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June 1997 :A FEW INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT FORD IN AFRICA

It has been sometime since I have contributed anything towards our club and being very well aware of the hard work and dedication of our hard working committee my conscience goes way heavy from time to time. I did manage to attend the last meeting at the Sailing Club but the outing to Kentmere I will miss as I have a function at the Windsor Golf and Country Club with my Ford Tudor. However at least my cars do take part as two cars went to Mrs. Mitchell’s Farm at Limuru and least one car will be at Kentmere. It is getting close to the Concours and so with three cars entered most weekends will be spent now in preparation. Well as a way of a small contribution I hope you will find the following article of interest.

"Don’t think that local assembly in Africa is a new concept as Ford Model T’s were first assembled from knocked down kits in South Africa in 1924. Arkell and Douglas of Port Elizabeth became the first Ford Agents when Mr. Paul Henwood of Henwoods Ltd. Durban turned down the Agency in 1905. By 1911 there were Ford motor Depots in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Bloomfontein selling Ford Cars.

The assembly line in Port Elizabeth was the first in Africa but the sixteenth outside North America the others having been established in England, Europe, Scandinavia and South America. The assembly line could accommodate only ten vehicles but by the end of the first twelve months the plant had produced 1446 vehicles.

Ford cars were so popular in South Africa that by the end of 1925 the number of Ford Cars licensed was 18118 followed by Chevrolet with only 6798 vehicles. Up to this time we are talking of the ‘Tin Lizzie’ available in any colour so long as it was ‘Black’. It wasn’t until the end of 1926 that other colours became available including ‘Deep Mole’ and ‘Dark Green’.

By the time the model ‘A’ made its debut the main source of knocked-down kits was Canada as like South Africa Canada drove on the left hand side of the road necessitating right hand drive vehicles. The other major factor was the ‘Imperial Preferential Tariff’ allowing members of the British Commonwealth to undercut goods produced in non Commonwealth Nations.

As South Africa then exported to the rest of Africa including Kenya this explains why most of the Fords in Kenya were Canadian Fords.

Hitler’s rise to power caused Ford to rally to the war effort and in spite of the German U-Boats’ best efforts the Ford Plant in South Africa produced 60,000 vehicles during the six years of war to meet the needs of the South African Forces.

It wasn’t until 1946 that the first post war cars were produced in South Africa to help satisfy a car hungry public.

The next big expansion was 1962 with a production capacity of 110 units per day. Close to 1300 people were employed with that work force now standing at some 7000 people.

Ford has come a long way in South Africa since its pioneering days of the 1920’s producing 60,000 vehicles per year. The ‘two millionth’ Ford came off the South African production line in 1986.

Is it any wonder that today’s BMW’s sold in Kenya are not Knocked Down kits but are largely manufactured in South Africa and not only that but most of the materials used are recycled materials.