Does anyone remember the strip roads? Well, for those who don?t?
When Rhodesia was first ?developed?, the first ?All Weather? roads were the strip roads. Two strips of tarmac laid directly on the ground, dirt either side and dirt between - no attempt at camber etc. They made up a single carriageway. This was the equivalent of the ?A? roads of the UK at the time. If you met somebody going the other way you took the near-side strip with your offside wheels, and he did the same on his side. If you couldn?t see over a brow you took the near-side just in case. I never measured the width, but the strips were comfortably wide enough for the tyres. Keeping them on the strips was a marvellous incentive to staying awake. I think that the speed limit was 50 mph, which was quite enough in the circumstances. This was true in the 1960s, when I was there.
When you came to a river the only warning was a sign, about A3 size, saying ?Deadly Hazard?. When you met that sign you dropped down to approx. 2 mph until you reached the brow of the rather steep slope down to the bridge. You then stopped to see if you could see the bridge above the water. The bridges over rivers were about 3 ft. above dry season water level. In the rainy season the water would rise over the bridge, and you knew that you had to go back to the nearest town or set up camp until the water level fell. You did not go down the slope unless you saw a clear bridge, only one vehicle at a time.
One story is of a farmer who stopped to look, and saw a lioness with two cubs lying on the bridge. He waited at the top as was the custom to wait for them to move on. He then observed an African gentleman of his acquaintance ride on his bike over the opposite brow. When he was over the brow he saw the animals and tried to stop. Brakes on bikes were not regarded as a priority, a steady progress was all that was desired. Stopping was generally accomplished by braking the tyre with your foot. Walking bare footed since birth gives the indigenous quite hard feet.
The lioness saw him coming and rose to her feet, alert and watching him. When he was at the entry to the bridge, with no perceptible diminishment in speed and foot almost smoking, he diverted off to the left and entered the river with a great splash. The lioness was startled and jumped off the bridge on the other side with another gtreat splash. I never learned what happened to the cubs.
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LOL nice one! - beat this Growler!
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Good to hear more stories of the colonies! (or ex-colonies!)
I have two close friends long retired from the British South Africa Police, Hillman, and they have some splendid stories from those days. Especially what was quietly done to unpleasant gentlemen infiltrating from Mozambique to deter such practices.
Makes Abu Ghraib sound like Butlins.
But as usual I digress. The strip roads to which you refer are found all over the rural areas of India and Pakistan also. It is the ultimate test of nerve to have one of those over-decorated Pakistani Bedford lorries coming straight at you while you're working out who is going to be the first to put two wheels on the dirt.
Usually me.......
(Please I'm not responding to RF and attempting to score points on Hillman here) but my favorite animal/motoring story, which will forever remain to be proven is this. I used to work for Goodyear Tire and Rubber in W. Perth in Oz. One of our country salesman, Johnny Carlton, rocked in one Monday morning covered in scrapes and bruises and Band-aids. The immediate reaction was he's been in a Saturday night punch-up (not uncommon in those parts). Then he showed us the inside of his Holden HR ute. It was a wreck, the upholstery was in shreds and everything was scratched or damaged. What on earth?
He said (he said) he'd been driving back south from Geraldton on the Friday night to get home from his run for the weekend. Windows open, hot night. Allegedly a herd of kangaroos had appeared from nowhere. That does happen in Oz at night. Johnny said he jammed on the brakes and didn't hit any (lucky because if you hit a big boomer the impact can write off your car). However a little joey (baby) had been trailing the pack and hit the passenger door and come in through the window. Naturally it had panicked, hence the damage to the car and to Johnny before he could get it out.
Nobody believed a word of this outrageous story but then nobody could offer an adequate alternative explanation for the interior damage to the ute either. It was widely touted that Johnny had been giving the Swan Lager a nudge on the night in question but even that wouldn't explain it. he never lived that one down.
The truth is out there somewhere. But we'll never know for sure.
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In 1979, while my father was working in South Africa, the whole family had a holiday in Rhodesia, soon to become Zimbabwe.
We were about the first tourists after the bitter civil war involving Ian Smith, the UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the UK) and the AK47 wielding terrorists from various tribal factions prowling the bush blowing up farms, villages, infact anything really.
It was a long hot journey in our trusty Peugeot 504 estate from Johannesburg to Beit Bridge (the border with South Africa). Stayed overnight and then joined an armed police convoy to travel to the next town.
The armed convoy consisted of clapped out old Mazda Pickups with a cylindrical machine gun turret on the back. They used old Browning machine guns left over from WW2 if I recall correctly. There was one truck at the front, middle and back of the line of vehicles. These were the rules:
? The convoy would travel as fast as the slowest vehicle
? If you broke down one of the trucks would stay with you.
? In the event of an attack you were told to leave your vehicle, if it was immobilised, and lie down flat on the verge/bush. The alternative was to get out of danger as quickly as possible by putting your foot down.
