Classic Beetles get new lease on life at Rare and Unique Restoration

Rare and Unique Restoration runs on pure high-octane passion for Volkswagen Beetles by business partners Kip Zimmerman and Jimmy Pollock and their clients.

“We restore all aspects of air-cooled Volkwagens. We do everything from metal fabrication to mechanical work, paint and body,” Pollock said.

Zimmerman and Pollock also accept restoration work on other types of cars as well, but their first love is the Beetle.

An estimated 21 million Beetles were manufactured before production stopped in 2003.

The business partners became hooked on VWs during high school – in fact, Zimmerman still has his high school Beetle.

Most of their business is by word of mouth and it comes from as far away as California and Guam.

“As long as they are willing to do it the right way, we’ll do it,” Zimmerman said of the restorations.

Several Volkwagens in their shop at 2311 Whitfield Industrial Way are in various stages of restoration, including a bus turned on its side above the garage floor on a rotisserie device, and a Beetle that has been stripped of everything except its classic turtle-shell shape.

“Everywhere you go someone has a story about a Volkswagen,” Pollock said, trying to explain the affection for the Beetle.

Built as basic, dependable, low-cost transportation, the Beetle was never meant to last forever, he said.

“They are different from anything else,” Zimmerman said of the rear-engine cars with the trunk in the front.

In some cases, the Beetle is no longer an enthusiast’s car, but a collector’s car, Zimmerman said, citing the 23-window VW bus and the split-window Beetle.

A 1963 Volkswagen 23-window Volkswagen deluxe sunroof bus recently sold for $217,800 at a Barrett-Jackson auction.

With parts becoming increasingly scarce, the average restoration will cost about $50,000, Zimmerman said.

Not everyone has the privilege of making a living doing the thing that brings them so much happiness.

“If you do something that you love, it’s not work,” Zimmerman said.

Pollock adds: “I love coming to work each day.”

Rare and Unique Restoration, whose motto is “Restoring history for the future,” is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday and by appointment on Saturday.

For more information, call 941-752-9592, or visit their Facebook page.

This story was originally published September 24, 2017 at 8:30 AM with the headline "Classic Beetles get new lease on life at Rare and Unique Restoration."