Super model

Here’s the story behind what is surely set to become one of the most recognised Bay Windows in the world. Considering there were nearly three million built, that’s a pretty bold statement, but we have evidence.

A simple behind-the-scenes shot from this photoshoot leaked out onto the internet and, for a couple of weeks at least, its owner, Tom Goldsmith, got to experience life as a Kardashian. Please don’t ask which one.

“It was mad,” he says. “I had people from all over the world messaging me about it and asking all sorts of questions about how I’d done it.

The funniest thing was that so many people thought it was Photoshopped, or that it was a very detailed model.”

I personally had to comment on the Facebook post on the Ruined VWs page suggesting that, from now on, every builder’s aim should be to make people think it’s just a model or CGI. There can be no higher praise.

It all began with an inconspicuous start though. Tom was actually in the market for something else entirely, as he explains: “I was searching about seven years ago for a tin top Split in original paint. I had a budget of £10-15k, but anything I found at that price needed full restoration work. But then this Early Bay popped