in 2002, I was 15/16 had no licence obviously but was itching to get a car ready for when i did. Aat the time any car would have done. My mate at the time knew the guy who ran the used car dealership around the corner fro the tyre shop i worked at and so i told him to go and see what he could get with 200. He came back with a black 90spec mk2 golf 1.6 driver in black. the reg was H153WRC. It was a clean old beast but after a week i found out why it was cheap, the bottom end started knocking, and i uncovered some bodges by previous owners. It badly needed discs and pads, so i set about this but one of the bolts holding the caliper carrier on had snapped flush and had been replaced by a m6 nut and bolt! i stuck a reconditioned lump in it, a set of 15" TSW's and she was good to go for when i passed. unfortunately at that age, i had no money to maintain the car properly and she ended up being given back to said mate for its final miles around arena essex. Since then i have owned about 4 mk2's. always end up getting another!
It was about 9 years ago, I decided I wanted a 90s hot hatch, I narrowed it down to around 3 or 4 options, drove a 1.6 205 gti that was my mates, I liked it but I wasn't convinced, then I drove another mates mk2 8v gti and it just felt right, a couple of weeks later I went out and bought a mk2 16v.
"Felt right" That sums it up, you can't quantify what feeling right is but you know it when it happens. I had a Strada 105TC & it could out handle a Golf easily, much more of a drivers' car BUT it was made of baking foil & bits fell off every time you drove it. Same with the 205GTI. How many other 80s hot hatches are still running?
I bought a mk3 8v Gti for 25 around 2003, nice car to drive but it had the structural integrity of Swiss cheese. Around 2007 I bought a mk2 rally car as a complete danger bid on eBay. I really liked the torquey 8v with a fairly close ratio box. I' right always regretted selling pcp but its latest owner is now on here. My current gti was another danger bid. In fact I didn't see it until 2 months after the auction finished. I like the project more than driving and the gti has such a good following and knowledge base that keeps me working on it rather than selling another unfinished car
Always liked the scene around "dubs" as a kid but my mum and dad weren't the "get involved" types when it came to engines. Then one day a friend of a friend started to work on a mk2 breadvan wich turned up at my friends house one day (after breaking down) and we all started "fixing it". at the time I had no idea what I was doing or that this was the beginning of an on going addiction. I didn't actually end up buy anything till about two years later, I was given a Citroen paccaso as it was knackered managed to sell it for 600 and bought my mk2 1.6 driver last summer. It's not fast but it never lets me down and puts a big stupid grin on my fat when ever I drive it, work on it or walk towards it if Iv parked somewhere.
I wanted a Cabriolet years ago it was either going to be a (dare i say it) escort xr3i or golf gti luckily i bought a 85 all black gti cab and loved it (still got it) and never looked back i've had mk2 golf gti's 8v and 16v jetta gti 8v and scirocco gtxi (still got that as well) converted my parents, my wife, sister in law and my father and mother in law into VAG cars as well Job done.
