Car restorer seeks owners of photos found in 1953 Beetle

Summarised from BBC Beds Bucks And Herts's report · Updated 4 Nov, 06:17 · Archive

A 1953 Volkswagen Beetle discovered in Essex contained photographs in its glovebox whose original owners remain unknown.

A retired bus mechanic discovered a collection of photographs in the glovebox of a 1953 Volkswagen Beetle he had bought in Loughton, Essex, in 1975. Dave Pragnell, now 75, towed the yellow car back to Waltham Abbey despite its broken engine and found the crumpled negatives. He waited more than a decade before developing them, initially thinking the film was too badly damaged.

Julian Robinson, a 53-year-old restoration specialist at a Volkswagen yard in Arlesley, Bedfordshire, has become fascinated by the photographs and is now attempting to trace their original owners. The pictures show young people, including one of a man on the bonnet of the car and another of two parked vehicles with an older woman nearby. Robinson said he hopes to establish connections between the people in the images and the car itself, raising questions about whether it belonged to one of the young men photographed. Pragnell had limited information to aid the search, having bought the car from a student in west London, with the vehicle registered in Dorset.

Read the report

• Whose photos were left in this '53 Beetle glovebox?A car restorer is trying to find the young people captured in pictures left in a Beetle glovebox.BBC Beds Bucks And Herts · 4 Nov, 05:48

In this story: Dave Pragnell · Julian Robinson · Loughton · Essex · Waltham Abbey · Arlesley · Bedfordshire

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