I was just in Cape Town South Africa, accompanying my PhD daughter on a genetics seminar. The city was gorgeous, as was the weather. It’s winter there, with daytime temperatures mostly in the sixties.
What I didn’t expect was the proliferation of European performance cars. Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Alfa Romeo, and others, were seemingly everywhere. It seemed that you couldn’t walk a dozen blocks without hearing the wail of a flat-crank engine. Surprisingly, I saw no Corvettes and a sole late model Mustang. If there were any Maseratis or Lamborghinis around, they certainly didn’t catch my attention.
I doubt that this was much different from any major city in Europe, but this was Africa, not Europe. The stark difference between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ in S.A. is not lost on me, nor is the recent history of Apartheid. I have to say, I saw virtually no trash on the streets, no graffiti, and no ‘sidewalk dwellers’ of the type I saw in Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake and Denver. (“Go USA; we’re #1. Yay us!)
Seeing these high-priced performance cars in the wild was thrilling!
