Philip Maurin from Standerton brims with joy when talking about his hobby
The Maurins moved to Swakopmund after Philip was transferred and lo and behold, one of his first jobs was to inspect the rubbish dump.
Mr Philip Maurin’s hobby is undoubtedly the restoration and collection of old cars and items thrown on the rubbish dump.
This former senior health inspector got his first 50 CC Honda-scooter at the age of 15 and zipped around for a year, before getting his licence.
“The day after I got my licence, the traffic cop stopped me,” Philip reminisced.
But what did his mother say about this teenager?
“She called me a hoodlum,” he said.
All this happened in Windhoek, Namibia and it was off to the army for corporal Maurin to stand at attention for a year.
“Namibia was where I was the coldest in my whole life,” he added.
He went to study in 1978 as a health inspector at a college in Cape Town and successfully completed the three-year-diploma course.
The Department of Health had a mobile x-ray unit in those days that toured the former South West, concentrating mainly on the treatment of tuberculosis.
The unit did not have the luxuries common to civil servants nowadays, it was camping with a three-legged-pot, tarpaulin and camp bed.
“Where did you ever hear of a civil servant booking into a hotel?”
Hopohopo in the Kaoko-veld with a small population and a army camp had its challenges.
He arrived in his yellow Volkswagen Beetle.
“It was a one-horse-town and the horse died in front of the health inspector’s gate.
“The town had a garage, a bottle store and cooperation.”
The love of his life, Rika was met at college.
“She studied domestic science which included sewing, but to this day has not threaded yarn through a needle.”
The couple tied the knot on a farm in Grabouw, where an Anglican ceremony was conducted.
The birth of Tamara in 1979 necessitated the buying of a new car, a red Ford Cortina.
“The Volksie was too small for the carrycot and the groceries.”
Philip was called up to the army three times when they were looking for a health inspector and it counted as a three-month-camp.
The Maurins moved to Swakopmund after Philip was transferred and lo and behold, one of his first jobs was to inspect the rubbish dumps.
“I found treasures beyond words,” he remembered.
Bicycle parts, an iron and a R10-note were picked up.
“Do you have an inkling of how much money it then was?”
He restored the bicycle and the delivery man could collect post, while cycling, and the iron was fixed.
Philip even found a hammer in sawdust which he has to this day.
“I could be described as a hoarder, but not quite.”
A Morris Minor bought for a R100 in Swakopmund was also restored and the means of transport to Walvis Bay.
He had to visit the port from time to time as ship inspector and a captain surprised him with a gift of cheese.
“I probably love cheese as much as I love Volkswagens.”
The anecdote about a visit to a farm in 1980 to inspect the premises for a general dealership, proved fruitful.
The German farmer sold him a a cabinet after some bartering for R1.91.
The selling price was just ‘what you have in your pocket’.
This cabinet has been housing the Maurins’ selection of owls in the living room all these years.
Rika had been keeping the home fires burning and another child, Annalee was born.
Travelling once with a Datsun 1200, he came upon an abandoned farmstead and added parts of a tractor and a monkey spanner to his collection.
Philip now has his 20th Volkswagen, he thinks.
“All of them were in a terrible condition and I worked at it to restore them to their former beauty.”
Philip and Rika and the children moved in the Toyota Corolla to Standerton in 1992.
“I pioneered primary health care for many years.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the work, although it was a heavy workload.”
Standerton Hospital won the Premier’s Service Excellence Award for best hospital in Mpumalanga in 1998, a fact of which Philip is proud.
His own health deteriorated and he underwent three back operations which led to his early retirement.
The big clock in the lounge has a story as well since it took a trip to Vredenburg, and flight from Cape Town, to get its rightful place in the Maurins’ home.
Philip went to work with silicon oil and it came to life in his hands.
“Since then it hasn’t missed a minute.”
Heaters bought at a junk yard in Springs cost R40, one a Valor-heater.
“It was repaired one evening in a friend’s garage with a little Irish wisdom.”
His Beatrice-heater could date back to the 1920s and needs a certain original part, a wick winder.
He appealed to those in the know to call him on 082 389 8253 to restore it to working condition.
With two garages and and three carports, the Volkswagen Beetle that took six weeks to clean and a year and a half to repair, has a coveted position.
“As long as there are Volkswagens and heaters, life is fantastic,” he concluded.
