For many people, a car is nothing more than a mode of transport but to former drug addict Chris Bramwell, his was his therapy.

The 55-year-old has suffered severe mental health difficulties since his teenage years and he took a dark, downward turn when he watched his custom-built VW Beetle go up in flames last year.

He drank for the first time in more than two decades and spiralled into depression but managed to get his life back on track and has returned the car to its former glory.

Firefighters were only able to salvage a gutted, contorted shell when they were called to reports of a car alight in Fernhill Road in Barming last September.

The Beetle, nicknamed The Silver Machine, had been the product of a labour of love for Chris - one which took seven years of painstaking work to build.

He has even had an image of it tattooed onto his back.

Neighbours said they saw someone throw a firework at the car before fleeing the scene, but the perpetrator was never caught.

“I was absolutely destroyed because it’s not just a method of transport, it’s my reason for living,” he explained. “It’s what keeps my mind occupied because of my mental health problems.

“It was so much more than a car, it was my therapy.”

Chris was diagnosed with ADHD and mild autism around two years ago and also suffers from severe anxiety.

When he was younger he struggled with abandonment issues, having been separated from his Catholic mother when he was born out of wedlock and adopted by a family living in Manchester.

Aged 13 he was admitted to a psychiatric unit and prescribed diazepam, and his problems were compounded when he was sent to boarding school where he was bullied.

As an adult he fell into a cycle of substance abuse, injecting a range of dangerous drugs including benzodiazepines and barbiturates.

After 18 years of addiction Chris had been clean for almost 25 years.

But seeing his car consumed by a fireball in front of his eyes while he stood powerless to stop it was enough to make him crack.

Thrown into a depression and feeling hopeless, he drank for the first time in over two decades. As things worsened he went so far as to try to take his own life.

“I drank two bottles of vodka in one night,” he explained.

“At my darkest time I contemplated suicide, I was there with the rope around my neck but the cat came in, that’s what stopped me, that’s not how I wanted to go - with the cat right next to me.”

But Chris powered on, determined to see his car revived and back on the road - like a phoenix rising from the ashes, only with wheels instead of wings.

He has also re-named the car Firebug in honour of its fiery reincarnation and, he admits, partly as an homage to the arsonist who callously torched it.

“A lot of people would have just written it off and got another one,” he said.

“But that’s not the way I work. If something is out of place it has to be put back into place – you have to put right what’s wrong.”

With the help of friends and fellow auto enthusiasts he managed to source parts and, in some cases, make his own.

“It’s taken eight months altogether and it’s really down the generosity of the Volkswagen community throughout the country.” he said.

“It’s better than it ever was. I know every single nut and bolt and every single wire, every little minor inperfection.

"It really is part of me now and I can say 100% built not bought.

“I’m proud, not just because I’ve produced a car that was burnt out that is now back on the road but I’ve shown people that even in the face of adversity nothing is impossible – it’s how much you want it, how much you’re prepared to give of yourself to get what you want back.”

He said he was grateful to all those who had helped him, from bodyshops and electricians, to neighbours who rallied to raise around £800 towards a respray.

As a result the Beetle is now a glittering purple.

Chris said: “When it first happened I got a lot of help, I got a lot of support.

“It’s actually really brought the community together which was falling apart, nobody knew anybody.

“I believe things happen for a reason and this happened to showed me that I can be broken but I can rebuild.”

For confidential support on an emotional issue, call Samaritans on 116 123 at any time.

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