JJ Hughes and the Model T: The Beginnings of Hughes Ltd

By Hillary Kosgey Arap Masut. Shared in our Facebook group by Henry Kibiwott Chebii.

First shared in The Wonders of Sergoit Hills Facebook group on 26 May 2026.

The story of Hughes Ltd begins with a young man full of determination. John Joseph Hughes, better known as JJ, came to Kenya in 1920, when he was only twenty years old. He worked as a buyer for a London firm, travelling the farmlands of Trans Nzoia and Uasin Gishu. His constant companion was a Model T Ford, so reliable that settlers nicknamed it The Pride of the Plateau. JJ stripped it down to the basics so it could handle the rough tracks, and children loved riding home from school with him in it.

JJ believed farmers needed their own Model Ts. He partnered with Tom O'Shea of Eldoret, who held the Ford franchise. Times were hard, but JJ had a clever idea. Farmers could get a vehicle, fuel and spare parts in exchange for leasing him one hundred acres for a year. They would grow mixed crops under his guidance, and he would market the produce. He even accepted goods in trade. Within two years JJ had sold 250 "Tin Lizzies."

To prove how tough the cars were, JJ organised a race from Nairobi to Nakuru. Kenneth McIver drove a Model T and finished far ahead of luxury cars such as Rolls Royce and Dodge, while his co-driver, the jockey Henry Charlton, sat on the bonnet pouring water into the radiator.

Model T owners were often inventive. Some drove uphill in reverse, because the gears were stronger that way. Fairy Engelbrecht, a mail runner, used his Tin Lizzie on the Kisumu to Eldoret route. When a wheel broke in the Kaimosi forest, he carved a new one from branches, using a red hot pipe, and it lasted two months. His resourcefulness later helped him win a road race from Nairobi to Johannesburg. Many settlers even converted their cars to run on kerosene, which was cheaper than petrol.

The name lived on in Eldoret. Local people pronounced it "Yuus," and some still call the place Kap-Yuus. When an older farmer says he went to Yuus, he means the Hughes garage, the famous Ford tractor dealer in Eldoret town. JJ Hughes was more than a car dealer. He helped farmers see possibilities beyond the soil, and his story is part of the history of Uasin Gishu.

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