WESTMINSTER, Vt. (WCAX) – On Route 5 in Westminster lies an auto graveyard. Inside John’s Corner, the garage is very much alive. John Hamill is a self-described car nut.
“I’ve owned over 2,700 vehicles,” he said.
John adores all autos, but Volkswagens rev his engine.
“I treat these cars as though they are living, breathing things. In a way, it sounds silly, but in a way they are,” he said.
John now has the shop to himself.
“I don’t have to worry about running a business, I can sit back and enjoy all of this. It’s like a little empire that I built,” he said.
But it’s also bittersweet. He lost the love of his life eight years ago to cancer. Ingunn or Inky for short was married to John for more than 50 years.
Reporter Joe Carroll: This is keeping you going?
John Hamill: For sure. For sure, without this, I would be in big trouble, yup. I don’t think I would make it, without this.
The shop is part museum, part active garage. VW toys and memorabilia blanket the front, parts and pieces in the back.
Joe Carroll: Do you know where everything is?
John Hamill: I sure do.
More than 21 million Volkswagen Beetles were produced. Now, they are a rare sight on the road.
VW also made the Transporter, also called the Bus.
“I call it a box on wheels,” John said.
Both models have something in common– the engines were just 60 horsepower.
“So much fun to have one,” John said.
However, his most prized possession is a 1939 manual, the first year the Beetle came off the assembly line. Even the car company’s name was different.
Joe Carroll: What was it called?
John Hamill: KdF… It stands for strength through joy.
In German, the manual also boasts: “These cars are so engineered and put together, that one day they will be known throughout the world, 1939,” John said.
Joe Carroll: However, Volkswagen had some dark history.
John: Absolutely. Yup.
Adolph Hitler wanted an inexpensive and reliable automobile for his fellow Germans. So he tasked Ferdinand Porsche with building the “people’s car.”
Joe Carroll: If you look at a 1939 Volkswagen, it doesn’t look much different than a 1969 Volkswagen.
John Hamill: That’s correct, that’s absolutely right.
The car, first built during the Nazi Germany era, transformed into the anti-establishment “hippie-mobile” in the 1960s.
“It was they were inexpensive to not only operate but to buy, to purchase,” John said.
No more. Now, a vintage Beetle can go for up to 10 times the original sticker price.
“Upstairs there’s thousands and thousands of parts,” John said.
Tom Graves from nearby Walpole, New Hampshire, is working on his Beetle.
Joe Carroll: First time you went up there, what did you think?
Tom Graves: I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe the stuff he’s got.
At 84, comes the question. What’s the future? John hopes a like-minded person will carry on the tradition. But for now…
“My thing is, I just want to share all these good things I’ve had with other people and I want to keep these cars happy and alive,” John said. “Boy, I tell ya’, I’m a lucky guy, a lucky guy, yup.”