VW lockdown project (Timaru Herald)

Esther from Timaru

The engine is in the spare room and the body of the 1967 Volkswagen Beetle convertible is in the sleepout as its South Canterbury owner gets stuck into his first ever restoration project during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Pareora-based pest controller Sam Pierce had only been in the job he loves for a month before lockdown and after running out of gib and plaster to upgrade the inside of the house, has turned all his attention towards the disassembled car.

The car restoring rookie has been learning as he goes through watching You Tube and asking others in Facebook car groups.

"It's fun. It's going to cost a fortune, more than if I bought it done."

He purchased the vehicle from his mother about a year ago. She warned him about the rust, but he was unperturbed.

Since then he has been stripping out the rust and replacing the panels when the mood took him.

One problem has been the body is welded to the chassis, instead of being bolted, making it difficult to access the undercarriage.

He has taken out the engine, rewired it and cleaned the fuel tank.

The hardest part of the project so far he said was knowing there were a million things to do and not knowing where to start.

There was no room in the sleepout for the engine so it's in the spare room.

But now he was stuck.

"There's no more I can do. I don't have the tools. I don't know what tools I need, I'll have to Google that too."

He reckons it will look good once its finished which he expects may take about five years.

"If there was no lock down it would still be sitting there."