[Dee_aRe_Cee]

The VWery beginning

"DUDE!! PRESS THE NOS BUTTON" *AC turns off, because it's actually the AC button, and it's a TATA SIERRA!*

Nearly 2 years ago i sold off my first car. It was a bright red 1997 tata sierra, I was always into the huge windows since I was a kid. I just loved the way it looked!
I used it for a year and realized how practical(actually UNpractical) it was, it would over heat, wouldn't climb slopes when fully loaded, the AC was great..for the driver and front passenger!! the rest would bake in the green house in the back, the AC would also over load the underpowered engine, the windows would take a full minute to lower, it was a 2 door so..... YOU GET THE POINT!!
As soon as my dad bought a Diesel Polo I started to daily drive that and neglected my first love. I decided that it was a lost cause, we had to break it off, so I put her for sale and sold her in the first day! beginners luck I believe.
well she was gone now and I wanted something new, or rather OLD!
I started to search and found this green 1984 VW Jetta! Made a deal over the phone and I headed to bangalore. I reached to be greeted by the owner at the bus stand. He had this cute little 2 door rabbit, i still regret not taking that instead of the Jetta.


That's when I knew I wanted a rabbit(or golf)!
When I saw the Jetta I wasn't very happy with the bodywork, IT WAS A MESS! I drove off in the evening and stopped over night as the wind shield was far too scratched, but otherwise it was strong! I could have kept driving all the way!
When it reached my mechanic in Goa we realized how bad it actually was and that the cars body was a mess, so in she went for bodywork!

FAST FORWARD A YEAR!!

Bubye Omni, hello Golf!

"Great!! you no longer look like a kidnapper"

We realized the old maruti van was an accident waiting to happen so we decided to get a gypsy. It would be safer, would have a crumple zone that didn't include our faces and would still be fine to use for daily use, park anywhere type.
I searched for nearly 3 months for something in the right price range, with most selling like hot cakes till I finally heard of 2 Gypsys nearby. my dad and i went to see them but find two mahindra JEEPsys and walk away disappointed. To our delight we see a bright yellow golf on our way home, and the idea is seeded in our heads, why not a golf?
I take a peak at olx and find a few golfs but one catches my eye. Its a 1980 4 door diesel golf! I ask a friend to check it out this time, he mentions the brakes need SOME work, what an understatement that was!!




Bringing her home

"it's OKAY!! you won't need ABS system!!"
- seller of a poorly maintained car

A week later I finally get a break and head to Chennai to pick her up, unfortunately(or not?) alone. This time there's the spark when I see it, It didn't look too bad, and all the flaws were easy fixes, till I took the test drive, the damn thing wouldn't stop! I decided to grow a pair..of golf balls and take the car as is, I just travelled a 1000km!! I wasn't going to head back empty handed!! so I headed over to my friends place and let the car rest over night, we needed it for what was up ahead


She started up alright the next morning, needed some revving till it was a bit warm. it was nice, I got to fumigate the place. Somewhere in Chennai, in the parking of a nice colony, the Golf was dubbed(or shall I say Vdubbed?) smokey the rabbit, for the obvious reasons ofcourse.


I headed For Goa with a phone as my speedo, an aching left leg from a worm clutch and right from brakes without enough vacuum, could safely say 10% of what the brakes should be.


It took me 2 days as i stopped in bangalore, Rs.3000 of diesel(roughly 21kmpl average) and alot of confidence. Was quite annoyed about how badly the truck drivers drive, driving on the wrong side of the highway, cutting corners on the Ghats, I went off the road 3-4 times!! But i FINALLY reached home!!


First drive in the morning with my dad and the pup!

TO BE CONTINUED!

[v12]

Congrats on buying the Golf DAC!!

AFAIK, you are the 3rd Golf-er on Team-BHP - the other 2 being Hillram and Gogi (V-16).

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/super-...utschland.html


http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/super-...ti-type-i.html

[Dee_aRe_Cee]

Thank you V12!
We've actually reached quite far after purchasing the car, it has gone in for restoration now, with many years of 'jugaad' being reversed.
I've seen alot of that on old imports but the worst has got to be on the VW's.

