Aircooled Wonders

We love to focus on detail.

Swap meets are always my favourite events. There is something about digging through old parts.

Cullinan vibes on a Sunday.

Thank you for all the support. Yesterday was a success. Now it is time for pre assembly. Once we are happy, we will strip the car down one last time and then paint it it's final coat.

Good morning. See you at Loftus Day.

They always look good, from any angle. Even (especially) in bare metal.

If you have to come in to work on a Sunday, you might as well treat yourself.

Classic car restorations have so many different levels of quality standards to meet every enthusiasts expectations and budget. Older restorations were normally done without attention to detail, mainly because these cars carried very little value at one point of time. We are very fortunate to have clients that only want the best for their cars. Here is an excellent example of an all numbers matching 356 A that was bought with the intention to only assemble and drive, but on closer inspection we found that the car was covered in 5mm of body filler. We can now start on a clean slate. There is some previous patch work that needs attention, but overall a very solid car. The biggest asset is that all date stamps and numbers are correct. Now it's time to give the car the love it deserves, with fellow top class restorer, Wouter Croukamp.

I struggle to understand uninformed people. The same guys that wanted to buy the car when it was discovered in a barn, but got there to late,are now questioning the authenticity of this 1952 Porsche 356 Cabrio. My client has been transparent right through the whole restoration. The Garage Metalshaping Studio did an incredible job saving a 70 plus year old car. Yes most of the metal had to be handmade, with many hours of research and help by the top guys in the world. Even Rod Emory praised Barry's incredible metal work. We have only used original Porsche parts where needed. Everything that could be saved was painstakingly restored. All the numbers are as found and stamped 72 years ago. Nothing has been tampered with. The car had a huge rear end accident in 1956 and the factory in Stuttgart replaced the motor. Subsequently that motor was replaced later in the cars life with a Beetle motor. My client found a correct motor 21 numbers away from the first motor. I know we are doing the best restoration possible. The car is currently in the market, but as mentioned, everyone has an opinion.This special car will be on display at Loftus Day on the 21st of July. We welcome everyone to view the car and share the passion.

I'm not saying we there yet, but we've made massive progress on our '65 project in the last 3 months.

There's a little bird sitting on my window sill.I pretend to work but it's sitting there still.

God's Window.

After a productive week, it's time to sit back and admire the work done.

We slowly sorting out the incredibly dodgy work that was done in past on this extremely early and rare 911. Well done Rupert, it's looking good.

We love to share our passion, even if it is with a Mantis.

We love to work with metal. Here is a panel we made for a fellow Porsche restorer's client. This panel is not commonly available if at all.

Both these cars needed a complete nose rebuild. It is always satisfying when you get close to painting the car.

Over the years we've done many meaningful projects with Studio88 Photography . This is one that will brighten up your Monday.

We've sorted out the biggest issue on our '65 Porsche 911 project in the last week. All the suspension points are now correct and Rupert, our newest member at Aircooled Wonders , just finished welding the new torsion tube in.

We had a new visitor this morning.

It's always great when friends pop in to show you new accessories on their air cooled cars.

Look at what we found on Facebook. A memory created with good friends that traveled the world in their Herbie Beetle. We were lucky to experience the last drive in venue in South Africa. Something that was a big part of growing up so many years ago.

We like to explore on Sunday’s.

We are looking to expand our team. Experience is a plus. A good attitude filled with enthusiasm is a must. Work will include all aspects of restoring a classic car to the highest standard. We are located in Pretoria East. Send your CV to [email protected]

As the sun sets on 2023. Happy New Year and thank you for all your support.

It’s not often that you are allowed to touch a piece of art. We have been preparing the metal on the Cabrio for the last 2 weeks and finally sprayed an epoxy primer on it. I am more and more impressed with the quality work that was done by Barry Ashmole from The Garage Metalshaping Studio. In most places we will not need filler as initially thought. We will most likely end up using less filler than the factory.

Attention to detail is everything in restoring super rare cars. Here are the seat springs we refurbished for the 1952 Porsche 356 Pre A. We used period correct Beetle seats as a donor to replace broken springs. We mixed paint to replicate what the factory had on them. Now to cover them and hide all the many hours of work.

We are privileged to work on very rare and special cars. Attention to detail is everything, which takes an enormous amount of time to get right. Our weekends and evenings are currently dedicated to this 1958 Porsche 356 A.

We visited some friends for a Sunday lunch this past weekend. This was just to beautiful not to take a picture.

Last night was HRSA Championship prize giving. We had a near perfect season with 335 points in the overall Pursuit Championship. We won our class and overall, as well as the manufacturing trophy for Porsche. I shared the podium with Robert Van Aarle and Riaan Roux, two guys I have a lot of respect for. Well done everyone.