Beskrivning
Built in 1979 and delivered to the sunny climes of Jacksonville Florida, this Volkswagen favourite was originally finished in River Blue metallic with a Black leatherette interior. Unfortunately, we don’t know what adventures it had in the USA but we do know that it was repatriated to Northern Ireland in 1990 and issued with the registration number ‘SXI 5617’. It changed hands 10 years later and was reregistered as ‘UIA 8000’.
In 2015 it underwent restoration and returned to the road resplendent in fresh white paint with cream interior and a new black mohair roof. The chap who painted the VW stated that it was the best Beetle he had ever come across.
Sometime later, it was sold to Mike, who interestingly, has a business called Star Car Hire, based in Larne, County Antrim, a company that source vehicles for film, television, music videos and weddings. Our Beetle was put to work and later described as “an incredible little car”.
In 2023 Wiser Films produced the first series of ‘Dream Car Fixers’ which aired in March 2024 on the channel U+ Transport and can now be found on YouTube - to find our Beetle, you’ll need to look for series 1 episode 8. We suggest you take the time to watch the program, we have on file a list of work provided by Wiser Films but it makes better watching than it does reading! Suffice to say that Sheldon and Peter from the program take, in this instance, an already very good car and enhance it.
After filming the show, further work was required and with the help of Wiser Films the Beetle was taken to VW specialists Volkswagen Services in Southport, who carried out a top end engine rebuild and replaced the heat exchangers (invoices on file).
So that’s the story so far, now we need to find the person who will write or film the next chapter in the life of this charming, well sorted Beetle. Will it be you?