I'm into the mk1's and V-16's has to be the best looking one around, not to mention the fact that it's a GTI!
I've met a third golf owner from the group, 'oMK1ar', he checked out the golf and gave it the thumbs up and let me know which parts have to be addressed.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/post-w...agen-golf.html

[FINTAIL]

Originally Posted by Dee_aRe_Cee

Thank you V12!
We've actually reached quite far after purchasing the car, it has gone in for restoration now, with many years of 'jugaad' being reversed.

Hi- @DRAC:

"The VWery Beginning"

I was going through this thread- and stumbled on the green 1984 Jetta which you eventually bought. Pic attached below:



The Golf beside it looked a tad familiar- CNA 6700.

Then- of course, I recalled it. I had last seen CNA 6700 in Indiranagar, Bangalore- May 2014.





Cool coincidence, na?

As is evident, this Golf is really in a state of disrepair. A good thing- that you bought the one in Madras- TMG 3510.

It happens to be an irony, that you happen to live in Goa, and are obsessed with the 'Eighties German cars. In the older days in Goa, that is during the Portuguese days, the late 'Fifties, Goa used to be one heck of a place.

To give you people a measure- VW Beetle's were the commonest things on the road. Mercedes-Benz Ponton's were quite common, and were also used as taxies, along with the Ford Consul. I hear that many Heckflosses (aka The ever graceful Mercedes Benz Fintail!) used to ply in the Goan streets.

Later on, post the little state coming into Indian hands- Ambies, and PP's were seen , commonly. Truth be told- Your European beauties really are a part of Goan heritage, although most of them come from outside Goan shores.

For the uninitiated: DRAC here is a true connoiesseur of old European cars- specially those from the 'Eighties. He, of course, owns a specimen of the legendary BMW E30 3 Series, and a very-very lovely W123 300TD, one of my favorite all time cars.

His Mercedes Benz W123- is of course, made in West Germany. What sets it apart is not only the fact that it has the biggest diesel engine that Merc offered for the W123 series (the 3.0 l OM617, 5 cylinder), it is also an estate, which makes it very rare, of course!

She has a very rare set of period Penta alloys on, which have their own interesting story.

I was going through olx a year back and found something that caught my eye.
there was a 230e w123 for sale with a rare set of pentas on and the car was for sale.
i gave the guy a call as soon as I could and explained that I wanted the wheels and he said that was great because he wanted to upgrade to 16in rims( BLING BLING!!)
we strike a deal and i get these rims in a sad state.

Link: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...ml#post3613223

Ladies and gentlemen, I therefore introduce you to MAP 7400, a very special Mercedes Benz W123, 300 TD Shooting Brake (aka Station Wagon/Estate!) :



Looks lovely, na? Very well maintained. I await her thread, along with the Bimmer 3, of course.

@DRAC- If you are going to sell, you know whom to call! XD.

[Dee_aRe_Cee]

tyred- after 1000km alone in a 35year old golf

"DON'T worry!! they're tubeless!!"

On my way from Chennai I had suffered a puncture. Somewhere on the Ghats an hour away from home, as I dodged reckless truck drivers I must have landed in a gutter on some nails. I only noticed this 6km away from home at a petrol pump. It was 10pm and luckily a friend was near so I called him up. You may ask, why call up a friend to help change a tyre? because apart from no longer being able to walk properly, I didn't have a spare tyre! interesting how something fails when you over look it, my Jetta never suffered a puncture, probably because it always had 2 spares in the boot!
but don't these look better on my car than those awful fiat wheels?


The morning after

"Why did he give you a spare gasket WITH the car?"

After a nice drive with the new acquisition I decided to check the spoils. You usually get alot of spares with an old used car. The ex-owner had given me quite a few spares which included some head lights, broken parts of the grill, 2 CV joints, a brand new water pump, and a gasket. Everything was fine and explainable, one of the CV joints on the car was a goner, the broken grill parts might have been from an accident( the they had decided to put ambassador headlights without removing the cover!) but the water pump and gasket? could some other gremlins be lurking in the darkness of the engine bay? apart from 30 years of uncleant rat droppings?



bumper sale? I now have 4 sets of VW bumpers and only 1 set will be used. Thank you scrapped golf and generous Jetta owner!! (anyone need a set?)


