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Frank Hetimier (left) hands Alfa Romeo Owners Club chairman Bob Dewar an Alfa Romeo car model during the launch of the 2012 Concours D'elegance at Nairobi Club on March 21, 2012.
At the 2021 Federation Internationale de I ‘Automobile (FIA) Annual Awards ceremony on December 14 of that year, a night of glitz and opulence outside the magnificent Louvre in central Paris, one old man, Bob Dewar was in his element.
Vintage as the antiquated cars he marketed, Dewar, dressed in a dazzling black jacket and golden bow tie, strolled to the stage prancing like a peacock enjoying every bit of the global attention in his slow measured steps.
A man of immense body strength and resilience in his prime, Dewar was certainly slowed by age.
“Yes, take the catwalk”, British TV presenter Nicki Shields and French Formula 1 commentator Julien Fébreau, urged Dewar amidst a sustained applause from the 800 invited guests, the crème de crème of the automobile industry, fashion, popular culture and sports, greeted him along the runway.
Dewar’s introduction to the audience was through a promotional video of the annual Concours d’ Elegance car show at the Jockey Club he founded, which was celebrating its 50th anniversary that year.
Dewar was in the French capital to receive the FIA Founders Heritage Cup for sustaining the popular vintage car ownership culture which brings owners from Africa and even beyond through the Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club.
No speeches. Typical of vintage Bob. He curdled the trophy and returned the way he came with even bigger cheers. Who is this man, many wondered?
Two days, later at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport departure lounge, Dewar and I whiled the time away reviewing the happenings of that night. “Don’t you think it was something in there that night ‘Peeerer’ in his deep British accent drawl (as he used to pronounce my name omitting the P).
“Concours is for Kenya. It’s for Africa,” said Dewar.
This was the last recognition of a man whose life was dedicated to motorsports, golf and horse racing. His Public Relation firm Bob Dewar Publicity, established in 1957, is one of the oldest in Kenya and became part of the media industry through his zeal.
Veteran Nation golf and horse racing writer Larry Ngala says Dewar introduced him to the two disciplines.
Dewar personally delivered his press releases to newsrooms. This started with KBC which neighboured his offices at Norfolk Towers then Kenya Times, Nation Centre, Standard Newspapers town offices, KTN at Nyayo House, KNA housed in Jogoo House and sometimes the then Chester House International Press Centre.
These daily rounds would consume the better part of his morning rounds. The releases were well written, and through experience, Dewar never solicited for their publications.
But envelopes with promotional give-aways from his clients -- a British Airways pen, Caltex cap, Fly 540 t-shirt there, became the standard Dewar reward, and the butt of jokes of editors and writers in newsrooms.
When Dewar finished his Law degree at Oxford, he was employed by Caltex in the UK where he worked briefly until an opportunity arose for him to be transferred to either Asia or Kenya. He chose Kenya and moved to the Nairobi office of Caltex, where he worked until 1969 when he left to set up his own PR agency.
Dewar became part of the Safari Rally as the Coronation Rally in the 1950s followed by the East African Safari Rally before transitioning to Kenya Safari Rally and has left it as WRC Safari Rally Kenya.
He pioneered live radio coverage of the famed Safari in the 1950s, at first using the military radio frequency.
The growth in popularity of the Safari was sustained by media operations at an era when there were no mobile phones, no internet and limited live television broadcast.
Dewar, Captain Jerry Sirley, Mohammed Abdillahi and Sammy Lui pioneered live radio broadcast aboard light aircrafts which followed the cars from the air, a level of sophistication decades ahead of its time. He also gave updates on KBC radio.
But it is the Concours where he made his fame and fortune as founder and Event Director.
The Concours d’Elegance is the classiest event on the Kenya Motor Sport calendar and was started by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club (Kenya) in 1970 and has been held annually with one interruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The event is held at the Nairobi Racecourse and attracts crowds of about 10,000.
In the 1990s the Africa Concours started generating international attention. Since then, the event has attracted entries from Argentina, Australia, England, Germany, Malawi, Mauritius, Mexico, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Dewar, who never married, was a very private man and details of his personal life including family are little known.
He died on Thursday at Aga Khan Hospital aged 90.
“The Alfa Romeo Owners Club is saddened by Bob’s demise and will greatly miss him. He was a beacon and a shining light to the club which he founded 55 years ago, as well as the founder of the Africa Concours d’Elegance which he went on to run as Event Director for many years.
“Personally, I have lost a mentor and a fatherly figure from whom I learnt so much not only on matters of classic cars but also on the values of hard work and strong ethics. I am comforted though in the knowledge that his memory will live on in the spirit of the Africa Concours d’Elegance,” said Peter Wanday, the Chairman of Alfa Romeo Owners Club.
