The search for dad’s unique vehicle is on
A local businessman is on a search to find the vehicle his dad single-handedly built some time in the 1980s.
Peter Tasker, co-owner of Tasaky Pub & Grill (the old Affipad Boskombuis), says his father, Kenneth Tasker, took on and conquered the mammoth task of building his own three-wheel car while they were living in Alberton. “It was a powerful little machine and I would love to own it once more,” Peter says.
Kenneth was a diesel mechanic by traning and a mechanical plan manager for a civil-engineering company by profession, and thus had the necessary skills to take on the seemingly impossible task. He only allowed himself a budget of R2 000 and managed to stick to it.
Most of the running gear came from a 1 100cc Kawasaki motorcycle, with the rest of the car consisting of various parts of an old Datsun bakkie, an Isuzu KB21 bakkie, an International Harvester truck and a Ditchwitch excavator, which he scavenged from all over.
Kenneth did all the work himself but left the wiring to an expert – an electrician who worked with him. Peter says he assisted his dad with small tasks like sandpapering. “But he didn’t trust me much with a spanner,” he jokes.
Peter says it took his dad quite a while to build it, to the dismay of his mother. “My dad was late for dinner or didn’t cut the grass for two weeks to tinker with that toy of his, as my mom called it.”
Kenneth named it Tasaky – a combination of Tasker (their surname), Kawasaki and a spelling mistake.
Peter still remembers when they had to go register the vehicle. “The officials had never seen anything like the little three-wheeled vehicle and didn’t know whether it was a car or a motorbike. If it was a motorbike, the occupants would need helmets, and if it was a car it would need a reverse gear and a windscreen with a wiper.” He says his dad was in and out of the licensing offices before finally deciding it was a car and adding a windscreen and a wiper. When they asked about the reverse gear, he simply picked the 430-kilogram car up by the bumper and turned it around.
That amused the officials so much that they eventually licensed the vehicle. Before it had gone to the testing station, Kenneth had not been over 80 or 90 kilometres per hour, but afterwards got it up to 180 kilometres per hour before the wind blast forced him to slow down.
Peter says he was caught by traffic police travelling at 220 kilometres per hour but managed to escape jail time by letting the officers take a spin in the little car.
After less than three years of zipping about, Peter’s dad took away the keys because “he didn’t want to be responsible for my death”.
The car was later sold to a business partner of Kenneth’s, a Mr Da Silva. Peter says he has been led to believe that Da Silva still owns it, but has painted it a canary yellow.
By all accounts Da Silva lives somewhere in Steiltes but often travels between Mbombela and Mozambique, so Peter isn’t sure where the car is.
Peter, who recently took over the old Affipad Boskombuis, along with business partner Eugene Relling says they named their business Tasaky in honour of his dad. He would love to display it at the restaurant or zip around town in it as advertisement.
He urges anyone who may have spotted the interesting little car to get in touch with him. Contact Peter on 078-298-9023 or his business partner Eugene on 078-585-5661 or send them an email on eugene.justin@gmail.com
