restoration dilemma

Evening people.
                       Keep meaning to come over and introduce myself at shows, I took my mk1 to All types this year, it was on the VAG UNION stand, Someone from the mk1 owners club put a flyer on it, My dilemma is this.
Do I leave it as is and just enjoy it, The amount of comments i heard from people looking at her saying, this is just how we like them, unmolested. it got more attention than my R32 . or do I attempt a restoration on her, she is complete and straight, but showing signs of her 31 year existence, I don't want to mess up what is a totally original standard looking car, I will try and post some pics up.
Cheers `Daz

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk177/dazr32/mypictures1030.jpg

mypictures1027.jpg

erm im sorry to say but there are a few things that are not standard tilt sun roof not sure what off maybe the audi 80, red wipers, quad grill, where the number plates are should be on a bracket on the bottom of the bumper  restoring to the real stanard it will be the best thing to do best ok luck   

cheers for the reply.
Quad grill is not standard ? I have changed the wipers back to black now, these 2 pictures were when I first bought it 12 years ago. sunroof was already in it. If I was to try and restore it to a satisfactory condition I would be looking at a big bill for paint, not sure how much a quality respray would cost ?

Number plate is on a bracket under the bumper, 2 fasteners stick down through the 2 holes in the bumper.

the quad grill is for the campaign model have you got any pics of it now a matter of 250 will get you bumpers all trim stickers arch kit but get rid of the tow bar ……. please we beg of you    

There is no right or wrong answer here, it is your car so up to you what you do and how much you spend. My opinion for what it is worth is just fix what needs fixing, get it back to original as much as possible without getting carried away, then just enjoy the car for what it is meant to be, driven. As for the sun roof, as long as it does not leak "so what" its not factory but what the heck.
Andy

Sorry forgot to mention, these pictures are when I first got the car, tow bar was the first thing to go, it had a new set of bumpers on it now which I purchased off the old owner, brand new for £80 😁. My honest thought is if I try to restore it properly then it's big money to do right. Whereas like Andy has just said, sympathetic tidying up might be the better way to go, I will stick some recent pictures up later, once again thanks for your thoughts.
Daz

Looks tidy 
Just my opinion but I prefer twin headlight grill on mk1 and we're available as an optional extra when buying new anyway. The sunroof looks like one fitted aftermarket, which was all the rage in the 80's and probably cost £100 my memory serves me right ( did it to a few of my cars back then, how else you supposed to look cool in an Austin Princess or a Polo coupe  )
Do whatever makes you feel looks good, look at other mk1's and take onboard what floats your boat 

Austin Princess, I remember my brother buying one back in the day and it certainly was not cool ..lol
Andy

andyphill said

Austin Princess, I remember my brother buying one back in the day and it certainly was not cool ..lol
Andy

Nice comfy seats, looks like a wedge of cheese 

The guy I bought it off for £80 was proud to take delivery of his replacement ……an Austin Ambassador. In case you don't know, it was British Leylands way of reinventing their range of cars, rename them, the Morris Marina became the Ital, the Allegro……I think was scrapped altogether and the Austin Princess became the Ambassador 

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I hope this works, here are a few that I took recently, 12 years later lol

As long as I can remember this car 28 years or so, it has always had the quad grill and sunroof in it, I thought some of the series 2 came with them as standard (grill)

Daz, sorry, but I don't understand your train of thought. You've obviously taken care of the minor niggles with the car as can be seen from the earlier/later photos. It looks nice as it is, so what is it you want to do. Either get it up to concourse standard which will cost ££s or leave it as it is for show and shine/daily driver. Don't know how we can help you out with that as it's your personal choice.

I am afraid i have to agree with russt, car looks really good from the pictures so unless there is something that is wrong and needs fixing, or unless you want to do a nut and bolt restoration, leave it alone, enjoy the car for what it is a solid original classic.
Andy

Cheers again for the replies guys,
                      Mechanically it isn't too bad but believe me when I say the pictures are being kind, don't get me wrong its not a dog by any means but there are areas that could do with spraying, I suppose my question is, well I suppose its not a question, more of a niggle. when I look at cars that someone has attempted badly to restore it pains me, I now find myself in the same situation. mine could do with to be fair a respray, if I do that then it will need (want) new seals and door trims all round, new indicators new headlights, the list then starts running away with you if you get my drift, I think to be fair you guys have answered my question (niggle) its going to get locally tidied up and just bloody enjoy it. lets face it there aren't many 31 year old cars on the roads these days.
It is a genuine honest 31 year old, original paint and the like so I don't want to take its character away if that makes sense.
Daz

if making it better is keeping u awake at night then do it    or if you find that you dont have time or money then just drive it and have fun its all good having a new car but gota love the raw mk1 golf smells like oil and fule   the last pics are alot better no tow bar   was talks of having mine sprayed red or grey or cream or bambus grey the worst thing about rebuilding the car is making a choice and trust me its has changed 10x so many things you can do to it but going stoke looking ive washed painted baged an taged every thing you will have ocd if you chose to restore have fun fella keeping old vws on road an shows