Englishman Ollie Jenks remembers when his friend first pitched the idea to him.
“It was so ridiculous I couldn’t say no,” Jenks said.
The proposal by his Canadian buddy Seth Scott, a fellow lover of cars and crazy adventures, was for them to drive a decades-old British-made Reliant Robin from London to the southern tip of Africa — a 22,500km journey through 22 countries — to set a record for the longest trip in a three-wheeled vehicle.
Photo: AP
Reliant Robins have cultlike status in the UK as humble three-wheelers that, in Jenks’ words, were designed to go to the shops and back in 1970s UK. They went out of production in the early 2000s, but remain loved in British culture, especially after a Reliant appeared as the Trotter brothers’ trusty, but battered yellow van in the hugely popular sitcom Only Fools and Horses.
Yet you could not find a less suitable vehicle to take thousands of kilometers through tropical jungles, mountain ranges and deserts down the west side of Africa. That is precisely why Jenks went for the absurd plan.
Sheila, the silver three-wheeler — one of the last Reliant Robins to be built — was acquired specifically for the adventure. Jenks and Scott set off in October last year with a can of fuel and a few essential supplies strapped to Sheila’s small roof, and a large amount of blind hope that they would somehow make it to Cape Town, near the bottom of the world.
Photo: AP
“No power steering, no air-con, and it doesn’t do well up hills or down them. It is the most unsuitable car for probably any journey,” Jenks said in an unkind assessment of Sheila’s abilities. “We made friends with the designer of this car, and he’s scared to take it any more than 20 miles [32km].”
Jenks and Scott ignored all the advice and took Sheila on the epic journey over four-and-a-half months that cost in the region of US$40,000 to US$50,000, Jenks said.
They had help from sponsors and crowd funding, and documented the journey on Instagram, pulling in nearly 100,000 followers under the title: “14,000 miles, 3 wheels, 0 common sense.”
They arrived in Benin during an attempted coup. They skirted through northern Nigeria as the US launched airstrikes on Islamic State targets. They were given a military escort for about 480km through a region of separatist violence in Cameroon.
“Imagine this car in a military convoy,” Jenks said.
There were also many brushes with traffic-related danger, including when an overtaking bus almost flattened Sheila against a cliff face in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
True to form that Reliants are sometimes not so reliable, there were also countless breakdowns on the punishing roads.
Sheila needed her wheel springs replaced in the first two weeks. The gearbox broke in Ghana, leaving them with only fourth gear. In Cameroon, there were clutch and distributor problems and then the big one: The engine blew up.
Through all the technical problems, the kindness of strangers and the intrepidness of Jenks and Scott kept them going. One man got a new gearbox shipped to Ghana. Reliant enthusiasts in the UK helped find a new engine to send to Cameroon.
After one breakdown, people helped load Sheila onto a cattle truck so she could be taken to a garage. Mechanics across the continent screwed, hammered and welded Sheila to keep her together, sometimes shaking their heads at the madness of it all.
There were also majestic moments, the kind that Jenks and Scott had envisioned to make it all worth it.
Sheila cruised through stunning mountain ranges and vast deserts — where surely no Reliant Robin has gone before. She went on safari, driving alongside galloping giraffes, spotting endangered rhinos and posing for a picture next to a giant elephant.
More than 120 days after setting off, she last month rattled into Cape Town on an engine that began badly overheating in the Namibian desert and had been touch and go for about 1,600km.
“This is a great underdog story,” said Graeme Hurst, a South African car lover who followed them on Instagram and came to see Sheila. “I see the farcical kind of comical nature of it ... but also the sheer admiration. I mean, they have utter tenacity.”
In South Africa, Sheila was put on temporary display in a showroom for high-end cars and was the center of attention ahead of the glittering Porsches and Mercedes, showing off her broken side window, her gasoline-stained windshield, her bent tire rims and her countless dents and scratches.
She will rest now and be given the thorough service she deserves, Jenks said.
Eventually, she would be driven to Kenya, put on a ship to Turkey, then make one last trip back to the UK to find a home at the London Transport Museum.
Jenks said he felt triumphant after reaching Cape Town, but relieved to have survived and finally be out of the tiny two-seater.
“It was like driving a motorized coffin,” he said.
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