Even when this photograph was taken – some time in the early 1960s – the star of the show was an elderly lady.
The group of tribesmen are gathered around a right-hand-drive 1952 Chevrolet pick-up which has given up the ghost rather unfortunately in the middle of the channel between Abu Dhabi island and the mainland.
In the background is the fortified tower that still stands next to the Maqta Bridge, opened a few years after this photo, in 1967. Until then, the only way to cross the water was a causeway, revealed at low tide.
The unspoken drama here is the rising water, already forming pools around the truck’s rear wheels. In the manner of men contemplating inanimate machinery the world over, most of the party are standing around making helpful suggestions to the driver. One holds a hand-cranking tool; another appears to be climbing into the engine chamber.
What is missing from this story is the ending. Did the Chevy eventually roar into life, escaping the incoming tide. Or did it meet a watery end, a last journey that saw it depart the desert sands for the depths of the Arabian Gulf?
* James Langton
Explore our pictorial history of old Abu Dhabi with the interactive map below, and see all of our Time Frames here.
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