Whose photos were left in this '53 Beetle glovebox?

A retired bus mechanic is trying to find the original owners of a 1953 Volkswagen Beetle so he can reunite them with a collection of photographs found in the glovebox.

Dave Pragnell became besotted with the "very, very rare" split-back window Beetle he spotted in Loughton, Essex, in 1975, and bought from a student.

Despite its busted engine, the 75-year-old towed the yellow car back to Waltham Abbey where he discovered "crumpled negatives of colour film" in the glovebox.

The enduring mystery has now been taken up by Julian Robinson, the owner of a restoration yard in Arlesey, Bedfordshire, who has become fascinated by the pictures.

Robinson, 53, said: "I'm looking at the one of the young lad laying on the bonnet of the car and you assume it's probably his car? Is it his first car? Who's the girl in the passenger seat? Is that his sister? Is that a girlfriend? You don't know the story.

"There's a photograph of the two cars parked in the street. There's a slightly older lady standing there. Is that mum? Is that auntie? Is that just a stranger passing by?

"I'd just love to know."

Pragnell's investigations quickly went cold, as he bought it from a student who lived in west London, and registered the car in Dorset.

On the other hand, Robinson restores Volkswagen cars for a living and has been able to use his expertise on the history of the classic car.

"The car was bought into the country in 1966," he said.

"The car that's parked in front of it and one of the photographs is a Hillman - and that would have been 1968.

"Then Dave bought the car in 1975, so we believe the photographs are somewhere between 1968 and 1975, so they're 50-something years old.

"The people in the photographs... they're gonna be 70-odd [years old]."

Robinson posted the story to social media for ideas and accumulated 200,000 views.

After looking more closely at the "house for sale" sign, the pair narrowed it down to an estate agents called Sworders who were based in Bishop's Stortford.

Robinson explained: "I joined the Bishop's Stortford Community page and there was a guy on there called Raphael and he recognised the road because he'd lived there for 27 years."

The street was Hawthorn Close in Takeley, and Raphael has since been knocking on his neighbours doors to help solve the mystery.

Robinson said he hoped the people in the pictures were still around.

"It would be lovely to find them, be lovely to talk to them, maybe reunite them with the Beetle," he said.

"Wouldn't it be nice to see some photographs of yourself, that are probably nearly 60 years old, that you haven't seen in that period of time?"

He says he plans to get the car back on the road by the summer and recreate the picture in the exact same spot.

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