The Africar

The Africar

(UK) Special Mention
Not only Africa but Europe too, have considered developing a sustainable vehicle exclucively for the African continent.

Tony Howarth an English jounalist / photographer set up Africar International Limited (AIL)
in April 1986. His ambition was to develop a wooden car called the 'Africar' for Africa, that could be built in Africa, sustainable for use on the continent's rough terrain. In the early '80's Howarth built thre Africars which were used on an expedition from the Arctic to the Equator. The chassis and bodywork of the Africars were made of epoxy resin-impregnated plywood. On these prototypes, Howarth used Citroen 2CV engines, gearboxed and suspension as well as components from other manufacturers.
Sad to say this sucessful product did not live to see full scale production. It would have been the model that would have changed African car market as we know it.

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The Ramses

The Ramses
(Egypt)

The NSU Ramses Utilica was the first car produced in Egypt, and was the result of a coorporation between the new egyptian car firm Egyptian Automotive Co., and the german NSU. The factory was located right next to the Great Pyramids. Plans were to produce around 10.000 cars a year, most of the work being manual labor.

The NSU Ramses used the Prinz 30 as it's basis. The body, looking something like a VW Kübelwagen; it was much more square then the original Prinz, creating more space in the front luggage compartment. The square form was the result of the absence of equipment to mold metal plates in more streamlined forms. The doors and passenger windows where made of canvas on a frame, and could be complete removed. The soft top could be folded back, just like on an ordinary cabrio.

The only chrome parts that could be found on the car were the front and rear fenders - in the heat and rough egyptian environment, chrome parts tend to show blisters in a very short period of time.

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The Banchee

The Banchee
(South Africa)

An absolutely gorgeous open sportscar created by Tertius Van Zyl in South Africa. Tertius writes:

"Being a penniless youth and having abused my mildly tuned 850 in the mid 60s with rallying and a foray into racing, I decided that a sports car would be a great idea to put on the track. No money meant that 'if you can't buy one, make one'! Having had inspiration from a road test published in Cars & Car Conversions mag of the Unipower GT and clutching my copy (original 1969 version still in existence) of Allan Staniforth‘s High Speed-Low Cost, 'Banshee' was created over a period of about 15 years during which time I was transferred by my employer to five cities in South Africa, Banshee having covered about 2,500 miles without putting in any fuel!

"Regrettably, the Sportscar class was abolished during the course of building and my racing aspirations were curtailed anyway by the intrusion of marriage. Banshee is still hauled out on high days and holidays but has completed three 'Durban Dash' events over the past years (800 mile round trip each from Johannesburg to Durban); (photo T. van Zyl)

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The Flamingo

The Flamingo
(South Africa)

Yet again Bob van Niekerk, Willie Meissner and Vester de Wit conceived and designed the follow up to the Dart; It was the Flamingo. A sophisticated GT version of the Dart with a unique styled hard top.

Approximately 128 GSM Flamingos were built in Cape Town.

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The Dart

The Dart
(South Africa)

Bob van Niekerk, Willie Meissner and Vester de Wit conceived and designed this car during 1956. The Dart was its name and it proved to be almost unbeatable in South Africa as well as various racing circuits in Europe.

In England the Dart was produced as the Delta.

Some 116 Darts were built in S.A. and.... over 60 Deltas in the U.K, some of which have surfaced lately in Canada.

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Leko - the Ikea car

Is Ikea planning to branch into automobile manufacture?

A microsite for the mysterious Leko suddenly appeared linked from the Ikea France site. It features a rotating car covered with cloth and a designer called Christophe Grazs talking about it in French. I have no idea what he's talking about but I can probably get my brother-in-law to tell what he is going on about.

It has generated a fair amount of interest but seems a lot of people are not taking it seriously.

I hope they are not going to ask their customers to assemble it using an Allen key.

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Funny Mini Clubman ad

Watch the funny ad of two MINI Clubman on the German autobahn.

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