Hello everyone!
I've been lurking around this forum for a while now, reading different threads and trying to motivate myself. But I didn't have a user, since I thought, that I would not make a thread about my car. But, since I'm just sitting at my local VW dealer, I reconsidered. Also, it's going to be a thread full of many pictures, bear that in mind.
First of all, I'm from Estonia, so some modifications will be hard to do (for example, retrofitting a leather interior), since there aren't many Corrados here. And because at the moment there are moths flying around in my wallet and that will be for a while, I'll just see what I can do with things I have. For example, hands and my knowledge as a auto technician.
Anyway. I've wanted to own a Corrado for a while, to be honest. Mostly because I like the styling and the idea of the car, but also because our local VW club is very nice, I've been associated with them from 2009, when I got my first Mk2 Golf. It was a failure, but then again, it was a great way to learn. So, fast-forward to autumn of 2015. I had a set of RH ZW1 wheels for sale, drove a W202 C230K from 1995 and had ha 97 VW Vento VR6 as a backup car. And one day, someone wanted to offer me a car as a trade offer for my wheels. The car was about 1200€ more expensive than the wheels, but nevertheless, I was interested. Who knows, maybe it's a BMW or a better Mercedes or who knows.
But no, it was a Corrado! But since the price difference was something I couldn't afford, I made a deal that maybe we'll make something of it, but in December.
I was sold to be honest, and started looking for ways to finance the purchase. I also did some digging and found out that it had been in the local VW club from 2009, so quite a bit of history. Also, it had been in a local car magazine also some time ago. So, some pictures of the car in it's former glory.
But, since there had been an owner between my purchase of the car and the owner who had it from 2009 to spring of 2015, some changes had been made to the car..
The owner between me and the long-term owner was a chap in his mid 20-s. But his taste in car modifications was something I didn't fancy. So, something in me wanted to save the car from further humiliation.
The fastest way of financing a purchase of one car is to sell some of the other ones. Since I didn't really have a need for the Vento, I thought I could let it go for a small amount of 1000€. But, my dreams were shattered. Not a single inquiry was made. Even though the car is an ex-police car, with a 145kW from the engine, instead of 128 from the factory. And that's with 385k km on the clock. So, no luck. Started looking for different ways, tried selling some parts, but nothing.
Since I was on a vacation, I went to my friends house for a cup of coffee. He's a police officer, who needed to drive about 300 km to get to work and back. And that's almost every day. Since his old 190D wasn't up for the challenge in his mind, he was looking for a new car. He used my Vento for a while, but didn't like it enough to buy it. So, over a cup of coffee I jokingly offered my Mercedes to him. It was a 1995 C230K, black with a black leather interior, lowering springs and had done a bit of maintenance to it. Because he knew what I had done to it, he was interested and asked, how much I wanted for it. So, I thought a bit and said 2500€. And, he accepted. So we came to terms on payment and so, I was 500€ richer at that moment.
As soon as I had the money, I also made a payment plan with the seller and started working on getting the car to me. Since the car was 150km away, I needed transport. At first I thought about a train, but since it's an old VW, problems will occur on the way. Luckily, my father was in Finland, and wasn't with his own car, so I made arrangements with the seller to go see and make a deal with the car on the 16th of December.
But, since I said it was and old VW, at about 10 pm the day before collection, the seller messaged me that the car had died at a supermarket parking lot. It was something I really didn't want. But, after a bit of diagnosing, the fault was with the in-tank fuel pump. So, due to that small thing, I started my journey at 5 AM the following morning.
At about 7 AM, I had arrived at my destination city. After a bit of wandering around, I managed to find the seller and got the keys to the car. And after a bit of wandering after that, I got to the car.
And although it had a lot of things that were off-putting, it was still love at first sight. So, rolled up my sleeves and got the fuel pump out. Luckily, it was the type of pump which was easily replaceable. VW used two types of fuel pumps, one was a complete unit with the sender and such and at a price of 130€, it was something I really didn't want to deal with. The other one is the type where the pump is changeable. So, went to a local parts store and asked for the pump. At first i was bummed, they said that that type of pump for that car is no longer available. Luckily, one from an Audi fitted, so I was very happy with that.
After a morning of dealing with things I didn't want to, I finally had fixed everything and so, it was time start and hear it for the first time. It was quite nerve-racking, to be honest, because if I discovered something I didn't like, then everything would've been for nothing. But it fired right up! And worked perfectly! I was quite chuffed. So, drove it to the nearest petrol station, filled it to the brim and took it for a test drive. Since I didn't discover anything, that I didn't like, I went to pick up my dad from the port, got to the Corrado, drove to the seller, gave him the wheels and half of the money and started my journey home!
And the car drove perfectly. The exhaust was a bit loud and there was no stereo, but everything else worked a charm. Even the rear spoiler and sunroof. But, there was a small problem. The car was very eye-catching, which isn't a bad thing, but it is when you have summer tires on during winter. In Estonia, you aren't allowed to drive with summer tires on the winter period. And that was bad news, since something like that might land you a fine.
But sure enough, 7 km from home, this happened:
Luckily, the police officers were very nice. They actually gave tips on what should I do to the car, didn't say anything about the red tail lights and front tint, that weren't allowed. But pointed out the summer tires and a loose battery. They took away my MOT, but let me drive home. And didn't fine me, which was also nice.
And so, here it is. These are the first pictures of it in the daylight, in front of my house.
Anyway, now you get the part of the car being off-putting and attracting the law.
I'll make another post to follow up, so this is the end of Part I - The Challenge Of Buying A Corrado!
