Two rules to collect classic autos

The Chevrolet Imp was a ''pick-up'' that pre-ceded the Al Camino.

THERE are two rules to investing in classic vehicles — it must be very rare and in mint condition or it must have been owned by a star and be in mint condition.

Tick both boxes, and the buyers will come. Tick only one, in the case of the rather rusted 1950 Chevrolet Imp from then Zimbabwe (now Rhodesia) and you will still get a lot of interest.

Just because so few were ever made, although converting the dickey seat into a load bed was as
sound an idea as any in motoring back then.

There is only one Woody, and its this creation on a Ford F150.

The rarest vehicle is a first of its kind, which is why classic car collectors can do worse than to look at the first electric bakkies coming on the world market.

While the jury is still out on whether millennials who currently don’t want to own cars will in a few decades change their minds and start collecting cars as status symbols, fact is if they do, they will be looking at the unique cars from their youth.
The last of the founding Studebaker brothers, John Mohler said when he was on the board of the South Bend carriage builder, even petrol engines are "clumsy, dangerous, noisy brutes which stink to high heaven, break down at the worst possible moment, and are a public nuisance.” 
So chances are that car will be a full electric, like the Bison bakkie which Canadian company Havelaar introduced last week. The group, with operations in the Netherlands, China and Canada, describes itself as “a multinational corporation with a long-term strategic focus on green mobility technologies”.

The 2017 Havelaar Bison

Their 2,3 ton Bison bakkie has a 300 km range on a single charge. A dual-motor, fully-electric powertrain gives the Bison all-wheel drive peak power of 220 kW and 510 Nm torque. Ground clearance of 26 cm and a steep 54% hill start and 21% hill climb ensure off road ability, while a low centre of gravity, with 95% of the mass below the top of the tires, translates into a lot less body roll.

A 1,3 m³ load bed and with a socket for power tools ensure this good looking bakkie earns it keep on site.

Apart from Havelaar, classic electric bakkie collectors can look forward to more models from names like Tesla, Nikola and the Ohio-based Workhorse Groups, and all these bakkies will do the 0-100 in under seven seconds.