was this grill ever on the cabby

Hi, a friend gave me this grill and trims today ( he's had them for years in his garage )
My car is a 1990 gti cabby, can anyone tell me did they ever have this grill on them . I think I would prefer this to my existing one,
also what do you connect the lights to, main beam or switched seperately.

my current grill

The grill with the red around it would of come off a tin top Mk1 golf Gti not a cabriolet, yours would of come with 4 lights like the top grill so you might still have the wiring there?
Grill your car would of come with when new.

I think the earlier Cabriolets (pre Clipper bodykit) came with this type of grill but not 100% sure whether any had the red trim. Certainly some had the silver trim.

If you want to fit it to your car you will have to find someway of fixing the lower screw in the headlight grilles as the 'Clipper' type cars have a large hole where the screw needs to fit. Seen comment that VAG did a 'conversion' kit to overcome this problem but don't have any details. Would be interested to know how/ where to get this kit as I have fitted the earlier grill to my '89 Cabrion.

mark1gls said

The grill with the red around it would of come off a tin top Mk1 golf Gti not a cabriolet, yours would of come with 4 lights like the top grill so you might still have the wiring there?
Grill your car would of come with when new.

Thanks for that mark1gls, will see if I can make it fit and see how it looks. the one I have on I have seen for 20 quid on ebay, so if I bu**er it up not the end of the world .

Golfie1157 said

I think the earlier Cabriolets (pre Clipper bodykit) came with this type of grill but not 100% sure whether any had the red trim. Certainly some had the silver trim.

If you want to fit it to your car you will have to find someway of fixing the lower screw in the headlight grilles as the 'Clipper' type cars have a large hole where the screw needs to fit. Seen comment that VAG did a 'conversion' kit to overcome this problem but don't have any details. Would be interested to know how/ where to get this kit as I have fitted the earlier grill to my '89 Cabrion.

Thanks for that, will have a play and see if I can make it fit, can always put a cheap single lamp grill back on

it will definitely fit. I have been driving around without the lower screws for a while with no problem.

As Tony's says your car would have originally come with the inner spotlights and your current grille is an after-market de-badged late cabriolet grill. In terms of the spotlights it just depends what happened with the spotlight connections when the the new grill was fitted as to whether you can easily plug and play with the older grill..

PS just noticed that you are missing the separate headlight grilles which I think you are aware of. i.e. the later grill is one piece whereas the older one is 3 piece. The lights you have could be spotlights that come on with main beam or fog lights.  Both were offered as either standard or after-market options primarily for hard tops at the time.

Golfie1157 said

it will definitely fit. I have been driving around without the lower screws for a while with no problem.

As Tony's says your car would have originally come with the inner spotlights and your current grille is an after-market de-badged late cabriolet grill. In terms of the spotlights it just depends what happened with the spotlight connections when the the new grill was fitted as to whether you can easily plug and play with the older grill..

PS just noticed that you are missing the separate headlight grilles which I think you are aware of. i.e. the later grill is one piece whereas the older one is 3 piece. The lights you have could be spotlights that come on with main beam or fog lights.  Both were offered as either standard or after-market options primarily for hard tops at the time.

Will check wiring this weekend, I assume these are the bits I need to make it work, will order these and give it a try.
Thanks again.

Yes , These are the 2 parts you are missing.

In terms of what it will look like, see the Christmas Cabriolet CC picture at the top of this website Home page. PS this does not have the Clipper bodykit but will give you the idea

Golfie1157 said

Yes , These are the 2 parts you are missing.

In terms of what it will look like, see the Christmas Cabriolet CC picture at the top of this website Home page. PS this does not have the Clipper bodykit but will give you the idea

Ordered the end pieces yesterday, sanded and re-painted the red trims today, will check the wiring is there tomorrow ,need a gti badge and vw badge for centre of grill now.

i put the early 3 piece grill on my old cabby except used chrome trim and it was single lamp. fitted alright

arf333 said

i put the early 3 piece grill on my old cabby except used chrome trim and it was single lamp. fitted alright

that looks good, can't believe how much those 4 strips of trim normally cost !!

tony k said

arf333 said

i put the early 3 piece grill on my old cabby except used chrome trim and it was single lamp. fitted alright

that looks good, can't believe how much those 4 strips of trim normally cost !!

Got it on, put non standard badges on but then again grill never was on the cabby when made, started raining so haven't wired up the lamps but the two plugs seem to be there coming off the headlamp plug.