If Wildrich was still alive today I would have loved to see a new P’Zazz. No other caravan compares to it. Finish and klaar.
Next to the Gariep Dam, in Forever Gariep’s campsite, half a dozen caravans are parked in a laager. And it’s not just any old caravans. It’s six of the few P’Zazz caravans still on the road. And this is the very first gathering for the country’s P’Zazz owners. We went camping with them.
You know the story: A Ford person is a Ford person and for him or her there is no other car. The same goes for a Toyota or Land Rover person and many other car people. It’s exactly like that with caravans, specifically P’Zazz owners. If you chat to a P’Zazz owner you’ll quickly hear there’s no other caravan like it. Once a P’Zazz owner, always a P’Zazz owner. The late Wildrich Groenewald, an architect and interior designer from Vereeniging, was the creator of the P’Zazz. His WJ Motorhomes built the P’Zazz in the early to middle 1990s. After that Jurgens took over the manufacturing for four years and then stopped because it became too expensive. These days the two-, four- or six-wheel caravans are collector’s items. When Gideon de Swart from Pinetown bought a six-wheeler in 2016, he started wondering who the other P’Zazz owners in the country were. He started inquiring on online camping forums and in camping magazines and when he found a few he started a P’Zazz WhatsApp group and began planning the first P’Zazz meet.
Camp commander Gideon
Gideon and his girlfriend Annatjie Kleingoed’s stand next to the dam is the gathering place where for the next week everyone will eat and hang out together. Friday night Gideon will spit a leg of lamb. He knows a thing or two about spitbraai. It’s his job after all. Since 1994 he’s been spitbraaiing mutton and ox for up to 7 500 people at a time. He was even asked once to spit meat for former president Nelson Mandela and his guests at Qunu. But spitbraai isn’t all Gideon is known for. It was Gideon who in 2014 in WegSleep magazine saw the plight of Petrus Swartz and Johanna Bostander who lived with their daughter, three grandchildren and great grandchild in a dilapidated caravan in Andriesvale in the Northern Cape. He started a fundraising project and so managed to buy a second-hand Gypsy 3B. Gideon drove all the way from Pinetown to Paarl to renovate the caravan. After that, Gideon, a few other readers, and WegSleep’s editor at the time, Zigi Ekron, drove to Andriesvale to deliver their new home and a few other gifts to Petrus and his family. Gideon loves people and spending time with others. Around the spitbraai the conversation is flowing. And most of it is centred around the P’Zazz (what else?). “Let me tell you what makes the P’Zazz so special,” says Gideon while he works his magic on the leg of lamb. “It’s the quality,
the material and the passion with which it’s built. “Just park a ’93-model P’Zazz next to any other caravan. When you get in you’ll notice there’s a huge difference. Doesn’t matter if the P’Zazz is 22 or 23 years old. Wildrich Groenewald was brilliant. I told the guys the other day: ‘If Wildrich was still alive today I would have loved to see a new P’Zazz’. No other caravan compares to the P’Zazz. Finish and klaar.” Gideon recently bought his second P’Zazz. “It’s also a tri-axle. The roof is rotten, but I’m working on it and will put it back on the road.”
Kleintjie
Hennie Eksteen, retired transport contractor, towed a single-axle 1992 P’Zazz down to Gariep. He’s camping alone this weekend. His artist wife, Susan, has other obligations. In P’Zazz circles his single-axle is known as “Kleintjie”. There are only two left in the country, as far as Hennie knows. Kleintjie has an interior floor length of 5,6 m versus the double-axle’s 6,5 m and the tri-axle’s 7,5 m. “I bought mine in Cape Town. The previous owner had it for 22 years. The other one is in George. There was a third one somewhere near a dam in the Cape. There were people staying in it and now it’s no more.” Hennie brags about his caravan and his wife, who couldn’t be here this weekend. Just like Gideon, she also has a connection to Madiba. “She worked for the Mint for 15 years. She designed and made that R5 coin with the Union Building on it when Mandela became president in 1994. There’s a photo of her with president Mandela. She also made the 20c coin. Her initials are on it. In 1994 the medal that she made for Woman of the Year also got three first prizes.” He’s glad he can be at the first P’Zazz rally, but he still misses his wife.
