Alex M. Agapito
Volkswagen Collector |
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Alex Agapito is a Volks Wagen collector. Today the following cars are in his count, a 1959 VW Beetle, a 1964 VW Beetle, a 1963 VW Karmann Ghia, a 1969 VW FastBack, a 2000 VW New Beetle, and a 1972 VW Kombi Bay Window.
Alex recalls that way back in college, he and his late brother Ely used to restore Japanese sports cars as their hobby, and together competed in various car shows. But in 2006, Alex decided to join the European car restoration bandwagon. And what is more european than that of the German Volks Wagen. It was against this backdrop that he bought his first VW, a fully restored 1973 Super Beetle, which what he basically had to do was to drive, and began the journey of restoring and collecting. |
It was also at this time that he had the chance to meet with Romy Samson. Popularly known as Mang Romy in Angeles City, he is branded as the car restoration Guru not only in the city, but as well as in the whole of Pampanga. Mang Romy taught Alex a few basic tips in maintaining a vintage.
A few months after using his super beetle, his love for the car became infectious. This rubbed off even to his children. They love riding with their father’s beetle so much that they even requested Alex to put add-ons to the car, such as black stripes, yellow paint and other art in order for the car to replicate a bumble bee, manifesting their favorite movie, Bee Movie and their favorite television show, The Singing Bee.
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Alex also shared a story of his persistence in collecting as much VW’s as he can. It was this 1963 Karmann Ghia in a carshow held in Cabanatuan city .The car was fully restored, accompanied with racing wheels and a racing engine. But Alex, upon laying his eyes on the vehicle, imagined such to be in its original and pristine form, thus convincing the owner to sell it to him minus the racing engine and tires which Alex would prefer anyway “Do not spend beyond your means.” This is his guiding principle when it comes to acquiring and spending for the cars that he love. |
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Today Alex personally tends to his collection and also does the minor maintenance, Alex uses the vehicles alternately whenever he has the chance to do so. By driving the children to school and strolling around the city using his collection, this turned out to be family activity. And as a result, even his lovely wife Cin is now wooing Alex to get her a beetle.
“Always remember that car collecting is a hobby, do not expect to make money out of this” says Alex. And to stress the point earlier made, ”Just don’t go beyond your means”
by:Jose B Jimenez, III |
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