Polishing love back into faded flanks

Winter has a way of amplifying everything. The cold, the dark, the sense that the year ahead is a steep hill to climb rather than an open road. This year, instead of letting the new-year blues idle unchecked, I found myself in the garage with an old friend: my newly acquired Audi S4 Avant. What started as a practical project to get a tired old car back on the road has quietly become one of the best things I’ve done for my mental health...

© 2025 David Corfield

There’s something deeply grounding about working with your hands. Polishing love back into its faded body wasn’t just about reviving paintwork dulled by time and neglect, it was about focus. As the polisher hummed and the panels slowly came back to life, my thoughts narrowed to the present moment. No emails, no deadlines, no background noise. Just compound, clear coat, and the satisfaction of watching reflections return. In a season where it’s easy to feel flat and disconnected, that kind of mindful absorption is a real gift.

Restoration is also an exercise in patience, something modern life rarely rewards. Sourcing parts has been a journey of late-night searches, forum deep dives, and small victories when the right component finally turns up. Each parcel arriving at the door carries a quiet sense of progress. It’s proof that problems can be broken down, solved step-by-step, and that forward motion doesn’t have to be dramatic to be meaningful.

Working on the car reconnects me with a version of myself that isn’t constantly switched on. There’s comfort in the logic of mechanics: if something doesn’t work, there’s a reason. Fix the reason, and it works again. That clarity is reassuring when compared to the more abstract anxieties that tend to surface at the start of a new year. In the garage, challenges are tangible, solvable, and rarely personal.

Most importantly, the goal itself matters. The simple ambition of driving the S4 again; feeling the engine pull, hearing the familiar sounds, knowing I brought it back, has given me direction. On days when motivation is thin, that image of it back on the road is enough to keep me moving. The car has become a promise to myself: that effort now leads to reward later.

© 2025 David Corfield

Restoring this Audi isn’t about chasing perfection or nostalgia for its own sake. It’s about reclaiming momentum at a time when it’s easy to stall. Each cleaned bolt, each replaced part, each revived panel is a small act of care both for the car and for myself. And as the new year slowly finds its rhythm, I’ve realised that sometimes the best way to beat the blues is to fix something broken, one piece at a time, until it’s ready to drive again.