Saved from the bulldozer: YouTuber buys derelict 60s state house abandoned more than 30 years ago

YouTuber Ben “Charlie Safari” Wilson knows a thing or two about rescuing wrecks. The Welsh-born owner of King Country Towing and Salvage has spent years restoring vintage cars.

Wilson moved to New Zealand from Wales about 20 years ago to build cars for movies and adverts and restoring wrecked vintage cars. Originally living in Auckland, he eventually found himself running a towing business in “Kiwiana Town”, Ōtorohanga, in the Waikato.

He shares videos of his rescues, and ‘dives, on his YouTube channel, King Country Towing and Salvage, which has more than 205,000 subscribers.

Now, those fans are being treated to a new kind of wreck rescue: a classic Kiwi state house in Ōtorohanga that has been abandoned since the 90s.

"I've got no idea why [I had to save this house]. Just every time I drove past it, I would tell my missus I was going to buy it. And she'd be like, 'sure'."

Built some time in the 1960s, the old state house is in a completely original state. It even has the old coal range still in the kitchen, although it no longer works. There’s even one of the old concrete outdoor wash tubs - now sitting in the living room.

It’s not the first derelict home he’s bought and restored in Ōtorohanga. The last one “had goats living in it”, but has since been completed and sold.

This wreck, though, will be different. He’s going to do most of the work himself, and live in the home while he’s doing it.

“This is way will be more on a budget, and this is way will be more me getting involved,” he says. “I don't know what I'm doing, if I'm gonna be honest with you. No idea at all. If I was a qualified builder, I probably would have run away."

One thing he is certain about is that the work will be worth it.

Sitting below the road, the house appeared to be in a terrible state. Overgrown by vines, with windows missing and the front door hanging on for dear life, the home hasn’t had anyone living in in for more than 30 years.

The last occupants had been a large local family. It’s thought they had 14 children living there at one time.

They also planted a large orchard, including some rare heirloom fruit trees that are still thriving at the rear of the section.

After they moved on, ownership of the home passed to the local council, which agreed to sell the property to Wilson to recoup 30 years of rates arrears.

Wilson was able to buy the wreck for $211,000.

"Developers would have been trying to buy this [for the land], but I walked in and I thought, 'the value is in the house, the house will survive'. It's got a lot of native timber and it's already survived incredibly well."

The old tin roof had only leaked in one spot. Once that was patched, the home was weather-tight. Even the original mataī floor was in relatively salvageable condition, he says.

"People have been like, ‘you’re insane, man’. But I restore heaps of old cars, and it just seemed the same way to me."

His walkthrough video has already had almost 100,000 views, with viewers excited to follow the restoration.

He’s even had fans come to help him do some of the work. One was coming down from Auckland the weekend after our chat to power wash the exterior of the home for him.

The neighbours are also “stoked” to see the home being rescued.

“It was scary before Ben bought it,” says one neighbour, who lived near the derelict home for 10 years. “All sorts has gone on it there. It was gross.”

She has expected the buyer to “bulldoze everything and make a profit out of it”, but was please Wilson would save the old home.