Skip to main content

Find of the Day: 1978 Volkswagen GTI

The debate between buying a vehicle built to someone else’s dream spec or simply building it yourself is one that’s caused its fair share of discussion within our forums.  Today’s Find of the Day just might re-ignite such debate, as it’s been modified to a very high level with an extremely clear focus- performance.

buyitbuilt-fotdmk1-2

This GTI’s most prominent modifications reside underhood, so we might as well start there.  The 1.8 liter four has been heavily breathed on, featuring high compression pistons, a G grind Volkswagen Motorsport camshaft, port and polished cylinder head, larger throttle body and a host of other tweaks.  To make the most of this newfound power, the close-ratio 5 speed has been fitted with a 3.65 final drive and a quaff differential was installed.  The brakes and suspension have also been upgraded, and Recaro front seats ensure that the driver and copilot stay planted and comfortable.  Moving to the exterior, a quad-round grille, small bumpers and flares work to make the car closely resemble its European market equivalent.

buyitbuilt-fotdmk1-3

As with any car that is purchased post-modification, there are a few things that we’d change.  First, we noticed that this GTI does not have a tachometer, which is certainly something we’d change.  Also, the car does have a few dings and some surface rust in the driver’s side rain gutters, which would need to be addressed.  Normally these wouldn’t really be issues, but at an asking price of $22,500, it’s certainly something worth mentioning.

Additional images and information can be found right here.

The post Find of the Day: 1978 Volkswagen GTI appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/1AQ0P3W
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster Review

“Supercars just don’t excite me anymore.” These words, spoken to me over a month ago by another journalist, friend, and (so-called) enthusiast were echoing in my head for far too long, but they’ve finally been drowned out. Drowned out by the wail of a naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 engine mounted in the middle of the new Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster. My friend’s point is that back in the good old days, there was a crop of supercars that captured the imagination with amazing style, sounds, performance, and more. Today, it seems like everything is capable of supercar performance, with large luxury sedans outdoing some of the best and most dedicated teams of car nuts, while former pillars of automotive excellence are suddenly pumping out family-friendly SUVs. Beyond that, another league of supercars, dubbed hypercars have cropped up with hybrid gas-electric powertrains that make magical things happen quickly, but at the cost of the acoustic drama, visual flair, and engag...

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

    When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier.  The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow.   While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something .  To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it.  Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait.  So with this in mind, we lined our G...

Event Report: Southern Worthersee 2015

There’s been much ado about this year’s SoWo since this past Saturday night, when Instagram, Facebook and other Social Media channels exploded with images and commentary focusing on the event’s bad eggs.  But first, let’s chat a bit about the event itself. Our journey started early Thursday morning as part of the Orchid Euro/Coolwater cruise to the event.  What should have taken about 12-13 hours ended up taking much more, as we stopped to help any Volkswagen that needed our assistance.  And while the extended commute time wasn’t ideal, it proved to highlight the ‘no person left behind’ spirit of the Volkswagen community- arguably one of the scene’s best qualities. On Friday and Saturday, the town was flooded with enthusiasts, making this year’s event without a doubt the largest yet.  Attendees came from as far as California, Mexico City, and event a few straight from the original Wörthersee in Austria, and for most it was well worth the trip.  The quality o...