Cars That Remind Me of The Past

Car obsession starts when a child is a few months old, perhaps a year for others, for most guys or even some girls, their first toy was a car, a car is every boy’s obsession and that can not be denied. If you have a son who is 2 years old, chances are that you have put posters of super cars in his room. The interest doesn’t go away as a child grows, in fact it increases. When a child becomes an adolescent, the one thing he wants to do is to drive a car. When I was young I had a motorised toy car which I totalled in 2 days because I was riding on top it. Every time I got another toy car, it would only last 2days because I always wanted to see what’s inside.

In the 80s and 90s, Malawi was just developing and with Kamuzu reign people didn’t get to buy nice and expensive cars, for fear of being investigated I guess, but there were cars that were loved by everyone and when you see one today, it takes you all the down memory lane. Everyone has his own list but I will give you my line up.

The Datsun 120Y

Most of us grew up knowing this car with the name Taxi, I guess most taxis (cabs) were 120Ys, we also knew it as Datsun (Pronounced datsun rather than dat-san). Its was great in 2 doors and the signature round headlights and the coupe shaped back. It was really a great car, very reliable, simple engine and no electronics means any roadside mechanic would work on it. This car was called Nissan Sunny B210 in Japan but exported as a Datsun 120Y. It was very popular with buys in north America and as we can all witness in Malawi. This car developed to be the Nissan Sunny we know today.

Mazda 323

Mazda 323 is a small but reliable car. It was popular with people who went to South Africa to work. We can still see a few on the road. It was originally called the Mazda Familia and it was I n production from 1976. It was also known as the Mazda GLC (Great Little Car) in USA then Protégé in North America. Later Familias appeared with a succession of names around the world, including 1000, 1200, and 1300, 800, 808, and 818, Mizer, GLC, 323 and Protegé. The Familia was replaced by the new BK model known as Axela/Mazda3 for 2004. The Axela/Mazda3 comes in both 4-door sedan and 5-door hatchback varieties, with a 2.0 litre engine on the 3i sedan and a 2.3 litre engine on the 3s sedan and the hatchback. It shares a platform with the current generation Volvo S40 and the second generation Ford Focus

Ford Cortina

The Ford Cortina was a midsized sedan sold by Ford Britain. Its was very polpular in Britain. In Malawi it was loved because of its luxury and reliability. I remember my Grandmother used to have one, when I see one, it reminds me of all the great times I had as a young car enthusiast. I remember my uncle used to tell us that it could drive itself, he would, while driving, he would raise his knee abit and hold the steering with it, then removed his hands, because we couldn’t see that his knee is holding the steering, we were convinced it was driving itself! The Cortina was replaced in 1982 by the Ford Sierra. In other markets, particularly Asia and Australasia, it was replaced by the Mazda 626-based Ford Telstar, though Ford New Zealand did import British-made CKD kits of the Ford Sierra estate for local assembly from 1984.

Mini

The mini was loved by all children as Mr Bean’s car. I remember my dad once borrowed one to take us to the village. Our village is about 11kms off Blantyre Thyolo road. The road is dirt and really bad. The mini did not go beyond 3KMs! We walked the whole way to the village and back to the car! The Mini is the most popular British-made car ever, it was superseded by the New MINI, which was launched in April 2001. The original is considered an icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout (that allowed 80% of the area of the car's floorpan to be used for passengers and luggage) influenced a generation of car-makers.

Other cars worth mentioning are the Land Rover, Ford Pickup (Body by Mandala) which was proudly assembled in Malawi by Mandala motors, Nissan Patrol, Toyota stout pickup, Morris Marina the list goes on and on.