About Us

John Forbes Automotive

Now the workshop in Meadow Lane is closed after 28 years of dealing in Volkswagen parts and services. Sadly John Forbes beetled his way to the big garage in the sky in October 2019 and the family have been sorting through his vast collection of VW Memorabilia.

John Forbes is definitely one of the most interesting characters on the VW scene. He originally hales from San Diego, California where he first became interested in VWs in 1960 when he came out of the army. At that time he drove a VW beetle down the Baja run to Mexico. That was before it became the classic off road race – then it was used only by Mexican trucks transporting turtles!

John started working on Dune Buggies in the early 60s and set up in business as the Garden Grove Sports Car Center in California. Among other work he serviced a fleet of 156 Type 2 vans for a bakery. If a bread van blew it’s engine on the freeway it was brought to John in the afternoon, he would repair it by midnight and it would be on the road delivering bread again at 4am the next morning!

John then went to South America “to make his fortune” in diamond mining. He didn’t make his fortune but he did get married – to a Scottish girl! In 1979 after 15 years in South America they moved to Scotland. It took 2 more years to find suitable premises, but in 1981 John Forbes Automotive opened in Edinburgh as a Volkswagen workshop and parts specialist.

On the shelf and hanging from the rafters at Meadow Lane John had a considerable amount of stock mostly (but not entirely) for air cooled models. Amongst the stock were an assortment of body panels (new and second hand) for early VW beetle and Type 2 models; second hand rolling chassis for kit cars; used engines for all models and many other unusual items. John stocked a wide selection of exhausts from standard to extractor-type for Beach Buggies. He had parts in stock that other people don’t carry, like rocker shaft springs and bulk head reinforcement pieces for the VW Golf clutch cable.

John used to do a lot of restoration work on old beetles and breathed life back into many classics. John was an enthusiastic member of several car clubs (Volkswagen and Vintage) and attended events both as a trader and an entrant in concourse. He had a sizable collection of air cooled Volkswagens including a metallic green custom Baja Bug with a joke clockwork key on the engine lid (the first car) – a real head turner in parades in Princes Street. This Baja is now back on the road, with the help of some great friends, and will be helping to raise money for various children’s charities.

The key is John’s trademark – his slogan being “We have the key to keep your Beetle jumping”.