Family favourites and some motoring memories

We’ve been reunited at last with our Ford Focus, which has spent a few weeks having some major work done, no simple thing in these Covid-19 times.

It got me thinking about the cars I have driven over the years.

My parents usually had two vehicles, either a Mercedes Benz, which seemingly everyone had in those days, and a smaller Volkswagen of some sort.

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There was an Alfa Romeo for a short time, which was fast and flashy but not that practical.

I can recall us taking about 45 minutes to cover a 200m stretch of farm road in Piet Retief once, my late Dad easing it around the stony terrain, using some colourful language every time a rock thumped up into the undercarriage.

Then there was a tiny Mini which us bored children managed to get rolling towards the river at the Uvongo Tennis Club, while Mom was whacking backhands down the line.

Someone lifted the handbrake and off it rumbled. Fortunately the members were wide awake and one must have been an Olympic sprinter in her past as she arrived in a flash to save the day.

My first car was about a fifth-hand VW Golf, which went like a bomb – when you could get it into gear, and when it didn’t overheat.

I paid R16 000 for it back in 1996. It had a GP number plate and so on one occasion when I went through an amber (possibly red) traffic light – allegedly in the face of oncoming traffic – a traffic officer appeared out of nowhere and pulled me over.

When he realised I was a local boy he had some sympathy and let me off with a warning but to this day I can’t quite believe how quickly he appeared.

It wasn’t long before the car needed to go and I decided on a Toyota Tazz.

A sales rep at VW was not too impressed with me. “You know what the first three letters stand for,” she chirped.

It was bright red, four-speed. “Red cars go faster,” I was told, with a wink, when querying the lack of a fifth gear.

Loved that car and it went places. Still regret selling it as early as I did.

Replaced it with a five-speed light blue (sort of a Manchester City blue as opposed to the first one’s Liverpool red).

From what I can remember I paid R60 000 for this, but not entirely sure.

This one worked very hard as I was a youth leader of a church at the time and ferrying teenagers back and forth seemed to be my main job.

It was a fun time, but boy, the blue Tazz took a beating.

I think it was a rust issue that finally induced me to sell.

From there it was another VW, again a second-hand one, a 1.4 VW Polo which was a very smooth drive and looked a lot cooler than the Tazz, in my opinion.

This one cost R85 000 with some help from the bank.

The boot was just a bit too narrow to fit the golf clubs in without having to take the driver and 3-wood out.

Still, really enjoyed this car and it took to Hillcrest and back on numerous occasions while I was dating my now wife.

It soon became her car – at that time press vehicles were a lot more readily available – and she shot back and forth into the mountains while working at NPC.

Children came along and so we opted for the Ford Focus, which has an abundance of space and plenty of power.

However, the children are growing – they have bikes, bats, balls and the like – so an upgrade is on the cards at some stage soon.

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