Bromley has maintained a keen interest in vintage and classic cars. He has owned many over the years, including the famous 1934 Works Singer Le Mans team car, BPG 333 which had completed the 1934 Le Mans, finishing 7th overall and 2nd in its class. His favourite is a 1928 model “A” Ford which he purchased in 1970 and still owns to this day. During the early 1970’s Bromley restored the old Ford to concourse and won many events during his ownership. These included the prestigious Car and General competition in 1983 for the most original and best condition car in Kenya. In 1973, Bromley and then wife Mary entered a 350-mile timed event in the Ford, from the capital Nairobi, to the Indian Ocean city of Mombasa, via the Teita Hills. It was contested by 20 vintage and classic vehicles. They dropped just 4 minutes in the one-and-a-half-day event, winning it outright.
Classic & Sports Car
First solo trip from Nairobi to Mombasa on Japanese Motorcycle August 1962
In early 1962, I purchased a Suzuki 250TA (Twin Ace) motorcycle, registration number KHC383 from the Kenyan importers, Sohan Singh and Sons. Sohan Singh had a small showroom at Jivanjee Gardens in Nairobi. Prior to their appointment with Suzuki and subsequently Honda, they held the Austrian franchise for Steyr Puch motor cycles.
My Suzuki TA250 was from the first consignment of Japanese vehicles imported for the retail sales market in East Africa. We were at the dawn of a motoring revolution. These TA’s were the fore runners. Japanese manufacturers were about to change the face of the motoring industry.
The Suzuki TA250 was a well-made machine and engineered to a very high standard. It was also exceptionally reliable.
During my ownership of these bikes, I did a fair amount of travelling in East Africa including several “safaris” to and from Nairobi and Mombasa. It was a distance of 307 miles which, including stops, normally took me up to 10 hours. On occasions I would also ride to Malindi and Garsen, the mouth of the Athi/Sabaki river.
Many Kenyan roads were appalling during pre-independent Kenya. In 1962, when I completed my first trip on the TA, there were approximately 60 Miles of metalled roads. The remaining 250 were loose surfaced, corrugated and very rough and were known as murram roads. Conditions were normally dry and very dusty, but during the rainy seasons in April and November, the road was very muddy and slippery. On occasions, a donga (dried up river bed) would flood, making the road impassable. This would have been caused by a flash flood some miles away and you would have to wait until the water level had dropped. These flash floods were totally unpredictable.
In addition to the appalling road conditions, temperatures were very high, particularly during the last 100 miles. In the first three months of the year they would peak at 30 degrees centigrade – in the shade. In the direct sun light, they could be as high as 40 degrees centigrade.
In spite of these harsh conditions, I never experienced any problems with these Suzukis. Their reliability was extraordinary. They were to become the world’s largest producer of two stroke engines and securing many important records.
I only ever had one accident during my rides to the coast. It was on my first trip in 1962. I was only sixteen with little riding experience. I was approaching Konza – 40 or so miles from Nairobi. It was in the early hours of the morning and dawn had not yet broken. There was a very long stretch of road – over 8 miles which was absolutely straight. I had already experienced several low formations of cloud which were quite literally at ground level. Visibility was down to a few feet.
Unfortunately, there was one of these low cloud formations at the end of the straight section of road, which concealed a right hand bend. I went straight on! I very quickly found myself on the verge of the road where the surface had deep dried truck tracks. These had resulted from heavy trucks which had been stuck in the notorious “black-cotton” road surface following heavy rain. There is a lot of “black cotton” soil in Kenya. It is a clay-like substance and particularly hazardous when wet.
I skidded, lost control and fell off. During the process, the bike landed on top of me. Fortunately, I had escaped major injury and only sustained minor cuts and bruises. The bike had not come off so lightly. The lower right pannier-bag support was bent. Of lesser consequence, the gear change lever was bent and wedged on the side of the clutch housing. It was stuck in first gear! I had also smashed my head light.
I could not get very far in first gear! I therefore had to prise the gear change lever away from the clutch housing. Once I had achieved this and was mobile again, I soon discovered that the lower pannier-bag support was being struck by the rear wheel support shaft whenever I drove through a pot hole. Road conditions were such that this was happening several times every minute. It was causing damage to the rear wheel shaft retaining nut.
I made several attempts to pull the pannier away from the wheel, but without success. I decided to continue with this clatter, stopping frequently to ensure that I was not doing too much damage. The “bashing” was gradually wearing away this crucial nut. Had it done so, the rear wheel would have come off!
At Kibwezi some 80 miles further on, I was able to find some assistance where temporary repairs were carried out. There was still more drama in store! Shortly after Mtito Andei, the half way point, the dust and deep sand were making driving conditions extremely difficult. I had recalled the experience of an acquaintance who had completed the trip on a Vespa. He maintained that at one stage, the road conditions were so bad that he left the road and drove along the railway track.
On arriving at Kenani, 14 miles after Mtito Andei, I decided to do just this and initially drove on the side of the railway track! It was all right to begin with. However, I soon came to an area where there were several steel cables running across the side of the track. I tried to lift the bike over them but was unable to do so. I then did the craziest thing of all. I manoeuvred the bike onto the railway track itself and drove along it.
There were not many trains using this rail road in the early 1960s – but one of course would have been to many! The East African track was narrow gauge and it was fairly difficult to balance the bike and steer it between the tracks. I was also constantly looking over my shoulder to see if a train was coming up behind me.
I soon decided that the bad road was lesser of the two evils and on arriving at Kyulu I decided to leave the railway track. I recall that I was confronted by a very irate station master who demanded to know what I had been doing!
Kyulu was only 10 miles before Tsavo Bridge, an area well documented by Colonel J.H. Patterson in his book “The Man Eaters of Tsavo”. It was a true story about some lion which killed and ate a number of workers who were constructing the East African railway line, sometimes known as the “Iron Snake.”
There was a very welcome break at mile 250. It was an eight-mile stretch of single lane tarmacadam road. I had not seen a paved surface for over 220 miles. This stretch of road had been constructed by the British Army who had a base in the area. It had been named after Sir William Mackinnon, (1823-1893) a famous pioneer and businessman of the nineteenth century. In 1862, he was involved with the creation of the British Steamship Navigation Company.
On a subsequent trip I did the unforgiveable. On reaching the tarmac at Mackinnon Road, I momentarily fell asleep whilst travelling at 80 MPH. On this occasion I had a pillion passenger. I was abruptly woken by him banging on my shoulders. We were on the grass verge and on the wrong side of the road! I was able to return to the road fairly quickly. We were extremely fortunate.
The bad roads ended at Mariakani-just 21 miles from Mombasa. I did eventually make it to Mombasa- thirteen hours after leaving Nairobi. I vowed that I would never do it by bike again! I did of course.
During the 1960’s, there was a lot of game on the Mombasa road and I experienced incidents with lion, baboon and elephant.
As far as I know, my first journey in August 1962 was the first time that a Japanese bike had been driven solo from Nairobi to Mombasa. A friend of mine claimed to have completed this shortly before me – also on a TA but they were “two up”.
Suzuki 250 TA Nairobi to Mombasa August 1962
Bromley also owns a rare 1977 Toyota Celica 2000 GT, a 1957 Peugeot 403, 2 early 1960s’ Suzuki 250s including a very rare 250 Twin Ace, a 1964 Honda Dream 300 and the icon of all scooters, a 1961 Vespa 150GS.They are all in good running order and maintained in his workshops.
