3 Countries, 3 Sportlines, Over Land, Air & Sea ! Got 1!

Hi Guys.

ok after a very long day Tue Scott (Arf333) and myself went over to Ireland looked at 3 Sportlines, i bough one and its now back and tucked up in my garage :-).

So here is the manic day!

Tue

4.15 am - wake up

5.00 am - pick up Scott

6.30 am - fly out of Bristol to Ireland

8.30 am - already looking round the first car which owner has bought to the airport for me.

9.30 am - in taxi on way to second car 10 mins from dublin airport

10.00 am - sat in house with sellers mum ( as he is studying in uk) nice chat and cup of tea then good look round second car

11.00am ish - lift back from guys mum to airport

12.00 pm - met at airport by owner of 3rd car we are looking at

12.00 - 1.30 pm - good look round 3rd car and test drive

1.30 - 2.00 pm - coffee and a good look through the folder i have with all details on cars, compare points and prices, refer to HPI checks and make decsion

2.00 pm - offer made on the car, hands shook, DEAL DONE :-)

2.00-3.00pm - 1 hour drive AWAY from the direction of the ferry i need to get, to drop guy home and pick up the 6 months tax he had got for me on car, which had been sent to his house in morning

3.00pm - arrive at the guys house, and what a house! mansion! lovely garage car has been kept in :-)

3.30 - 5.30pm drive from this guys house down towards ferry but via Shughy the regional host for Ireland

5.30 - 7.00pm - Lovely meal with Shughy and his family thank you very much Hugh for your hospitality got given some nice sportline clothing from Hugh, looked at some amazing rare bits Hugh has hoarded , then took a deep breath for the rest of the journey ahead

8.00 pm - heading for ferry terminal, gota make the 9pm ferry, weather is foggy windy and its raining and with typical rubbish mk1 golf headlight struggling to see, especially with very tired eyes, there is 2 very tired and cranky mk1 golf owners in the car at this point

8.10 pm - pulled over by police, they want to check its not a southern irish person driving a car on UK plates (as they need to pay £1400 euros to register to irish plates) , its not, he checks i have fuel "so lad you full of gas and ready to go, yes office, o.k on your way then lad"

8.30 pm - at ferry terminal told i have 3 mins to buy a ticket, no room for bartering for ticket price 170 euro's later and we pull on ferry with 1 min to spare and are stuck having to park car on lower deck with lorries and freight

9.00 pm to 12 midnight - Ferry crossing, try to sleep as soooooo tired not a change, feel sea sick and baby on board wont stop crying agghhhhhhhh !

Wed

12 midnight - 1.00 am - Ferry crossing, really feeling poo now !

1.00 am - 4.00 am - 3 hour journey from fishguard through wales and across to england , drop scott home

4.30 am - 24 hours and 15 mins from leaving i am back in bed, and swaying on my matress and still feel like i am on a boat, but hey the sportlines outside and there is a new show season ahead :-)


sorry if that sounded a bit long winded , but that was the shortened version, what a day ! ! !

so here's the pics

Flight out

breakfast:



my money to buy car, and scott money for red bull to keep him going:





in flight entertainment from Ryanair magazine, they have a ryanair calendar!



ireland is in site, spot the sportline lol




ok off to see car 1 :

If anyone is interested in any of the cars i didnt buy let me know,

car 1







got loads more pics but wont post em all up, of problem area's / batering points

car 2









and the guys daily jetta sat on street





Car 3









deal done car bought :-)

well chuffed, price happy with both buyer and seller, had been MOT'd Sat, guy even taxed it for me regardless of whether i was going to have car, also just had full service and cambelt done, FSH 95,000 miles, just needs a mohair roof skin eventually and if im being picky picky a bit of paint here and there, but vs the other 2 cars and one i had seen previously this was the right car for the right money, a genuine, honest car, it even has the original badge on the back from dealer ship that supplied car and the GTI wiper blade with wind deflector thingy

so off to drop the guy back then head down to hugh for dinner :-)

some more pics:

Hugh took some pics of us arriving at his house and parking on his drive, shame his wasnt about for a double pic







few pics of Hugh, Scott and Myself at Hughs, im rocking one of Hughs GTI Sportline hats !





off we go again then - ferry bound, fed up by Hugh (lovely pasta dish and desert, top man!) but already very tired!

made it just



here's me putting car on ferry, i am tired now, look a state and nothing left to give lol , absolutely 0 energy in the tank



Scott catches a film on ferry



i try and sleep, excuse the state of clothes but wanted something i could crawl under cars in :-)



stop for red bull on the welsh side of crossing, hey only 3 more hours of driving to go ! cant believe how dirty the car is now :-(



3 hours later after seeing some of the craziest driving by irish lorries on the welsh side of crossing and after staring through the fog wind and rain i get home and get to bed

so the 3rd car was bought, i cant wait till i have a whole weekend to clean it, a quick blast under arches with pressure washer yeaterday shows thety are going to clean up mint, and here's a couple of nice pics of it from yesterday

cheers all, and a big thank you to Scott for coming with me to give me second opinion and Hugh and his wife for the hospitality.