Another strict instruction especially when travelling by road alone to avoid cowpats. On tarmac roads it was commonplace to place land mines in cowpats so squashing them was at your own peril.
Back to the motoring aspect, yes I do remember those strip roads, hand cranked petrol pumps and mine protected Land Rovers. These were specially adapted with a V shaped armoured floor pan and the front and rear axles were extended front and rear diagonally to raise the vehicle and lengthen the wheelbase.
We went all over the country the highlight being the Victoria Falls, an awesome sight I will never forget. Staying at the Holiday Inn in Bulawayo, I remember a notice asking guests to hand in their guns and ammunition for safe keeping at reception.
I suppose the equivalent today would be to take the family to Baghdad on holiday. I lived to tell the tale and experienced a country before it was really reduced completely to tatters by a questionable government.
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Charles, great story. Thank you.
Do hope you didn't bathe at the Victoria Falls though. My cousin did and got bilharzia and resigned out of of MI6 (she was posted to the Zambia Brit Embassy, she's still not allowed to say what she did there, official Secrets Act). Wrote off her Peugeot 504 (motoring link) -- those were the car for Africa were they not? when she collapsed at the wheel 77-ish I think. Broke both legs. Spent ages in the Tropical Diseases Hosp in London. Can't get the fluke out of the liver easily and like malaria it can come back.
Me I never got further than Spanish Sahara in Africa, an aborted trip in a diesel Transit I drove down through Spain thru Tangier and Marrakesh which blew up. We just left it. Luckily the immigration had failed to note the carnet in my passport so we were able to abandon it. We were trying to get to Mauritania Lord knows why.
The Peugeot 504. Front wheel drive built like the brick proverbial. I've been all over Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Syria in those things. The estate versions are still the mainstay of long distance taxi transport in Egypt. Bags and boxed piled on the roof, belting down the highway to Alexandria......nervous dispositions need not apply......
The epitome of that old saying "they don't make 'em like that any more".
Sorry BR-ers. One day I'll write the book and not congest these columns with old mens' memories.
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Thanks G
That was just the chopped down version which I am recalling from when I was just 13 years old. If you're interested I could email you with more.
Those Pug 504's were in fact RWD and absolutely indestructable. When Mum & Dad arrived in SA they were looking for a large estate to transport a family of 6. It was a toss up between a Chrysler Valiant and the Pug 504. A work colleague pointed out that the Valiant was locally known as a 'Soweto taxi' and not named after a V bomber so his mind was made up!
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You young people!
The car for Central Africa in the 60s and 70s was the Pug 404 estate. They were used as taxis. The driver would wait until he had a car full before setting off, and full meant 'full'. Then he set off with the throttle on the floor. Nobody ever overtook a taxi. The Africa version had a special back axle and half elliptical springs, as opposed to the European coil springs. They were pretty tough animals. The rads in Zambia were the worlds worst. In one place near Ndola you had to drive in and out of a pothole deeper than the car roof.
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Oh lor' this we should be doing round the bar, gents. Was the Pug 504 RWD? If so I stand to be corrected. What a good car though and so many still in use.
Now then Hillman, the Pug 404. One with the tailfins right? Gotcha. When I worked in Saudi I got a two week trip every 3 months to Sri Lanka for R & R.
The details need not concern us here but I became good friends with a Sri Lanka Police Inspector who used to rent out his 404 and driver as a sideline. He also had twin daughters, Sylvia and Samantha who he was extremely anxious I should marry. Whether one or both never quite got resolved. Gorgeous they were, if a trifle well upholstered from so much curry and rice.
Anyway Arthur Thomas was his 404 driver and I would rent him for trips all over the island. If you've never been to Sri Lanka I would just say it is truly one of nature's most beautiful places.
However, much of the male population thereabouts gets on the palm toddy around mid-morning. Arthur being no exception. The result most days being a somnolent Arthur who was in no fit condition to drive, so there I was driving the car and driver I'd paid for. Nasty column gear change.
I didn't have the heart to ask the police superintendent for a refund.
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Charles fond memories of the 504, mainly hammering across Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. As you say indestructible. I remember taking one across Wadi Rum from Aquaba in Jordan all the way up to Damascus through the desert. Temps in the 100's and belting it all the way. Yes email me with any memories you have.
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There is a movie about Rhodesia and Botswana with a lot of motoring. Believe me it is very good. It is called "The Gods Must be Crazy". My son got it on video recently. I think that it is a South African movie, made about 1980. I would recommend everybody to watch it.
Teaches something about travel in those areas.
Two of my fellow employees drove from the Copperbelt to the UK accompanied by their wives. One was in a 404 and the other in a Holden. In the Sahara desert the brakes failed on one of them, and with hundreds of miles of sand in all directions guess what it ran into.
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