1977 Volkswagen Derby LS

[styleheck]

Have been lurking for a few years and finally found myself a retro motor worthy of becoming an endless well to throw money in.
Not my first retro(ish) car, had some Polo mk3's, a Volvo 145 Express and an early Opel Corsa (Vauxhall Nova)

Always loved the 1st gen Volkswagen Polo's, especially the Derby because of it's big boot.
Somehow got the chance to get one, 250 quid later I was the owner of a very, very slow, rusty old 37 year old Volkswagen Derby.



Bone stock, 1100cc 50bhp engine and got converted to run on LPG (Autogas) about 2 years ago. (happens to make it even slower as stock, but gotta love the cheap fuel)
Since the Dutch government decided to let retro-car owners pay ridiculous amounts of Road-tax next year with LPG or Diesel fueled cars, the LPG tank has to go.
Too bad, since it's equipped with a high capacity OMVL converter, ideal for a turbo setup...



The day after I bought it I fitted a decent suspension kit and painted the ''banana's'' behind the rear side windows flat black. It finally drives how I feel it's meant to.


Had some MK3 Golf wheels laying around with 165/50 R14 tires, they happen fit the Derby quite nicely.
The hubcapped steelies that came with the car sadly didn't match in either model, width and ET.


Something I'm still not sure of is the color of the wheels, it doesn't attract the hoards of chicks I was initially hoping for.

[styleheck]

Already collected some stuff to get the car back on running on petrol, and make it a tiny bit faster than before.

Cammed and chipped 1.3 Polo G40 Engine, sold the G-lader already and ordered myself a very small turbo that will fit the Derby front without any cutting.
Hopefully the mailman will deliver the package with the turbo tomorrow.



Also got some wheels and tires, 7J wide 13 inch chrome Powertech Mangels, and a set of 145/60 R13 rubbers. Still need to mount them.
And still looking for a used MK1 Golf coilover set to fit the Derby since it can't possibly go any lower on just lowering springs.

Ordered all the different replacement sheet metal I could find online, since it's still a heap of rust.
 

After attacking the car with an angle grinder, apart from the usual rust, I found this.

Vanished rear axle mount. Pretty scary if you ask me.

Luckily a polo 3 chassis is pretty much the same.
After 3 hours of goofing around on the junkyard with my small 15 year old angle grinder, I finally got my piece of chassis out.


And that's where we are today, jacked up Derby on the driveway with a curse word-load of welding needed.

[sprintmini]

Superb little cars the Derby/ Polo
I drove a 76 Polo from the UK and toured Ireland in one quite a few years ago 875cc with two adults and two kids.
Made for a terrific holiday.
A friend of mine did the G40 conversion on a Derby for use in autotesting,I will see if I can dig out some photos of that car.
Your Derby looks the business and whatever you do, don't change the colour of the wheels.
Good luck with the welding.

[Rich]

Oct 1, 2013 22:51:50 GMT styleheck said:

And still looking for a used MK1 Golf coilover set to fit the Derby since it can't possibly go any lower on just lowering springs.

Unless the derby used different suspension to the Polo up front then mk1 golf suspension won't fit without replacing hubs and all sorts, which I'm not even sure if it's easily feasible due to the location of the steering rack on the polo.

[styleheck]

I am aware of that, the rear should be a direct fit, but needs some washers to get it mounted right.
The front I'm planning on welding the Polo steering arms arms on the golf coilovers.
Still need to figure out if I'm going to weld the coilovers into polo hubs or modify the golf mk1 hub to fit the polo.
I'd prefer that last one since a bit of camber can be added that way, to get the stance right.

[wheeler]

Nice little car! I'm jealous of your straight bumpers!

[styleheck]

Thanks, to bad that the rear bumper's chrome is in very bad shape.

Finally got my little turbo delivered, me happy! Brand new IHI RHB32 VO4 spec.(stock on the Charade GTTI and probably more peppy little J-cars)

Was a steal for only 50 quid. Price of a new one seems to be around 280 USD on the bay of E, but I'm not sure if that's a real one or a Chinese replica.

