High above the Cape Town city centre, on the slopes of Signal Hill, is the Bo-Kaap, a traditionally Muslim area, dating back to the late 1700’s. This close knit community oozes spicy colour, great style and some cool cars, I’m in! From 1990 till end of production in 2002 South African high end T3 VW Microbus’s came with a five cylinder Audi engine. The middle vehicle is a 2.6 litre Caravelle, note the larger side windows and full width bottom grille, South Africa only I believe. The Dodge Colt 1600 GS is one of the prettiest cars of the early 70’s. This one looks a bit tatty, but there was another better one behind the VW, so I’m hoping one good car comes out of this.
And down to earth with a bump, this series of Ford Escort somewhat dented the incredible rep Ford had built up here with previous Escorts; hot sporty looks, youth appeal and bullet proof reliability. This one exhibits a common affliction, the rear bumper is made from the thinnest veneer of plastic over a foam base, which splits without much provocation.
I just love old Japanese styling, I always did, and still think these Toyota Corona II’s are very good looking. What an honest car! Well engineered, sensible, and still stylish.
Don’t want to insult the old girl, but I guess the most valuable part of the package could be the registration plate. CA XXXX is our official city registration plate. XXXX WP [Western Province] is available as a vanity plate. In a city of 3.75 million people a CA registration plate with three numbers is rare and valuable. In 2011 I paid in the low four figures for a four letter CA plate, last year CA 3 went at auction for R378 000, yikes!
The beautiful Cape Dutch and Cape Georgian architecture is protected by law thank goodness. Unfortunately gentrification is a threat as land values have increased, but the community is pushing back on new developments which threaten the character of the area, good for them.
Why has the RAV 4 become so huge these days? These 2 door models were perfect for city use. The Toyota C-HR has just arrived in SA, but with no rear view camera [a cost saving measure in our market] and limited rear vision it’s certainly not city friendly.
This Honda Ballade is from Honda’s golden period. Civic’s were called Ballade’s here till 2001. These models were assembled at the local Mercedes Benz plant in East London, and marketing made sure we knew it!
When Car and Driver said, at introduction, this Honda looked like a sneaker I was quite taken aback! [I am sure it was C & D, apologies if not..]
And congratulations to the bridal couple! Traffic came to a halt while special moments were captured.
Sticking with the Honda theme, this is my car, just saying, if when looking at my pics you wonder why there are so many white Jazz / Fit’s in Cape Town, it’s my car I’ve failed to park out of the way!
The Chrysler PT Cruiser seemed to sell quite well here, I still see them often. No Chrysler is found in the new car lists now, and the only Dodge entry is the Journey.
Fiat Panda 100HP, mmm, not quite CC but I love the car and the building..
Nissan’s really are tough, this Langley is starting to look a bit fragile, but she still has her original hubcaps and the colour is really nice. You go girl!
The BMW 2002 was not officially sold here, but they are seen around. I’m sure this car will get some attention soon, they are too good to be left to moulder.
The Ford Cortina bakkie; I’m sure I’ll own one one day. Trouble is they are so tough and useful, finding a perfect one is difficult. Maybe I’m missing the point, this one would do fine..
These Cortina’s came with four cylinder or V6 power. Check out the overwrought fibreglass canopy! No windows where there should be windows, windows where there shouldn’t be..
Up above the Bo-Kaap the noon day gun fires across the city at midday every day. On the road to the gun I came across this beautifully kept Mercedes 200.
On the same road I found this VW Westfalia parked up. Looks like it wants to drive straight up Signal Hill!
Hope you have enjoyed another look at my hometown!
What a delightful selection of vehicles! That Cortina looks like a full-size Ford left in the wash too long!
I always enjoy your posts, both for the automotive and non-automotive scenery.
Occasionally I check out some of these locations on Google StreetView, and when I looked up Bo-Kaap, I immediately saw this car (below). The SV link is here:
https://goo.gl/maps/wof6nh4g8nQ2
I admit, I don’t know what kind of car this is – my first thought was a Vanden Plas Princess, but I’m doubtful about that now. I’m sure someone here will know, but regardless, it’s quite a beauty.
I also never knew that some Nissan Pulsar/Stanza models were sold as the Langley… learning something new every day.
Wolseley 15/60.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/curbside-outtake-1960-morris-minor-and-1966-wolseley-1660-bmcs-conservatice-options/
Thanks! For some reason, I wasn’t thinking Wolseley at all.
Thanks for all the positive comments!
Eric, when I shot these cars there was a pristine Wolseley 6/99 against the same railing in the Google pic, someone around here loves ’em.
The cars are great, but I’m bowled over by the architecture. The colors! What a delight for the eyes. Reminds me of some parts of Mexico, but even more intensely colorful.
Thanks for a splendid tour.
+1
Thanks!
That is a delightfully colourful neighbourhood with cars to match: the closest thing to a Suburban Sheeple Silver SUV/CUV is the Chrysler PT Cruiser, and it’s not exactly “typical” of the genre (now, THERE is a word a Sheeple would use, intentionally chosen here!).
