Third time lucky... JJ finally finds a solid shell and at last he can see light at the end of the tunnel

The other day it dawned on me that I have been messing about stripping Mk2s and buying performance bits for two years and in that time I have only managed one track day... For those who haven’t been following my ludicrously zigzagging track car build, I have gone through two shells, both of which were rotten, one on the outside panels, the other on the front chassis member.

Last time, I was attempting to repair the rot in the front chassis leg of my second shell. However, this turned out to be more severe than first thought and it was clear after some chopping and grinding, that the car had been in an accident and was bent. The replacement chassis panel would cost a bomb and I’m not confident enough in my welding to have undertaken the repair alone. So, out of curiosity, I popped onto that well known auction sight and looked for another Mk2 Golf.

As is so often the case with my impulsive buying habits, I found that I had fired off an email to a bloke with a very tidy looking Driver project and before I knew it, he’d accepted the £200 offered (barely over scrap value). So once again I found myself with too many Golfs, and unfortunately with a bent chassis, the last shell was only good as spares.

It’s been eight years since I first started messing about with Mk2s and after a few years spent in BMWs I started this track car project expecting to find plenty of Mk2s in solid condition for under £500. When I owned my first Mk2 (1.6 CL) I could nip into the local scrappy and grab any spare I needed for a few quid, now you simply don’t see any Mk2s in scrapyards, and thanks to health and safety, even if you do find a car worth stripping, you can’t because you might sue if you hurt yourself!

A colleague recently had a very similar conversation with a VW specialist which confirmed my fears. The specialist reckoned that five years ago, eight out of 10 Mk2 Golfs were solid and worth restoring. Now he calculates that figure has dropped to around two out of 10! So having to go through three shells to find one decent one doesn’t seem too bad by those odds, and this one certainly is a good one.

JJ's Mk2 Golf 16V

NAME:
John-Joe Vollans
FROM:
Rutland
AGE:
26
CURRENT STAPLE DIET:
Food
DRIVES:
’75 Hillman Imp Super, ’90 Mercedes-Benz 190D 2.5, ’91 Golf Mk2 Driver (to be 16v)
WISH LIST:
Good red stripe rear bumper
CURRENTLY BEING DEAFENED BY:
Engine noises on the surround sound (just got Forza 4 on the Xbox 360)
BIG UP:
Demon Tweeks Direct, 01978 664466
www.demon-tweeks.co.uk

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

Back issues available here.