1979 VW Golf GTI Series 1. Resto Thread. Updated 08/09/13. Getting ready for sale :(

lukeybabes said

Amazing. Great work. How long untill its all back together?

I'm hoping a month as I'm retrimming the seats myself and retrimming the sunroof. ….it's an excuse to get out the house away from the kids and wife!!!

wow looking amazing keep up the good work :-)

mcdonut said

I'm hoping a month as I'm retrimming the seats myself and retrimming the sunroof. ….it's an excuse to get out the house away from the kids and wife!!!

Haha what a lovely thing to say. Doing anything crazy with the seats or doing the right thing and just a refresh?  

love that paint after valeting!!  

Sorry for the delay in updating the thread but ive been really busy with one thing or another, but works cracked on and the cars not far from done now.

So after painting my attention turned to the trim. My helpers who dont really help, and seem to run off and hide my tools when I need them most helped me strip out the interior.

A real pain in this build had been the Webasto Sunroof. It was fitted new at the showroom in 1979 as I have the original order form and spec sheet from 1979.
The Sunrrof was a £139 extra back in '79 and with the car staying standard I thought it best to keep it, as if i had the spec sheet and restored the car without the roof I thought it would not be really inkeeping with the history and story of the car.

However all parts for a 1979 sunroof are obsolete now and a new webasto replacement is would you believe £1300 fitted!!! The problem for me was that the cover had shrunk and the front bolster had completly rotted away.


So I stripped the thing apart and got the frame powder coated


I got a local Panel Beater to remake the Bolster


….and with new hood material and new rubber seals I remade a top in my garage come trim shop!


Im really happy with how its come out considering how much of a pain and a worry its been in the restoration.

…and so I spent a small fortune and ordered all new seat material


..and started to retrim the seats. This is a finished passenger seat base I did reusing the old viynal so it looked more original and you can see how faded it is compared to the backrest of that seat.
 



The interior still isnt completly finished yet but will be defo done within the next month.

….and so the shiny bits started to arrive


The car was then fully waxoiled before rebuilding


…and il be honest i didnt enjoy rebuilding it up as much as I thought I would. I think by this time (early August) id pretty much had enough of the car and spending all my time on it during the heatwave and knowing in my head all the little jobs I still needed to do I needed a break from it.

…so after a 3 week breather I started again a few weeks ago and started the little jobs for the mot to try and get it pass. It was a wierd feeling taking the MOT garage. Its the first time a professional if you will is looking over your work and I will admit I was hesitant with what is view point would be


It failed on little minor jobs like the horn not being loud enough so a few days later i took it back and it passed!!! …when you rebuild a car its such a massive thing when you get an MOT. I think its the first step that its getting back on the road and the light at the end of the tunnel.


…so after that on Friday I went to the DVLA and taxed the car for the first time in years. I had to re-register it as it was classed as an export coming from Northern Ireland and had to do import paperwork as I had brought it back to this country (something I hadnt thought about when I bought it). It was no problem in the end as it was orginally a British Car from Leathwoods VW in London before going to N.I so I was probably waiting around due to them being busy rather than it being a pain job, but it was half day sat in the DVLA office.
…but then it was taxed and so its nearly done!!!

My legal on the road 1979 Series 1 GTI!!










There are still a few little jobs ive got to do. The major one being finishing the interior off and I want the bonnet repainting by the painter. Now the new log book is enroute ive decided to enjoy the car over the next two months and even take the kids (for all their hard work) on the Hartside North West Club run this Month.

Then I think its off to a classic car auction on 30th October at H&H Classic Auctions at the Pavillion Gardens Buxton. I am considering a career change and need the money from the car to fund the new business. If anyone is seriously interested in buying the car you can PM me. I may even be willing to part ex and looking for what bad series 1 cars are going for on ebay I think the car could be now worth £7500? Be interested to see what people / enthusiaists value the car at so id welcome your thoughts on the value prior to booking it in as I would imagin its club people like us that will be the target market for this type of car.

Thanks for reading and il update soon re the completed interior and the auction result.

Scott

She's looking fantastic mate, you must be proud of your efforts, top notch mate!!

Andy.

WOW!!!    

DON'T SELL! 

Looks great - love the finish on the paint.  

shame you have to sell to free up the funds mate, looks very nice, if i had some spare cash i would jump on it, Rich

Oh my what inspiration to crack on with mine. Lovely lovely series one mate.

Don't sell her if you can possibly keep her. Enjoy the rewards of your hard work.

Smudger

Good photos there Scott.

It's come up a treat hasn't it? I understand the selling point, perhaps sell that on, keep a couple of grand back and buy another to do up and run for a while???

Glad you have a run in it though before you put it up for sale.

Dan

Thats lovely! Shame your selling. Love the webasto roof.

Love it

Awesome work, wish I could afford it!  

Very very nice! looks well with the Webasto sunroof. shame your selling it after all the hard work you've put into it.

It's looking superb! Have you any pictures of the headlining. How did it turn out?

Stunning!

Such a shame you're selling this lovely mk1 after all the work you've put into it.  Love it -Just stunning.