Buying advice 1983 GTI required.

I am looking at a 1983 GTI which has been standing for about 4 or 5 years, the last year it has been outside! It is on a farm but belongs to the farmers mate so information on the car is a bit vague other than the fact that he wants the car out of the way! I am trying to get hold of the current owner to arrange a deal.

I've had a look round it and from what I can see the body is fair but solid and so far as I can see and feel, the underside is pretty solid as well! It has a hole in the spare wheel tub and a small hole in the passenger floor pan just in front of the cross member where it joins the inner sill. There is also some rust around the factory sunroof, which does concern me, see pictures for these areas.



Mechanically, the car doesn't run. It was taken off the road with a fuel issue and all I can see is that it's had a new fuel tank, a new braided fuel line from the back to the engine bay. There is a pipe hanging down at the rear of the car. Apparently, the car was running fine until the fuel issue.

I haven't been able to get right underneath the car yet but I'm hoping to get it on a ramp to see what is missing from the fuel system and what rust there may be in the underside.

Any advice on these issues and other things to look out for would be gratefully received, also, are parts for the fuel system easily obtainable

 

Welcome to the club first of all!

Just from those couple of pictures which is only a very small % of the car.
I think you have a full restoration project on your hands but others may disagree.

The only advice I can give is be very, very careful.
Please don't let your heart rule your ability or your finances!

Good luck but if we could see much more of the car, in out and everywhere we'd be able to give you a more informative opinion.  

Thanks for the reply, I'll post up some more pictures in the morning to give a better picture of it's condition.
I posted those pics to show the areas that concern me the most so far, the roof/sunroof in particular do worry me because repairs there could be tricky if the rot has come from the inside!

I've had the rear panel cards off in the back so that I can see into the inner arches and inner sills at the back and all is solid. Front and rear panels are very good. The inner wings and engine bay area all appear solid although the clutch cable looks like it will pull through if attention isn't given to it. That said, my 1978 Golf had pulled through there and had been repaired when I bought it in 1989 so I assume it's a weakness on these.

Can anybody point me in the direction of photos of inside the headlining to give me an idea of what is in there and where the rust starts? Also, were these sunrooofs til and slide or just slide? It's a Y reg 1983 model with a factory sunroof.

Hopefully I'll see it on a ramp this week and I'll keep you posted.

Many thanks

Matt.
 

If you have any rust bubbles on the roof skin, it;ll be from the inside for sure from condensation on the underside of the poorly painted roof. and yes a tough repair to do properly.

Just slide. Tilt and slides could be fitted from Audis and some roccos.

Clutch cable is a common fault.

That project fell at the first hurdle! The owner decided not to sell and is happy to leave it rotting in a field.Never mind, I'll swing by in a few weeks, or maybe after Christmas and see if I can change his mind, and if not, something else will crop up!

Thanks for the replies.

Saulty said

That project fell at the first hurdle! The owner decided not to sell and is happy to leave it rotting in a field.Never mind, I'll swing by in a few weeks, or maybe after Christmas and see if I can change his mind, and if not, something else will crop up!

Thanks for the replies.

Perhaps they are holding out for mega money on a car which the longer it stays in a field rotting away cost more money to repair.  

mark1gls said

Saulty said

That project fell at the first hurdle! The owner decided not to sell and is happy to leave it rotting in a field.Never mind, I'll swing by in a few weeks, or maybe after Christmas and see if I can change his mind, and if not, something else will crop up!

Thanks for the replies.

Perhaps they are holding out for mega money on a car which the longer it stays in a field rotting away cost more money to repair.  

I think you're probably right, unfortunately! I've contacted him again to try and sway his mind with a bit of cash for Christmas but he's adamant it's not for sale and has now moved it into "storage"! I say "storage" but it means "in another field". It's a shame really as I don't think it will be worth saving if it spends much more time outdoors.

some people think they are sitting on a gold mine when it is in fact it is a bag of nails.

also for advice, the last 3 GTi's i have seen with a factory roof, all have rust issues in the tray, they had no viable marks outside. as already said, if you can see bubbles like this there will be a lot of work, wind it back and take a look.

I ran a MK1 Driver as a daily driver back in the day when it was about 6 years old. The sun roof drain holes/tray were already very rusty almost rotten. Now 25+ years later amazed that any sun roofs still exist at all.

Volkswarren, I think you're right about the gold mine point. As for the sunroof, I wound it back and also peeled back the headlining. The sunroof tray is a bit rusty but not not horrendous and, believe it or not, the rear drainage channels were very good. The front right drain hole was rusty, which is the one shown from the outside in the picture. I spoke to a restoration specialist who said it was repairable, albeit not easy.
For now though I'm walking away from that car as the guy won't sell it no matter what. Once Christmas is out of the way I'll be on the lookout for a 1.8 gti, preferably not a campaign model.