Ruchard Turton's 1967 Beelte

Fri, 27 Jun 2008
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My name is Richard and this is my 1967 Beetle, Ruby. I bought her about four years ago but unfortunately, after six months of fun I crashed her into a fence coming off a roundabout backwards. In my defense, it was very wet and muddy but it didn't help - I was devastated! As you can see from the photo, it smashed off the rear wing, the running board and the front wing. My rear bumper, exhaust, 1967 valance and decklid were badly damaged. If I had known how expensive and hard to get hold of the '67 rear valance would be, I wouldn't have left it with the body shop.
As my Dad and I are dab hands at giving things a go, once the accident damage had been repaired we set out to rub it down and respray it. Only from doing this did we notice rust and then more rust, in particular around the heater channels!
After realising the extent of work required, it has been a very slow but enjoyable restoration that lasted over three years, working on it one day a week. With the exception of the accident repair and one heater channel replacement, the rest of the restoration has been carried out in my garage at home, including replacing all rusty metalwork with new, preparing the body, a full respray, re-carpeting and re-upholstering some original Beetle seats. Keeping the bugs and dust off the car during the respray was a bit of a challenge. It's amazing what an old gazebo can do!
It finally got its MoT, on the week of its 41st year, and I have been making the most of having her back on the road again after all this time. Let's hope the weather holds up this summer.
I would like to say a big thank you to my dad who helped me bring Ruby back to life and who, at times, was driving the project forwards despite him having many other jobs to do around the house and having garage temperatures in the negative. I would also like to say a big thank you to my girlfriend, Katie, who has put up with sharing me with my other woman one day a week. I now look forward to showing Ruby off on the roads around Bristol and further afield for many camping trips to come.
Love the magazine and keep up the good work.
Richard Turton