BOYS AND THEIR TOYS

These brothers aren't even in their teens yet, but there's little these motoring enthusiasts don't know about what makes a car go

- JACO HOUGH-COETZEE

IT'S a Saturday morning and the two mechanics have reported for duty, waiting for their boss to tell them what to do.

"This car needs a service, Dawid de Necker says, and his employees spring into action. One slides beneath the vehicle, the other opens the bonnet.

Spark plugs are removed, a spanner is put to use and an hour later the service is done and the mechanics head back to the workshop.

So far, so normal, right? But something sets these two employees of De Necker General Services in Welkom apart: both are still in primary school.

Benjamin (11) and Christopher (9) are the sons of Dawid, the owner of the business- and they know so much about the tricks of the trade that their dad has given them a pair of 1976 Datsun Stanza 1800s to restore.

"I think I have the two youngest mechanics in the country," Dawid says when we meet the trio at the workshop.

"Under supervision they can already perform a full service on a vehicle."

Benjamin hops into the driver's seat of his Datsun Stanza and gestures for us to come closer as he turns the key in the ignition and presses the accelerator.

"Just listen to how it sounds," he says excitedly as the car's engine - a Nissan Skyline 2.8 - roars to life. "It sounds so cool."

As the Skyline engine is bigger than the car's original Datsun engine, there wasn't room for the radiator. But Dawid is a man who can make a plan with almost anything mechanical. So he mounted the radiator in the boot after making some technical adjustments.

It doesn't need boot space, Benjamin explains. "It isn't for holiday drives - it's a racing car."