Daily - VW Golf '77 GLS

So where to begin? I'll be using this thread to document the journey of my latest acquisition, a MK1 lovingly named Valerie.

You know when your looking for a car, but your not supposed to be? The old eBay watch list begins to grow, the favourites section in the gumtree app becomes larger and larger and before you know it you've got alerts popping up on your phone and emails coming in saying when items are finishing, all for a car you don't own. So rewind a few years, I had a very early MK2, A reg, 1.3, my favourite car, but with its reliability being questionable and me just wanting to be able to drive I gave up and sold it on. All the while in the back of my mind knowing that was my best time on the road (albeit when it wanted to run). Wasn't quite the infamous Mk1 though was it?

After viewing a '79 with no floor and more rot than an old pine bed at the bottom of the ocean, I'd pretty much given up. I did for, for around 2 months, are there any MK1s for reasonable money that don't require a full rebuild? Then this popped up, it was advertised as having MOT, being used regularaly, but little in the way of a description. It was up for £3250 which I was happy to part with, as long as its honest. Emails were fired back and forth over the period of a week, but tieing both the owner and myself down to view the car was proving difficult, especially doing it with the limited daylight we get at this time of year.
I went to view the car, finally! I was working a late shift on a Saturday 22/11/14 so I went to Norwich before I started work. There were bills totaling just over £2000 back in 2011 when it was put back on the road after a 15 year break, having been purchased 4 years previous from Nottingham. The young lady who owned it bought it with her inheritance money and wanted a classic to get on the road. The car is used, but there was nothing untoward, it needs work but it was all there to be seen. I went out for a test drive and paid a considerable amount less than the asking price. It's now home and has been pushed in to daily duties straight away.

Ill be ordering a new rear panel, inner and outer drivers side rear arch and a petrol cap panel, but apart from that, if you stand at the right angle, it is very very clean. Its been running fine, starting on cold mornings and has given me no hassle.

Anyway, with everything I do, I've made a list. I've deemed this one as the keeper, so it'll all get done eventually. I'm just parts hording at the moment.

Parts I've recieved or parts that have been ordered

• Engine oil
• Air filter
• Oil filter
• Sump plug seal
• Magnetic sump plug
• Fuel filter
• Bosch spark plugs
• Cam belt kit
• Cam belt tensioner
• Ignition leads
• Distributor cap
• Rotor arm
• Fuel cap
• Radiator tank cap (blue)
• Coolant
• Thermostat
• Water pump

Anyway, lots of plans ,but I just want to do the ground work first. Also, any idea what colour it is? The interior and exterior are a very grandad spec in terms of colours, which I love! I'd also love to find some matts for the car but getting a colour to vaguely match is proving difficult.



 

Hi lee

Nice looking car, great find! Best of luck with it  

Matt

Hello and welcome Lee,

That's a little cracker!!

Nice s1 you have there, lucky find. Guessing its a 1.6, and not many around this colour - Bronze Metallic L95D. Keep the updates coming.

Hi Lee and thanks for posting this up!

That's a great find, such a nice car and it will be great to see you enhance it. I'm really looking forward to updates (with pics of course! lol)

What's the interior like?

Don't forget to consider membership here. There's plenty of discounts to be had on insurance, RAC breakdown and various other parts suppliers.

Give Mark funk-star a shout if you haven't already, he's handy for both new and used parts
http://www.classic-vw.co.uk/

Thank you for the welcome everyone.

Watson - Thank you, my google searching had revealed very little that matched it. I've made a note of the colour and code.

Hairyarse/Andy - The interior is very much like the exterior in terms of colour, a very odd shade of…. bronze/faded orange, but I love it. I'm currently querying whether or not it should have some sort of lower dash board/ under tray as there looks to be a few wires hanging down, but I'll address that on Sunday. Thank you for the website and Funky-mark link. I'll be spending some more money on her in the coming days and will be sure to sign up on here properly.

Valeries fuel filler cap turned up, so I've put that on to make her a little bit more aesthetically pleasing.

Check out the Series 1 data under the History bar on the Home page. Also have a look under the boot mat at the paint code sticker on the boot floor.

Still stock pilling parts currently. I've had the rear end replacement and drivers side rear arch and filler cap area priced up, which I'll be getting done early next year.

Here's one from tonight.

That lovely. I like this a lot. Good to see a mk1 in daily use. I miss using mine. 

It's January 8th, I've been using the MK1 every single day to get me to and from work, plus lifes other little trips, 42 days in total since my first post here.

I've only had one issue that needed to be fixed ASAP and that was the fact that the head lights didn't work properly, the heaters had packed up and the wipers gave up on me. This was narrowed down to the ignition switch using the search function on this forum. An order was put in and about £8 and 20 minutes of faffing she was back to full working order.

I've got a few minor things I'd like to address over the coming week, but nothing to exciting. She has a slight oil leak from the rocker cover and could do with that service. So I'll be tackling this after I've done my stretch of night shifts.

All in all, I'm beyond happy with my little MK1, not to mention she has jumped started my partners 6n2 polo twice as it wouldn't start in the morning. +2 for the golf!

Nice one! Glad you're using it as intended

Beautiful mate! I was also firing messages back and fourth to the owner before you. Arranged a viewing right until he sent me the ''sorry mate its gone'' text! Nice to see its in good hands though, keep us updated!

charliemk1 said

Beautiful mate! I was also firing messages back and fourth to the owner before you. Arranged a viewing right until he sent me the ''sorry mate its gone'' text! Nice to see its in good hands though, keep us updated!

Yeah the previous owner said there were a few others interested. I whipped to Norwich as soon as I could and picked it up.

unusual colour, nice find.

looks like there are only 4 left with yours (i think) being the only one on the road!

bravo

nice car mate. and nice to see it being used. the under dash trim is actually just carpet that hangs from the front of hte dash and tucks up under. there was also a shelf on the passenger side, made of board which generally didnt last very long.

just buy some black carpet and trim to suit. the shelf can be easily cut as well, you should find the metal L brackets for the shelf if you poke around the footwell on the passenger side.

miss using my 1.5D s1. been tucked away for too long!

Good to see another Mk1 as a daily drive, I spotted in one of your pictures you have a bottle of rad weld, I would not use the stuff as it can block the water ways and leaves a horrible scum over everything, Do you have a leak? It's best to fix the leak than bodge it up with rad weld.

zorg - Thank you, I had no idea there were so few in this odd colour.

hysteric - Thank you, I've still got the shelf and the brackets, although the shelf is slightly less flat, it looks like someones used it as a foot rest before. The carpet is a really odd brown kind of colour, so I'll see what I can do.

You should dig your S1 1.5D out for the summer.

mark1gls - Thank you, a friend had recomended to put it in as its "an old car". No leaks or anything at all though.

Nice looking Mk1 you've got there.

Glad its found a home with someone who cares and will look after it! 

Lee H said

zorg - Thank you, I had no idea there were so few in this odd colour.

Sorry, I did not mean only 4 left in that colour, I meant only 4 left period!

Go to "howmanyleft.com" and see.

A rare car to see now.

Thats even better!

If anyone comes across an odd shade of light brown parcel shelf or 4+E gearbox then think of me.