With our focus this month on the latest double cab leisure bakkies available in South Africa, a quick look at where this craze originated from reveals that the first double cab pickup in South Africa was not (as most people would think) from Toyota. It did, however, come from a Japanese brand – actually the oldest Japanese vehicle company – but it wasn’t marketed as such.
When introduced in the early 1970s, it was badged as the Leyland 1900 pickup, but in reality, it was a Daihatsu F118 BW Hi-Line. You see, at the time, the Leyland Motor Corporation, also known as Leykor, had no competitor in the pickup market. So, the company did a deal with Daihatsu to assemble the single-cab F110 and F118 Double Cabin from 1974 at its facility in Blackheath, Cape Town.
The Leyland Daihatsu also preceded the first Volkswagen Transporter double cab (known as the Doppelkabine or Doka) introduced here in 1976 during the T2 “Bay Window” generation, with the introduction of the 2.0-litre Executive model. Interestingly, the Leyland bakkie used the same 1.9-litre in-line four-cylinder petrol engine, displacing 1,861 cc and producing 63 kW, as used in the Toyota Stout.
The Leyland 1900 was produced locally until 1984, when it was discontinued, and the Blackheath plant was closed soon afterwards. Even so, the Daihatsu F-Series Hi-Line bakkie was a predecessor to the inimitable Hilux, as in 1972, when it was discontinued in Japan in accordance with an agreement with Toyota, it was then replaced by the Hilux.
Report by FERDI DE VOS | Images © DAIHATSU
