(Not really a build thread and unlikely to be one but please move if necessary)
Damn you Facebook Marketplace. Anyone who uses it regularly will know that it's a terrible system that we mugs only persist with because there are sometimes bargains to be had. One of it's many flaws is the way that if you so much as hover on something it then proceeds to bombard you with nothing but whatever that thing was. Now this can sometimes be useful as it was recently when I was looking for a Mk3 Scirocco requiring work that I could get for my son and I to work on and he could then use as his first car. That car could have a thread of it's own (bit too modern) but the short story is that we bought a 2010 car that someone had bought from Copart and decided to sell on rather than repair (yes, I should have walked away but paid too much when my heart won over my head as he wanted it).
That car required a door, wing, bonnet, bumper and wing mirror. We decided to glue/stitch the bumper back together, straighten what we could of the damaged panels and then use it and restore it as and when bits in colour came up and Marketplace slowly presented me with what we needed. However, to this day it continues to bombard me with Sciroccos and Scirocco parts and about 6 weeks ago another Mk3 requiring work popped up local to me and too cheap to ignore, although I did try for about 3 days. Hence we now have 2 Mk3s, the latest of which needs a mechatronics rebuild (ongoing). Anyway, I digress.
Now one reason I was happy for my son to get a tatty Scirocco as his first drive was that my first car was a tatty Mk1 TS (v. early, 1975 vintage) and, like many other people and their first cars, I adored that Scirocco. Went on a European tour in it, thrashed it, had my first wee bump in it and I never actually got rid of it but when I couldn't afford to insure it any more I left it in a car park and shortly after a 'can't park here' note appeared on the screen it disappeared and was presumably scrapped. R.I.P. GTC 290N.
Cut to a couple of weeks ago, I've had my fill of Sciroccos but Marketplace is still convinced all I want is another, when an advert pops up that I could barely believe. Must be a scam but I clicked and read it, looked at the picture and read it again. Surely not. It had been placed a couple of hours previously and read as follows 'Two Mk1 Sciroccos that have been standing for as long as I can remember. One is a GLS, the other is a Storm. Best offer over £100 takes them.' Mind Blown. The picture showed them in an overgrown front garden with various other scrappers and they looked mostly complete. Could this really be a Scirocco Storm for less than scrap money? Now I know this isn't everyone's dream, but for me it's on my top 5 list, very near the top. (To be fair and honest, I already have my number 1 but that's also a long, long way from being roadworthy). Now these aren't even worth all that much, which considering their rarity is a surprise. One very low mileage, one owner car did apparently make £33k(!!!) last year but there are still half decent Storms out there needing a bit of TLC for a lot less than the equivalent Mk1 Golf GTis. Still in disbelief I messaged the guy and offered £100 each to get the conversation going. The next day he replied with 'Thanks, I'll let you know if you are the highest bidder'. So now what - do I up my bid or ask what would seal the deal? I decided to ask if I could view so I could make a better offer. He took a while to come back and wasn't keen, saying when he'd listed other bits people didn't show up (welcome to FB Marketplace) and he didn't want viewings as the property was unoccupied. Eventually we spoke properly on the phone and he began to see I was serious so we arranged a viewing. He wouldn't give me the address but arranged to meet me at a local petrol station and take me there. I called my mate, told him to get ready as I was picking him up in half an hour and we were off to view something special. I knew they'd be bad but when we got to the cars it was clear that they were bad bad and beyond financially viable restoration. But they were pretty much complete. They had been standing outside for nearly 30 years and the weather and wildlife had not been kind to them. The Storm had it's leather interior and badges and it's GTi engine (sadly the Storm front spoiler was missing) but both floors had gone full Flintstones and most panels had at least one hole. The GLS was also mostly complete and looked initially to be slightly less of a basket case. I had a good look around them, had a nice chat with the seller and went away to think about it. My mate laughed and said 'Ah well, never mind, was worth a look'. Me being me, I totted up the parts that had value minus the hassle it would be to collect, store, break and sell them and made another offer the next day. Damn, he accepted it, hence the title - WTF have I done. I got them for scrap money.
You know when you make an offer so low that they are obviously going to refuse it or it would be beaten by someone else so then when it's accepted you are almost disappointed? Well, that's what happened but I gave him my word I'd collect so that's what I'd do. I have a mate with a recovery truck but with all (8) tyres not only flat but completely rotted away how would I get them out? I decided to go back the next day and see if I could at least get some of the wheels to turn. I had a spare set so could swap them to be able to pull them onto the truck. I had a plan.
