Successful crossbreeding in nature can be trial and error, yet when it comes to cars Ant Thomas has created the perfect mix with his hybrid Mk1 1980 Scirocco GLi

Words & Pics: Sarah Harrington-James

Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone soooo infatuated with old skool Sciroccos as Ant Thomas. Chop him in half and he’s probably got ‘SCIROCCO’ written through him like a stick of rock. Not content with owning just one of these models, he actually has a total of seven in differing states of repair. And this stunning Indiana Red Mk1/Mk2 homebrew fusion isn’t even Ant’s daily driver. No, that’s a rare-as-hens-teeth Mk1 1981 Scirocco Storm.

His enrolment into the world of VW was with his first car, a £200 Mk1 Golf, and as he got more involved with maintaining it he started tagging along to VW shows. This is where he saw his first Mk1 ‘Rocco in 2000 and it was love at first sight. “Actually, I thought ‘what the hell is that?!’” laughed Ant, “it was a Volkswagen but more like an Italian sports car with its low slung angular lines and quad lamps – Italian styling but with the German build.” From that point onwards he developed something more akin to an OCD for the model before buying his first ‘Rocco in 2004, a Mk1 GLS. The rest, as they say, is history.

Metal detectors
“I think this is the thing peculiar to early Scirocco owners in that we tend to have more than one – compared to other VWs they don’t have a massive following which is probably why they’ve become quite collectable,” Ant explained. “We reckon there’s probably only a few hundred at most left in the UK and lots of them are either project cars or locked up in garages somewhere.”

And so to Ant’s impeccable Mk1. This has an intriguing history all of its own. It underwent a body restoration around 2000 before ending up in the hands of infamous serial ‘Rocco owner Sean ‘Mr Brown’ Gill of No Rice fame around 2003. A regular of the Dub scene too, Ant doesn’t think there was a single ‘Rocco model that Sean hadn’t owned at the time – every combination of spec and age went through his hands and he always added his twist into the mix, albeit through lightly upgrading the car or going for the full monty. Often his cars would end up in the hands of other enthusiasts. One of the few cars Sean hung onto for a good few years was Ant’s Mk1; he dropped in a 1.8 engine, then a 16v before it was shipped off to The Phirm for a G60 lump. Eventually Sean got bored of this set-up, put in a 2.0 crossflow and then sold the engine separately to the Mk1 which he also put up for sale as a rolling shell, but packed with plenty of Mk1 parts.

Ant said: “I had a few plans for the Mk1 but how it looks now is more or less what I wanted to achieve. When I bought the car off Sean in 2006 it was absolutely solid – still is – but the paint let it down so the first thing I wanted to do was to get it resprayed. I then knew I wanted to drop in an upgraded but still naturally-aspirated engine as well as adding aftermarket brakes and suspension.”

PROFILE

NAME:
Antony Thomas
AGE:
33
LOCATION:
Nottingham
OCCUPATION:
Works in film funding
DREAM CAR:
NSU RO80
FAVE PART ON CAR:
Little ‘kick up’ on the hatch lid
TOP CHOONZ:
Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band

THE KNOWLEDGE

Engine:
TSR Performance 2.1 8v with 272-degree cam, larger valves, reground crank, Audi throttle body, new pumps and belts, ported and polished inlet and exhaust manifold, GLi downpipe to 2in Jetex mild steel exhaust, new fuel tank, pump, accumulator, braided fuel lines, motorsport filter, 1984 Mk2 Scirocco GTI wiring looms
Transmission:
1984 020 Mk2 Scirocco GTI gearbox
brakes:
Standard 239mm front discs and Mk2 Golf GTI rear discs, new hardlines, braided flexi hoses, 9in servo and 22mm master cylinder, Autocavan brake linkage 
Suspension:
Vitec coilover kit from C&R, polybushed all round
Wheels & Tyres:
15in Compomotive TH alloys with 195/45/15 tyres
Exterior:
Full respray in original Indiana Red, detrimmed and debadged, rear wash/wipe deleted, all brightwork powdercoated black, Series 1 bumpers (powdercoated black), custom made clear indicators, Euro base model ‘TV’ headlights, Series 1 rear lights and door flag mirror, Scirocco Storm front splitter
Interior:
GLi carpets and door cards, GLi dash and clocks, 1982 Scirocco GTi front and rear seats (pattern was only available for 1982 model only), custom black headlining

Thanks:
Emma Prince, Shaun Fleetwood, Phil Knight, everyone at C&R Enterprises, Glynn at Nottingham Car Paint and all at the Scirocco Register

To read the rest of this feature see the July 2011 issue of Golf+.

Back issues available here.