dilemma... to mod or not to mod?

Okay guys and girls,

I trust your opinions on Mk1s more than than most! That is why I seek your esteemed judgements.

Being traditionally a bit of a stickler for originality, I am adiment that my campaign remains as VW intended. However, recently I have been drawn into the darkside!

Once the body is at show standard, and the p-slots have been referbed (and only when), Im tempted to store my suspension and wheels and go for some BBS RS splits and KW coilovers.

I posted this not long ago:
http://www.vwgolfmk1.org.uk/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=9593

Imagine the silver one in lhasa green and thats the look I love! A pic of mine as it is…


So what do I do? Would it be sacralige to carry out these changes? Sorry for the long post, this is a very big deal to me!    

IMO keep it standard - looks better and more original

absolute sacralige. You have a beautiful machine. Is there anywhere else you can spend the time and money? interior, engine bay? If you had a rust bucket you were restoring then fair enough but as you have a mint looking campaign I think you should keep it as it is. Only my opinion. The only thing I will say is that it is personal choice and if you prefer it like that then go for it and have mods that can easily be reversed when you go to show's or decide to sell. i reckon you'll get more money for a standard mint one than a modified one.

I think lowering and nice, period looking alloys (like BBS) enhance the looks of a Mk1 a lot. I'm not into heavily modified cars, but subtle mods like you mention I do like !
I'll be doing similar to that on my blue car (if it ever sees the light of day that is). As long as you keep the original bits, there's no problem. Easy to change back to 100% std. if you decide to sell.
Go for it I say !
Mark

Slam it!!!

But keep the wheels stock, too. Or maybe BBS

A nice set of wheels can really make alot of difference, it not like you couldn't change it back again, besides its whatever makes you happy, have it how you want it, most mods are easy to reverse if you want it standard for a show  :dontknow:
BBS' make golfs look great, its a period wheel too 8)

i say keep it the way it was made as you will in the long run get more money for it. i have a fairly nice 1990 cabby and was thinkong about putting suspesion on it but have decided against it.

Ah that age old classic dilema….


 (i`m staying firmly on the fence, as only you can decide which way to go  :dontknow: )

At the end of the day it's your car.

I prefer standard ones myself, particularly if they aren't common models.

The campaign is a bit tricky. It's not exactly rare, but it starts to not be a campaign if you change the wheels, remove the double grille etc and the obvious question is then "Why did you buy a campaign if you didn't want it to look like a Campaign?"

At the end of the day the clever money says don't modify as your car will always be worth more.

On the other hand, appropriately lower suspension and different wheels can make the car more fun to drive. Though I suspect there are an awful lot of people out there who have never driven a 'standard' mk1 golf gti and so make rather unfair judgements on what they are like.

The consensus seems to be that it's not really a great idea to irreversibly modify a car. Changing the engine, bodypanels, respraying in a different colour is going to affect the value negatively and with fewer and fewer original cars being left this seems a shame.

But it is up to you!

Cheers,

Drew.

I say go for it mate, those two from worthersee look fantastic and at the end of the day you can put the suspension back and sell on the wheels if you dont like the way it looks.
It dosent hurt to dable with the darkside, keeps life interesting :evil:

Too true my fellow scholar`s…

 Wouldn`t life be really "grey" if we were all the same?  

Exactly…. all those modified cars, hardly any original ones left! :wink:

Modified, it's the new standard.

Cheers,

Drew.

Ahh my heads spinning now then!

 It`s a juxtapostion….

 If modifying is standard…. that means standard means you`ve modified it??  :?   :dontknow:


 I need to lie down….

 (but is that the new standing up??)

 aaarggghhhhhh  

its your car so its your decision  :wink:  , just bear in mind that although its from the same era as a xr2 , xr3 etc it isnt one so no whale tales or wide arches   .

Bozlem-Boy said

Ahh my heads spinning now then!

 It`s a juxtapostion….

 If modifying is standard…. that means standard means you`ve modified it??  :?   :dontknow:


 I need to lie down….

 (but is that the new standing up??)

 aaarggghhhhhh  

Yep, I've slowly been 'modifying' my GTI to bring it back to how it left the factory…..since in the past 24 years or so, its been the done thing to modify them.

Wow! thanks for the response everyone  

Well if I was unsure before, Im bloody confused now!  

Looks like a debate that could run and run. But I can see that a couple of key points have arisen:

1. Changing to BBS and coilovers will have a negative impact upon the value of the car. Well I dont plan on ever selling really, so this shouldnt be an issue - although as I said, I will keep everything that comes off. I suspect that once I grow up (perhaps when I reach the ripe old age of 30 or something   ) I can return it to standard

2. Altering what makes it a campaign means its not really a campaign anymore. Fair point, I'm proud to own one of the last 500 in the UK, and I'd never want to deny the car it's identity. The wheels are the only thing I would possibly change that is campaign specific… everything else would remain as is. I love the four lamp grille etc.


I'm still not sure though!  

Drew, is yours wearing BBS RAs in that pic!?    8)  

Er…  ops:

 :mrgreen:

Cheers,

Drew.

ps. There was a good reason for it at the time. Honest.  :roll:  :wink:

ChrisVYH said

Drew, is yours wearing BBS RAs in that pic!?    8)  

WELL SPOTTED !

Changing wheels/suspension/grill etc won't really matter if you keep all the original parts. Its all fairly easily returned to standard.

I think the dilema comes when you want to swap engines and running gear. I had a slightly tatty but very original mk1 which was very good mechanically. When I decide I needed more I sold that on to someone who willl hopefully restore it to standard spec and I got a scirocco with a knackered engine to modify. It made better financial sense as the scirocco was very, very cheap and they're unjustly undervalued anyway.