The Storm was first and it didn't take long to jack up each corner. Fronts turned OK, backs needed a bit if persuasion but some gentle massaging with a club hammer on the drums and I had all 4 wheels turning. Next I jacked up the front of the GLS - one wheel good, one stuck but again not too hard to persuade the pads to part with the disk and we had movement. Finally it was to the back of the GLS. Now this was very low to the ground and I couldn't get the jack anywhere underneath so took a risk and jacked it up on the tow eye that is attached to the rear bumper. There was a bit of crunching as the bumper started to take the strain (and I found out later, rip the captive nuts out of the rusty chassis) but it went up. The rear beam, however, decided it would rather not move from it's 30 year slumber and completely parted from the chassis. Oh c**k. By now it was pouring with rain and I was soaked through so I went home to cry and have a think about Plan B.
I decided it was best to ignore this slight glitch and to collect the Storm and see if the GLS situation might not be as bad once the sun came out. Maybe overnight it would have had second thoughts and decided it wanted to be rescued after all. Thankfully the Storm loaded OK and was dropped off at my unit. You can see that the floor has completely lost the will to live.
We then went back for the GLS and it was just as bad as you can imagine. The only option was to stick two decent wheels on the front and hope that A) the winch was up to the task of dragging it onto the truck with the flat rear wheels locked solid and jammed up against the arches and the beam hanging by the struts and B) the car would remain in one piece as it skidded its way up the ramps. It took a while and kept catching on the truck as the rear beam was now on the ground but with some levering we got there. We strapped it down and got back to the yard to consider how the hell we were going to get if off again. A couple of days later another good friend on the estate came trundling along with his forklift and we very carefully lifted it off. Job done and it was still in one piece, albeit with some considerable weight reduction - apologies if you were behind us on the A10 last week, driving through the rust cloud behind us.
So here they are, safe and awaiting the next move. I did blast them with the pressure washer to remove the worst of the dirt and moss and to make the Storm (left) look great from a good 50-60ft away. In the dark. Make no mistake though, they are rotten.
I have no real plans for what I am going to do with these beauties but for now I suspect I'll just enjoy having them here and trying to preserve them, or at least attempting to slow down their obvious desire to go back to nature and rot into the ground. My head knows that there is very unlikely to be a build thread for either of them, my heart on the other hand still yearns for a Mk1 Storm...
Cheers
Simon
PS Apologies for being a long time lurker who rarely comments, but I promise to make an effort from now on.
Damn you Facebook Marketplace. Anyone who uses it regularly will know that it's a terrible system that we mugs only persist with because there are sometimes bargains to be had. One of it's many flaws is the way that if you so much as hover on something it then proceeds to bombard you with nothing but whatever that thing was. Now this can sometimes be useful as it was recently when I was looking for a Mk3 Scirocco requiring work that I could get for my son and I to work on and he could then use as his first car. That car could have a thread of it's own (bit too modern) but the short story is that we bought a 2010 car that someone had bought from Copart and decided to sell on rather than repair (yes, I should have walked away but paid too much when my heart won over my head as he wanted it).
That car required a door, wing, bonnet, bumper and wing mirror. We decided to glue/stitch the bumper back together, straighten what we could of the damaged panels and then use it and restore it as and when bits in colour came up and Marketplace slowly presented me with what we needed. However, to this day it continues to bombard me with Sciroccos and Scirocco parts and about 6 weeks ago another Mk3 requiring work popped up local to me and too cheap to ignore, although I did try for about 3 days. Hence we now have 2 Mk3s, the latest of which needs a mechatronics rebuild (ongoing). Anyway, I digress.
Now one reason I was happy for my son to get a tatty Scirocco as his first drive was that my first car was a tatty Mk1 TS (v. early, 1975 vintage) and, like many other people and their first cars, I adored that Scirocco. Went on a European tour in it, thrashed it, had my first wee bump in it and I never actually got rid of it but when I couldn't afford to insure it any more I left it in a car park and shortly after a 'can't park here' note appeared on the screen it disappeared and was presumably scrapped. R.I.P. GTC 290N.
