1983 Mk1 GTI in NZ

[sifty]

Please excuse the fact that I'm reposting here what I posted on another forum, it seems no one looks at the other one much. Additonally, it's an '82 not an '83

It all started about 2 years ago when I decided to buy my wife a mk1 Cabriolet for her 30th birthday. It was the car she really wanted as a teenager back in Canada - White on white.
Seemed like a good idea at the time, but I soon worked out there actually are not many of these around any more.

I'll fast forward because this thread is about my GTI not hers. So I found one, bought it, gave it to her, she loved it... but much to my surprise I really loved driving it too!

So, the search began for my own GTI... Started out looking for a Mk2, but pretty soon I convinced myself I needed a Mk1. Turns out these aren't so common either! fast forward some more so no one gets bored. I was out minding my own business in my wife's GTI Cab, and this guy comes up to me and starts talking about it. Turns out he has one too... a hardtop... that he's considering selling... s**t... He lives nearby, so I shuffle off to take a look at - it does need work... what to do? Answer, break the bad news to him that it's worth less than half what he thinks. Walk away disappointed for the moment.

Here's some photos of it the day I first saw it.



Skip forward a bit and this is how is looks now: (As you can see, I actually drive it)



So far I've done quite a bit of rust work, mostly just surface rust but it was widespread, so I've taken it back to bare metal with a sand blaster, acid etched it and zinc primed it while I save up for a proper paint job.





I've installed H&R Cup suspension - which is awesome.

Cleaned up the interior and added a period Becker stereo from an '82 Benz.



Here's a shot with my wife's Cab.