Golden oldies
At 82 and 83 respectively, Albert de Klerk and his girlfriend, Magdalena Aucamp, from Bloemfontein are the oldest in the P’Zazz group. Albert, owner of Sign Centre in Bloemfontein’s CBD and former reserve pilot of Bloemspruit’s 106 Squadron who flew everyone from judges to military heads across the country, is camping with his P’Zazz four-wheeler next to the dam. Albert is one of the few people who can claim that he bought his caravan brand new from the designer and builder of the P’Zazz, Wildrich Groenewald. Albert says he saw the P’Zazz for the first time in a magazine on one of this camping expeditions in Zimbabwe in 1993 and immediately knew he had to have one. “When I got home I phoned Wildrich and I went to the factory in Vereeniging. I told him he had to start building one for me right away and within three months I had my caravan. I’ve been camping since 1960 and since 1993 I’ve been camping with my P’Zazz.” For Albert, like the rest of the P’Zazz owners, there is no better caravan. “It’s the best caravan ever built. You have all the luxuries of home, from a double bed to a bathroom with a toilet and shower and hot water. >
It’s the best caravan ever built. You have the luxuries of home, from a double bed to bathroom with a hot-water shower.
“We’ve toured all over and we camp often. This is a very special gathering. We even came a week early.” From farmhouse to the P’Zazz These days Kenneth and Marlene Peinke, Boran stud farmers from East London, live more in their 1992-model four-wheeler than on their farm. Their kids look after operations and Kenneth and Marlene drive and camp all over the country. “We live in the P’Zazz, even when we go to the farm. When we’ve had enough of the kids and the farm, we hit the road again,” says Kenneth. Marlene and Kenneth first had a Wilk Emerald. Then they saw the P’Zazz for the first time in a magazine. Just like Albert, they can lay claim to the fact that they bought their caravan brand new. “We went to Gauteng in 1992 to fetch stuff for a family wedding. I said to Marlene: ‘We’re here now. Might as well go have a look what they have at WJ Motorhomes’. We chatted to Wildrich and immediately fell in love with the P’Zazz. We told him he could start building but he didn’t have to rush because we first had to sell the Wilk. But two months later we had our caravan. “Later we made two small modifications. We added air con and replaced the gas stove with an electric stove and oven. After all these years we’re still just as satisfied with the P’Zazz as the day we got it.” The Taj Mahal of caravans The semi-retired Ricado and Ronél Visagie from Virginia in the Free State named their 1992-model six-wheeler the Taj Mahal. Ricado says he had his eye on a Jurgens Exclusive and the biggest P’Zazz on an internet towing forum. “The day I drove into Brakpan there was this caravan with six wheels just standing there. When you see it the first time you wonder whether your bakkie will be able to tow it. I was quite sceptical. And then we looked inside. It’s a home on wheels, with everything from a washing machine to air con. “I wanted to spoil Ronél in our old age – not that we’re old now. That’s how we bought the P’Zazz. “My biggest fear was the towing issue, but I can say in all honestly the towing is silky smooth. “It’s incredibly luxurious and we haven’t regretted our decision for one moment.” Spruced up The owners of the Bosfontein Caravan Park in Limpopo, Deon and Martie Beukes, are here with their 1991-model double-axle. Deon did all the refurbishments on his caravan himself. For years they had an Exclusive. Then a family member bought a P’Zazz. Deon really liked the layout and space inside and looked for his own one for a long time. “In 2007 I found one at Kennis Caravans and bought it. I took it apart and started rebuilding it. I worked on it on and off for two years. Then we bought Bosfontein. At first the P’Zazz stayed on my smallholding in Benoni. Then one day I decided it was time for it to move, so I put the windows back in and towed it to the farm. I systematically started working on it again and in 2016 it was time to finish it.” Deon modernised his P’Zazz slightly. He replaced the stripes but stayed true to the WJ Motorhome stripes and he added mag
We live in the P’Zazz, even when we go to the farm. When we’ve had enough of the kids and the farm, we hit the road again.
wheels. Inside Deon replaced the doors, basin, fridge and microwave with new ones. He also replaced the old porta-potti that stuck out in the passage with one that you can remove from the outside. The caravan draws a lot of attention, says Deon. “Go check the meaning of ‘pizzazz’ in the dictionary.” (We did just that, Deon. Pizzazz means “an attractive combination of vitality and glamour” and is a descriptive word for something with oomph. – Ed) Make the circle bigger With this first gathering P’Zazz numbers 2, 3, 14, 17, 24 and 28 were there. Gideon’s WhatsApp group has since grown by almost 20 owners. And he’s still searching for other P’Zazz caravanners in the rest of the country. Gideon asks that you please contact him on 074 660 0948 if you are a P’Zazz owner. “I want to find everyone. We want to do this rally every year. I want to have the next one in Cape Town. Just think of the picture: A long convoy of P’Zazz caravans making their way to the south.”