Zwitter picker

Having bought it, he couldn’t even give it away. Just as well we say because Steve Ridley’s £800 hybrid Oval has gone from a pile of rubbish to being part of the family.

- Ian Cushway

When people know you’re into old VWs, it’s easy to become a soft target. A willing recipient for everyone’s cast offs, the projects where the final few drip feeds of time, money, patience and Elastoplasts have finally run dry. If the passion’s there, they reason, it will be difficult to say no to even the most horrible half-finished project. And that’s exactly the trap 42-year-old Steve Ridley from Boston, Lincs fell into when he was offered this rare but totally rat bag ’53 Zwitter in 2006.

“I knew the guy that was selling it, and he persuaded me to go over,” recalls Steve. “I didn’t really know what it was, but it looked a complete and utter wreck. It didn’t have any windows, wings, lights, headlining, bonnet, decklid or running boards. In fact, it didn’t even have any interior.”

Despite being a card holding VW enthusiast and the custodian of literally hundreds of air-cooled gems in the past, having seen it, Steve wasn’t particularly enamoured by the prospect of taking it on. “To be honest, I didn’t want another project. He wanted £800 which, at the time, was big money, considering what much better Bugs were going for. I tried to haggle, but he was having none of it, so somehow we ended up doing a deal and he towed the car round the following day.”

Binning it