Anyone on thinking of going over, PLEASE NEVER DO IT IN ONE DAY, GET A HOTEL AND DO IT OVER 2! it will be worth the extra expense, i am sooo soooo tired! on the plus side, flight were only £12.99 each way and ferry must have worked out at £140, and i did £60 approx in fuel.

Rich

Well done rich car looks mint. Made me feel tired just reading that. Good effort guys. Will look forward to seeing this in the flesh.

Cheers Mate.

Just seen the Sportline come up in the for sale section, bloomin typical, im not gona call to ask what he wants for it lol

but happy with mine

This is how much research i did, a bit anal i know but even did a spreadsheet to compare cars i was looking at lol

Beaut mate - Love it

Well happy for ya…

Out you need to do to it mate? or Plans?

How come it was not on Irish plates if you need to re register it???

Basically my understanding is over there, if you have a Northern Ireland address you can keep it on UK plates, if you want to keep it in Southern Ireland and you have a Southern Ireland address you need to pay 1400 Euro's! to register it.

I want to do a new mohair roof skin on it, and probably a top pad kit from Chortle

Then maybe in a years time, i will touch up a few bits of paint to make it mint :-)

Chuffed to bits for you Rich.

I know you have wanted one for a while.

Looks like a minter aswell.

Cant wait to see it at Volksfest Wales (if your going) if not then ill see it at the AGM.

Happy driving :-)

Sweet well it looks nice pal and i bet your skipping round with joy at the mo lol

Excuse my ignorance (still learning) whats a top pad?

What website did you look on to find them in ireland???

Well pleased for you fella.

Looks great.

Your welcome to come up to Derby and we will do you a new roof.

Get your head down, lol.

Rich this is just epic   

What a journey by the sound of it.I know that your research and preperation to find the car must have been relentless and you deserve massive credit.Really like the look of your contender spreadsheet would it be too cheeky to ask for  a pm on details or even a copy so I could use the format myself as excel isnt my strong point.

Really enjoy the car bud it looks minted.

Excuse my ignorance (still learning) whats a top pad?

chortle provides a OEM standard, if not better, top pad filler piece which sits between the headliner and the outer roof skin to ensure it stays looking fresh and has the same "filled look" as when they left the factory.

Really like the look of your contender spreadsheet would it be too cheeky to ask for a pm on details or even a copy so I could use the format myself as excel isnt my strong point.

Not a problem mate, pm me your email address

great story, well done!

Haha the write up made the day seem easy ! Was such a long day I think up clocked up about 36 hours without sleep

Was fun good insiight to how Germany trip will be !

Big thanks to Hugh for the spag bol, 'twas lovely

And that spreadsheet is nothing compared to the rest of rich's research. An a4 folder full of info on each car you almost didn't have to look at them lol

Next time you want a car rich, make sure you buy it in England  

Also look what I found

http://www.ryanair.com/en/calendar

nice1 rich :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:

you still got the white cabby too?

nice1 rich

you still got the white cabby too?

i wish i did mate, but unfortunately had to sell to fund the sportline, also only got one very small garage that just fits the cabby in.

Was a hard decision regarding selling the white one, and believe it or not i loved that car so much im still not sure i made the right decision, but after the sportline is all cleaned up and new mohair skin on, im sure i will be a very happy man

The new owner of mine is on here, if you look in newbies section think his user name is M tandy.

he lives down the road from Ginner :-)

:mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:

Welcome to the Sportline team

There's always a meal waiting up in bonnie Scotland if you fancy another big drive!!

Delighted for you

Cheers Chris

That looks like a stunner Rich.  I'm sure you'll have her tip top and show ready in no time!

Did you keep your Lensos? They'd look tasty on there.  8)

Did you keep your Lensos? They'd look tasty on there

nah they went on the car mate, but you are right! the lenso's look good on Sharons car!

i do have a brand new set of audi a8 winter wheels which are diamond cut and laquered which i am tempted on getting some tyres on, getting re drilled and fitting, but think i will probably sell these on to fund new mohair roof and maybe refurb the ra's at some point.

The car is really up together but i reckon i could easily spend another £1000 on it doing roof, wheels and a bit of paint :-) but thats me being mr picky as after 3 years i really had the clipper where i wanted it to be :-)

I know you put a lot of effort in on the Clipper and it really showed. I've been slowly sorting bits on mine, many of which could've stayed as they were but it's hard not to want it all 100%, as soon as 1 areas improved your noticing the next little niggle.

I'd be tempted to sell the A8 wheels and try not to go to far from OEM, I think Matcupra's black one is spot on in terms of a mildly modded one.

I can vouch for Chortles pad and interliner kit, it was spot on and came with a great DVD guide so DIY fitting was nice and straightforward.  

I think Matcupra's black one is spot on in terms of a mildly modded one.

I can vouch for Chortles pad and interliner kit, it was spot on and came with a great DVD guide so DIY fitting was nice and straightforward.

so agree matt's is a perfect mix :-)

and all being well i will be going up with a big tub of biscuits to see chortle over next month or so and doing roof with him (bloomin legend that man)

i cant get on my car this weekend, but cant wait for the weekend after when i can spend both days solidly cleaning, al being well i will be happy to eat me dinner off inside of wheels arches and engine bay :-)