restoring a 79 GTI..badly painted

heres some pics of this 79 i picked up from the isle of white. it had been in a barn for 8 years apparently, had been writen off at some point and as the following pics will show had some very dodgy repairs done.on a positive note, its had only 1 previous owner and only 78',000 miles on the clock, and still has most of the sort after original parts.i'm gonna strip it down to a bare shell and see how i fare with my first resto project!!!!

this is how i got it, looks good ha.

inside was a bit faded, roof lining is good, but the dreaded bolster wear is present.

wrong rear panel!!

1.6 seized engine, but is complete, unlike the slampanel and lower cross member, both of which ar half gone…damn field mice.

o.k lets get stated, first i removed rad, metering head, washer bottles and other easily removed parts from the bay, wings and bonnet are off and a start on the interior.

as i said, most of the original parts remain, steering wheel, clocks, mint untouched dash and tartan seats, not to mention the stereo…well retro. i'll be keeping that!!!

removed seats and dash, all came out very nicely.

next was the loom and heater matrix.
decided to see what was under the repaired arch and sill…couldn't belive how or why someone would go to these lenths to do a bodge job, the sill is o.k upto about 4 inches from the rear arch, then it gets scary…
trying to remove this bodge proves to be hard graft

and here's my reward for the 2 hours chiseling and grinding…a rusy arch..woo hoo. cant wait to see what treasures  tomorrow holds. 8)  8)

keep us all posted on progress  

Looks like quite a project you have , would look nice with small rear ! If you can find one  :dontknow:

managed to get a small light shell delivered last wendsday, so i'm hopeing to make a good shell out of the two

79-85 said

managed to get a small light shell delivered last weekend, so i'm hopeing to make a good shell out of the two

Problem solved  :wink: What is the best shell ? Red MK1 looks better ?

Cheers ………………

yeah its not a bad shell, but its had a used front stitched on and other random repairs. i belive it was used for racing at some point as it has roll cage points welded in. gonna use this one to repair the silver one i think and sell the rest i.e tin top, doors and such...just need to learn how to weld ops:

Why kill 2 early cars?

Rear panels are available for early cars if you look towards Germany.

Seems a real shame to kill a car that looks like it could be restored. Any bits that I have plundered in the past, are always from total wreckers, that way I still feel good inside!

Early original spec GTI's are thin on the ground now, and I love seeing people putting so much effort to restore them, but scrapping one is just depriving someone a project further down the line.

Save the breed!

benandemu said

Why kill 2 early cars?

Rear panels are available for early cars if you look towards Germany.

Seems a real shame to kill a car that looks like it could be restored. Any bits that I have plundered in the past, are always from total wreckers, that way I still feel good inside!

Early original spec GTI's are thin on the ground now, and I love seeing people putting so much effort to restore them, but scrapping one is just depriving someone a project further down the line.

Save the breed!

i know where your coming from, that pic i posted of the red one is a pic the previous owner sent me, its already been stripped of everything worthwhile. the front is rotten, even though its been replaced at some point, the sills have been badly repaired, the doors aren't brilliant and even the rear panel is going to need work before its fitted to the silver one, there has also been rollcage points welded in other dodgy repairs. the silver shell is defo the better of the 2 but only just.
 And i'm not killing 2 cars, i planing to bring 1 back to life. i would be willing to swap the red shell for a good rear panel if any one has 1 and wishes to swap it for an early shell…just to keep all happy…but remember saving 1 is better than scrapping 2, which is what i'm sure would of happend if i hadn't picked them up..  :dontknow:

Very true! Obvious mistake in my previous post, as you would only be killing 1 car! Late night mistake, I guess.
I might know of an early rear end. Let me do some research and come back to you.
What does the donor car look like now then?

benandemu said

Very true! Obvious mistake in my previous post, as you would only be killing 1 car! Late night mistake, I guess.
I might know of an early rear end. Let me do some research and come back to you.
What does the donor car look like now then?

ill get some pics up.

we started the day by removing the other door and the tail gate, headlining and the last bits of loom. rooflining split, which is a bugger cos it was a good 'n'

we then cut off the front panel(well steve did)

turbos ftw!  

at that ride height as well :twisted:

yeah that would be smart!!! :dance:

zenders end of!
we had a good day today getting it ready for blasting and looking forward to next saturday getting stuck in to cutting and welding!

mr-incredible...... lmfao!!!! you were today buddy, you were today.. will get it blasted this week, then the fun starts..you need to find a mk1 now mate, since your on the "owners club" website...lol

we'll see how the red one looks after we've robbed it and i mite be the owner of that one lol and another resto starts    :mrgreen:

find me a rear panel an its yours……all yours. bloody mr-incredible, can't get over that..

Looking good so far mate.1 saved is better than none in my eyes.

People have to remember that if some folks didn't break the odd one there would be no spares for the rest of us.

too true matey, be sure to get some pics of your new roof going on, now thats brave.
 :clap:
hopefully by next weekend my bay will be on its way to looking as good as yours..only original, with help from mr-incredible :wink:

heres a few pics of the doner car, 79 gti, if anyone wants to restore it, then all iwant for it is a small light rear panel and a complete front panel front panel. sure it could be restored, or used for racing as it was previously.have v5 and a few bit's of paper work.


small rear light model

stripped inside.

shell has rotted in most of the normal spots, has had rear arches welded in and front end, sill repairs and a bit on the passenger foot well.
if any one's intreasted then let me know..

spoke to the grit blasters today, won't beable to have it blasted until the first week in april.  but i'll be able to get on with other bits