Unfortunately, at the beginning of February 2001, someone tried to modify the look of my Beetle whilst I was waiting at traffic lights.  I was hit at about 25-30mph, and the Toyota involved left the ground as it drove over the rear corner of the car.  The inner wing was badly damaged, the outer wing barely recognisable.  The spring-plate buckled too, so the wheel had rather too much toe in!  I was pushed into the car in front of me; a BMW 3-series that suffered no more than a scratched bumper...  Amazingly both my headlamp and spot-lamp still work, with their glasses in tact.

The car was recovered back to my house, where it sat with a cover over it, waiting for the third-party's insurance company to decide whether it was going to be repaired or not. Eventually they decided to pay for the repairs, and I was given a hire car.  It was a Renault Clio 1.4 16v, which had 200 miles on the clock when it arrived with me.  By the time it went back four months later, it probably needed at least two new tyres...  Still, nothing like the character of the Bug though!

At my first visit to the garage, the paint match left something to be desired, as you can see in the photo here. The door has not been painted, the rear quarter has - the "discussions" were brief and to the point!

 All material on this site © T Rastall 2002-2009

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