A diesel is dirty, smelly, powerful, and leaks oil when it puts a few hundered k’s on the clock. But the thing is they do put a few hundred k’s on the clock, and just keep clocking on.
While there’s undeniably a thrill to the acceleration and speed of the petrol racehorses that can weave in and out of traffic, a journey in an old diesel allows you to check out our incredible landscape, take a sho’t left off the beaten track, and get into the flow of the road.
Which is why, when Jackie Crewe inherited a 1997 Isuzu 280DT LE double cab after his dad died (aged 83), he decided to keep it.
The old girl had clocked more than 400,000k’s was leaking oil, had bald tyres, and struggled to start – dad had religously serviced her every 15,000k’s and changed the oil himself every 7,500k’s, but during the last few years he had run out of energy and she was in need of some TLC. Fortunately, her body was still in good nick, having slept in a garage all her life and had a full respray after a minor bump to the front, and her spacious leather-clad interior wasn’t too bad either.
But while yours truly charged up the battery and drove her around the block every other weekend, there was the matter of finding a mechanic who was both comfortable with an old diesel and not going to charge exorbitant fees, which is where Lourens who runs Mercy Motors in Fish Hoek stepped in.
Lourens had her rumbling like a rooikat in no time, but then came the little things that always come along when it comes to old cars. She looked great in new tekkies but the wheel alignment couldn’t be done because the tyre rods were shot. After 27 years, it was no surprise, and it took a bit of engineering to even get the connecting rods out.
Finally, she was ready to hit the road to the National Arts Festival in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown), with the camping gear thrown in for a jaunt to the coast.
What a pleasure to be cruising east on the N2 at an easy 110km, having caught an hour on the sun, no rush. Then, 20km outside Swellendam: Clunk! Clackclackclackclack…. Swing off and check underneath to find a bolt on the suspension support bar had sheared off, even though the old girl still felt steady as a rock.
But what’s the road without a bit of adventure. Take it slow into Swellendam, pull into a garage and start chatting to the petrol attendants and within minutes you’ve got a mechanic on the line even though it’s Youth Day and a public holiday. A bolt, a couple of washers, the mac saying “ag, it’s no problem, you can pay me what you like”, and the road to the Eastern Cape opens up again.
As this is being written, the old girl is at a lekka workshop in Makhanda getting the once over ‘cause the belts started doing a lot of shouting. No problem. New contacts are made, stories swapped – she’s got a lot of her kind for company here. The open road and a steady breeze beckon, family in tow.