In February last year Cheryl Livingstone spoke to Don Whyte about his latest project – bringing a VW Trekker back to life.
Now we find out how the 18-month restoration went.
BEFORE
When Don Whyte decided to get a restoration project for when he retired, he knew exactly what marque to go for.
A lifelong fan of Volkswagen cars, the 65-year-old initially set out to try and find an air-cooled Beetle, having owned several over the course of his driving life.
But a search on eBay led him to find something much quirkier – a 1975 Volkswagen Trekker Type 182.
Don, who lives in Crathes, said: “I had seen Trekkers over the years, although they were very few and far between, but it’s very similar to the Volkswagen Beetle. There was just something about it. I’ve always liked the shape and its weird military look.”
While it is in a reasonably good condition, he plans to completely restore it and change its colour as well.
“I’ll probably be jazzing it up but there is a trend with these things where people lower the suspension and make them into street cars but I don’t particularly like that style,” he said.
Instead Don plans to give the car a “chunkier look” including adding bigger tyres.
“It’s good fun to drive, people stop and look all the time,” he added.
“This car makes people smile. It’s just a good fun car to drive and is really enjoyable as well.
“I am looking forward to getting started on the car and seeing it all finished.”
AFTER
People told him he should cover his car in camouflage but Don wasn’t keen to go down the military route.
“I wanted it to be a fun vehicle. I had kind of fancied something fairly extreme. My wife quite liked yellow. The car originally had been yellow but that’s not one of my favourite colours. I liked the idea of a really bright green and it turned out the colour I was looking for was the same used on the Kawasaki bikes.
“The colours are quite a talking point. You can certainly find it in the car park.
“I get a lot of reaction. When I am out in the car, I see people’s faces and they just look like they are saying ‘what the hell’… It’s funny, a lot of kids seem to really like it. Maybe they think it’s from Disney or something.”
The car has undergone quite a transformation in the past year both aesthetically and mechanically. Among the vast amount of work Don did is a new engine and brakes as well as the obvious colour change.
There was also a lot of welding involved and initially Don had planned to ask a local business to undertake the job. But then a friend of his motivated him to make a different decision.
“He said ‘you’ve got a welding machine why don’t you do it yourself? Have a go and learn as you go along’.
“He said the more you do, the more this restoration belongs to you. So I decided to have a go, nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say.
“I had some tremendous highs and lows with this restoration but the job satisfaction when you would have a really good day and things really came together was absolutely brilliant.
“It was an amazing feeling the first time I drove it after I had done a lot of the work. You know sometimes I thought ‘oh no maybe I’ve bitten off more than I can chew’ but to actually get the engine started and drive it out of the garage was absolutely amazing. I just thought ‘wow I’ve managed it, I’ve done it’.
WHAT’S NEXT
Far from taking a break after his 18-month journey, Don already has his next restoration project sitting in his garage – a 1966 Beetle.
“This one is going to be my wife’s fun car,” he said.
“We went away for a weekend and we were sitting in the hotel chatting. We both love vehicles and my wife drives a fairly new Fiesta, which is a lovely car, but she’s used to old Morris Minors and cars like that and wanted to get an old car like that again.
“So I suggested she should get a Beetle because I would be fairly comfortable working on that since I’ve had a bit of experience. I’ve had six Beetles myself. So we agreed to look out for one and of course when we looked on eBay this one was there and so we got it.”
Look out for Your Car in the future to find out how Don got on.