My rotten mk1 shell :( help, mk1 gti prices

Hello all, so I bought a mk1 golf, was supposed to be a complete car with just a few bits missing and no engine, bought the car for £1400 which I thought was good, with the floor undersealed, now rust and any welding needed had been done

The car has turned out to be so rotten everywhere, I've pretty much had to cut the entire ns a post out. Scuttle. Various places in the engine bay, sills inner and outer ,floor, roof and bulk head, the previous welding turned out to be very poor and the guy had just welded over rot! The underside wasn't stone chipped in the end. And is over a load of rust

So disappointed, the guy I bought it off has stitched me up so much, can't remember his username but he deleted the for sale add instantly on here. Sent him messages but never replied 

Absolutely devastated 

My question is how much is a gti rotten shell worth with about 80% of the stuff in boxes

No engine

I have the opportunity to have all the metal work done at work so it would be a solid car. How much would it be worth then? It would be done properly 

And how much for a rolling shell that's rust free and painted. Many thanks Taylor 

I've lost interest in it after seeing all the rust

I was hoping it would need a little bit of paint and a refit

Don't worry, I just spent £600 on panels….

Got a right job on then, I remember them days

Get a project thread up so we can see the progress

Haha. Yes indeed! Car got taken to work yesterday. Hopefully metal work will start today!

I will do indeed! Need to get hold of a computer, have taken many photos

Haha. Yes indeed! Car got taken to work yesterday. Hopefully metal work will start today!

I will do indeed! Need to get hold of a computer, have taken many photos

Sorry to hear this mate, but will all be worth it when its done.

In truth to try and sell the rotten shell on with the boxes of bits I think you would loose far too much money.

At least restoring it this way you know its right and can take pictures of each stage for if you have to sell in future

That's awful, why can't people be straight about the condition, the way the crazy prices are at the moment, he probably would have sold it for not alot different and have a clear concience too  

Well done for choosing to save one though. It's not any easy path, but will be rewarding once it's done… plus should be worth a load more money too  

seller of mine was the same, I bought it off ebay stupidly unseen for 400. had a (poor as it turned out, not 'great') respray and new outer rear arches, but the c### had just chopped the inners out and left them like that, totally open….

rotten on the chassis leg near the beam and hole on passenger side rear around the strut mounting.

apart from that it was solid though so I got off lightly compared to you!

Thank you for the motivation guys, I don't feel so annoyed knowing I'm not the only one who got massively ripped off

The car went into work today and onto the ramp, dropped all the suspension Inc back axle and fuel tank…. It's so rotten. The guy did a fantastic job of welding new outer arches onto it.. But now I have the back axle off I can see he's just welded them to the rotten inners!!!!! the rear chassis rails are obliterated. Rot holes all the way down. Holes where the back axle mounts, grot and holes behind the fuel tank where the floor pan is. It's so bad. Just rust and rot absolutely everywhere. Poor rubbish repairs!

Grrr, all just covered up with poor welding and stone chips

I will get a build thread up as soon as I get hold of a decent computer

Thanks guys, it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now. Looks like a need another £300. Of new panels

Get pics up off your phone. How's the inner wings?
Panels are readily available and it sounds like its in a good place to get fixed on mates rates.. 
I had a mate that spent £6500 on one and it was rotten underneath and full of bad repairs… 
See it through, make it solid and if you don't want it then let someone else see your hard work and paint it them selfs! Be worth it in the end  

I did try and add pictures on my last post, the app for my photobucket on my phone is broken and I can't get access to a computer. As soon as I do I'll get pics up

Metal work has started been working till 9 every evening grinding rust off and epoxy priming bits

Re the photos, doesn't the new add images button work if the pictures are on your phone?

If not you can still access photobucket by going to www.photobucket.com if your phone has an Internet browser. There, I sound like an IT expert which I am absolutely not but have had lots of issues with photobucket before we upgraded our site to add images!

Tried attaching pictures with that button on this post. It didn't work last time, tried photo bucket on Internet browser and it only let's me add one pic at a time haha. Bare with me

Not really sure why it posted that so many times. But atleast I got it working will get some more pics up asap, thats only about half the rot

Did you look at it before you bought it?!  

Well it's quite hard to see alot of these things when there's parts of car attached that you can't really just remove?

I also exchanged many emails with the guy who told me the car was solid and no rust or rot with all the welding done, he sent me pictures of all the good bits and that the underside of the car was shultzed and all done

I then paid a friend £220 to pick the car up on a trailer as it was 5 hours away. When I got there the guy then told me the sunroof had a little rust. I checked all the major points like chassis rails and tried to look underneath, but he had slammed the car to the floor so I couldn't check well enough

And as I'd just paid someone £220 to drive me up there in a pickup

I suppose I put too much trust in someone, I bought the car of this forum thinking it would be from a fellow enthusiast

There were lots of rotten plates welded to rot underneath metal I couldn't get access too. How was I ever to know? The seller knew as he was having it bodged up

I understand that you've sunk money into it and the previous owner has been very economical with the truth to say the least but in my honest opinion I would scrap it and spend your time on a better shell. You'll be forever chasing rot.
All that surface rust although not through is impossible to get rid of and will continue to eat its way through the seams even after grinding cleaning painting etc etc and then what happens when you want to re sell it?

If your adamant that you are going to do it then an acid dip maybe the way forward but thats just a whole heap of extra cost just to expose even more holes.

Agree with previous post, of course you can weld lots of new metal/panels into it , and it would no doubt look good.  The trouble when its rusty all over ( as opposed to localised rust) practically every seam will be rusting away unseen, the car will never be as it was. I certainly wouldn't want to be buying it afterwards, Scrapyard material I believe.