[sprintmini]

Can I ask why you have chosen the turbo over the supercharger?

[sprintmini]

Sorry double post.

[styleheck]

With the G-Lader the front and the grill needs to get chopped, I'm not a big fan of how that looks.
(pic from google)

[Rich]

Oct 2, 2013 8:29:26 GMT styleheck said:

I am aware of that, the rear should be a direct fit, but needs some washers to get it mounted right.
The front I'm planning on welding the Polo steering arms arms on the golf coilovers.
Still need to figure out if I'm going to weld the coilovers into polo hubs or modify the golf mk1 hub to fit the polo.
I'd prefer that last one since a bit of camber can be added that way, to get the stance right.

Cool cool. Sounds like a serious little planed car over all

[styleheck]

Made some progress in the last few days.

Finished welding on the inner front fenders and applied a mix of prehistoric anti-rust paints I found at my uncle's place.


Got the left door free of rust and nice and straight, might need a bit of welding on the front corner but I ran out of time today.
The crappy 2 quid aerosol primer is temporary since there is rain coming tonight.



Less positive side:

Removed the petrol tank and found out the right side of the chassis is also fooked. Not as bad as the left side but yet more welding than expected.
Luckily the tank itself is savable.


And got this in the mail, 1977 Derby sales brochure in Dutch and matching brochure with the technical bits & color codes.
Package also contained a Haynes manual for the early Polo/Derby's, but already managed to get it lost before I took the picture.

Gotta love auction sites!

[styleheck]

Starting to doubt it's worth saving but whatever, I just have to keep going...
Behind every cut happens to be a new hoard of tinworms and I'm starting to believe the whole rear end is pretty much FUBAR.

Lucky here is still some positive news, went to a small end-of-season meeting from the Dutch Polo86c Register last sunday, and got a set of Corrado seats from a fellow Polo nut. In my opinion the best mod for a polo, ever.

Bit lower and longer than original polo seats, witch results in more room for the legs and and loads of headroom.



Now I can finally mount my period correct Astrali aftermarket steering wheel without getting my legs stuck.
Picture of a similar one:

Except mine has polished spokes and a Volvo center cap, Ill probably leave it that way in memory of my very first car, a Volvo 145 Express.

Did some refurbishing and welding on the rear axle last week to make it look nice and a bit stiffer.
Too bad I already painted it, since I still need to weld a stabilizer in between like the later G40 and GT Polo's (totally forgot about that)


And got some ''Special products company EZ shims'' from a guy on the Dutch Volkswagen forums, he had a box of these delivered from the US of A.
Pretty cool stuff, enables you to adjust the toe-in and camber on the rear axle by 1.5 degrees.
Left the toe in 0 degrees and the camber on -1.5.



Also bought myself some Golf MK1 coilovers, but they aren't delivered yet.

[styleheck]

Well sadly this one has met its maker a few weeks back...
Kept all the nice early derby/polo parts and scrapped the shell.

Just too much rust to cope with


Wondering if you can close a topic urself or not?

[lovejoy]

Gutted to hear you've scrapped it, these cars love to hide rot don't they!?! I've come very close to scrapping mine a few times!

[polojoe]

Shame to hear that the shell was too far gone - will you get another Mk1 in it's place?

Regards to this:

Oct 2, 2013 14:14:52 GMT styleheck said:

With the G-Lader the front and the grill needs to get chopped, I'm not a big fan of how that looks.

Just to confirm that a G-Lader can fit behind a standard mk1 Grill. My brother managed it on his (not bragging or out, just in case you ever wanted to re-fit a G-lader to that engine!!!) He got rid of the shell in the end because the chassis wasn't up to the power hike, some welding/bracing is required ideally to a mk1 shell.




Joe

[styleheck]

That looks like a MK1F Grill. Fairly sure you don't stand a chance fitting one behind an early grill

Engine has found it's place in my MK3 polo GT.
I did saved all the early Derby parts since I do plan on getting another (this time savable) mk1 in the future.