OUR STORY
Martin Wallace founded Repurposed Classics and in a nod to future events, the only way he could afford his first car was to breathe life into a dead one!
This first car, acquired in 1979 when he was 16, was a 1969 Vauxhall Viva HB (in safari beige no less) when his Dad was asked to use his Volvo to tow a next door neighbour’s non-running MOT failure Viva to the scrapyard ‘and keep whatever you get for her’ (the neighbour had abandoned the car following umpteen failed driving tests)
An early joint venture immediately ensued as father and son got the car running and eventually through its MOT and slow restoration started. Martin passed his driving test mid-process!
The next stop on his motoring journey was more noteworthy as, much to his parent’s horror, another non-runner, a 1967 MG BGT was acquired for £120 during his first year away as a student in 1983. This car was spotted in the front garden at a student friend’s parents’ house where it had been used as an occasional dog kennel!!
The MG was a whole different ball game which tested the patience and finances of the father/son venture.
The long-term and expensive restoration required endless hours of building site labour for Martin in order to fund parts, equipment and paint, etc through every student holiday period for three years.
The long building site hours were followed by evening and weekend garage hours spent working on the MG and the restoration was eventually completed to much triumph in 1988 (not so much triumph from Martin’s Mum who now had her prized garage dwelling tumble dryer part over sprayed in a 2nd colour of Mineral Blue to add to the Safari Beige from the Viva!)
History, individuality & reliability all in an individual zero-carbon footprint car with personality.
The classic car bug was now well and truly in the system but as life became more expensive there was always the family, kitchens, bathrooms, extensions, etc taking priority over a garage. It was not until 2014 that extensive matrimonial negotiations permitted a 1970 Alfa Romeo 2000 Spider Veloce to be acquired and restored.
Like most classic Alfas the spider proved an expensive and enlightening ownership experience, but it just had to be done. However, it was clear from day one it was not going to be a long-term keeper.
After the children left home Martin finally got his first garage in 2017 (at 53 years old!) so things could move up a gear or two.
A long-term keeper replaced the Alfa in 2018 in the form of a 2+2 1971 E-type V12 Jaguar which had spent the last 10 years of its life before it came to Martin, unused in a garage. The E-type has been a labour of love and is still run by Martin to this day, having featured at the weddings of both his children.
Such was life in those days that a few years later the MGB was sold early in married life to fund a new bathroom. The quality of the MGB restoration was such that it was sold in 1990 to a guy who worked at Rolls Royce in Crewe hand-building the iconic radiator grilles, so the MG was left in safe hands!
A young family meant the ‘luxury’ of a classic car was on hold whilst other priorities took precedence, but an opportunity arose in 2004 for Martin to revisit his passion. This time (as promised to his wife) there was a bit more focus on profit as the venture was in theory to provide some additional funds.
A Dorset neighbour at the time, Richard Williams who had (and still has) an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things classic VW offered a route to getting back into tinkering with classics and another joint venture was formed.
Over a few years through to 2010, they sourced and restored two pre-1967 VW Beetles and a couple of split screen campers – all of which were restored speculatively and then sold on to happy customers (Martin’s wife would have preferred if some of the vehicles were sold on immediately and not retained for long ‘running tests’)
A brief return to the Vauxhall marque came in 2019 when a 1963 Victor Supreme was acquired for Martin’s Dad (it was one of the favourite cars his Dad had owned) but alas it proved that persuading a then 80-year-old to return to classic car ownership & maintenance was more difficult than anticipated! The car was sold onto a local garage who still use it as one of their show vehicles.
The twist to the classic car thing came in 2020 when the opportunity arose to acquire a very rare VW beetle. Martin did not want to put up with an underpowered standard beetle, but he had never been a fan of ‘tuned’ or ‘slammed’ beetle projects that proliferate the VW world. Hooking up again with his long term VW hero, Richard Williams, who has never deviated from the VW faith, it was agreed that an electric conversion project would give the best of both worlds whilst simultaneously adding some much-needed green credentials to his collection of V12, V8’s, etc.
And so the very rare 1974 Jeans Beetle was purchased with a view to it being returned to its pomp but with electric power and performance. After much research Retroelectrics were selected to undertake all the high voltage work. Following completion of both the restoration and electric conversion, the car was featured at the 2022 Volksworld show at Sandown Park and followed this with a five-page feature in July 2022 edition of the Volksworld magazine.
This was the project that morphed into Repurposed Classics as Martin & Richard were determined to offer these cars on a speculative rather than on a ‘commissioned’ basis. The focus on VW beetles made it a no-brainer to bring Richard Williams into the Repurposed Classics fold.
