The AfriCar - One Of The Greatest Car Stories Never Told
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- The Africar is one of the stories that escapes the mainstream automotive scene but it’s a fantastic story nonetheless. It was many things but there was nothing uninteresting about the designer, the cars or the resulting adventure they undertook going from the North Pole to the equator in Africa.
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Truly fascinating stuff here. Howarth was another Ford, going back to basics to build a car for everyone. This deserves more recognition
100% that's why I chose the story. Despite failure, he deserves recognition
Having followed Africar's adventures and being at their bankruptcy sale and being part of the UK's first high-speed tractor The Trantor and my own Agrover, I completely sympathize with all the people who put their hearts and souls into making something unique that for a time fed into an almost Hippy concept that the journey was far more exciting than arriving.
Must be mad disheartening to everyone who put their energy and life into it. But hey, that concept isn't dead. Could be useful for the Mad Max days in 2040
This is a great introduction to the Africar, thanks for the video.
If anyone is interested in finding out more, the entire series that was shot by Tony Howarth for Channel 4, "A Car For Africa", is now on UA-cam. Just search for "A Car For Africa". It's 5 x 50 minute episodes and not exactly a binge watch, but it's worth watching.
+1 highly recommend that.
A very good and informative mini-documentary, fair and balanced.
Thank you, especially for the "Balanced" part
This was remarkably well done - hit all the right mood notes and the research was in depth. You’re a talented creator this being your first video
Thank you! Not new to this game
I met the guy. The disappointment was that though the car would have worked, what Africans wanted was a Mercedes
Great point. At least the rich ones wanted that. Still, would've worked for the masses had they had a decent stream of funding
@@finelymachined5281 Agreed. But even poor Africans wanted Mercedes he said!
6:48 Haha! Tissier has built and sold 6 wheel FWD Citroën DS, CX and XM since 1972, including ambulances, car carriers, hearses and high performance newspaper delivery vans.
10:31 You're conflating the 2CV fully mechanical suspension setup with hydropneumatic suspension that was used by the DS and GS, also installed in more recent Citroën cars. hydropneumatic suspension systems can only be maintained by people who are trained on it and requires specific parts like its hydraulic fluid (green LHM : Liquide Hydraulique Minéral), and you can't replace it with banana juice or even brake fluid. If anything this single fact shows how clueless and idealistic was the guy who had a good idea but not enough technical knowledge to make a real and proper car for African tracks. Even Citroên used classic suspension systems for their Paris-Dakar cars like the ZX Rallye Raid. Not to mention the nonsensical and heavy epoxy coated wood panels while the Citroën Méhari and its lightweight ABS plastic body parts existed since 1968.
Even someone like me who is quasi illiterate on a mechanics/technical standpoint can see this attempt was an exercise in futility and vanity.
Saw the pickup at a museum when I was a kid and it fascinated me, bought the book and have always wanted one. Howarth was a clever guy and the concept was sound but he was always a bit of a grifter by all accounts and probably not a very nice bloke to come to blows with, adapting a stronger alfa romeo transaxle and more effectively using the mini derived suspension would have been my fixes, the extra long travel was out of spec for the suspension units as it wasn't the 'proper' Citroën system due to not being able to effectively 'steal' the bits and hide it. The Citroën air cooled engine was perfect for it.
you deserve WAY more subs for this content. keep it up! :)
Thank you. This is just me doing things quickly in my spare time
Always been a big fan of the 2CV and it’s not appreciated here in the states at all but that’s a solid base for any off road vehicle
100% agree - I have a thing for simple hardy machines
I was well into this in the 80's, the ply structure was well thought through but they never seemed to get beyond the 'temporary' Citroen mechanics.
The project was taken over by one guy who tried sorting the front suspension and those gearboxes ....using a Landrover transfer box..
Now imagine small powerful simple electric motors per axel.
And a hybrid generator battery drive system.
See also the Hustler familly of i cars developed by William Towns that as used Mini suspension and many or parts.
There were also wood versions of the four and six wheel versions including the huge Hustler Highlander ...which is what we need now but udated.
LOL
Fascinating - got links to more reading?
What was the story behind his fraud case? I can’t quite find the details of it
Having started out championing the 2CV as being simple and reliable and using their off the shelf engines gearboxes and suspensions, they then began to try and develop their own gearboxes including a four-wheel-drive version. They also sought to build multi-cylinder engines on a common platform, experimenting with ceramic pistons. R&D is both slow and expensive and is usually carried out on the back of a successful company, not a startup that never actually delivered a finished vehicle to a customer. When I went to the bankruptcy sale I was amazed to see a mock African village in the reception. The video is a testament to sheer grit and determination and they deserve credit for that but Howard spent to much time rubbishing the competition and not understanding the market seemingly appealing to European adventures rather than African governments some of which were looking for an entry into local vehicle manufacture, like for example the Moi Car of Kenyan named after President Moi.
Great idea. We had about 10 flat pack plywood kits for this in the company where I worked, all ready to build.
Interesting... Elaborate?
What company was that?