FORD VS. BWW

When I was a P+T technician at Calvinia in the1970s, my friend Koos invited me to join him and his girlfriend at the Vredendal drive-in in his Ford Cortina XLE “big six”.

After the movie, I suggested Koos and his girlfriend sit in the back and I would drive. On the way to Vanrhynsdorp, a car came past at quite a speed. Koos pulled over and as we were changing seats, he asked me to catch up with the vehicle because, in the darkness, we couldn’t see what it was. I reached a speed I will not reveal here and caught up to the car, then slowed down to a more reasonable pace as I planned to pass him in the Boksveld Pass near Nieuwoudtville.

In the pass, I put the hammer down but the other car had better road-holding and I couldn’t make it stick as they say in F1. As the tyres screeched around each corner, I heard Koos’ girlfriend asking him in a trembling voice to take over the driving but Koos was enjoying himself too much.

At the top of the pass, when the road straightened out, I started gaining on the other car. I reeled him in, kept my foot down and passed easily. I will not admit to the speed we were travelling for fear of reprisals from the traffic department. At that point, the Cortina’s steering felt light. For safety’s sake and because there was no oncoming traffic, I kept to the middle of the road. When the other car was well and truly beaten, we dropped down to what felt like a crawl.

The car came up to the rear bumper and flashed his lights for another dice but we didn’t bite. The next day, Koos found out it was an E12 BMW 518i. It was an experience I will not soon forget.

ANDRÉ PIENAAR Brackenfell