SAM HEWETT doesn’t have to worry too much about gatsometer speed-traps. His 1926 Fowler steamroller has a single-digit top speed, and any speed-trap equipment optimistically stretched across his path is likely to come off second-best.  The Fowler is licensed for the road, and Sam takes it to numerous tractor shows around the country. It’s not the ideal vehicle for nipping down to the pub, though – it takes two hours to get rolling, from the first flick of the Bic, and devours 450 litres of water and 60 kilograms of coal for every ten kilometres it travels.  Hewett, who lives in KZN, found the Fowler standing in the Zastron municipal workshops about 20 years ago, and says that it was only pensioned off in the mid- ‘70s. GAVIN FOSTER caught him on his way to the Nottingham Road Vintage and Steam Show in August.

ENDS

Gavin Foster