Skip to main content

Ratty Rescue: Won’t-Last-Long MK1 GTI

This week’s Ratty Rescue won’t be around for long, so act fast. For just a little scratch you can get your hands on this rough Rabbit: a coveted MK1 GTI.

When you buy an older home, you always look for one with good “bones.” You try to ignore all the surface stuff and get down to the underlying structure; if the foundation is crumbling, or the wiring is all hacked up, then you’re looking at loads of money for repairs. Bad bones. Searching for a restorable car can be similar. Yes, the outside and inside are crusty, but how are the mechanicals, the unibody frame, and the electronics? If they’re decent, that can be more than half the battle to get the car back on the road.

[See image gallery at www.vwvortex.com]

This 1983 GTI has great bones. The ad lacks a lot of details, but it’s clear from the description and the photos that this car can be a runner pretty easily. The shock towers are clean, the body panels appear to be straight, and the seller even got the car running (kind of). It has snowflake wheels that look like they’re in decent shape. And check out the aftermarket hatch spoiler. Very slick. Despite the black driver’s door, this was a white car when it rolled off the assembly line.

Inside there’s matching front and rear black (vinyl? leather?) seats that are not original but in very good condition. Was the last buyer fixing this car up? Maybe they got as far as the interior and some exterior bodywork, and then life happened and they never got back to it. It looks like the odometer reads 164,000 miles. But you’ll want to verify that with the seller.

So if you’re looking for a MK1 GTI project car, this one’s got serious potential. But with a low asking price of $2200, it won’t be available for long. Check out the ad on thesamba.com, or go see the car in person; it’s in Maryville, TN.

The post Ratty Rescue: Won’t-Last-Long MK1 GTI appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2A23qLQ
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as...
Post a Comment
Read more

T-Prime Makes World Premiere at Beijing

[ See image gallery at www.vwvortex.com ] The SUV segment is one of the fastest growing segments in the world and Volkswagen is showing the world how to do it. With the new T-Prime Concept GTE that was revealed today, the company is showing off all of the technology you can look for in its coming models. The T-Prime is a full-size hybrid SUV that can go up to 31 miles on a charge and gets 87 mpg. The hybrid power station is good for 375 hp and 516 lb/ft of torque and puts the power down with 4MOTION all wheel drive. It’ll get you up to 60 in six seconds. The concept’s real party piece, though, is its interior, which features exclusively touch, gesture, and voice controls. Everything from the infotainment, to the display, and even the gears are controlled by touch-screen. The T-Prime Concept GTE is bigger than the Touareg, and design elements are likely to find their way into all of their SUVs, of which there will be many. Volkswagen is also announcing that they expect to make an S...
Post a Comment
Read more

Watch: The Stig Drives (nearly) Seven Generations of Golf GTI

With Volkswagen announcing “major” updates to the Golf, it seems an appropriate time to look back on what we’ve had so far. And who better to guide us through the rich history of the most popular European car ever made than Ben Collins, the former Stig? Some say he’s never met a GTI he doesn’t love, and that he can’t grow any of his own facial hair. All we know is … Ben Collins is actually a pretty solid presenter. Working his way through seven generations of the GTI (skipping over the Mk6) Collins tells us a little bit about each one and matches each mark to its corresponding facial hair craze. The Mk1 GTI for instance, is light and quick, but can lose traction under hard acceleration (in heavy rain). Despite that, Collins calls the Mk1 a “pure gem.” The Mk4, meanwhile, is a powerful return to form after the perhaps too sensible Mk3. Collins ends in the only way he could, with the Mk7, which accelerates faster than a Lamborghini Countach and is all kinds of wonderful. Watch, ...
Post a Comment
Read more