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Posts Tagged “
Africa
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fanatics aficionados when we opined that perhaps the little rear-engined vans were on the sluggish side. Today we're going to regruntle our Type 2-loving friends by sharing this VW ad that demonstrates- in fact, encourages- off-road hoonage of the sort you'd normally associate with a Warlord Edition 4x4 Hilux. In South Africa, you could get a four-wheel-drive, Audi-5-banger-powered VW Transporter Syncro until 2002. Yes, 2002!
Volkswagen Bus Syncro: Ready For South African Hoonage
We caused some disgruntlement among VW Transporter
retro
Want a Brand New Peugeot 504? Head To Nigeria!
Supposedly the last of the African 504s was built a few years ago... yet the Peugeot Nigeria website still offers the 504 Configurator. You don't have a lot of options (though you can get a wagon), but it's a genuine late-60s-technology 504 that we must assume is built way better than the citrus-flavored examples that were shipped to North America back in the day. And the price? About $25,000 if you're showing up with dollars. Thanks to Franzouse for the tip! [Peugeot Nigeria]
el camino
South Africa Gets Opel Corsaminos!
Let's say you're in South Africa and you just can't get your hands on a good vintage 1956 Mercedes-Benzamino (or, in the local parlance, a Mercedes-Benz Bakkie). Fortunately, The General sells a Gamma-platform-based bakkie known as the Opel Corsa Utility. Sure, it's front-wheel-drive, but it's a factory-built car with a truck bed nonetheless. Thanks to Franzouse for the tip! [GM South Africa]
maximum el camino day
Factory Benzaminos For South Africa!
Technically, the pickup truck version of the Mercedes-Benz 180D, built during the 1956-58 period for the South African market, wasn't a factory Benzamino (or should that name be Mercedampage, given the later association with Chrysler?), but we figure it's close enough for our purposes. 400 Mercedes-Benz 180Ds with no body behind the B pillar were imported to South Africa to have the beds installed locally, and they were promptly dubbed "Bakkies" by the locals. You can read about a Bakkie restoration project here, or wish for a time machine in order buy this one that just sold on eBay. [MBZPonton.org]
maximum el camino day
GM Launches South African El Camino, Calls It A Chevy Lumina
The South African market is getting its own new El Camino, but theirs is called a Chevy Lumina SS Ute, and gets the Chevy corporate face. Mechanically identical, the Lumina ute get the same 361bhp 6.0-liter V8 as the American
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Imagine Life In South Africa Without Opels
The General couldn't move too many Achievas or Azteks in South Africa, but Astras and Kapitäns and such seem to do all right there. This ad has some nice "why we love cars" shots, but its Manta shortage is distressing.
racing news
Dakar Rally to Proceed Through Mauritania Despite Al Qaeda Threat
It looks like organizers of the famed Dakar Rally will still race through the African state of Mauritania from January 11th-19th despite security fears prompted by recent attacks linked to Al-Qaeda. This decision's thanks to Mauritania's announcement it plans to mobilize 2,000 extra soldiers and 2,000 extra plainclothes police to monitor the rally as it passes through the African country. All of the focus on security comes after three soldiers were killed during an armed ambush in the northeast of the country. More »
classic ad watch
Forget Schlitz In A Camaro- Gala In A 2CV!
After we all had the chance to mull over the proper beer to purchase on the way home from the Chevy dealership with your new '77 Camaro yesterday, it seems only right that we should watch this Chadian ad for Gala Beer. Gala, the beer delivered to you in a 2CV while you lounge in a lawn chair on a hot African afternoon. And the Gala theme song is way catchier than the "Tonight's The Night" Löwenbräu tune!
sales
So what do you do when you can't face the regulatory and marketing hurdles of the US market, but you still want to sell as many of your cheaply manufactured vehicles as possible? Why, you head right on over to Africa like Great Wall Motor Co and take over the European automakers dumping ground for used vehicles. Chinese automakers like Great Wall appear to be making a significant dent in the auto market in Africa — mostly because they're able to sell new vehicles at a lower price than you can buy a used vehicle for. And, as you can tell from the video of the Euro NCAP crash testing of the Chery Amulet above, you also get the added benefit of a car that collapses whenever you need to toss it into a recycling can. Or like, whenever you hit a wall at 30 mph. [via WSJ]
Chinese Automakers Go After African Car Market
So what do you do when you can't face the regulatory and marketing hurdles of the US market, but you still want to sell as many of your cheaply manufactured vehicles as possible? Why, you head right on over to Africa like Great Wall Motor Co and take over the European automakers dumping ground for used vehicles. Chinese automakers like Great Wall appear to be making a significant dent in the auto market in Africa — mostly because they're able to sell new vehicles at a lower price than you can buy a used vehicle for. And, as you can tell from the video of the Euro NCAP crash testing of the Chery Amulet above, you also get the added benefit of a car that collapses whenever you need to toss it into a recycling can. Or like, whenever you hit a wall at 30 mph. [via WSJ]
out of africa
Top Gear in Botswana?
