Making Wire Cars - Science Stories

Eleven-year-old Taurai Moyo's wire cars are all the rage in Chivamba, Zimbabwe.

Very few people in the countryside village of Chivamba in southern Zimbabwe own cars. To get from place to place, they tend to rely on the old bus that passes along Making Wire Cars the dusty gravel road.

Now, thanks to eleven-year-old Taurai Moyo, many young boys are the proud owners of cars. To the local boys, Taurai is their version of Henry Ford, the American car maker known for the Model T.

Unlike Henry Ford’s models, however, Taurai’s cars are made of wires and don’t have engines. They are also not driven from the inside but pushed along. For many people, Taurai’s cars are more like toys, but to Taurai and his friends, these are cars and they are drivers. They love their wire cars just as older people love real cars.

Learning to Make Cars
Like most young boys, Taurai loved to play with toys. Sadly, his parents, who earn a living growing and selling corn in the countryside, could not afford to buy him any. Even if they did have the money, there are no shops that sell toys in Chivamba.

Kids use wire arms attached to the wheels to drive the cars. Taurai had no choice but to make his own toys. “I was so determined to have my own toys,” Taurai explained. “By the time I was in the fourth grade, I could make my own wire car.”

When he was about five years old, Taurai visited his cousin in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, and learned to make wire cars. At eight, he was one of the best wire-car makers in his class. Today, he is the best at his school.

Teaching Others
Taurai did not keep the skill of making wire cars all to himself. Many of his friends, like twelve-year-old Chenjerai, a talented wire-car maker, were once his students. According to Chenjerai, “What you need are the basic skills of shaping and straightening the wires, but first you have to observe how someone skilled, like Taurai, does it.”

Wire cars are almost completely cost-free. The wires that are used are scraps that can be picked up anywhere. Empty shoe-polish tins can serve as wheels, making the cars more stylish.

Driving Tests
Most of the boys can “drive” their cars anywhere they go—to school, church, and shops. Some wire cars are strong enough to carry parcels weighing up to two pounds.

Sometimes wire cars, like the ones above, are used to carry parcels. Wire cars are driven on gravel roads or narrow paths littered with stones and covered with grass. Although you don’t need a license to drive a wire car, Taurai warns that “You need to be careful, just like someone driving a real car. If you are not, you may bump into a stone, and suddenly the whole car becomes a wreck.” Runner grass, which is common, can attach to the wheels and immobilize a car.

To improve their driving skills, the boys conduct their own driving tests. Using small tins as boundaries, the boys compete in skills like reversing and turning correctly.

Repairing the Cars
Just like real cars, wire cars sometimes need repairs. The most troublesome parts are the wheels, which need to be regularly straightened to maintain balance. Other repairs include tightening up the wires that are fastened together.

Taurai has his own garage, where he makes and repairs his cars. He also repairs his friends’ cars that are involved in road accidents. These cars are usually complete wrecks, but they are not thrown away. The wires are unattached, straightened, and used to make a whole new car.

Mixing School and Business
Although Taurai has taught a number of his friends to make wire cars, there are still many who can’t make their own. They usually order models of standard cars from him. It takes about an hour and a half to make a car—ready to be driven—and can cost a buyer about fifty cents (U.S.).

For Taurai, making and selling wire cars is big business. But he is still in school, and his parents want him to take school seriously. Most of his customers are his schoolmates. When they see him, they always want to talk about cars. “I always tell my customers at school to come to my home if they want to talk about cars,” Taurai said. “I do not want this car business to disturb my schoolwork.”

Taurai wishes to become a car maker when he finishes school. He hopes that one day, like Henry Ford, he will be able to invent a car model with his own name. To start, Taurai simply needs to improve on his present models and make ones that people will ride in, not push from outside.