I've been lurking around this forum for a while now, reading different threads and trying to motivate myself. But I didn't have a user, since I thought, that I would not make a thread about my car. But, since I'm just sitting at my local VW dealer, I reconsidered. Also, it's going to be a thread full of many pictures, bear that in mind.
First of all, I'm from Estonia, so some modifications will be hard to do (for example, retrofitting a leather interior), since there aren't many Corrados here. And because at the moment there are moths flying around in my wallet and that will be for a while, I'll just see what I can do with things I have. For example, hands and my knowledge as a auto technician.
Anyway. I've wanted to own a Corrado for a while, to be honest. Mostly because I like the styling and the idea of the car, but also because our local VW club is very nice, I've been associated with them from 2009, when I got my first Mk2 Golf. It was a failure, but then again, it was a great way to learn. So, fast-forward to autumn of 2015. I had a set of RH ZW1 wheels for sale, drove a W202 C230K from 1995 and had ha 97 VW Vento VR6 as a backup car. And one day, someone wanted to offer me a car as a trade offer for my wheels. The car was about 1200€ more expensive than the wheels, but nevertheless, I was interested. Who knows, maybe it's a BMW or a better Mercedes or who knows.
But no, it was a Corrado! But since the price difference was something I couldn't afford, I made a deal that maybe we'll make something of it, but in December.
I was sold to be honest, and started looking for ways to finance the purchase. I also did some digging and found out that it had been in the local VW club from 2009, so quite a bit of history. Also, it had been in a local car magazine also some time ago. So, some pictures of the car in it's former glory.
But, since there had been an owner between my purchase of the car and the owner who had it from 2009 to spring of 2015, some changes had been made to the car..
The owner between me and the long-term owner was a chap in his mid 20-s. But his taste in car modifications was something I didn't fancy. So, something in me wanted to save the car from further humiliation.
The fastest way of financing a purchase of one car is to sell some of the other ones. Since I didn't really have a need for the Vento, I thought I could let it go for a small amount of 1000€. But, my dreams were shattered. Not a single inquiry was made. Even though the car is an ex-police car, with a 145kW from the engine, instead of 128 from the factory. And that's with 385k km on the clock. So, no luck. Started looking for different ways, tried selling some parts, but nothing.
Since I was on a vacation, I went to my friends house for a cup of coffee. He's a police officer, who needed to drive about 300 km to get to work and back. And that's almost every day. Since his old 190D wasn't up for the challenge in his mind, he was looking for a new car. He used my Vento for a while, but didn't like it enough to buy it. So, over a cup of coffee I jokingly offered my Mercedes to him. It was a 1995 C230K, black with a black leather interior, lowering springs and had done a bit of maintenance to it. Because he knew what I had done to it, he was interested and asked, how much I wanted for it. So, I thought a bit and said 2500€. And, he accepted. So we came to terms on payment and so, I was 500€ richer at that moment.
As soon as I had the money, I also made a payment plan with the seller and started working on getting the car to me. Since the car was 150km away, I needed transport. At first I thought about a train, but since it's an old VW, problems will occur on the way. Luckily, my father was in Finland, and wasn't with his own car, so I made arrangements with the seller to go see and make a deal with the car on the 16th of December.
But, since I said it was and old VW, at about 10 pm the day before collection, the seller messaged me that the car had died at a supermarket parking lot. It was something I really didn't want. But, after a bit of diagnosing, the fault was with the in-tank fuel pump. So, due to that small thing, I started my journey at 5 AM the following morning.
At about 7 AM, I had arrived at my destination city. After a bit of wandering around, I managed to find the seller and got the keys to the car. And after a bit of wandering after that, I got to the car.
And although it had a lot of things that were off-putting, it was still love at first sight. So, rolled up my sleeves and got the fuel pump out. Luckily, it was the type of pump which was easily replaceable. VW used two types of fuel pumps, one was a complete unit with the sender and such and at a price of 130€, it was something I really didn't want to deal with. The other one is the type where the pump is changeable. So, went to a local parts store and asked for the pump. At first i was bummed, they said that that type of pump for that car is no longer available. Luckily, one from an Audi fitted, so I was very happy with that.
After a morning of dealing with things I didn't want to, I finally had fixed everything and so, it was time start and hear it for the first time. It was quite nerve-racking, to be honest, because if I discovered something I didn't like, then everything would've been for nothing. But it fired right up! And worked perfectly! I was quite chuffed. So, drove it to the nearest petrol station, filled it to the brim and took it for a test drive. Since I didn't discover anything, that I didn't like, I went to pick up my dad from the port, got to the Corrado, drove to the seller, gave him the wheels and half of the money and started my journey home!
And the car drove perfectly. The exhaust was a bit loud and there was no stereo, but everything else worked a charm. Even the rear spoiler and sunroof. But, there was a small problem. The car was very eye-catching, which isn't a bad thing, but it is when you have summer tires on during winter. In Estonia, you aren't allowed to drive with summer tires on the winter period. And that was bad news, since something like that might land you a fine.
But sure enough, 7 km from home, this happened:
Luckily, the police officers were very nice. They actually gave tips on what should I do to the car, didn't say anything about the red tail lights and front tint, that weren't allowed. But pointed out the summer tires and a loose battery. They took away my MOT, but let me drive home. And didn't fine me, which was also nice.
And so, here it is. These are the first pictures of it in the daylight, in front of my house.
Anyway, now you get the part of the car being off-putting and attracting the law.
I'll make another post to follow up, so this is the end of Part I - The Challenge Of Buying A Corrado!
