MK2 Type 19 differences to later cars

I have a 'type 19', with improvements from type 1G, 1H, 1J, 8N, CE9A, 50....

 

So has mine, and one of my previous ones did also. Both had 19 chassis numbers but big doors, right hand wipers etc. One is Dec 87 the other was Jan 88.

 

My sisters has 1G but has a lot of the older style stuff, like tacky dashboard, hazard switch in dash, no heated washer jets, but also has big doors, no rear washer bottle. Etc etc.

 

The only real Gti is a K-jet Gti :-) :-) :-)

 

You said it

 

It should be said there was for a while a fad for fitting the later doors to the earlier cars and VW did not do a lot to make RHD wipers, IIRC they just drilled an extra hole rather than modify the scuttle panel, so fitting the RHD wipers would not present much of a problem

 

Sorry for the necromancy, but when you say big doors what do you mean by that? I've never noticed a difference in size, am I being fick? I need new doors on my '87 and have been on the lookout for some early doors, will they fit? Currently have late looking doors.

 

Ha ha thats great lol

 

+1

 

I was on the hunt for an early car specifically for the early features luckily I sourced a 1984 GTi in good nik, and I adore it.

 

Sorry this is such an old thread, but I only just found it. The reason I have added to it is because I have a very early (Aug 84) Mk2 GTi, and it has a couple of things not mentioned in this list or the other one before it. I bought my car in 1994 from a work colleague who had had it since it was nearly new, and the car was all original when I bought it, although it shows evidence of having been painted twice with colour coat before it was assembled (my surmise is that it was done twice at the factory because of, for instance, a paint flaw that necessitated a 'go-round').

The things that my car has are narrower sills - I didn't realise they were narrower until about 1996 when I bought a set of factory rubber floor mats, and they didn't fit. So I compared it with the car that the bloke who had sold me mine replaced it with (an 89 model), and his sills are A LOT thicker. I am not sure when the change was made, but definitely between Aug 84 and 89!

The other thing that mine has is bumpers with no red strips. I know they could have been changed, but the person I bought the car from had had it since it was nearly new, and I saw it every day while he owned it. It was featured in VW Driver mag back in 1994, in an article called Teacher's Pet.

Anyway, would be very interested to hear other people's input. I am certain the sills are original (of course!), because they would be a bit hard to change. The bumpers are harder - I have never seen any others without red strips, but mine is the oldest I've seen since about 1986, and that's a bit long ago. If anyone has an earlier car that they are certain is original (there were a few A-reg ones built but virtually all of those have been extensively restored), I would love to hear from them. My car is currently off the road, and I will probably now finally paint it, as it has various areas where it needs it, but at the moment the only areas that have been painted are the roof, bonnet and hatch - the roof and bonnet because the bonnet flew open on me one day and had to be replaced and the roof painted, and the hatch because my wife backed into a Polo!

Thanks - Alan

 

My mk2 is an A reg 84. Most of the things that have been mentioned it has, such as a washer bottle in the boot (defunct due to the previous owner blanking off the rear wiper) it has quarter Windows and a 7 slate grill it's a 1.6 GL. I personally don't say it's a type 19 in case I'm wrong and the previous owner built it to look that way but still it looks good and I love driving it.

I'll try get some pics up of it at some point, currently in the process of sorting out things that the previous owner didn't do such as vacuum leaks and general repairs, I managed to change all the dash lights for LED ones (including the bulb in the heater controls without butchering the unit which I'm proud of)

 

Thanks! Would be interested to see pix of your sills (inside the driver's footwell), because mine are A LOT narrower than later ones, and that doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere.

And yes, the Type 19 thing is a bit controversial - it is pretty clear that VW (like most other manufacturers) had a programme of rolling changes and just did them bit by bit. I am just trying to document what got changed and when, and I have found no mention of the sills anywhere - and yet I am certain that was a change, partly because mine could hardly have been changed, and partly because the mats being too narrow for my car proves it.

 

P.S. I've been told by more VW service blokes than you've had hot dinners that because of the K-Jet injection, (and mechanical tappets, which mine also has), it is a Mk1 Campaign model. It's not, but it is apparently 100% akin to one in VW's parts software.

 

Thanks again! I can't look at the sticker because the car's in Devon and I'm in southern France! The car I compared with was a standard 8V GTi, and the sills were way thicker! Thanks also for info about bumpers - I thought they were original, and I just found this thread featuring an even earlier car, which seems to confirm it:

http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?283283-April-84-mk2-Gti

And good point about the GTi badge - I'm pretty sure mine's on the left too! As I said, I am in France and the car isn't, so I can't check. I have a rather old pic of it on this computer but I can't work out how to post it!

I am as sure as I can be that my car is 100% original and unmolested (and the interior is perfect, because I've always kept the seats and carpets covered, and I have a space-saver and a non-space-saver boot mat). However, I am trying to gather a bit of info for it while I save up to do at least some restoration on it.

 

If you'll pardon somewhat of a deviation, '60s Corvettes have something similar; the new for 1963 'Sting Ray' fhc, the first 'vette with a coupe body, had a divided rear window for that year only (the designer insisted on it). Even before Chevrolet did so, scenesters were hacking the divider out. Once these cars became collectible, the premium attached to the '63 saw surviving examples having it put back in, and fakes being created using the vaguely similar '64 car.