29 Sep DEON’S OILY RAG

This year’s Oil Rag Run took place on Sunday 20 September and was another great success for this brainchild of Crankhandler and FMM consultant engineer Dickon Daggitt. Co-sponsored by the Franschhoek Motor Museum and Cape Town classic car emporium Crossley and Webb, the event for unrestored pre-1961 cars attracted 20 entries, all but one of which lined up in FMM’s quadrant for the 11h00 start. The line-up provided a stark contrast – on the one hand there was Toeks Cross’ mud-splattered barn find 1957 Ford Prefect while on the other, Johann Marais’ 1955 Rolls-Royce looked fresh out of the showroom. And hats off to Roy and Bev le Roux who trailered down their 1958 Goggomobil from Port Elizabeth to take part, proudly wearing an oily rag tied around the front bumper. The non-starter was Peter Truter’s 1936 Armstrong Siddeley due to a radiator ‘specialist’ destroying his car’s cooling device…

In overcast weather, the first half of the route took the cars from FMM over Helshoogte through Stellenbosch to the aerodrome on the outskirts of the historic town, where everyone gathered for a refreshment break and a walk around some classic flying machines. Michelle Hambly added period elegance by dressing up in the style of her Citroën Light 15. The 30 km run had one casualty: FMM’s 1959 Borgward Station Wagon ground to a halt early on with an odd spark plug malady to the dismay of Karin Ras and Magdaleen Wepener. FMM’s other two entries, the 1926 Talbot with Deon de Waal and Donny Tarentaal at the wheel, and the 1934 Ford Model 40 V8 flathead pick-up piloted by Lorenzo Farella and Shawn Botha, were both going strong. FMM curator Wayne Harley was doing duty as the Run’s breakdown service.

Immediately after the restart, a water leak on the Hubertus DKW forced it into retirement. But for the rest it was ‘tally ho’ for the final 60 km run straight across the Cape, which provided scenery ranging from expansive rolling hills and vineyards through ever-growing open industrial areas to the aged, cramped inner-city clutter. Once at C&W’s expansive showrooms in the gardens, participants gathered to share their exploits and stay on for lunch. Prizes were awarded to Toeks Cross for his car being voted the ‘Most Oily Rag’, to Richard Middleman, whose 1934 Ford Tudor won the Skorokoro Rose Bowl for being the ‘tattiest’ car that finished, but the event’s grand prize for scoring the most points for originality went to a delighted Deon and Donny, who sweltered in the Talbot’s cockpit heat on an otherwise excellent run. MM