1980 Mars Red GTI BRMotorsport 142

Thanks.
I think Facebook is an awful platform as there's no logical thread or story behind what you can see. I'll never forget the best description I read somewhere, where they described it as, "a website of irrelevant comments". 

Here's a couple of pics from when I detailed the engine and interior ready for the AGM 2021. 



 

benandemu said

Thanks.
I think Facebook is an awful platform as there's no logical thread or story behind what you can see. I'll never forget the best description I read somewhere, where they described it as, "a website of irrelevant comments". 

Fully agree, there's no connection with anyone. Which is somewhat ironic given why Facebook was started.

Sooooo clean, hats off fella that's a shining example of a Mk1 GTi.  

 
   I see you have another Mk1 hiding in the garage is that the one you use on rainy days?

mark1gls said

Sooooo clean, hats off fella that's a shining example of a Mk1 GTi.  

 
   I see you have another Mk1 hiding in the garage is that the one you use on rainy days?

Thanks. 

The other car is quite special to me, as it was bequeathed to me by a very close family member after they passed away. It's been in the family for decades albeit in a sorry state for the last 15 years. It was actually the first mk1, and first GTI I ever drove. 5 days after that drive I'd bought my own - a Black 81 with a cammed 1.8 DX! The first in a string of many more, but the black 83 was always the special one, as it opened my eyes to the marque. 
It's been sympathetically recommissioned so it can be enjoyed as a relatively standard car, rather than the raver it shares a home with. I avoid rain whenever I can, but I'm nowhere near as particular with it as much as I am with the Red one. 

Saw this car at the NEC last November and it was my favourite car of the show. Fantastic

Love this restoration thread, such a great Mk1 with amazing attention to detail.

Totally agree with you on the Forum vs Facebook. I much prefer the forum, and will always keep posting on here to hopefully keep it alive (too many other forums have died already, all that history gone).   It's a shame that Facebook is the go-to platform now.

Good to see you are keeping the thread alive Ben. Car is still looking great !

I agree with you all forums are so much better than facebook for car culture. I thought facebook would have it's moment then people would return to forums but it's not happened yet.

I've had an issue to face into recently with this car, as the original door cards are quite brittle and deteriorating around the edges as the years go by. My search for mint S1 front door cards seems endless, as they're such a rare thing. The prerequisites are high, as they have to be mint, and they have to be GTI spec, which excludes the majority of what you see out there, because most have post production mirror adjusters or speakers cut into them. 
Last year I stumbled across a door card design on Heritage's website which looked remarkably similar to S1 panels, so I asked them for some further photos to back up their advert claim. Sure enough, they looked really similar. At almost £200 a pair, I wasn't overly keen on shelling out in case they weren't spot on. I had a 'big' birthday last week, and I was getting asked if there was anything g in particular I'd like - the door cards of course! Haha 
So, they turned up on the kitchen table on said day, and I spent the other evening removing mine and installing the new ones. It was uncomfortable cutting the holes for handles in the new panels!

   





 

 





 



The grain of the vinyl is slightly different when studied close up, but the stitching and panel design is quite accurate, although the fake stitches are at the opposite angle from genuine panels. The panels are made by FORST, and for some odd reason two of the clips don't line up with the holes (one is a centimetre out, and the other is more like 2.5cm's out), so god knows how they went into production with a panel that doesn't line up all 26 holes. 
  
All that aside, I think they make a smart addition to the interior, and are a reasonably good alternative for those looking for S1 door cards. I will still look for some original ones, and potentially look at trying to repair my own as best as I can.


 




 I gave them a coat of interior vinyl sheen which helps them blend a little better with the rest of the interior.


 

You mentioned these a while back Ben, think i will need some…. Lol


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