Putting the top and down and cruising along a seaside road with the wind in your hair is an idyllic image - but not when your car is missing a roof‚ windscreen and more body panels than those that are intact.

An accident-damaged bakkie‚ with its missing parts crammed into the bin‚ was spotted during a seaside cruise by a Gauteng holidaymaker on Boxing Day.

Sonia Chambers‚ of Boksburg in Gauteng‚ had been passing through the coastal town of Port Shepstone when she spotted the battered bakkie.

“We had been on a road trip and were on our way to holiday in Warner Beach when we saw it...I couldn’t believe my eyes‚” she said.

Both she and her husband had sat agog‚ amazed that the crumpled heap was still able to take to the road.

“It was incredible that a car in that state was driving on one of the main roads in Port Shepstone. The vehicle looked so bashed up and I don’t think it was roadworthy at all‚” she added.

KZN traffic officials have been out in force‚ policing thousands of people who have streamed into the province for the summer holiday.