The lost car industry of Zimbabwe

AS THE WORLD rebuilt from the ruins of war, economic miracles occurred in nations both victorious and defeated.

- KRIS CULMER

Among them was one that few know about today: the Central African Federation (CAF), founded in 1953.

Large reserves of gold, asbestos, chrome and copper, farmland that allowed for both self-sustaining food and tobacco for export, and the mass arrival of skilled workers from Europe resulted in a massive influx of investment and constant production rises. Within just one lifetime, this area of empty bushland had become an industrialised society on par with New Zealand.

Car makers were keen to get in on it, for obvious reasons. "To the Rhodesian, a vehicle is not a luxury but more of a necessity of life than an overcoat," Autocar reported on visiting in 1958. "Literally no one can exist here without one, and less than 2% of the male population of licensable age do not own one."

The British Motor Corporation (BMC) was the first to arrive in the CAF. Like it had already done in Australia and South Africa, in 1958 it decided to build a factory to assemble completely knocked-down car kits shipped from the UK to Mozambique and up the steam railway to the city of Umtali.