If there’s one thing that you can say about Honda owners is that they tend to keep their cars in very good condition, polished up and show ready.
At least that’s the impression Bobby got when he spoke to Alvin Avontuur and Ziyaad Bailey this week. These guys are seriously into detailing, to say the least.
Alvin, 33 and from Mitchells Plain, is the proud owner of a green 1999 Honda Ballade EK160 full house and, he says up front, “my favourite activity is washing and polishing”.
He explains that he “cannot drive a dirty car”, which means he keeps his cabbie sparkling. Alvin adds: “I want to drive and I want the attention to be on me, plus the green colour is bright and out there, so it deserves proper care.”
Bobby was amazed at the lengths this guy will go to for a good shine. He explains: “Well, it’s tough in the drought to keep a car clean, so when it rains I put out buckets to catch the rain water to use on my car.”
Now according to Bobby that’s next level dedication. It’s up there with sleeping in your car outside Killarney on a big event day.
His Honda has a stock standard motor, but externals include a Powerflow exhaust, V-Tec rims and fin plus a fitted front lip. What he wanted to do, apparently, was sell the car but then things changed.
Alvin puts it like this: “I fell in love.” Now with love, as we all know, reason goes right out the sunroof, which, by the way, is his next addition. So now Alvin is undecided, except for the fact that he knows one day he has his sights set on a white V-Tec.
Alvin seems attached to Honda and Bobby wanted to know what’s his story. “At first, I was going to go CiTi Golf along with so many of my friends, then one morning while I was out car shopping I got into a Honda, loved it, and I’ve never looked back.”
He says he was amazed to discover, once he hooked up with the groups, how popular the marque is. Although he has had the privilege of driving a V-Tec, he’s aiming high for an Aston Martin, but will settle for a Golf 6 if he has to change loyalties.
Asked where he hangs out, Alvin tells Bobby about the SWAT demo day going down in the city centre this weekend, which brings us to Ziyaad, owner of the silver 1999 Ballade V-Tec. Ziyaad, who is 28 and currently residing in Woodstock, is a name on the event organising scene.
He says: “I’m part of a group of Honda Club founders called H-Day and we’re building a culture among the people.”
Bobby takes this to mean that they are getting past the ego thing to bring together disparate crews of Honda owners.
He continues: “We’re into giving back to the community and especially to those less fortunate.”
This Saturday they will be hosting a detailing workshop at the Auto Detail Centre in Cape Town, situated on Orphan Street between Loop and Bree streets.
This facility, owned and run by Renaldo Messier, is also known as SWAT, standing for Spraypaint with Advanced Techniques. Renaldo, by the way, is known as Mr SWAT.
Ziyaad is one of those dyed-in-the-wool Honda fans.
He says: “I’ve only ever driven Honda, and have been working my way up through the ranges.”
So, he’s earned his V-Tec, in that case.
The workshop on Saturday is sponsored by SWAT and also by Shamieg Kamish of Auto-Tec, and looks to be a goldmine of all the techniques needed to get a car show ready.
Renaldo says: “I’m the man who’s there to make sure the guys’ cars look great. Ever since I started attending shows, I’ve looked at the finishes and thought ‘I could have done better than that’.”
Well, now he’s put his money where his mouth is and gone and done it! Go see what these fans are up to this Saturday.
By the way, pictures today are by a rookie on these pages, and aren’t they kwaai? Bobby’s happy to publish Emile Beukman for the first time.