Top Car

ATHER LIKE

DIPPINGyour

hand into Pandora’s

Box, every time you

delve into South

African motoring

history, something

exciting pops out. A

TopCaroffice coffee break discussion about

some old, locally-developed sports cars

brought ab out a ‘where are they now?’

challenge, the result of which led to us

bringing together the countr y’s most famous

roadster, the GSM Dart, with th e similarly-

conceived Protea, the ill-starred Caracal and

a true rarity , the Duphet.

The Glassport Motor Company’s Dart has to

be one of the most renowned cars ever

produced in this countr y. GSM was founded by

three talented men, Bob van Niekerk –

essentially the trio’s driving forc e – Willie

Meissner and Verster de Wit. Bob’s

relationsh ip with legendary tuning whizz

Willie bega n when they were both at

Stellenbosch Universi ty studying engineering.

Verster beca me involved when he met Willie –

and later, Bob – while they were all working in

England. Verster’s auto design talents were

enlisted to answer all three men’s desire to

build a South African sports car.

R