'82 diesel tidy-up (mega low budget stuff)

Sorry for lack of 'work in progress' photos, but a garage did it! My dad was keen to do the work on it for me but there's just not enough time in the day. When I got this X reg diesel it was mechanically faultless and everywhere was nice and solid…it's certainly had a peaceful life (1st lady owner had it for 20 years  8O ). Mechanically it's never wanted for a thing and been worked on by someone who knew what they were doing and did everything properly (i.e - not rived about with) Everything will undo when you want it to etc, new brake pads and cambelt were a joy to do and took no time at all. 126,000 miles on it now, had it about 2 years, drives beautifully and everything works! I didn't realise how rough my last mk1 was until I drove this!
But…there were a few niggles and surface rust that spoilt the bodywork…I have a mega-low budget so major restoration was never an option (probably not worth it anyway!), but compared to my last mk1, this is solid as a rock underneath etc. However, a previous meeting with a post or something led to a few battle scars…check out the lower front panel where it meets the nearside wing!   The front bumper corner had taken a beating too, plastic bounced back of course, but decided to replace it :



The offside sill also let the whole offside down. It was still nice and solid though, so could be easily repaired :



I invested in a brand new full front panel (non-genuine  ops:…anything was better than what I had!) which fitted beautifully!…along with a new offside wing (decided to renew when original was taken off to fit the front panel)…I could only get hold of an new offside wing at short notice so I found a 2nd hand n/s wing, but the back end of it was a bit poor, so…wait for it…a new one was made out of 1/2 the 2nd hand one and 1/2 of it's original wing!  ops:  The back of it's own was nice and solid, but the front had suffered damage along with the front panel. So one good one was made out of the two!   And no seam can be found where they were joined!   Paint was matched as well as possible and considering the usual oxidisation which plays havoc with Mars Red everywhere else on the car, it looks ok!





It just needs more polishing on the doors and bonnet to match the shiney wings, but doesn't look too bad :



Some different wheels, new front bumper, new chin spoiler and a chrome grill were the finishing touches of course:



Back end was smart enough for me as it was :



Manky sill rubbed down and sprayed (all I wanted was a nice appearance 'at a glance'…it is a daily driver after all)



Work was undertaken by Lee and Sam at Fairbank and Craven garage in Scarborough…mainly specialise in aircooled VWs, but were more than happy to do mine (bodywork's bodywork after all). Considering my tight budget it's a cracking job with what I gave them to work with   . They kept the costs down as much as possible - all I wanted was for it to look smart at a glance, but actually it looks much better than I expected! Only a full respray would improve it any more and it's certainly not screaming out for one yet. Anyway, they were a cracking pair of blokes…highly recommended for an honest job! Also do engine conversions and complete restorations…workshop was full of campers and Beetles (at least one was Lee's…had a wacking great engine for drag racing!)

That's it then, I know it's nothing compared to some of your full restorations inside and out, but all I wanted was a cheap tidy-up and repair for my daily driver. At least it looks like I care now!  :wink:

is it you i keep seeing pootling around scarborough?!?!

Well there aren't many other mk1's here!  :wink: I keep forgetting to look for a green mk4, sorry! GET A MK1 FELLA!  

i was looking for one but the new job fell thru so that ideas gone outa the window for now! you seen that silver golf c parked up outside polar ford?

Bad luck mate, you'll have one before you know it. Not seen a silver Golf C…but there's 'Lozmk1' in a silver CL 5 door, that's about it round here I think.

must be that then! there was a tatty lhansa green gti floating round for a few days but ive not seen it for a while now.

 He lives near sandside somewhere. Not that I'm a mk1 stalker…he got an insurance quote off me for his Gti when I worked at C.I.S in 2003 It's still about I think (my dad's seen it aswell), but a bit 'unloved' methinks.

saw it at the beginning of the summer going down towards the sealife. u still doin insurance? who for now?

Excellent stuff. One thing I would do, take grille off and spray some black matt paint on the two uprights behind where the VW roundel would be. :wink:

el_sicko said

saw it at the beginning of the summer going down towards the sealife. u still doin insurance? who for now?

No, Scarborough branch closed, so went onto other things

Early-1800 said

Excellent stuff. One thing I would do, take grille off and spray some black matt paint on the two uprights behind where the VW roundel would be. :wink:

I've seen a few mk1's with that part still coloured so assumed it was meant to stay like that! I might make it black…does it look that bad?

Originally it would be black, satin black I'm pretty sure?

Its often missed after a cars had a respray.

Cheers,

Ross

That's that then…I've got some satin black in the cupboard! Thanks. :wink:

For got to say! Lovely looking car!!!

I'd love a diesel Mk1, just what I need at the moment.

I had those rubber side trims on my GTI, they are ace for protecting from the side panels, I'm replacing them with the silver stripes though… got to be done.

As far as I'm aware those two struts were always matt black so you couldn't see them through the grill. Same colour as body indicates respray or replacement panel. If it is the original panel there should be a barcode attached to one of the struts.

Cheers

It's definitely a replacement panel, the main part of the mini-resto! I just assumed the original struts had got black from engine/road grime over the years, but were originally red. I'll spray them black when I get chance.
Thanks Ross, yeh I put the strips on purely because people think nothing of slamming their door into your car in a car park! Never seen another 5 door with them on though…must have been a rarely chosen option at the dealers? I agree, silver stripes look nice on black mk1's though  8)

markwon said

As far as I'm aware those two struts were always matt black so you couldn't see them through the grill.

You're probably right mark, I don't know if they were satin or matt.

do you live on the north side of scarb coz every time i see you youre ether going past itisitis towards the kamsang or youre parked up on the north bay.

My folks live on the north side, take their dog on the beach and stuff…bet you think I'm a twin-bay cruiser!  

hahaha! so long as you dont start parking on the prom opposite the oasis cafe you'll be ok! haha! :wink: