1977 Audi 50 GLS

[folkert]

Hello I am Folkert and I am from the Netherlands, for the last several years I've been restauring an Audi 50 GLS from 1977, I bought it in Belgium 2 years ago and it's still not finished.

The man i bought it from already started on it but had too much projects to finish it. This is how I bought it:









It is complete the grill and front fenders are included, btw I am the guy in the blue sweater, the guy with the moustache is my dad.

The front fenders had a lot of rust and also the gas tank was rusted and had a dent, so I bought this 78 VW derby really cheap for parts, this car was completely rust free but it gave a chance to 3 other cars.
I bought it like this:

Than I took out everything and traded the body for new rust free chrome bumpers.

[folkert]

Than I tried on some new wheels and cleaned the interior:















all the parts from the derby:



And of course the restauration itself:
Some rust on the inner fenders:


and near the head lights:

Left:


and right:


And all the chrome parts old cars rule....
www.polo86c.nl/iB_html/uploads/post-4-10386-alles_chroom.JPG

Than untrusted the rusted parts and welded them:








some other spots:

[folkert]

I took of the gas tank and the rear axle and put the whole car on a little wagen to move it around:



Took everything out the engine bay and cleaned it and sanded the rusty spots:

Innerfenders finished:

The place where the gas tank should come+ some rusty spots finished:


The audi on the wagon:


Engine bay in primer:






The Engine:
Its a massive 1.1 with 60 bhp (10 more than the normal VW polo engine ) Cleaned it resprayed it and renewed some belts and gaskets.









The rear axle painted and the old and new gas tank in my brothers caddy:

[v8devon]

Nice one ;D

Reminds me of one of Mr Damaged's rides from a few years ago........... even down to the Red Derby parts car (which was last seen with a scaffolding pole stuck through the roof....Still got the pole actually!!!!)

Good Luck

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Thats bloody great. I wonder if there are any Audi 50's left in the UK?

[folkert]

Well the front was completely rusted, so I had to buy a new one:

It is from HS which made also the originele vw.audi parts:

Fertan, for rustbusting, no id if it helps but ok


Welded the whole in the trunk lid:


and then drilled the spot welds and the rest with the grinder:



Tried on some other wheels ( I admit I have a wheel- fetish)
Photoshop:

Mattig SSF 7j 13"


Tried the new front:



Sanded the car:






The Trunk:










The rear plate was also rusted so also had to renew it:


old one already cut out

FK sport suspension:

[dollywobbler]

Fab. Did we ever get these as an Audi in the UK? Never even knew that there was an Audi equivalent!

[folkert]

Tried it on:


Well this is my wheel collection:


These are the ones which will be fitted, in the Netherlands quite rare, but not in the UK I think:
Were like this:



Painted them:

Paint doesn't stick


After a lot of work:


Because the welding work on the inner fenders wasn;t really good and the metal quite thin, I chose to work with thin:








Finished it off better with a ?vile?



We tied the car really tight to the wagon so it wasn't gonna fall of when we were taking it to the painter:




Used rustbusting primer:

Colour even resembles the one it should be:


also emptied the parafan:


The welding spot of the front:

I sanded it again and sprayed it with Fertan and then with rustbusting primer:



Than I used kit too seal it:


Now it was finished to go to the painter, I am not sure how the original Bronz Mettalic looks like but I think its like this:




And then the big day arrived and it went to the painter:



And there it was:

[425ci]

Good work. Interesting car too. I don't recall ever having seen an Audi 50 over here in the UK.

Mike

[penski]

Seeing those pics has made me think...Did Audi do a saloon version of the 50?

If not, what about fitting the 50 trim to a Derby shell...?



*n

[folkert]

No it's like this:

Audi developed a small car so it would have a 50-80-100 so small-medium and big car, but policy changed and audi only fixed on bigger luxery cars, so VW took over the audi 50 (which was already produced in Wolfsburg) and made it the VW Polo and afterwards the Derby was developed.

They are all called: Type 86 and all the parts are the same, even the newer polo's till the g40 model.

actually on the registration it says:

Make: VW
Model: Audi 50


I will update some more tomorrow.

[st182]

thats awesome, i love these things i read about that orange one in retro cars a while back

[HoTWire]

That is great work,.. really cool stuff... love the wheel collection.

[folkert]

@ Penski I know get what you mean, this swedish guy already did it, fitted audi 50 parts to a derby:



Another pic of the collection...

[folkert]

Since my painter is taking longer than expected (expected was 3-6 weeks, its now already 6 months ) I continued on the refreshing of small parts:
Fitted the cosmics 13" 6j with 175-50-13 rubber

And I painted the radiator cover+steering ...?+ roll bar...




After a couple of weeks I got a call from a friend, that the Audi was in primer and filler and he smoothed everything perfectly:



















And since it took again a long time, I started to think about stuff, and since I was planning on fitting a bigger engine in time, I started on improving the handling:
Original Audi 50 front legs:


G40 rear axle with extra stabilising bar (anti roll bar?)


Front legs painted:


G40 rear axle in rustbusting primer:


And axle painted:


And since the normal audi 50 brakes are not sufficient, I started too look for something better:
So I bought g40 front legs and started to refresh them:

Than I fitted the sport suspension kit and painted the front legs and fitted g40 calipers so I could mount Inner ventilated discs (Brembo Max) and Ferodo DS 2500 blocks.

Result:




Renewed everything in the drum brakes:


Mail man dropped a package:


And this is where I am now at the moment, the painter is taking too much time but since I'm still a student in my last year I have not enough time, but it should have its debute this summer.

[Stu]

Superb work! What a lovely little car, I used to have a Mk1 Polo and it was a great car, always fancied an Audi 50 ;D

Keep the updates coming!

[berendd]

I hope you'll have it ready for the RR-show this summer so we can together cruize to it..

You in your 50 and I in my derby, now find some chicks who want to join us on the way...

[polardego]

folkert said:

@ Penski I know get what you mean, this swedish guy already did it, fitted audi 50 parts to a derby:

This guy is not swedish... He's from Norway and Thor Inge is a friend of mine... I can find some more pitcures of it if your intressted?

The pitcure is taken by another friend of mine, Per who is VW Audi Club Norwegians guru when it comes to almost every vag-product.

When I bought the 80 GT I was really looking for a Audi 50 my self, and didn't really know what I've really do buy.

The Audi 50 (and Polo 1) is überkool cars, and I really enjoy them.
Here is a pitcure to inspire you, another friend of my from Norway, Christer's 76 Audi 50 GLS with sunroof.

[folkert]

Oeps, I think I already made that mistake twice ;D...

Thor has his project posted on the Dutch site I'm usually on, so I read his project.. (he calls himself Gallagher?)

More pics are always welcome of course (especially of the Audi 50), btw love the way you guys take pictures.

[metty]

really love this car, keep up the good work. not going to go for set of g40 split rims then no?