Let there be light!

A set of 7inch Hella headlights-Rs.300
A few tubes of feviquik-Rs.50
Satisfaction from a little effort and patience- PRICELESS!

After buying the car a few adjustments were made, many temporary. While changing the brake pads I noticed that the discs were 6mm thick, talk about hanging by a thread! so we swapped in the ones from the Jetta as its still in for painting. The brake calipers were getting stuck so I ordered a kit with the seals. surprising the part number match that of the same part for the Skoda fabia! Perfect fit too! The brakes weren't working properly, not enough vacuum, so we put in the tata alternator setup from the Jetta which has a vacuum for the brakes(will be fixed during the restoration). The car was being prepped for a trip to Coimbatore. Thankfully I didn't take it along!
In Coimbatore I picked up a set of round Hella headlights, sadly they weren't clear lens, also a Roots horn which sounds like that a Polo.

If you notice the right side of the grill on the Golf(ignore the BMW), its quite badly damaged and has a disgusting ambassador cover.


thankful the broken bits of the grill were saved so I cleant it all up, sanded a bit, used a bit of feviquik, sanded again, resprayed and TAAADAAA! (nearly) good as new!


I had to jump start the golf and get the old light setup off too.


with a little bit of adjusting I got the Hella lights to fit the ambassodor mounts which fit on the VW, not original? I know! am I happy with the result? YES! Restoration pics coming soon!

[Dee_aRe_Cee]

Hi Fintail! thank you for the introduction
They're all Germans from the 80's

CNA 6700-
I've actually driven this car! it had minimal interior bits left, LHD, body seemed fair when I saw it and needed some mechanicals(nearly every mk1/mk2 golf/jetta i've driven has had a broken reverse lock). It didn't have much going for it except the rarity of 2 doors in India(there are 2 rotting in a garage in Goa, won't sell-won't fix I guess)
I believe the car was sold.
Im actually planning on fabricating a set of chrome bumpers like it had since thats something I really liked. euro spec, I think most poeple hate american bumpers

MAP 7400-
My dad's car and the first to join the family so I doubt it'll be going anywhere.
In need of some work so isn't driven around as much, thinking of getting it done once the other cars are sorted. The pentas are off the car till I get a set of original wheel bolts meant for alloys. will pick them up next time I'm in Mumbai. I guess I'll start a thread once the restoration starts

BMW E30 316i
very fun car to drive! getting new ball joints and wheel bearings fitted.
will start a thread on it once I start working on it. Have some thing's in mind.

[Dee_aRe_Cee]

Painting the town red!

"It looks like he took his curtains and made these seat covers"

I realized early on that the car wasn't perfect(it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out!), so I planned a trip to Pune where I'd leave the car there and finish off whatever days I had left of my semester holidays. Pune is home to my friend Subhasis, who loves mk2 VWs and has been helping me out with parts for mine since the start. The workshop over there has probably seen a few of them and since many parts are shared I decided to take it there for a restoration.
So one freezing January morning me and a friend set off for Pune


When I reached the outskirts of Pune I realized the car could go further, so I headed to Mumbai to drop it off on the way back. took us 10 hours and help the 21-22kmpl average(was underheating so the mileage is yet to improve)
Since then there has been quite a bit of work done on the car:

• The valves were changed
• The piston rings were changed
• The gasket was changed
• clutch and pressure plate were changed
• fuel pump was changed

a few things are left pending
But we wanted the car painted, and there were many bits left. I didn't have the original wheels left, had put on the Jetta wheels as I got rid of those awful Fiat wheels.
(but wouldn't it look great with these BMW wheels?)


we happened to have found this car long ago, was thinking of putting it together and on the road, but being engineless and papers were lost we picked it up for parts. They'll be swapping all the panels and painting my shell a matching red. Plenty of spares for my VW parts bin





If anyone is in need of some spares, send me or Subhasis_999 a PM
http://olx.in/item/golf-and-jetta-mk...tml#899c31c91d

[Nissan1180]

Thank you for sharing a wonderful restoration effort. I have two questions:

1.How does this car give 20+ kmpl without having access to an ECU?
2.What motivates you towards such restoration projects? What I mean is, why do you like European cars from this period specifically.

