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Paul Harding: Super Duper Garage

Paul Harding: Super Duper Garage
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Paul Harding: Super Duper Garage

Paul Harding appeared on our radar after his appearance on Jonny’s Smith’s Late Brake Show back in September 2021. He was welcoming the motoring presenter (and friend of Heritage) to check out his car collection, revealing some of the 38 vehicles he owns, and numerous others that he stores for friends and clients. 

With a decent percentage of his warehouse given over to our two favourite marques, we decided to give him a call and find out more.

Already famous...

From talking with Paul, it turns out we were aware of him and his cars going back years and years. He built a gorgeous red Mk1 Jetta Coupe that graced the cover of Golf+ magazine, it picked up trophies at our favourite shows and he used to make bespoke bucket seats under the Vabric brand. The Jetta is long gone, as are a string of other watercooled VWs but there are still a few in the stable, along with aircooled Volkswagens and some Porsches too. 

Modifying Watercooled VWs

Arguably the most interesting of Paul's watercooled VWs is this Mk2 Golf with an R32 engine conversion.

Finished in ‘Grandad spec’ gold, or Polar Silver to give it the correct name, it is the very definition of a sleeper. It’s only when you glance inside the cabin that you spot the exposed motorsport shifter nestled between the flat-based CL seats that you guess there’s more than 60bhp going through to the classic steel wheels beneath the arches.

The Golf was built by a friend of Paul's who is an engineer and was meticulous in his work. Unlike many conversions, this retains a narrow track in keeping with the Q car ethos, although now relies on KW V3 suspension to keep it safe and stable through corners.

“It does spin up the wheels a bit” Paul comments “but it drives great.” Want to know more about Golf engine swaps? Check out our in-depth engine conversion guide here

Building a Volksrod

“I built the Volksrod as a demo car for the seats - we debuted it at Ultimate Dubs and security let us stay late on Saturday night before the show to finish it off - well it still had no windows in it, but it looked like a car! Along with the roof chop, it has a ragtop so the custom interior could be seen from above. It’s got a Ford I beam front axle, and I built a set of skinny BBS wheels and fitted them with cross-ply tyres to complete the look.”

With the rush to get it ready there were a few runs in the paint, and the guy who did the work took it back to sort out after the show. Sadly, the car got left outside, it filled up with water, and to add to Paul’s misery, the painter then tried to soak it all up with cat litter…

“In the end, I took a trailer and brought it back, parked it in a corner and it's stayed there ever since. I’ve kinda fallen out of love with it, but the silly thing is, if I saw it for sale I’d probably buy it!”

Making Car Seats From Scratch

Seats and upholstery always intrigue me as it was my father’s career, so I ask some more. “The first set of seats I made were out of metal and were modified Kirkey items. My Father-in-Law was an upholsterer, and he said he’d never trim another set like that!"

"Later on, we made them from fibreglass with double skin, so both the inner and out could be finished in a gloss gel coat. It was funny, I offered to trim the seat pads with any fabric the customer wanted, but they almost always went for what I was running in my car at the time!”

There are a few seats dotted around the storage unit, and Paul explains these are the prototypes he worked with. “We looked at getting them made in China, but I would have had to commit to 50 of each style, and we had 3 different types. Even if I could have found the money, where do you store 150 bucket seats?! I had nightmares when I went to sleep about being ‘that guy’ on Dragon’s Den where they get told to categorically not invest any more of their own money into the business, as it's just not going to work.”

From Houses to Garages

As fun as the seat business was it was stressful and plagued by unreliable manufacturing partners. Paul had a day job renovating property, but a change in the way mortgages were issued meant acquiring houses became tougher and had to look elsewhere for a source of income.

“I liked the idea of running a normal garage for normal people” he tells me. “However, it seemed because I like obscure cars, loads of obscure cars turned up…”

The business was started from the sale of a supercharged M5 and was initially just Paul on his own. But, with more time being spent speaking with customers, his friend joined him, and he has steered him self away from the spanners and into the office more. “I’m forever my own delivery driver” he jokes “It would make financial sense if we specialised in a particular brand, we’d become quicker, and need less tools, but that’s not what interests me.”

Why call it Super Duper Garage?

“I didn’t want to open just another ‘and Sons’ or ‘auto centre’ type establishment, so started searching for a catchy name. We’d been to San Francisco on our honeymoon and ate at a brilliant restaurant called ‘Super Duper Burger’ so my wife drew out the logo but added a garage at the bottom of it. She did it as a joke, however the name played on my mind over the next few days, it was catchy, and decided it would be the one to work with.” 

The garage is dressed and decorated with distinction. “Everything has a story” Paul explains. “That tandem on the wall; that belonged to a friend’s grandparents, I got it as a box of bits and put it back together. They had used it to cycle from Basingstoke to Lands End in their younger years!”

The pots and tins all came from Paul's Grandfather, and the furniture equally used to reside in the homes of his elder relatives. The reception area is far from the industrial emptiness that you’d expect from a run-of-the-mill establishment.