Cut to a couple of weeks ago, I've had my fill of Sciroccos but Marketplace is still convinced all I want is another, when an advert pops up that I could barely believe. Must be a scam but I clicked and read it, looked at the picture and read it again. Surely not. It had been placed a couple of hours previously and read as follows 'Two Mk1 Sciroccos that have been standing for as long as I can remember. One is a GLS, the other is a Storm. Best offer over £100 takes them.' Mind Blown. The picture showed them in an overgrown front garden with various other scrappers and they looked mostly complete. Could this really be a Scirocco Storm for less than scrap money? Now I know this isn't everyone's dream, but for me it's on my top 5 list, very near the top. (To be fair and honest, I already have my number 1 but that's also a long, long way from being roadworthy). Now these aren't even worth all that much, which considering their rarity is a surprise. One very low mileage, one owner car did apparently make £33k(!!!) last year but there are still half decent Storms out there needing a bit of TLC for a lot less than the equivalent Mk1 Golf GTis. Still in disbelief I messaged the guy and offered £100 each to get the conversation going. The next day he replied with 'Thanks, I'll let you know if you are the highest bidder'. So now what - do I up my bid or ask what would seal the deal? I decided to ask if I could view so I could make a better offer. He took a while to come back and wasn't keen, saying when he'd listed other bits people didn't show up (welcome to FB Marketplace) and he didn't want viewings as the property was unoccupied. Eventually we spoke properly on the phone and he began to see I was serious so we arranged a viewing. He wouldn't give me the address but arranged to meet me at a local petrol station and take me there. I called my mate, told him to get ready as I was picking him up in half an hour and we were off to view something special. I knew they'd be bad but when we got to the cars it was clear that they were bad bad and beyond financially viable restoration. But they were pretty much complete. They had been standing outside for nearly 30 years and the weather and wildlife had not been kind to them. The Storm had it's leather interior and badges and it's GTi engine (sadly the Storm front spoiler was missing) but both floors had gone full Flintstones and most panels had at least one hole. The GLS was also mostly complete and looked initially to be slightly less of a basket case. I had a good look around them, had a nice chat with the seller and went away to think about it. My mate laughed and said 'Ah well, never mind, was worth a look'. Me being me, I totted up the parts that had value minus the hassle it would be to collect, store, break and sell them and made another offer the next day. Damn, he accepted it, hence the title - WTF have I done. I got them for scrap money.
You know when you make an offer so low that they are obviously going to refuse it or it would be beaten by someone else so then when it's accepted you are almost disappointed? Well, that's what happened but I gave him my word I'd collect so that's what I'd do. I have a mate with a recovery truck but with all (8) tyres not only flat but completely rotted away how would I get them out? I decided to go back the next day and see if I could at least get some of the wheels to turn. I had a spare set so could swap them to be able to pull them onto the truck. I had a plan.
The Storm was first and it didn't take long to jack up each corner. Fronts turned OK, backs needed a bit if persuasion but some gentle massaging with a club hammer on the drums and I had all 4 wheels turning. Next I jacked up the front of the GLS - one wheel good, one stuck but again not too hard to persuade the pads to part with the disk and we had movement. Finally it was to the back of the GLS. Now this was very low to the ground and I couldn't get the jack anywhere underneath so took a risk and jacked it up on the tow eye that is attached to the rear bumper. There was a bit of crunching as the bumper started to take the strain (and I found out later, rip the captive nuts out of the rusty chassis) but it went up. The rear beam, however, decided it would rather not move from it's 30 year slumber and completely parted from the chassis. Oh c**k. By now it was pouring with rain and I was soaked through so I went home to cry and have a think about Plan B.
I decided it was best to ignore this slight glitch and to collect the Storm and see if the GLS situation might not be as bad once the sun came out. Maybe overnight it would have had second thoughts and decided it wanted to be rescued after all. Thankfully the Storm loaded OK and was dropped off at my unit. You can see that the floor has completely lost the will to live.
We then went back for the GLS and it was just as bad as you can imagine. The only option was to stick two decent wheels on the front and hope that A) the winch was up to the task of dragging it onto the truck with the flat rear wheels locked solid and jammed up against the arches and the beam hanging by the struts and B) the car would remain in one piece as it skidded its way up the ramps. It took a while and kept catching on the truck as the rear beam was now on the ground but with some levering we got there. We strapped it down and got back to the yard to consider how the hell we were going to get if off again. A couple of days later another good friend on the estate came trundling along with his forklift and we very carefully lifted it off. Job done and it was still in one piece, albeit with some considerable weight reduction - apologies if you were behind us on the A10 last week, driving through the rust cloud behind us.
So here they are, safe and awaiting the next move. I did blast them with the pressure washer to remove the worst of the dirt and moss and to make the Storm (left) look great from a good 50-60ft away. In the dark. Make no mistake though, they are rotten.
I have no real plans for what I am going to do with these beauties but for now I suspect I'll just enjoy having them here and trying to preserve them, or at least attempting to slow down their obvious desire to go back to nature and rot into the ground. My head knows that there is very unlikely to be a build thread for either of them, my heart on the other hand still yearns for a Mk1 Storm...
Cheers
Simon
PS Apologies for being a long time lurker who rarely comments, but I promise to make an effort from now on.
