Back on the road! The Golf sees sunlight!

Hi All - I'm very excited that my Golf has now been rolled out of the garage, rubbed it's eyes in the sunlight, stretched it's wheels (?) and will now be prepared to be let loose on the roads again!

I bought this car in October 2010 and had great fun driving it and restoring it over a space of around 4 years. Unfortunately, we purchased then a campervan (Mazda Bongo) in 2014 so we could take family trips away. I found that keeping 3 cars on the road so expensive, I couldn't bring myself to sell it, so put the Golf in the garage ready for better times!

Well, these times have come again! The Bongo was sold in March, and we recently replaced our little 2005 Polo with something bigger (mk6 Golf Estate) and over the past few weeks that we have a need of a second car to get the kids to football matches or popping out shopping etc…

I've had the car on a trickle charge over the years (worried about the immobiliser packing in) and have always remembered to start it regularly, so it's firing up and running OK. Tires may need replacing , but 3 of them are currently holding air. I had to add 2 litres of coolant to expansion tank, so either it's evaporated or the cat has drank it! Oil and filters were replaced before going into hibernation. I also filled the petrol tank and added some preserver too, so I'm hoping that the fuel system didn't get rusty. A few bulbs have gone, but other than that, things seem good.

Upcoming jobs/To-do list:
Clean up and MOT ready -  The car is covered with dust (although the rain has helped that) and the insides seem to have some sort of fungal spawn in - as soon as you sit down you get a cloud of dust up (I was worried the dash was burning)
Coolant flush - I've never done this, so I'd imagine that it will help getting the crud out. May as well replace the thermostat while I'm there…
Carb clean - the car wouldn't start a few years ago when I had to move garages due to a house move. Apparently the carb was all gummed up so needed a good clean. I'm hoping to get this aqua blasted at some point so I don't run into these problems again.
Engine bay clean - lots of cleaning and de-rusting to do in there. Also the air intake pipe is knackered, so will need to replace that. Nothing too fancy, but just want it looking a bit tidier
Fit VDO gauges - I've currently retro-fitted a sat nav unit in the empty space the VDO gauges go in on the centre console, but always wanted an original look. Will need to look into this a bit more, as I believe that senders are needed
Sort out hood - I had a mohair hood replaced, but it doesn't sit well when down - I think the frame might be warped or bent and never got round to fixing.

If anyone has any advice or tips on getting a car back on the road, or things to be wary about (the engine runs, but have no idea about steering or hard braking) then please let me know

All the best - Andy

Hi. I'm restoring a Cabrio too that has been off the road for a number of years (7 or 8). Whilst refurbishing the rear beam, i stripped the brakes and thought 'the shoes look pretty new, i'll just give them a wire brush'. The brake material came away from the shoe after about 10 seconds of work. I would definitely recommend at least checking them before testing them on the road.
As an extra precaution, i've just bought some front pads and will flush the old fluid out.

Love the blue finish on yours.

Thanks for the tip - I had the front wheels off before sending it for it's MOT and the pads seemed to be fine.

MOT is now passed, coolant has been flushed through so need to get some miles on it to blow out some cobwebs (literally) and to get rid of this 5 year old fuel!