BMW's Cheetah - with a cheetah or two

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Andre van de Loo again, our African correspondent who continues to come up with interesting snippets from The Dark Continent. Over to him, enthusiastic as ever: "A photo recently send to me by an old school buddy and old car enthusiast, Keith Stewart, still living in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. This photo was taken at the 1969 Bulawayo Internation Trade Fair and the car is a 1969 Rhodesian assembled BMW Cheetah." (Not to be confused with the American sports car with the same name! - ed.)

"No, not all the Cheetahs were painted in spots, the car here is being introduced to the Rhdodesian public at the Trade Fair, but the cheetahs sitting on the bonnet of the car were live animals which had been hand reared and therefor very tame. This was of course a recycled Glas 1700, which saw a second live in both South Africa, as the BMW 1800 SA and Rhodesia as the Cheetah. In the sactions hit country the Cheetah became a very popular and reliable means of transport."

"Unlike its South African counterpart, there was no means of identifying the car as a BMW. It featured plain hubcabs and had Cheetah badging only on the bodywork, the grille and steering wheel. Only the engine cover identified it as having a BMW engine. Towards the end of the Rhodesian assembly production, some 2000 cc engines were also made available. If you look closely at the photo, you may see a very much younger me sitting in the background."

(Words and picture Andre van de Loo)

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