MOTORING MEMORIES OF MY CHILDHOOD

Peter Palm’s article titled “A Ford, a farm, a family,” in the August 2020 issue of CAR brought back happy memories of my childhood. In the ‘50s I grew up in Hennenman, a dusty town on the outskirts of the fledgling Free State, located on the main north– south railway line with no rail connection to Welkom, the heart of the Goldfields. Welkom was a newly established mining town and, in those days, my father operated a taxi service in which mostly Fords were used. He transported prospective miners from the station to the Goldfields while driving on dirt roads. I often accompanied him on these long trips.

At one stage he was running the taxi business with three cars but after a new taxi owner was granted a permit for a second taxi business in town, he had to scale down. The new taxi was a Plymouth, if you can imagine such a thing.

I remember his ’49 and ’51 Ford Custom Flathead V8s very well. My father purchased his Fords from Lambons, the Ford dealership in nearby Kroonstad. How exciting it was to visit the showrooms with all the new American and English-built Fords and special Mercury models. He also drove a black 1953 Chevrolet 210 which, amazingly for the time, had a radio fitted. Sadly, it was not suited for the dirt roads. His last taxi was a grey 1954 Ford Customline … what a beauty. Growing up with cars resulted in me becoming a petrolhead and reading CAR from an early age. To date, I still have a soft spot for Fords although I drive a pristine Volvo S40.

EDDIE HARVEY Pretoria

[Eddie, living in the Free State before the convenience of a railway connection must’ve been tough. And, by the sounds of it, taxis were much cooler than your average Uber today. Here’s a 12-month subscription to say thanks for sharing with our readers – editor.]