Beautiful classics at Old Car Show

SOUTHERN CAPE NEWS - The theme of the 22nd show presented by the Southern Cape Old Car Club will be vehicles manufactured in Great Britain.

Volkswagen's museum, the AutoPavilion, will display five famous Beetles under the title "Meet the Beetles".

These Beetles hark back to the British Officer, Major Ivan Hirst, who saved the Beetle from destruction after the Second World War and pays homage to the George Old Car Show's theme of British manufactured vehicles.

The largest collection of Ford vehicles manufactured before 1930 will also be on display.

In addition, there will be a large number of other veteran and vintage vehicles, veteran tractors and farming implements, static engines, more than 5 000 miniature model cars, motorcycles, and vehicles displayed by new car dealers.

Japie Beyers's 1935 Chevrolet Phaeton is one veteran vehicle to be displayed at the 2018 show - a full 27 years after he received the vehicle as a gift.

"In 1986, we camped at Herold's Bay, where I met Japie Louw, a farmer from Williston," recalls Japie. They became friends and during the 1987 Easter Weekend, Japie and his family visited the Louws at Williston.

The conversation turned to old cars, and Louw mentioned an old car in the possession of Wilbur Bruwer from Brandvlei, some 40km from Williston. "We visited Bruwer and I immediately fell in love with the car, which Bruwer promptly gave to me."

The 1935 Chevrolet Phaeton with right hand steering was manufactured in Brazil, but assembled in South Africa.

Before the vehicle was restored.

Only a small number of them were sold in South Africa, as the body became unavailable here after 1935. "It is a rare model; I know of only two in South Africa." Some 217 were sold in the USA in 1935.

Only in 1991 was he able to fetch the car from Brandvlei and could he start restoring it.

"The car consisted of the chassis, the front body panels, including the front doors and a back and front axle."

He started sourcing spare parts, which he regards as the most interesting part of the process. "Someone once said, 'It is all about the journey'," he muses.

He stripped the vehicle to the bare chassis and collected pieces of body work and spare parts from all over the country.

"In those days, Chevrolet made use of the so-called Fisher bodies, which consisted of a wooden frame covered with metal. Over time the wood rotted and the metal corroded.

"It is very difficult to restore these vehicles unless the wooden frame is rebuilt."

So he painstakingly rebuilt it. "In 1998, I moved to George and it was quite a challenge to move all the pieces of old vehicles I had collected for spare parts."

The biggest challenge was to manufacture the wooden frame. "All credit to Attie van der Walt and Hendrik Joubert, who encouraged and helped me. Without their help the restoration would still not have been completed," said Japie.

"It was a dreadfully slow process, because I had little time and even less money, having four daughters at university!"

In 2001, he displayed a running chassis at the show. The engine and gearbox were mounted on the chassis and two axles so he could steer it.

In 2017 the car was again displayed, albeit without the canvas hood.

The hood has now been installed and the fully restored vehicle will be on display at the 2018 show, 27 years after it was received as a present.

Japie loves the car. "It is an incredibly nice car to drive. Once it is put in the top gear, it really goes!

"You seldom need to change gears, almost as if it is an automatic car!"

After so many years of hard work the car is an integral part of the family.

When Japie's daughter Lisa married James Gerber in the Hemel en Aarde Valley near Hermanus recently, she insisted, "Dad, I'm not getting married unless the Chev is there".