A GARAGE owner has put his mechanical skills to the test by creating his second car from scratch.


Albert Marubbi, owner of Bellevue Garage, Ruthin Road, Wrexham, has been fascinated by bikes and cars and how they work since he was a child of six who loved playing with Meccano.


Now, as a 64-year-old with more than 40 years’ experience in running a garage, he is quite the expert and gets his kicks from creating working vehicles ready for the road.


He said: “I love the challenge and do my best to achieve a really professional finish.
“I think I just like making things work, so I guess I’m in the right business.”


His first grand-scale creative venture came about five years ago when he spent seven months painstakingly building the Rubi Roadster, a vehicle which quickly became his pride and joy, which he loves to take for a spin around town at the weekends.


And now, spurred on by popular demand, he is unveiling his second creation, which is so new it is still to be named.


Albert said: “I enjoyed making Rubi so much and doing it from scratch was a real achievement.


“But people kept asking me if I was going to make another so eventually I caved.
“And the support I’ve had from customers has been overwhelming.


“They come in every day asking how I’m getting on and when it will be finished.
“Some even want their pictures taken with it.”


The new model will have to face a rigorous five-hour MOT before it is designated officially roadworthy by the DVLA and Albert, whose first vehicle was a Triumph Tiger Cub motorbike which he got in 1962 when he was 16, admitted when that time comes it will be tough to choose between his two creations.


He said: “The new one was created around the floor pan and rear suspension of a BMW and it’s got the front suspension of a Jaguar which I found in a scrap yard.


“I’ve tried to model it on a 1920s-1930s open top sports car but I’m pretty sure it won’t look too much like any other car.


“It’s got big headlights and a Rolls Royce grille.”


The newest addition to the Marubbi fleet took more than a year of painstaking work, but the “upmarket scrap-heap challenge” only cost Albert about £1,500.


He added: “It’s the result of a habit of a lifetime.


“Working on these cars at the end of the day helps me unwind and I just love that they’re unique.


“They’re making me quite infamous around Bellevue.”