Meticulous restoration is his passion

And being meticulous and very organised by nature, the challenge, although daunting in more ways than one, turned out to be the ultimate consumer of Kobus’s natural talent for creative and detailed projects.

Chris challenged Kobus to restore his 1948 Chevy – from the ground up and as you will see from the pictures, he did a superb job.
Now of course, word got out and Kobus now devotes all of his time to the restoration of classic and older cars from his workshop in Rocky Drift. “Although I spend many and long hours at the workshop, I am not doing a day’s work any more – I love what I do and I get lost in the day-to-day process of restoration – no matter what or how dirty the challenge is,” says Kobus.

Can you feel his passion in that short sentence? You must understand that he is a real-life hands-on person. When I interviewed him I saw and experienced his emotional involvement with his project and this is probably one of the elements which differentiate what Kobus does, from many other restorers – this is what motivates him to do it right the first time. I saw what others did and how he had redone it on the client’s request and well, I know who I will commission if ever I have a restoration project.
His second full restoration task was a 1939 BSA belonging to Mitch McAlister, and many readers may have seen this car at this year’s Father’s Day event at I’langa Mall.

And just by the way, they have researched and compiled the full history of this BSA and it showed that its first owner was a South African down in Cape town. Mitch is the third owner.

The Rosewood steering and dash are but some of the custom handmade elements which Kobus has fitted as part of the restoration. The steering alone took six weeks to manufacture. Part and parcel of any restoration process is the fact that “some things take longer than others and one has to manage time and these elements in a very meticulous and productive manner”. Long story short – all the wood bits were replaced by rosewood. The radiator was remanufactured and enlarged in England by the original manufacturer because our warm climate necessitated a larger unit.

When the car was delivered to Mitch, who also owned a number of MGs, his wife suggested that the latter looked very dull compared to the BSA and would need to be “updated”. The boss has spoken…

The devil is in the detail and Kobus is a devil when it comes to detail, thus every restoration comes with unexpected and surprising replacement details which add a new dynamic and personalised value to the vehicle. And, there are plenty of these on the BSA. “Clients love this and I enjoy their delight,” says Kobus. My wife, Eunice, is my ‘unofficial back-seat quality controller’ and this also keeps me focused. “My daughter, who shares my love for restoration, has just joined the business as the shop manager and will eventually be responsible for the upholstery and refurbishing part.”
“We have also just finished work on a 1983 Alfa GTV – nr 32 of only 206 manufactured for production racing. The client is in England and I am also restoring two other Alfas for him.”

“Mitch has just bought a 1932 straight-eight Buick in KwaZulu-Natal and this will be the focus for the coming months as we would like to have it ready for the 2016 Father’s Day event.”  The body- and paintwork on the Buick is completely original but the interior will have to be completely refurbished and of course, despite the first mentioned, they will strip it down to the bear metal and do a complete bolt-and-nut restoration. Judging by the delightful expression on Kobus’s face, neither he nor Mitch can contain their excitement. As a result I have invited Kobus to share regular updates with us – so watch this space over the next months as we follow the process.

Kobus has, it would seem, embarked on a new career. What have you personally learnt this far, I asked. “Patience,” he says, this work requires truckloads of patience (which I did not necessarily have) and for many reasons. There are many smaller and at times, even more important projects within the project which can create much frustration because if you don’t take your time to do it properly the first time, you will have to redo it later.”
“When we start stripping a car, everything is meticulously photographed, bagged and catalogued because when months later you begin the put everything together, it is quite impossible to remember where all the bits and bobs came from.” Can you just picture this? Do you accept smaller short-term projects? “Yes I do but then clients will have to accept our way of doing things because superb quality is for us our foremost and ultimate intention – it is non-negotiable!”

Although what Kobus does involves technical, mechanical and academic elements, it is his approach to the aesthetics of a project or vehicle which contributes to the ultimate quality of his work. He showed me a picture of what the finished Buick will look like and I must admit – it will be beyond your wildest imagination.

Although there is much more to this story, I must conclude and the only conclusion one can draw is that serious vehicle restorations will now become an in-house (in Mbombela) affair rather than projects being outsourced to Gauteng or elsewhere.