I'm standing on the footpath trying to cross the road, well many roads, as this seems to be a large unmarked junction. The mosque is to my right and the call to prayer is echoing out across the city. Men in robes and flip flops dash across the roads, but I (literally) haven't got the balls to step out in front of the speeding onslaught of traffic like they do. I'm still trying to work out what direction the cars are coming from, plus here comes another photo opportunity: a Volkswagen Golf MkI followed by a Jetta MkII. The windscreen of the Golf is held on with sellotape; I'm impressed with its adhesive properties considering how fast the car is going and how little the windscreen is shaking. Should I cross now? No, I'll wait and take a photo of this Citroen BX with its lowered hydraulics. It looks fit for the scrapyard. I notice other people taking photos of the donkeys laden with goods, the ornate mosque and pretty gardens. I point my lens at the oncoming Peugeot 504 and all its vintage coolness. I'm kinda getting bored of all the Renault 4s passing me by, as they are everywhere, but I secretly want one. One guy offered to sell me his when he saw me photographing a parked one, giving me a 'good price'; I was tempted, only my hand luggage allowance scuppered my souvenir shopping. Damn you lowcost airline restrictions!
But why are there so many cars here from the 1960s and '70s? Morocco reminds me of Cuba in that sense. So a little research was in order and I discovered that in 1966 SOMACA (the Moroccan Society for Automobile Construction) struck a deal with Renault to build Renault 4s and 8s, and by 1968 it had produced 10,000 of these in its factory in Casablanca. As these cars were manufactured locally they were one of the cheapest to buy, which people did, in the thousands. But, like Cuba, production stopped, parts became scarce and expensive, the economy took a turn for the worse and people couldn't afford to buy a new car, so they looked after them to keep them running and here they are, still going, 47 years later. There are of course new models on the Moroccan roads; I was nearly mowed down by many newer Dacias and Renaults, which dominate the country. The reason for their popularity is again price and availability; in 2010, Renault, who owns Dacia, opened a new plant in Tangier where the Dacia Lodgy, Dokker and second generation Sandero are built for domestic export.
But wait, there's more, loads more. Just across this damned road there is a taxi rank, which is jam-packed with cream coloured Mercedes-Benz W123 sedans. There are hundreds of them, in fact; it is estimated that there are over 55,000 W123s on Moroccan roads - this one road I am trying to cross, it would seem... Most of the cars are 240Ds but there are also many low-specced 200Ds and 220Ds filling up with passengers. There are so many W123s here that there are mechanics and garages that just specialise in repairing and servicing them. And there is a shortage of parts for these cars in France and Spain as they are shipped and traded over here for big bucks. In the 1990s exporting these cars across the Mediterranean to Morocco was very lucrative business driven by the demand for them by taxi drivers. They appreciated the large size of the car, its load capacity, cheap running costs and that they could squeeze three passengers in the back and three in the front, plus the driver, therefore increasing the amount of money collected per journey (passengers pay per person). The cars were also very desirable for their robustness and looking around the taxi rank now, it would seem these cars never, ever, die. They are piles of junk ready for the scrap yard and yet they just keep going.
However, this may not be the case for much longer as the government has made it prohibitively expensive to import a car into Morocco that is over five years old. Furthermore, there has been talk for the last few years of a government scrappage scheme offering cash for the battered W123s. In conjunction with this, Renault is offering large discounts on the seven-seat, locally built, Dacia Lodgy. It would be a shame to see these cars, so iconic to the Moroccan landscape, disappear, but, having been on a road trip around Morocco, I have to say I hope the scheme is introduced sooner rather than later. The cars just do not offer the safety features needed for the chaotic driving style and poor road conditions found in many parts of the country. I chose to take a 15-seat minibus (that was crammed with 32 people) up a flooded mountain road rather than one of the Mercedes cars, as the bus, which was about 20 years old, looked like the safer option. Furthermore, the pollution from the old diesels is awful and really affects the air quality, making it hard to breathe, especially in the cities. Also, the sooner this scrappage scheme comes in, the sooner I may be able to cross this bloody road...