Ratty Rescue: Crudola Imola

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for a VWVortex member to take in a down-on-its-luck car and bring it back to its former glory. Today’s Ratty Rescue has seen better days. This 2003 GTI is a 20th Anniversary model: #630 of only 1,000 made.

The 20th Anniversary Edition GTI is really something special. The styling enhancements play on the model’s rich history. It has a stylish body kit, a more aggressive front bumper lip, polished tailpipe, red-lettered badging, Recaro seats, and special interior trim. Under the hood is the 1.8T engine cranking out 180HP sent through a 6-speed manual transmission. Hardcore GTI enthusiasts quickly snapped up all 1,000 models.

This Imola Yellow model is really rough around the edges. The seller, VWVortex member vwr321985, has a brief description of the car in our classifieds: 185,000 miles, it does not start or run, it has a clean title, the driver’s seat has a tear and a few other things. The real story here is in the photos.

[See image gallery at www.vwvortex.com]

Sadly, many of the exterior 20th AE bits are missing: the alloy wheels, the red badging, the lower lip (although it says it’s included in the sale). The wheel blocks imply the parking brake may not work. The paint appears to be good condition, the body is dent free, and no rust is visible.

Inside is more of the same. The seat bolsters are rough. One interesting thing: the passenger seat’s flip-forward handle is on the inside of the seat. Huh? A single-din radio replaces the double-din unit, and I can’t help wonder how it stays in place. Under hard acceleration does it slide out towards the back of the car? There’s also a wire here and there that appear to have broken free from behind trim panels.

While this write-up may be a little harsh, it’s not intended to be. For 185,000 miles the body shell is in pretty good condition. It simply shows the wear a car goes through in nearly 200,000 miles. This car was loved at one time. Maybe the seller ran out of time or interest (or money) and has every intention to restore it. Regardless, it can be a great car once again.

Check out the ad in our classifieds for more info. Contact vwr321985 for more information; asking price is $3000. The car is located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

The post Ratty Rescue: Crudola Imola appeared first on VWVortex.

from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2MxEi3M
via IFTTT

Comments

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...

Project Golf SportWagen- Intro

I’ve never really been one for SUVs and crossovers. The current offerings aren’t the body-on-frame, go-anywhere specialty tools I remember from my youth, and what they lack in capability, they also lack in on-road performance. The current crop isn’t terribly good at handling or being efficient, which in my opinion are major components of our ideal driving experience. So when it comes to space or utility, I usually look for something of the wagon variety- and it seems that I’m not alone. We hit quite a few shows around the east coast each summer, and we see modified Jetta SportWagens at nearly every event. Even amongst common consumers, these cars are highly sought-after. They don’t depreciate much, making even early Mk 5 2.5 versions expensive in comparison to other Jettas or Golfs of the same vintage. This year, Volkswagen launched their latest SportWagen, which is now billed as a Golf. In many ways, this latest SportWagen is the best yet and it has certai...

Vorderman Volkswagen

Search This Blog