Africar. Info request.

[Junkman]

That Africar sure looks like a pile of shit only suitable for non Whites.

[matty879]

i wonder if were somehow related,born pretty local to where i was born

http://www.anthonyhowarth.com/about.html

[forddeliveryboy]

That Africar sure looks like a pile of shit only suitable for non Whites.

 

I very nearly bought one from Weston Super Mare in about 2004, the price was a negotiable £2500, I think. The 'inventor' guy had driven an Issigonis 1100 the length of the continent and longed for something with a wide track and sufficient ground clearance. He should've designed a lightweight, CKD Hummer-ish thing.

 

The clever(ish) bits were the wide track (so you could follow truck tracks in the mud, although this made you wonder if the large ground clearance was enough for Africa) and plywood panels. But even then Africans probably aspired to something better, shame nobody has designed it.

 

I didn't buy because too much was a one-off and it was needing work everywhere (was heavily involved in ancient Cits at the time), though questioned my decision heading back up the M5 because of its rare-ability. I reckoned I was too busy to contemplate resurrection and didn't have the undercover storage space - a early DS and Traction were worth more, to me.

 

It's prolly worth £3-10,000, unless London.

 

I see Gordon Murray has developed this Transt-based thing - http://www.gordonmur...t-lcv-2016.html.

 

As China (the Empire, not Ed) spreads more and more tarmac around Africa, it's more and more likely they'll be running about in cheap (but good) Chinese battery cars, charged for free - once you've bought the (Chinese) solar panels. And I bet they'll repair much more easily than an Africar, despite mass-production and general craptitude.

[mk2_craig]

Quite how they are able to sell a car for that much when he was imprisoned for the company debt is a mystery to me.

 

I also remember a blue peter program about the African in the 80s

Its quite a good price, assuming the seller is throwing in the French house they also no longer need.

[Skut]

I remember the programme even though i must have been single digits, I asked innocently enough whether the car was still 2Cv based and was told "oh I shouldn't think so" Felt bad for having asked a question.

[timolloyd]

The best bit of the whole sorry Africar story is undoubtedly his original journey in an 1100, which inspired* the idea.

 

I remember reading some analysis of this which basically said 'Africa doesn't need a special car, because they have Mercs and Pugs'.