I have been interested in cars (old and new) my entire life. Over the years, my twin brother Sam spent time teaching me the different makes and models as well as occasional facts about specific ones.
We grew up watching motoring shows like Top Gear and great project-type shows such as Scrapheap Challenge which made me keen to take on my own project one day.
My Dad has also been a big influence on me becoming a bit of a petrol head as he has owned many different cars in his lifetime, and even used to do them up to sell when he was younger. He has his own MG (an MGB GT), although it’s off the road at the moment for its own restoration, and my younger brother’s first car was also a MG (This one being a Midget). I learnt to drive as soon as I could - in fact my twin and I learnt to drive up a dried up river bed in Spain in a 1991 Suzuki
Samurai (called Suzi) and I passed my test four months after turning 17. I love driving even now, 12 years on!
I have lived between England and Scotland so driving long distances doesn’t particularly phase me. So far, the longest ‘road trip’ for me has been driving from here on the Isle of Wight to Spain and back with our German Shepherd, Nova in 2018 (albeit in a modern Ford Fiesta).
Now it’s time for me to tell you about my current Beetle! Long story short, he is actually my second bug. My first being one that I very excitedly bought from a friend who wanted her to go to someone who would love her.
Oh I sure did that! Rea, as she was called, was a red and cream 1972 Beetle (although previous owners had changed bits of her to resemble an earlier 60’s bug). She was full of filler, rust and charm. I drove around the island in her for nearly a year before deciding to take her in for restoration.
This unfortunately didn’t go well, however, and the person in question ended up destroying her beyond repair. I sold whatever I could and at that point reluctantly gave up on my Beetle dream. (It wasn’t entirely all bad though as I was lucky enough to meet my best friend Zoe who owns a gorgeous 1972 VW Beetle called Olive, a lovely Texas yellow one). Not long after, a friend messaged to say that another Beetle had become available locally – a 1966 non-painted almost-finished project bug and I just had to have him!
My project dream was a reality again and as a bonus, I could choose whatever colour I wanted, so I went for a gorgeous Florida Blue. It wasn’t long until I decided on his name due to his two-tone colour choice - so meet Baloo!
After I had found Baloo, I took him straight to a mechanic friend to be welded, sorted out and then painted, all within a couple of months. He was put back together and given his MOT before being given to me just in time for Spring of 2019.
I was blown away by how quickly the guys did it all for me, but they knew what I had been through with my previous Beetle and were keen to give me a much better experience this time round. What have I done since May you ask? Well, the list is long and will continue on as I find more and more that needs to be sorted.
The first thing I did when I got him back on the road was of course drive around smiling (a lot) and then I started sorting any little niggles and problems.
I treated him to a new battery (although it turns out that wasn’t necessary as my alternator wasn’t working), as I was having to charge it manually in my house the night before any trip I had planned. In fact, it was so worrying that on ferry crossings, I was unplugging the battery just in case it went flat - this actually happened on one occasion when attending ‘Simply VW’ at Beaulieu National Motor Museum. Luckily though I have a very smart friend who worked out my issue which was simply a bulb that was missing...
Once the bulb was fitted, my alternator started working as expected and that was that!
Another puzzle to solve was my blade bumpers. They weren’t in the best of shape so I treated myself to some new ones. However, when driving around with the old ones, I had multiple people asking why my back one was upside down.
It had been fitted that way as otherwise, I would not have been able to open my engine lid. So again, my smart friend Mick helped out and found the bracket’s needed to be adjusted. It was then flipped over, and now my new bumpers were fitted seamlessly giving Baloo a fresh new look.
I was also quick to add shiny chrome hub caps to complete his smart look, although since then, I have actually lost two which have fallen off as I was driving. (Thanks to the powers of social media, I have managed to track one of these down).
I have also had an entire new wiring loom built by a lovely Father-Son team on the mainland (Volksgoods) and fitted to Baloo by my very trusty mechanic friend, Ray, who owns Northshore Classics here on the Isle of Wight where we live. Ray has also done a lot more to Baloo, but most importantly, has been allowing me to come and learn these things for myself. This includes my engine which has given me lots of troubles!
In Baloo, I have a 1200cc engine that was always covered in excess oil and never sounded healthy. Naturally, that has meant me spending quite a lot of my classic car-owning time on the back of a breakdown truck, and yet I continue to smile!
Another long story short, I bought a second hand 1200cc engine locally and Ray has patiently led me through stripping it down, painstakingly cleaning every part and rebuilding it using new seals, grommets, and other parts that needed replacing. We then fitted Baloo’s new heart and got him up and running again! Since then, his new engine purrs beautifully and I have no more worries when driving him around. Hopefully this means I have many miles of worry-free motoring ahead, although I still have break down cover of course!
The list of things for Baloo is long and continuous but lots of the main issues and problems have now been sorted which is great and my journey has really only just begun. I have lots of plans to attend car shows this year and next, and hope to meet more and more like
minded people!
If you wish to follow Baloo’s adventure for yourself feel free to find us on Instagram where I document pretty much everything we do together and the friends we are lucky enough to meet along the way.
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Harriet Fuller
@baloothebeetle
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