Been offered this opinons please

Dream car 8)  or basket case

It looks pretty standard, but photographs hide allot of things, depends on price, condition milledge, history etc. personally the more complete the history the better as it shows carefull owners.

Use the buying guide or find a knowlegeble friend to pick holes.

Good luck

Rob

With Rob on this one , looks fine from the pictures and it looks like it has some history judging by the vag folder on the passenger seat , but it could be hiding anything . Whats wrong with the d/s rear arch is it just lacquer peeling off ?. Learn a much as you can via the buying guides here or reading a few books etc . Halfords do a haynes manual just on the up keep and running of golfs which is quite a good source .

Its hard to tell in the pics, but is that a Helios Blue, or Atlas Grey, Campaign? I'd toyed with the idea of a blue one - lovely colour - although I can't really justify paying the extra, since I have a black one already.

Oooh it's Helios like mine.
That tailgate sticker will add fuel to the fire about if blue cars had them from the factory or not (mine hasn't)
Depends on the price really. Impossible to judge a 22yr old car without having a good look at it 'in the flesh'. Could be just a bit scruffy, or could be a basket case.
I went to look at a blue car that looked nice in the pics, but had been shunted in the side at some point. Absolutely LOADS of filler in the passenger quarter panel, and the metal beneath the rear seat was still crumpled……
Go and have a look. Where is it ?  Maybe someone local would look at it for you, or take someone who knows their stuff along with you. I'm sure people here would oblige

boot sticker?

Yes - or rather the lack of any stickers. Don't GTIs originnally come with lower side stripes, and a pin stripe at the lower edge of the tailgate. So if its missing, its had a respray at some stage, or something….

fair call, since I've seen so few (ie literally only a couple) with that stripe on, I assumed it was an 'extra' on some.

Personally i have never liked GTIs with towbars on :?  find out what they have been towing with it, i would have thought towing would put extra strain on the engine/box and brakes+when you remove it you will have wiring to remove and holes to fill

No, I mean black tailgate surround. There was debate about if these were fitted at the factory or not to blue cars. I've seen some with, and some without (like mine)

I guess it's down to what your plans are (rolling restoration, full rebuild, just the basic services).. and of course how much it's going for

going by that rear quarter it'll need some bodywork, and it's been resprayed before so you'd need to see what's hidden under the paint and under the car

The lack of stripes down both sides show it has been painted before. You want to ascertain the quality of that paint job, though it looks like it needs another one!

The fact that is has been re-painted may suggest the hatch surround has been added in error.

The stripes are there the images I have are much larger

Here is my take on the black decal surrounding the rear window. I'm not saying it is correct but checking with sales brochures of the time this explanation is worth considering.

All model colours (including metallic) had this black rear window decal except for black on non Campaign models. I believe the black surround was included even on the black Campaign - this is clearly stated in the sales brochure for the Campaign. This black decal was designed to match, in continuity terms, the lower black bodywork side stripes. Cars that had these black side stripes, would naturally have the black rear window surround - but in Campaign spec they would all have it. In addition to this, all models would have a stripe on the lip of the rear tailgate (below model badges).

The black models would also have a single centre stripe below metal trim (in silver) and I am pretty sure no other colour of car had this stripe - as it would have to be black and from a distance it would like two black stripes along the side of the car.  8O

Blue cars had silver side stripes as per the black cars. This makes me think the blue cars didn't have the black hatch surround (also as per the black cars). As mentioned though, I have seen blue cars with and without.

VW-ONE said

The black models would also have a single centre stripe below metal trim (in silver) and I am pretty sure no other colour of car had this stripe - as it would have to be black and from a distance it would like two black stripes along the side of the car.  8O

Does this apply for all black GTIs, ie series 2 as well as series 1? In that case, I'm missing even more stipes off of my car!

Blimey! I would have put money on the metallic blue Campaigns having black stripes down the side, and to tell you the truth I am still not sure.

This picture shows a brand new Golf GTI (with a full GTI Engineering conversion) with the black hatch surround - although no side stripes!

It is worth noting that in the official Campaign brochure under 'exterior' it states that the rear window would have a black surround.



My comments only apply to the Mk1.

Is it the case that silver side stripes = no black hatch decal? :dontknow:

Thinking about it, I remain unsure and unconvinced about these two things:

1. Did the metallic blue Campaign have silver or black stripes?
2. Did the black Campaign have a black rear window surround? I think it did, but black GTIs (that were not Campaigns) did not!

But does it matter?  :roll:

Early-1800 said

Is it the case that silver side stripes = no black hatch decal? :dontknow:

That's the question. Is the case for black cars, and some blue one's I've seen have it, some don't. The Gti Engineering car looks like it's got no stripes down the side (?)

Here's mine ………