Apparently, some Botswani (Botswanian? Autobot?) people aren't entirely thrilled that Jezza, Captain Slow and the Hamster are headed to their African nation to trek out across the country's salt pan. While some citizens are upset about the environmental impact Clarkson & Co. will wreak upon the flats' fragile ecosystem, Guy Brina isn't particularly worried that the Beeb will screw things up. What concerns him is that Top Gear's massive popularity may encourage less-sensitive yahoos to head out on their own salt safaris once they witness the hilarity that'll no doubt ensue when the Three Amigos bicker their way across one of Africa's natural treasures. More »
gentleman's pursuit
Jalopnik Flickr Finds: Motor Racing in Angola, Africa
Building a race track in Angola seemed like a smashing good idea back when dashing playboys and ne'er do wells cashed in on the benefits of colonialism by way of fancy motor cars. Racing around public Angola roads and the purpose built street circuit was a welcome sunny holiday from the usual drab weather euro-fare. Engine overheating was a minor annoyance compared to eventual decolonization. Ensuing civil war has prevented the return of motor racing to the sandy dunes, but the imagery from the past lives on thanks to a photoset from Nite Owl. More »
novelties
Now You Can Whip Out Your Vuvuzela On South African Taxi Drivers!
Apparently the drivers of minivan taxis in South Africa tend to be hated and feared by other drivers, so here comes this Flash game called Taxi Wars. Players get the opportunity to bash in the taxi's windows with a golf club, puncture its tires with a screwdriver, or redecorate its flank with spray paint. Those feeling more aggro can take a vuvuzela and blast it in the driver's ear, causing his hair to stand up (according to this article about the game, a vuvuzela is one of those plastic horns blown by drunks at sporting events); those who boil over with road rage (or bitterness over the dismantling of apartheid) can pound the hapless driver into unconsciousness with what appears to be the angry white fist of P. W. Botha. More »
news
Get A Hummer In England: H3 Wrong-Side-Drive Unveiled!
We were all excited earlier this morning when the General dropped the release on the green-is-good Aura Green Line. We thought maybe they'd turned a new leaf and began to learn to love the sedan. Ha! We totally should have known better. That bit of hetero-automaker love lasted all of about 20 minutes, which is about when we read the second release of the day, which amazingly ran right over that pro-green pro-car message with a 16" anti-green gas-guzzling tire. The second release pushes GM's new right-hand-drive Hummer H3 for jolly old England and other similarly-configured markets. Although this H3's a whole "39 mm shorter, 171 mm lower and 73 mm narrower" than the one we can buy over here, it still manages to run with the less-than-hearty (but always fuel inefficient!) 3.7-liter engine powering the 'merican version. The Lutz-heavy press release that's got all sorts of englandorable words like "manoeuvrability" is just after the jump. More »
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Incomprehensible Ad Watch: Renault Rapidité Rapidité Rapidité Rapidité!
Apparently the staff at Renault's ad agency in '66 was gobbling near-lethal quantities of Sandoz Delysid; there's no other sensible explanation for this brain-damaging Renault 4 ad for the French African market. The crypto-psychedelic go-go music... the jittery animated logo... the maddening echoing chorus: Une voiture de ville! Ville ville ville ville! Une voiture de brousse! Brousse brousse brousse brousse! Freinage de s curit ! S curit s curit s curit ! Translation: A car for the city! City city city city! A car for the bush! Bush bush bush bush! Safety brakes! Safety safety safety!More »
retro
Electric Boogaloo, South African Corolla Style
Things may have seemed grim in South Africa in 1984, what with the whole apartheid/repression thing and all. But there was one bright spot for beleaguered South Africans: the brand-new Toyota Corolla. The '84 was just so good that it made ordinary office workers don gray-and-yellow shellsuits and perform perhaps the worst robot dancing ever done before a camera. Plenty of brain-damaging surreal details (e.g., gigantic fast-food items protruding from bouncing cars) in this one, folks; do not operate heavy machinery after watching. More »
retro
The Classic Car Club of Kenya!
We know that Homo habilis and Homo erectus hung out in Kenya back in the day, but we had no idea the country supported a collection of vintage car enthusiasts. We ran across this gallery from their 2000 Concours d'Elegance, and while the variety of the iron tends to be a little more econo than what one would see at Pebble Beach or Amelia Island, it's chock full of radness, including what may be the only RHD FAF ever built. Yay Kenya! Yay FAF! More »
retro
