Zimbabwe Absurdity

A Ford Capri still looking good after some 40 years!

When I was 15 I really wanted one of these; a Ford Capri. Of course the really hot one was a Ford Capri Piranha (no, I cannot remember what was special about that model but they were the hot car of the time). I didn’t even know anyone who had one but I did draw one, from a magazine, for an art project. I was inordinately please that a friend could actually recognize what sort of car it was but of course the shape was very distinctive.

This one was parked outside an auto spares and accessories shop that has recently opened on 2nd Street and Churchill roads near the University of Zimbabwe in Harare. I was actually looking for office chairs which are sold in the same complex but I had to walk through the auto accessories outlet to get there. I was impressed; it could have been an outlet anywhere in the first world. Whoever had put the money in had put in a lot of money and thought. I’m not so sure they are going to get it back – it was not well patronized. It was even worse in the office chairs shop. I was the only person there. Sadly this is a common story in the country these days as the economy continues to stumble. Daniel, one of my customers, told me this week that he was talking to a friend’s wife whilst she was having her hair done in a hair salon that could seat 8 people. In the hour and a half that he was there (he can talk a lot) nobody walked in. Not good.

Whoever owns this car cannot be too concerned with shortage of money. It was in superb condition, though the colour scheme is not original and they certainly didn’t have magnesium (“mag”) wheel rims in those days. What he does for spares I cannot think. Still, it was nice to see a piece of nostalgia from my youth still looking good after some 40 years!