KK, his old Chevy, and how Bobby has saved it from the scrapyard.

This month in the Bulletin & Record

Years ago, on the campaign trail for the United Na-tional Independence Party (UNIP), ?rst republican President Kenneth Kaunda was an itinerant traveller and elec-toral campaigner in the run-up to Zambia’s independence in 1964.  He used a variety of vehicles of all
manner and shapes, including his o? cial 1950s Land Rover currently parked outside the former President’s old Chilenje house, now a  national heritage monument.

One such vehicle is a rare six-cylinder 1960 horizon blue Chevy Kingwood Bel Air station wagon, given to KK as a gift from the Americans and sold at the last count to the Lusaka-based Tandika family.

The Kingswood station wagon was essentially the mini-van of the 1960’s, and came in either six or eight cylinders. It had the addition of a third seat that faced the rear of the car, and the seat was stowed away in the ? oor in the area where the spare tyre was normally stored. The spare tyre was instead stored inside the passenger side quarter panel.

Parked and abandoned for close to 30 years, the car has recently re-surfaced, and is about to get a complete overhaul that will see it restored to its pristine condition when its current owner, Bobby Van der Merwe, puts it back on the road as part of his collection of classic cars.

Bobby, a car enthusiast who grew up in Zambia, attending Silver Rest Primary school near Lusaka’s Barn Motel, and later, Gilbert Rennies Boys’ High School (now Kabulonga Boys), is formerly general manager of Star Motors and later, Power Equipment.

From his workshop o? ce at Macfarlane’s Truck & Car Limited along Lusaka’s Lumumba Road, he told the B&R that he’s part of a classic car club whose members meet once a month for a spin around Lusaka and its environs.

“It’s a fun thing. We get together every month informally. We’re not an association or anything like that, so anybody is free to join in, as long as they have an interest in classic
cars and mechanics,” he said.

According to Bobby, a lot of historic cars are lying around all over the country, such as Chevrolet Biscaynes and Impalas, which were senior ministerial cars at the time of Zambia’s independence in 1964 while the Biscaynes were given to Ministers of State (now Deputy  Ministers).

Bobby says it’s a shame that these cars have been abandoned, and made from solid sheet metal and steel, they have “almost all been cut up and sold as scrap metal for scrap metal export and smelting at Kafue’s scrap metal iron works.”

 JOHN MUKELA

This story was first published in the July 2013 edition of the Bulletin and Record Magazine