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South Africa’s Crankhandle Club

The Crankhandle Club was founded in 1955, in Cape Town, South Africa.

 Today, it has its own clubhouse, in a southern suburb of Cape Town called Wynberg, within an area known as Chelsea. Looks like the real one in London. The club has over 500 members and is very active with shows, runs, outings and rallies, on a regular basis

Meetings are held on every Wednesday night and on every second Wednesday of the month, at 11:00, a member will present a car that’s driven into the clubhouse.

 Generally, about 60 old farts attend the meetings, the oldest being John Meyers at 94 not out. John survived Burma during WWII and built and raced cars in the 1960s and 1970s. He has a razor-sharp memory for technical details. I’m now the scribe who reports on the presentations.

Among the club’s many and diverse members is the beautiful Michelle (seen pictured next to her Gulf Porsche 911), who is quite something else and owns 19 Porsches. If you are ever depressed don’t bother with shrinks. After half an hour in Michelle’s company you will come right, big time! About two years ago, she had a huge accident at our local Killarney Circuit in one of her 911s.  Coming out of a right-hander she lost control and smacked into a wall. Several broken bones but within a few moths she was up and running again as if nothing had happened.

On the last Sunday of the month there’s a “natter” at an historic homestead in Lower Constantia as seen in the accompanying photos. The goose next to the Hupmobile attends every meeting with his owner. He arrives sitting in the passenger seat and then follows his boss around like a puppy dog. He’s quite condescending in that he will “talk” to people. Recently, I had a chat with him but unfortunately I don’t understand goose.

Surprisingly, from the 1930s to the 1980s South Africa, with a relatively small population of collectors, had a larger selection of cars than most countries in the northern hemisphere, hence the diverse mix of cars in the club..

Pease visit Darkest Africa. You’ll enjoy it guaranteed!