Final Decision Time (Pics added, and opinions needed)

Many of you may have seen my thread here:
http://www.vwgolfmk1.o…ms&file=viewtopic&t=11773

Well, i went back yesterday to take a second, much longer look and test drive the 83 1.8 GTi i was looking at. Armed with the golf buyers guide i gave the car a very thorough check for rust, and was pleased to find no real rot, just a few very minor bubbles of surface rust in a few spots. The body is straight, with just one small parking ding on the passenger side (hard to see in the pictires, it is immediately right of the door). It has newer paint, but it was a "mates rate" job and obviously didnt have any real prep work done or there wouldnt be any rust bubbling up, but it looks decent and will do until i learn how to do body prepwork and can get the troublesome bits sorted and resprayed.  The interior is in great shape, all original except for a new headliner, and the aftermarket (im still not sure if it is a VAG piece or not, even though there is a symbol on the latch) sunroof. The sunroof doesnt seem to leak, and honestly it doesnt really bother me much. (I can always put a ragtop in   ) The only problems are both seats have a bit of a slight side to side rock to them, caused (im told) by broken plastic guiders, and the feul and temperature gauges have gone out within the last week (im hoping he will sort that before i pick it up, but if not how hard of a fix is that?). It started fine, didnt blow any smoke on startup, sat at the right idle. Seems to be a strong runner for a motor with 163k on it. No oil or coolant leaks, no problem with the clutch cable and the firewall, sorry i didnt get a picture of the engine bay. It drives well, though it did blow a small amount of smoke upon acceleration, and it still pulls hard. It handles well (i need to get used to no power steering ), suspension seems pretty stiff, and I had a blast on the windy back road i took it on. The gearbox is strong, though ocassionally its a little tricky to get into first (it feels like things have shifted over a bit) but its not a problem. I will have to upgrade the brakes as one of the first things i do, im used to MK2s so I will say i wasnt a big fan of the mk1's. The wheels are TSW, but it comes with a set of 5 of the originals, and the tires are all relatively new. All in all it seems to be a solid car, thought it could probably do with a little bodywork and a respray, and an engine rebuild. Which is fine as i have been wanting to learn to do my own work for quite some time now, and now that I have the facility and tools available I actually can   I left the owner with a 200 pound deposit (refundable) and told him i would try and pick it up within a week and a half with the other 1000 pounds. Included for 1200 are the 5 original wheels, and an 8v motor and gearbox from an early MK2 (will that swap straight in?), and any other bits he has in his garage. My only problem is i have nowhere to keep the motor and gearbox, though he said he would hold on to them for a few weeks while i sorted out a way to pick them up and where to put them.

Now i just have to figure out if this is the golf i really want, if i really want to attempt work i have no clue how to do (brake swap, possible engine rebuild), and if the car really is going to be exempt from safety regulations and an expensive conversion when i take it back to the states in june 2008.

**What do i look for in the VIN to verify that it is actually a GTI? The log book listed it as one. the VIN starts with: 17DW45, and the engine plate starts with DX048.

Sorry for the novel  ops: At least now i have all the good and bad bits listed down for myself if noone bothered to read all of that mess  . Here are some pictures, please leave some feedback and advice as i have quite a decision to make.  Thanks –Mike

Well from what you've posted it seem like a fairly tidy car.  The only possible thing that would put me off at a glance it the ?1200 for a 163k car.  But I would drive it and if it seems good like you say it's probably been well mantained and if they're chucking in a spare motor all the better.  That one should be a straight swap.
IIRC 17dw is indeed a late model gti jan - aug 1983 and if the log book says golf gti then that it what it was first registered as.
The wobbly seats is an easy fix as is the sloppy gearlinkage.  All parts are readily available.
You're more likely than not to find some rust on a car of this age, but anythings fixable.  We buy these car to play around with not just to look at

Good luck with what you decide and i'm sure some others will have comments too

buy it

you know u want 2

looks minnty fresh lol