I love taking a break on the weekend and heading off for a few hours, moving around areas of Cape Town, to see what CC’s I can track down.
Yesterday I decided to head for Woodstock, Salt River and Observatory, three suburbs close to the city centre. They are a down to earth mix of industrial and residential use. Quite a bit of my life has played out here, my first job was in Woodstock, I lived in Observatory in the early 90’s, and this area is the original heart of Cape Town’s clothing industry, of which I am part of.
On the way I ran into this very original take on a Porsche Spyder replica. Check out the vertical rear wing. Gotta love it!
Didn’t hear it take off, but I hope it doesn’t have a V8 as advertised on the rear. Yikes!
The downside of going in the afternoon, the best time for photography, is that 50% of everything is going to be in the shade. As Tim Gunn of Project Runway would have said “Make it work!”
This is an original Mk 1 Golf, the 3 door models were only sold here briefly in the 80’s. the later CitiGolf’s only came in 5 door format.
Colour is not hard to find here! There are many beautiful old buildings here and the strong colours used echo the intense energy on the street. Crossfire’s were sold here for a while and I still find the styling fresh and desireable, much nicer than some of the forgetable blobs being put out by other manufacturers at that time..
Murals are all over, down to the strong youth and student mix.
Pity I couldnt line up the mural and the Beetle. I’m no fan of matt paint but this is nice.
Just when I think nothing more is going to happen.. I run into a lovely old Volvo 164. The number plate connection is a bit tenuous, but the headlamp wipers are still intact.
The number of pictures I take from my drivers seat.. is huge. If the area is dodgy, if the wind is howling, if my knees feel stiff..
Looking at the tyres this Volvo still operates regularly.
So what did I see but don’t have pics for? I took pics of a Renault Avantime on the move, but they are not great. I saw a mid 70’s Mitsubishi Colt 2600 against a beautiful mural. I had to whizz round the block as I couldn’t find parking, when I got back the very grumpy looking owners were in the process of getting in and driving off, and.. I saw an NSU RO80, in original good condition, not pristine, being piloted quite vigourously by three very professorial looking types. I took off after them, but the NSU, making some very wankly sounds, shot up Roodebloem Road hill and onto the freeway, heading out of town, so I let it go.
Hope you have enjoyed what I found!
I really enjoy your posts. I had the chance to visit Cape Town in 2001, which is one of my favorite places I’ve visited.
Thanks for the kind feed back Eric! I’m not much of an automotive historian like some of the amazing contributors here, so I just try to share my daily finds. Cape Town is what one makes of it, it’s certainly got it’s share of problems, glad you had a good visit.
I’ve heard the climate there is relatively dry, so people from the UK shop for well-preserved vintage cars there – much like here in the US where people look for rust-free cars from our South-West
Ever see any Peugeot 404s or 504s there? It seems whenever I watched old television film or news footage of places in Africa or the Middle-East, I used to see those a lot.
Happy Motoring, Mark
Mmm.. I dont even want to think about cars being sourced here for the UK market. Looking at high classic prices here a lot of people seem to be pricing with the UK in mind!
Peugeot 404 and 504 are sometimes seen in the wild here, but not often. Frankly I see more 70’s Mini Clubmans and of course Beetles on the road. The 404 was assembled in Kenya until 1991, and was also Madagascar, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The local 504’s succumbed to tin worm prematurely.
Perhaps it’s more desirable to seek the vehicles that are unique to South African market. A few cars come to mind: BMW 745i (E23) with M88/3 motor from M635i and M5; Ford Sierra XR8 with 5-litre Mustang V8 motor; Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV6 with turbocharged 2.0-litre motor (predating the GTV-6 with new V6 motor); and like.
That Spyder replica is hysterical. At least it’s not taking itself too seriously, the driver would have to wear some sort of crazy helmet:
It’s both wild and a bit perplexing. Was it built from a kit? Looks like it’s mid engine. But the rear end is pretty unusual.
I assumed it was a beetle, but you may have spotted something that precludes that. Either way, pretty sure the driver has a lot of fun in it.
Great curbside classics in that part of the world. I had the clone of that VW van as my first vehicle. Although the body and paint were not as nice. My second car was a white version of the golf, we called them rabbits over here in Canada. It was a great car until the rust got to the rockers and it was deemed to expensive to fix. I now drive a boring Nissan Altima and a not quite as boring Toyota previa. I miss the old van until I remember the lack of a good heater, that is probably not such an issue in Cape Town.
Paul, Ive tried looking the Porsche replica details up on the Web with little success; that people cant spell Porsche doesn’t help – Porche etc etc.. From memory these were made here in the 80’s and 90’s along with a more popular 356 version, all were based on Beetles. I can see Spyder’s advertised here on the net with 1600 Beetle motors, one intriguingly was advertised with an Alfa Boxer motor!
Oliver Twist, the latest SA Car magazine has a drive in the Alfa GTV 3.0L, to compliment their test of the Alfa Guilia QV. have a look on http://www.carmag.co.za.
Crossfire WOW! This is a much misunderstood vehicle in North America. I work at Chrysler have leased 3 and purchased the 4th (2007). Currently it has 324K and runs perfectly. I see these on the market with low miles in great condition for very fair price. Put 175 miles on it today.
Really attractive photos, thank you! It’s always refreshing to see such bold colours in cars. And impressive you were able to select equally complimentary bold architectural backdrops.
Love the yellow Volvo. And the colours of your photography in general — makes me want to go to Cape Town! I only went to Jo’burg, as far a South African cities are concerned, and was a tad underwhelmed.
Pity you missed the NSU. I only saw one “in the wild” once, in London, many years ago. These cars have presence.
Glad you like the colours! I LOVE bold colour and sometimes I am bowled over by how out-there some buildings here are.
Nice photos and nice colors! That spyder-thing is pretty wild. And I love the 164, though I’m not sure that lemon yellow is the color that suits it the best…they do look good in aqua though.