After years of saying I wanted a project, I finally went out and got one.
1990 VW Scirocco GT2. I've always loved the Scirocco, all three generations, and seriously considered getting a Mk3 to replace the Panda, but they hold their value insanely well so I was struggling to find one for the right price. I've been debating with myself for ages whether or not to keep the Panda, sell it for something else, or buy something to use alongside it. I resumed my daily habit of browsing classic cars for sale, looking at everything from a Beetle to an S14 Silvia. Interestingly enough I very nearly bought a Silvia, but was beaten to the post. It needed a lot of work though, a friend of mine is a student at Birmingham uni and it was their project car that'd been forgotten about for a few years, they were selling it to fund their Formula Student endeavours. After I lost out on the Silvia I carried on looking but there's so many different cars out there at all sorts of prices I didn't know what to get.
Then, last week, a 1990 GT2 in white popped up on Facebook Marketplace, sold by a guy that I was already familiar with through a local car club, and for a really good price. He said it was a clean and solid car, it just 'runs like crap' (exact words used in the ad
). It sparked my interest (pun intended) straight away, but it already had 79 comments on it by the time I saw it, and I presumed he had a line of people waiting to buy it. I spoke with my parents about it since I still live with them, and while it's my money and my car, it's still their garage I'll be taking up at the end of the day. They seemed keen on it, and I asked the seller if it was still for sale. To my surprise it was, so I asked him for a few more details on it. Nearly a week passed and I got no reply, so I presumed he'd either sold it or decided to keep it. My mum offered to message him, and I said no out of fear of annoying him or looking desperate, but in true mum fashion she messaged him anyway. For some reason, he replied to my mum's messages, and she explained that I was genuinely interested in the car and had the money waiting. The guy then suddenly realised he knew who I was, felt embarassed he'd ignored my messages thinking I was just a tyre kicker, and messaged me back giving me details on the car. This was on a Friday (I'd originally messaged him the previous Saturday), and I arranged to view the car the following day. Took my dad with me since he knows more than me about older cars, and my mum came along too since she helped set it up (plus she likes cars too and wanted to look at it anyway). Within about half an hour of being there, I'd decided I wanted it. It was clean, no major rust, no signs of major damage, no welding and none needed either. The rear axle was in a better condition than the Panda's, and I'm not kidding! The car had obviously been garaged most of its life. It'd had a blow over at some point, there was some pretty nasty overspray in the wheel arches and under the bonnet, but nothing too bad. The car started fine after the help of some jump leads, and ran fine until it came off the choke, which is when it started struggling and misfiring, which told me it had some kind of fuelling issue. I had a look through the paperwork, which was a pretty large folder of various invoices, and a Haynes manual from when the car was new, with dirty pages to suit. I told the guy I'd have it, we shook hands, and the deal was done.
I arranged to have the car recovered, since it probably wouldn't make the journey home, even though it was only half an hour away. Last night a friend of the seller's (and someone else I'm also familiar with through the previously mentioned car club) brought it home for me, and I drove it for the first time backing it into the garage. That's the first time I've actually properly driven a car older than the Panda. It wasn't far obviously, but the throttle response from a cable is ten times better than the half a second delay I get in the Panda. First time driving a car without power steering too, and to be honest I didn't think it was that bad at all. It ran fine backing it into the garage, and even drove itself on to the recovery truck when the guy picked it up. It's obviously getting enough fuel with the choke out, but once that goes in, that's when it struggles.
All in all, I'm really happy with the car, really glad I bought it, and can't wait to get to work on it.
Photos from when I viewed it:
On the truck, coming home for the first time:
Apart from the fuelling issue, there's a few other little things it needs to get it perfect. As is with most cars of this vintage, the dash is cracked, but there's plenty of tutorials out there on how to fix them. The boot carpet is missing, but there's a company that makes them new for about £45. The rear view mirror is no longer on the windscreen and is currently on the passenger seat, but nothing a bit of double-sided tape can't fix. It has an aftermarket stereo that doesn't fit properly, I don't even know if that works yet, but I'm not bothered if it does or not since single DIN stereos are so cheap these days. The front bumper is a bit wonky as you might be able to tell in some photos, but I'm sure I can adjust it. The last recorded timing belt change was in 2007 at 85k miles, the clocks are now on 185k but the car itself is more likely to be at about 120k since it appears to have had the clocks changed at some point. The MOT history goes from 98k one year to 175k the next, and I very much doubt someone covered that many miles in a year. The timing belt looks insanely easy to do compared to what I'm used to, just the belt and tensioner to change, no dampers/rollers/water pumps. Will probably service it too, give it the full works. Should keep me busy over the summer!
Also, for those wondering, he's called Sylvester.
The Panda looks especially great in profile with the new fitment!