Thank you so much for the tour, and may it all stay this way!
What a colorful neighborhood! What prompted the locals to paint the buildings in such bright and colorful hues?
Hi Silverkris, looking up on various websites I can tell you the following;
There seems to be no particular time that this happened however residents tell painting of the bright colours came about when they were able to buy their properties from the city council, and this was done in celebration and as an act of individualism. Also, post apartheid, this was done as an act of celebration of the rainbow nation.
Cool! I’d love to visit Capetown some day…it’s just stunning with the ocean, Table Mountain and the architecture. Not to mention the people, of course. And I’d go Stellenbosch to taste the wine!
About the Ballade.
They made so much hype about it being assembled in a Mercedes-Benz plant, that they made an AMG version of it!
What an absolute feast of bright colors !
Very cool, some of those Cortina Bakkies have emigrated to NZ but to tell them apart from the fakes cut down locally from wagons you have to look at the tailgate. Quite a few SA cars are being brought to both NZ and OZ but mostly SA variants of Aussie performance cars your Holden/Chevrolets and Falcon/Fairmont GTs, they are so much cheaper than the real thing but almost right.
Thanks for that info, really interesting. Have you seen a Chev SS? Our version of the original Holden Monaro?
I have homework; Something I need to understand better about the Ford Cortina bakkie, the first edition used the station wagon tail lights and a very styled tail gate. This wasn’t very robust and they soon changed to the load box as shown in my pictures, with the lights tucked away out of harms way, and a corrugated tail gate. My featured car has the first series grill and the load bed update and the two tone paintwork which were later additions, maybe the is the 1.5 version?
Yes Ive seen a privately imported one that arrived with some immigrants there is a Large community of South Africans where my sister lives in Auckland, Theres a MK3 Cortina ute locally that looks too well done but it is a ute rather than pickup with seperate bed.
The genuine Mk III Cortina utes have the longer coupe doors. There are two (one black and one white) Mk II bakkies that occasionally show up at swap meets and shows around the North Island. Mk IV/V Cortina utes have the shorter sedan doors, but a taller, more domed roof than the sedan/wagon.
Thank you for a great look, at somewhere I’d never otherwise get to see. Keep up the great work!
Pretty sure that was a MK3 Cortina in the first pic.
Crap, no, just mk3 cortina wheels….
In 1999 I drove from Durban to Cape Town and back in a Nissan Langley. A trip to remember, SA is an amazing country.
The Langley coped well with long climbs (up the Drakensburg), high speeds and some very tough gravel roads. Typical Japanese 80s car, not exciting to drive but very hard to kill.
Thanks for a wonderful snapshot of a part of the world I know little about. I’m curious … was the rear wheel drive Colt you show sold as a Dodge in SA, as it was here in the US, or did you just describe it that way to make it familiar to Americans?
Hi dman, the Colt GS was definitely sold here as a Dodge. I have the May 1973 issue of Car magazine [South African, no relation of Car UK], and Chrysler is listed as selling the Dodge Colt 1600 GS for R2927.00. Amongst what they were also offering was the Colt 1100F 3 door – no sign of the Mitsubishi name plate, and the Hillman Hunter and Vogue. In the August 1976 edition the GS was now costing R4318 and the same Hillman had been renamed the Chrysler Vogue [and was very long in the tooth..] so we can say the naming policy was all over the show!
Thanks. I’ve always found it interesting how Mitsubishi/Rootes/Chrysler branded products in various geographies, and in general how even in the 21st century, how global the Chrysler footprint has remained. I’ve seen PT Cruisers in Holland, but didn’t really expect that Journeys would be sold in South Africa.
Looks like the Cortina Bakkie has the longer coupe doors, the correct way to make a sedan based ute IMO.
Makes for much better proportions and possibly more interior room.
Yes, the Mk III bakkie had the longer coupe doors; the Mk IV/V and Sierra bakkies went back to the shorted sedan doors.
Wow. The colours in these pics! It looks like folks in your neck of the woods like their house in a bright shade of anything!
The cars are a bit less remarkable somehow, except that Cortina bakkie. I do dig that one a lot. More pics, please, Mr Pikesta!
Hi Tatra, glad you like the pics! Yes I know the cars aren’t remarkable, but somehow I love e’m. The climate here is easy on cars but life can be hard, and I’m always amazed how incredibly tough some cars are. I’m sure no one has given that Cortina bakkie a break in decades yet here it is still helping somone make a living. Take more pics? Absolutely!
And I’d forgotten about the 2.5 five cylinder in the T3 vans. Wonder if anyone has done that swap over here?
Pikesta, you really have talent with a camera! The way the architecture mimics the body lines of the subject cars is fantastic. Did these shots take a lot of work to set up, or do you just have an unconscious sense of what will make a good photo?
Thanks 9E! I do spend a bit of time, mainly getting into the feel of what I am doing. Then as soon as I find an interesting car & setting it falls into place quite quickly. I pretty much know the end composition result I want immediately. I gererally take 3 to 5 shots of each car.