What should I do with my mk1 golf Cabriolet?

Hi everyone,

Back in 2005 i bought a K reg Mk1 cabiolet clipper, I think for about £1600. It was the first car I'd ever bought and i loved it dearly, but i never had any money to improve, and barely maintained it. I used it daily until 2010 when i stopped using it. In 2011 I bought a  house with my girlfriend and i reversed it into my garage and I hasn't come out since.
By that time,it wasn't in great condition. The roof has many many holes in, which meant that in boot and part of the interior were damp. There has been a few rust patches develop, particularly on the back panel and the tailgate.
We've just bought a new house, and it's time i decide what to do with my old golf. Should i try and sell it for spares/repairs, and hope to buy a different one in the future? Should i take it with us and try and get it repaired/repair it myself?
My father and brother are both mechanics but I don't have any experience with car repair myself (I'm a cheesemaker by trade).

What do you guys think? Am i living in a dream world when i say that it'll get it done up one day or should i just give up and move on?

I've attached some pics

Thanks



 

If you sell it I guess you might get about 1000 for it, especially if you wait a month or so. 

They go up in value about 500 every year or two, so buying one in the future is more and more difficult as time passes. 

I would guess to get it Road worthy judging by what you say you could spend 2-3k. Using small local garages and shopping round for good process. 

Can't tell you what to do but these VERY rough numbers might help you. 

If it was me I would get advice from chortle on the roof, get the body repaired, engine serviced including cam belt and see what is needed to get it through an mot after that.  Get the bare minimum done and drive it, spend a little each year and in ten years time have a very nice mk1.  

Good luck. 

Thanks for the advice!
I am reluctant to sell it, especially as i have a place to put it when we move into the new house.
We've now moved it from my house to my their garage so we can have a better look this weekend.
I hope the alarm key fob still works!

What ever you do don't start the car and try to drive it if you have not started it up in the last year…
Petrol goes off over time and if it's been in your fuel tank since 2010 as it's probably turned to jelly and you dont want that sucked through the fuel system or cam belt to break.. Turn the engine over by hand.

Did you leave the hand brake off?

Cars sat for some time is never good news…

If you really want a Mk1 Golf keep it and do it up but you will find if others are doing the work for you it will cost more than the car is worth to restore it to top condition, getting body work done by others and learn the mechanical side of things to fix/repair yourself is not only a good idea in the long run but will save you some cash.     

I was thinking that,mk 1, likely to cost a lot to restore . Most of us ain't into Golfs to make money, rather to eke out what brass we do have

I'm not too concerned about the money. I think I'll take a look at it over the weekend and see how rotted it is. I've got a feeling I'm not gonna be able to part with it.

I wish you lots of luck and enjoyment with your golf .i know what you mean by getting attached...

Get it running first.
Make sure brakes work
Undo the hood, get it to the body shop for repair and paint.
Check the rear cable channel and the sides where the hood cover trims fit aren’t rusted out.

Then get her over to me for a new hood etc.


Sometimes you got to spend on these cars.
Think of the summer fun ahead.
It’s the AGM in July think you’ll be ready?


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It's fixable and I hope you do get it up and running.

If a carb car fix up another fuel container with fresh fuel and a new bit of fuel hose and plastic filter into the fuel pump on the front of the engine to run the engine.
When ready to start the car turn it over by hand a few times, remove the rotor arm from the dissy then crank the engine over a few times to build up oil pressure, check the oil light works, refit the rotor arm and see if it will start, don't run the engine for to long if the oil is old.
Have a look in the fuel tank, inspection hole into top of the fuel tank underneath the rear seat.
Have a good feel at the rear wheel arches, feel for any sharp bits of metal under the lip, check the fuel filler neck underneath the wheel arch as mud sits on top and rots it away.

Lots of info and advice on what to check over on here.  

On a Side Note, when checking for rust Wear Leather Gloves, no sense in having to get a Tetanus shot.  

Take it from one who gets one every few years…..

Hope you go with the project. We love to see a golf back on the road

Don't sell it mate. You'll regret it. Mine was sat in the garage for 12 or 13 years waiting for me to retire with similar issues, roof, paint, bit of rust but not too much cash and plenty of sweat and I'm nearly there.
Think you can see mine in the NEWBIES bit.

Sold my wife's 92 Rivage for nothing and even chucked in a Sportline interior. Regret it.
Gave away a MK1 Scirooco Storm in metallic blue cos I had nowhere to store it. Regret it.
Sold a MK2 Scirocco Storm for 300 quid. Regret it.

Hey guys,

Not got rid of it yet. We move into our new house on friday, which has a nice big garage so for the time being it's going into it.
Hopefully i can convince my brother to take an unbiased look at it before it goes into the garage to see if it's salvageable, which it should be. Then it's deciding how to go about repairing it.

Good choice.

Remember it doesn't have to be mint, just safe and derivable.

If you have a garage then don't worry about the hood for a mo and concentrate on the mechanicals and the rust  


Good luck

Ian

Cool and good luck.

I will buy the seats if u sell/break it 👍

i'm in a similar situation now. Just deciding what to do with mine, which has been sat for 8 years, it needs a fair bit of work, but the body work is sound, will also need a new hood too.

I've been looking around and for one that i'd buy and could run straight away, it would be at least £3.5k, so if i can get mine back running for less than that, i'll be happy.

The difference being i have no mechanic friends and have in the past been stung by mechanics doing shoddy work on other cars.

Definitely try and bend your brothers arm in to doing the work for you!

The great thing about Mk1 Golfs is they are simple engines and running gear, they was designed in the 70s so no fancy computers and sensors all over the place.
Every thing is fairly easy to get to without the need to remove 1/2 the car and plastic covers, VW used normal bolts and screws, there's only a couple of things you need special tools for like the C clamps on the later toilet bowl manifold but you can make a tool using exhaust clamps.

What I'm getting at is the Mk1 is a great car to learn how to fix them, plenty of info on here, the web and Haynes manual so get your overall on and give it a go.  

As you've got somewhere dry to to store it, I'd stick it in there and leave it for a bit if you don't know what you want to do with it. You've got a new house so that'll take most of your time / money anyway and it can wait for another couple of months - you can always sell it next year if you don't want to fix it but you won't be able to sort it if you have already sold it.

The rust doesn't look bad (have you seen my Caddy??) and if you only drive it on sunny days, keep the roof down! Service parts for Mk1s are still relatively cheap, belts are simple to change so it shouldn't take much to get it in a state where you could chuck it in for an MoT.

Then enjoy nice summer evening out with the top down