Out in the workshop, the faux shop fronts are vinyl wraps that have been carefully applied to give the appearance of an American street from years gone by. They remind me of being at Beaulieu and are certainly an inspiration for my own garage at home. The workshop floor is immaculate, and Paul proudly tells us they paint it at least 3 times a year.

When does a hoard become a car collection?

Paul is pretty clear...“It’s not a collection. That would assume there was a pattern of logic applied to what I buy. As it happens, I get cars I like, and typically I’ll buy one, and then another which needs some work, but has some nice bits on it will come up, so I’ll buy that too!”

To some looking on he must be massively wealthy. “People assume I’m a millionaire, but I’m not. Many times, I’ve sat down and can’t afford to buy some lunch, because I’m stupid and bought another car! I’ve bought my cars at the right time, often because I fear that I won’t be able to afford one in the future.”

The red 911 is a 1984 3.2 Carrera, which sits slammed on gold 18” ETA Beta split rims is the perfect example. “I paid £9k for that car, it was rusty as hell, and various body shops stitched me up on it, but it probably only owes me £20,000. I wouldn’t take less than sixty or seventy for it today… It’s my favourite of them all.”

The Late Brake Big Break! 

Naturally, we enquire as to how he ended up gracing our screens with Mr Smith. “Actually, I did a bit of YouTube ages ago” he lets on. “Me and a friend went to a supercar event and filmed ourselves commenting on the owners and the styles being put on display. I was there in my 996 Turbo, but I’d never felt so poor!”

The video went viral but kicked up a backlash against him and his family from disgruntled owners and enthusiasts who objected to the banter being aimed at their ‘flash the cash’ lifestyle.

“I’d seen Jonny Smith do his videos, and it was my friend that persuaded me to get in touch with him. Jonny replied quickly and asked for photos and a car list. I’d never stopped to count how many I had before, and it took my friends checking it over to come to 38 as the total at that time. Then he asked if they were all in one place…” Of course, they weren’t.

“None of my family knew I had this many cars before I did the Late Brake Show, and now everyone says I should do more videos with them, but I just don’t have the time…”  Check out Paul's You Tube Channel here

Bringing out the Ghia

One of the stars of the video was Paul’s ’59 Karmann Ghia that sits in the corner of his storage unit on a sexy set of BBS split rims. “To be honest, I’ve fallen out of love with this car. I got stung by a workshop on welding, it should have been painted and finished for my Wedding, but as it was it’s been sat for almost 10 years like this. I had to cut the locks off the council garage it was parked in to get it out as I’d lost the keys!”

Paul also points out, that it is far from a complete car. “This is just the bodyshell. The chassis is in my parents’ garage, the interior is in their loft, and all the glass is wrapped in a duvet on top of their wardrobe; and I’ve not even lived with them for 15 years!”

The Beetles

In contrast to many cars parked inside Paul’s barn the ’59 Beetle remains surprisingly stock. “This is my wife’s car, we bought it for her to drive to the Wedding and then spent our honeymoon picking for parts for it in LA. But unlike me and my Ghia, she actually made it to the wedding in her car!” Paul laughs.

The black Beetle Cabriolet is another belonging to Paul’s better half. “She had always wanted a Beetle Cabriolet, and we picked up this '69 convertible quite recently. It came with horrible wheels, so we put it back on original steels and we’re doing a few little touches like fitting a new steering wheel, but it will largely remain standard.”

There are a number of Volkswagen buses and campers which belong to Paul too. The white Brazilian Split is a ’68 model but doesn’t really get used. “It drives terribly, and it’s dreadful from a safety point of view being sat in front of the wheels! I'll only go out in it if I’m on my own.”

What do the family think? 

Paul's love for all kinds of cars can be traced back to time spent with his Dad at the London Motor Show. “It was an age when company cars were amazing, and you could have what you wanted. We’d go and sit in all the different cars and pick out what he would have next. Did we want the sports model with the bucket seats and spoiler but manual winders, or did we want the luxury version with electric windows in the back?” Those were the days, eh?!

“My daughter has friends at school whose Mum and Dad share a car, and she comes home and tells me ‘so and so’ only have one car… I have to explain they are normal and I am weird!”

One thing Paul is conscious of is not drawing unwanted attention. “I’ll never take a flash car to pick the kids up from school, I’m not that kind of Dad. I’ll use the Land Rover, or take the M5, which to everyone else is just an old BMW saloon.”

Growing old gracefully: Subtle supercars

“I don’t get along to many shows now. Having had parts stolen from my cars overnight, and many brand-specific shows now being opened to all marques it has changed for me. I do enjoy drive-outs to events at Bicester Heritage and I’m going to get down to your Heretics meets over the summer too.”

“One of the reasons I got into Porsches was to feel like a grown-up. I didn’t want to be like some guys I’ve spotted at modified car events who are dressed like teenagers and still driving cars aimed at twenty-somethings that scrape the floor and pop and bang. My lowered Porsche, my Golf or my BMW’s don’t scream look at me, and that’s perfect.”

A big thanks to Paul for taking the time to chat with us. You can find out more about Paul’s business Super Duper Garage here and follow his personal car-based exploits on his Instagram @s1oww

Words by Andy, Photos by Steph

 

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