is held in a private collection.

*Porsche have announced the production of the millionth 911. They claim that 70% are still on the road.

‘Back in the Day’at Donnybrook. Ladies Clinic August 6th 1977.

Here’s a challenge for everybody, can you recognise any of the ladies in the photo? I can see Rose Rushforth, (check shirt on the right) Enlarge for a better view!

Can you name the riders? Racing in jeans!! I wonder where these ‘outfits’ have gone to?

‘Rat Bikes’, ever heard of them? Well it seems that if you give junk a title it becomes cool!

Vintage travels through Africa

Here is a letter (that I have edited for brevity and clarity) from an Ex ‘Zimbo’ seeking contacts for a planned safari through Zimbabwe and Zambia in a vintage 1929 Morris Minor. The safari is planned for June July 2019.

From:Peter W. Hills [mailto:
To:Greenway <
Subject:Re: 1929 Morris Minor 4 Seat Tourer Safari Plan - "Back to Africa"

Dear Neil *I grew up in Kitwe, served in the Rhodesia Regiment (intake 56) and worked around the world. We lived in India from 2004-13 and now retired as ’swallows’ between London and Cape Town.In 1970 I rescued my 29 Morris from the bush and after much research have a list of all the past owners.The car originated in Umtali as U750 and in 1953 was driven to Kitwe, registered as NK3177 then it was pranged and abandoned.

*I was only 26 at the time (young and stupid) but got the car as a running chassis early 70s then in 1984 I was recruited to UK where in 1992 I finished the restoration and since have done lots of improvements. All fittings are original but from other vehicles obtained mainly from UK auto jumbles.

*My plan is to return the car to Africa, trailer it to Mutare then drive to all known addresses: Bulawayo, Harare then through the valley to Kitwe. Then trailer it to Vic Falls for a photo shoot and back to Cape Town and after two years return the car to UK.

*The purpose of this letter is to obtain contacts in Zimbabwe that could assist me or even be part of my ‘safari’. I have been in touch with the Discovery Channel but also am considering a charity drive or even a tourist programme as part of the trip. A book is planned after the trip.

*I am told that driving around Zim has its challenges with frequent on the spot ‘fines’ for any issue. I would expect we would tour as a motorcade with friends taking videos and photos of the journey etc. I have several local volunteers who expressed interest in participation but we will have to see who finally commits. However, at least three vehicles will be with me from the start.

*I was thinking of doing it in 2019 around June-July which will be 90 years since it was made. As it will be your winter the 'Chiriapala' will prefer the cooler weather but I have full confidence that it will make the journey without problems. I would have to ship the car from London to Cape Town beforehand

*It would be great if you assist me with car contacts in some of the main metros of Harare.What would be great is to have a reception at say Mutare, Bulawayo and Harare. After leaving Harare and travelling north I would go via Kariba then to Lusaka and to Kitwe where I have friends there and should be able to give me local support in Zambia.

Here are photos of the car that Peter has sent to us. From a wreck to a beauty! If you can offer Peter any help or advice please contact him directly at the above e-mail address. I’m sure that the club members will welcome him and assist locally where possible when the time comes.