Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Driving through history on the wings of ye olde faithfuls
Clocking the milestones of Cape motoring is an intriguing story, writes PATRICK COYNE
On Saturday December
21, 1901 the club staged its inaugural run, with 12 vehicles leaving Greenmarket Square on an ambitious 30-mile journey to Kalk Bay and back. The only problems were a burst tyre, one case of a severe “sideslip”, and some starting difficulties.
By 1902 Garlick’s had brought out cars built by Orient, Alldays, Peugeot and Daimler, as well as the first motor tractor seen in these parts, an Ivel, and also by contrast, a Lozier motorised fishing boat, almost certainly the first of its kind ever seen by Cape Town’s wide-eyed fishermen.
So far motoring had been an exciting but fairly safe and pleasant joy-ride for Cape drivers. But the realisation they were driving, or playing with, sharp-edged tools would eventually come. It did. On October 1, 1903 the Cape witnessed its first severe motoring accident.
The young Charles Garlick, driving his father’s Darracq, with, as his passengers Harry Markham and chauffeur Snellgrove, entered the Maitland railway level crossing through the nearer gate which they had found open. Disaster! They found the further gate closed, and before they could open it or reverse out of danger, the locomotive pulling the Express from Johannesburg hit them, travelling at full speed. Amazingly, there were no fatalities, but Markham suffered a badly broken leg, Garlick some minor injuries, while Snellgrove was thrown clear. The car was wrecked, although Garlick re-built it later.
This accident was the first of its kind and led to a searching inquiry by the Cape Government Railways.
On November 9, 1904 the Automobile Club held its second annual reliability trial. Seventeen cars attempted nonstop runs from Cape Town to Houwhoek and back, a distance of 100 miles which included tackling Sir Lowry’s Pass (twice). Five cars managed to do it non-stop.
During the early 1900s, motorists began to realise motor cars could, in effect, give them wings. Driving a car you need never again be restricted to Cape Town, or the Cape Peninsula, or even the Western Cape. You could travel amazingly long distances. In 1902 D Menzies and M Irving drove their 12 hp Gladiator from Cape Town as far as Calvinia and back in the good time, considering the roads that existed, in eight days. In 1903 AC Fuller and his wife drove their 10 hp Lanchester from Cape Town to King William’s Town in 13 days.
And most memorable of all, in 1907, RL Jefferson and FG Connock drove their 8 hp Rover from Durban to Cape Town via Johannesburg in the excellent time of 16 days.
By 1908 memories of the Anglo-Boer War were giving way to visions of national unity. At the National Convention held in Cape Town in that year, delegates from the four British colonies in South Africa met to discuss the planned Union of South Africa. Delegates were taken on a tour of the Cape Peninsula by members of the Automobile Club. Some of them had never ridden in an automobile before.
Then came Union. In
1910 there were an estimated 2 000 cars in the country, with the Reef and Pretoria having 1 000 of them, Cape Town 250, Eastern Cape 200, Durban and Pietermaritzburg 100, Oudtshoorn 100, and the balance being held by Kimberley and Bloemfontein.
Famous men took to the new vehicles enthusiastically. For example, in 1913 it was reported in society pages that General Botha had added a new Excelsior to his Groote Schuur motoring stable of a Stud and a Standard. Sir Percy Fitzpatrick still had his “faithful” Buick. Sir Lionel and Lady Phillips drove a Panhard. And so on…
On January 1, 1914, all provinces of the Union brought into effect regulations for motor vehicle registration, licence fees and driving licences. But the four provinces were in no way uniform.
Each province gaily went its own way and that’s how it stayed for about 50 years. For example, while the Cape and the Transvaal had number plates of a sort, Natal motorists at first simply painted a large number on to the front of their radiators. (As late as 1946 the Cape and the Transvaal had different ages, 17 and 18 years respectively, as earliest ages for drivers’ licences to be available.)
However, the traditional South African system of labelling number plates with letters indicating towns was uniform and started as early as 1914. That is, Cape Town: CA, Port Elizabeth: CB, Kimberley: CC, and so on, with other provinces having similar combinations. Only now are anonymous computerised number plates becoming the norm. Most old motorists sadly regret the advent of the latter. Being able to look at a car’s number plate and tell at a glance from what town it comes from adds pleasantly to the enjoyment of a long motor trip.
World War I came. Since the Defence Force had no motorised vehicles, it was decided to commandeer a large number of civilian-owned cars, at first taking over only Buick, Ford, Overland and Hupmobile cars. But there were not enough of these American cars available, so British makes like Talbot, Sunbeam, Crossley, Vauxhall as well as the French Renault were commandeered. As drivers were thin on the ground, many civilian drivers were enrolled.
One interesting vehicle appeared when General
Botha’s forces were advancing into the German colony of South West Africa. A squadron of Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) armoured cars was sent from England in support of Botha’s men. No airplanes, these cars…
They were based on the famous 1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost saloons, with the same chassis and that magnificent
7.4 litre straight six engine, but with all-enveloping armour and a revolving turret that boasted a Vickers machine gun.
The stony tracks in South West Africa (Namibia) were cruel to the armoured car’s tyres (twin wheels at rear) but the cars proved their worth when they crept up on an enemy encampment at night
(in R-R tradition the engines were absolutely silent) and then suddenly switched on their powerful headlamps and opened up on the surprised enemy.
Four of the RNAS armoured cars were later sent to East Africa where they saw action, and finally sent on to Lawrence of Arabia in North Africa, who described them as being “like precious jewels in the desert”.
After the 1914-18 war, Cape drivers settled down again to peace-time motoring. The first petrol pumps appeared in Cape Town in 1924. A gallon of petrol cost only one shilling and sixpence in the Cape, one of the