VW BEETLE

‘It’s been great fun and it has huge sentimental value for me. It was the family car, and the car I restored with my late father. I’ve toyed with having other things, and maybe now I’ve got more time I might well get another classic car, but this Beetle will never go.’

Simon Parkinson’s VW Beetle – known as BTE after the number plate – was first bought by his father in 1957 before Simon was born. It was the family car until Simon was six or seven years old, and was then exchanged for a newer model.

One evening, however, Simon and his father were driving to church when they spotted BTE on the back of a low-loader. When asked where they were taking it, the truck driver told them it was going to the scrap heap. Simon’s father paid them £15, and later that evening they arrived home to BTE sitting proudly in their driveway. It’s stayed in the family ever since.