Lagos Yellow 1983 GLi Cabriolet

Hello all.

I'm new to the forum and new to Mk1 Golfs but a couple of months ago i decided to buy one on a whim, as you do.

We had a 1962 Vauxhall Victor which I had bought my wife but she couldn't get on with the 3 speed column shift gearbox (it was horrible to drive anyway) so I sold that and having a bit of cash now I was on a look out for a replacement that I knew my wife would get on with. A few weeks later this Golf was advertised on a Facebook group which I run and only being a few miles up the road so i decided it was worth a look.



First impressions weren't great, It had been sitting outside a garage for a month waiting for a exhaust, the paintwork was turning white, it had a flat tyre, the hood was green and it was missing trim and running a bit lumpy.

Naturally I bought it.

The seller agreed to replace the middle section of the exhaust and was planning on repairing the fuel and temp gauges which weren't working but couldn't do it so knocked a extra £150 of the price. I drive the car home with no drama and set about cleaning and polishing the paintwork first.



Some 3M Fast Cut Plus on a mop made light work of the paint and it came up trumps!



Since then things have come on a long way, the fuel/temp gauges were fixed for £2 by taking the dials out and doing the resister fix, the stereo's been replaced and wired up correctly, new brakes, new Uniroyal tyres in the correct size again (not 165/65/13 like it had) the coilovers wound back up (I'm not very cool!) and lots of other little jobs that are now done.

The Dolomite is mine, the Golf is technically her's but I've been using it more!.



The car has all it's history from new included the bill of sale, the first owners (husband and wife) had it from 1/1/1983 until 2011 and I believe it was a summer only use car, it had done very low mileage and clearly been driven aboard, the second owner was a VW enthusiast who obviously loved it but fitted the tin plates, bonnet struts that only open it half the height it did before and binned the original suspension for cheap coilovers… Not to my tastes and all being put back to standard. and the 3rd owner didn't use it much but spent quite a lot on it, It's still only done 77000 miles.





The interior isn't the prettest but it's all there, I need to get a updated photo as the stereo's been changed and the stains are now gone! the drivers seat is a little ripped and needs stitching annoyingly.





I've also now binned the tin plates and replaced them with reproduction original style ones in the pre 2001 font with the Whitehouse of Bexley dealer logos, they weren't cheap at £60 but make a big difference in my opinion







The alloy's need painting next and i have a problem with the exhaust and suspension, which will be my next questions….

So this week's been a expensive week… We took the car out for its first proper drive to a little show at Aldeburgh on Bank Holiday Monday which just highlighted how horrible the coilovers are on the car, maybe it's my age but why anyone would chose to make their car drive like that is beyond me!

Unfortunately the orginial suspension is long gone so I have to buy new front legs rather than just inserts, I spent a while Googling and reading other comments on here and bite the bullet and £400 later I had ordered the full Bilstein B4 shocks and Eibach Pro springs, I have to wait a couple of months by the looks of it before they will be here.

Whilst I was on a roll I then spotted on Facebook a complete interior out of a later model for £250 including the door cards in Orpington, a quick mercy mission down the A12 had them back in my garage, much better than the ripped interior it's currently got.




And a day later had the rear seats and all the door cards fitted in the car



Unfortunately it was this point that I found the later seats had different sliders to the earlier seats…





Blast! So I understand you have to weld a nut to the base and swap it all over but is there a online guide that shows you what to do anyway so I'm a bit stumped now!

Lovely car even if I’m a bit biased having the same but a GTI model, be prepared for loads of attention from people admiring the colour.

Mine should be in the background of the final show on wheeler dealers on the Discovery channel which started tonight so the Lagos yellow mk1 gets even more attention!

Great choice of suspension also, wise decision.

Enjoy

Good find, and nice tidying up.  Spray the sill strengthers with underseal or matt black paint, it looks like it's got a beer gut

Kingy76 said

Mine should be in the background of the final show on wheeler dealers on the Discovery channel which started tonight so the Lagos yellow mk1 gets even more attention!

Thanks, I did see photos of yours on Facebook when it was there, it a great looking car! I would have taken one of mine but I was working Friday.

Early-1800 said

Good find, and nice tidying up.  Spray the sill strengthers with underseal or matt black paint, it looks like it's got a beer gut

Cheers, I've got a beer gut too so it's matches well! When I got the car is was black stonechipped but after looking online I thought it was supposed to be body coloured so I redone it all, are they meant to be black then?

dockertrigger said

Kingy76 said

Mine should be in the background of the final show on wheeler dealers on the Discovery channel which started tonight so the Lagos yellow mk1 gets even more attention!

Thanks, I did see photos of yours on Facebook when it was there, it a great looking car! I would have taken one of mine but I was working Friday.

Early-1800 said

Good find, and nice tidying up.  Spray the sill strengthers with underseal or matt black paint, it looks like it's got a beer gut

Cheers, I've got a beer gut too so it's matches well! When I got the car is was black stonechipped but after looking online I thought it was supposed to be body coloured so I redone it all, are they meant to be black then?

I'd say so,

Over the last few days I've been swapping the interior out and fitting the new one, in the end I used the cable tie trick on the seat slider handles, it may be a bit of a bodge but is it a bodge if it works?!

Other than drilling stright threw my thumb and dropping a chair with the metal part down my shin whilst wearing shorts I managed without too much damage.






A vast improvement I think you'll agree!