Gaza man restores classic cars in his own unique fashion

A middle-aged man from Gaza, Munir al-Shindi, decided to fashion his own solution to restore some classic cars when he realised that he could not get car parts in the blockaded Gaza Strip.

The 40-year-old is known in the Palestinian enclave for his obsession with old-fashioned cars, fixing them up in his workshop northeast of Gaza City.

Parts for such models are hard enough to find in the countries where they were originally built, but in Gaza, cut off by an Israeli blockade, they are near impossible to obtain.

Shindi worked in car renovation in the United Arab Emirates for 12 years and has got used to improvising.

"My hobby is vintage cars but it is difficult because of the blockade."

"I tried to search the internet for car parts but I couldn't find them. So I managed locally," said Shindi.

He worked in car renovation in the United Arab Emirates for 12 years and has got used to improvising.

Shindi recently completed a Mercedes Gazelle from the 1920s and is currently fixing a 1946 Armstrong Siddeley Hurricane.

The Armstrong, he explained, was a British luxury car well loved by car enthusiasts.

But even during its peak in the 1940s it was not that popular, so original parts are not available.

His aim is to make driving the car feel as close to the original as possible.

Shindi dreams of travelling outside the strip to show off his cars but knows it is nearly impossible.

He bought the Armstrong for around $3,000 from a man who had owned it for more than 20 years.

He estimates it will cost at least another $10,000 to transform it into a working automobile.

"The car was empty. Slowly I am working to complete it."

The 40-year-old is known in the Palestinian enclave for his obsession with old-fashioned cars

There’s a decade-long blockade on Gaza.

Even when the car is eventually purring, which Shindi estimates will take another couple of months, it will not be able to go far.

Gaza is only 365 square kilometres, around 25 miles (40 kilometres) north to south.

Hossam Ayoub, a neighbour, came to stare at the car.

"It's amazing. Vintage cars like this are part of history," he said. "No one knows this kind of car here. It's something unusual."

Agence France-Presse