[Dee_aRe_Cee]

Hi Nissan1180.
1. I guess its because they are really light. I've never really asked why, just enjoyed the travel. I drive a minimum of 90km per day so it makes a difference for me. It makes a great daily driver but needs to be a better runner first.
2.my dad loves German cars and cars which are simple And I like the designs of the era. So we find a common ground with Germans from the 80s.

[Octane_Power]

Originally Posted by Dee_aRe_Cee

tyred- after 1000km alone in a 35year old golf

"DON'T worry!! they're tubeless!!"

That motorcycle signal lights at the front is one crazy jugaad. One of a kind I must say !

On another note, the car looks good, I like the no non-sense design alot as compared to all the 'fluidic' and other design philosophies. It is 35 years old now, so niggles and small problems are obvious, but are they a lot are are they manageable? How much power does it produce?

-Bhargav

[Dee_aRe_Cee]

Originally Posted by Octane_Power

That motorcycle signal lights at the front is one crazy jugaad. One of a kind I must say !

Atleast they weren't on the steering wheel!
if you look at the pictures again you'll notice the fuel cap and mirrors are from a bike too.

The good thing is the red donor has some nice parts on it which will return alot of originality to the car and probably complete it to some extent:
- original fuel cap
- a set of door handles(they are prone to breaking because people pull at them wrong)
- a non OEM steering wheel which I'll use till mine is fixed
- a parcel tray(I lost mine the night I got a puncture)
- a new gen dash which is cracked but I'll attempt to fix.
- original steel wheels(will need the chrome center caps)
- a good set of doors, fenders and a bonnet(better condition then the ones on my car
- a steering column in better condition( right now I have 3keys to the car, 1 maruti key to lock the steering column, 1 matador key for the ignition and a TVS key for the fuel cap)

Originally Posted by Octane_Power

It is 35 years old now, so niggles and small problems are obvious, but are they a lot are are they manageable? How much power does it produce?

That's the reason I've sent it to Pune, they've got the spares, better facilities(not easy to get such things done in Goa) and the experience with the car. It's a bit too much to handle at once on my own, I thought I'd do it myself and learn in the process but I'll do that when it's in better health. I'm sure it will be manageable once it's back but it wasn't before as the previous owner left it hanging by a thread, too many things were on their way out.
something under 50hp with a 1.5D(probably another reason for the high fuel economy) but it's not like I'm going to try racing it or something

[camaroZL1]

@Dee_aRe_Cee, Those are some brilliant cars and you have quite a flair for writing! brilliantly done

I'll be following this thread very closely.

[Nissan1180]

Thanks for the response.
What is the procedure for getting new spares for your Golf? Let us say you need the consumables like the air, oil, diesel filters, brake pads etc. during the routine services. Do you import these spares from EU, or are there local substitutes that can be adapted for your car?

[Dee_aRe_Cee]

Originally Posted by camaroZL1

@Dee_aRe_Cee, Those are some brilliant cars and you have quite a flair for writing! brilliantly done
I'll be following this thread very closely.

Thanx camaroZL1

Originally Posted by Nissan1180

Thanks for the response.
What is the procedure for getting new spares for your Golf? Let us say you need the consumables like the air, oil, diesel filters, brake pads etc. during the routine services. Do you import these spares from EU, or are there local substitutes that can be adapted for your car?

I usually call up 2 shops in Mumbai, Opera house. one being auto start and the other being pioneer. They usually have the common consumables. If not I'll ask the guys at some of the car groups(MBIO, E30 group) and with the VW's I tend to call up Subhasis who either has it, knows where to get it or will get it for me. I avoid local substitutes unless it is more functional or practical

[bhpbreather]

Brilliant write up!
I have a Golf 1985 td. Would love to talk about spares and restoration.