CRASH DAMAGE... Any Help Apprecieted!!

Hi there, i was wondering if anyone could give some good advice on what i should do with my campaign…

Had a little crash the other day and consequently got a big dent to the rear panel just behind th drivers door an a out of line rear wheel.

having problems with body shops taking me seriously because of the age of the car and availability of parts, so was wondering if there was anywhere that specialised in mk1 golfs or the like and did a decent job but not charging more than the worth of the car (bout ?2500)…

Please can anyone point me in the right direction as i reallty dont wont it too be scraped, too much time an money has gone into it, an need to keep as many campaigns on the road as possible..

Regards steve    

Bad luck mate, but if you want to keep her on the road, it's important to find out what parts are damaged by the accident, and need replacement or straightening. The availability of these parts, and the labour costs of getting them onto the car are what will make it worth fixing, or not.

You'll need a new quarter panel, by the sound of things. I'm not sure if these are still available from VAG or a pattern supplier.

Is the sill's box-section bent? (bad if it is, lots of extra work and expense)

You mentioned that the wheel is crooked - you need to check to see which of the following parts are bent:

Wheel rim
Stub-axle (what the drum or disc/hub rotates on)
Axle beam itself
Chassis rail where rear axle is fixed on (if this area is bent, the car will only be worth fixing if it has a particularly interesting history)

If you can source these parts yourself, garages will be much more interested in doing the repairs for you. Also, how rusty is the car? (Can't weld to rusty parts)

For the record, all of the parts mentioned above are the same on non-GTI models (except that you'd have to drill a few holes in a non-GTI axle-beam to take the GTI's inner anti-roll bar brackets), so you might be able to get what you need at the breaker's.

Let us know how you get on…

Steve, I was down in Oxford a few weeks ago visiting friends and did the scrapyard rounds. There is a white Mk1(none GTI) in the scrapyard in chinnor (i think that spelling is correct) at Wantage. Maybe you will be able to use some panels.

Good luck

Found out yesterday that you can still get rear quarters from Vag.
Its a lot of work involved to fit and do a first class job.
Might be easier to find a good shell, strip, prep and paint then transfer your bits over-this is the route im taking-nice new car at the end!

oldeboi said

Found out yesterday that you can still get rear quarters from Vag.
Its a lot of work involved to fit and do a first class job.
Might be easier to find a good shell, strip, prep and paint then transfer your bits over-this is the route im taking-nice new car at the end!

Do you know how much they are from VAG?

Not everyone has large pockets, a rear quarter cut off a good MK1 would cost about 20 quid and the fitting would cost nothing if you can do it yourself.