971 Panamera GTS
Discussion
Although this may be my first post on this account (I think), I'm not new to PH and was posting previously years ago - long story short, I can no longer access that account.
My posts here are for a car (and others) I've long since sold, but with the seemingly slow death of the Corrado forum and photobucket holding all of my old photos to ransom, I re-uploaded everything to a different host and thought I'd better document it elsewhere. Despite being gone, the VR6 I shall mostly document holds a lot of memories and was an obsession for many years - old VWs seem to get under your skin!
Here's the main course for this thread, but stick around to see to how I got there and what I've been doing since:
I've met a few PHers and many other people at shows and from other forums who may recognise me - better late than never to post a reader's thread
Where to begin? My first "proper" car, ie the first that I was able to afford to insure that wasn't entirely slow was a 1991 Corrado 1.8 16v. From memory it was during the crossover to facelift year and as such had a mixed bag of parts, namely an early bonnet, late door cards and early dash (in hindsight stuff could have been changed before my ownership).
The 1.8 16v used the KR lump, same as in the 16v golf and produced 134bhp/132lb.ft which at the time felt rapid (lol). I bought it already a bit modified, with smoked rear lights, giant powerflow fart can exhaust and some ugly multispoke alloys:
I then proceeded to "barry" it a bit more and bought some coilovers and Borbet A staggered alloy wheels. Please keep in mind that this was around ~12 years ago, tastes were different and the whole "euro" scene was nearing its peak:
Being perma broke back then, anything that went wrong I'd have to try and fix myself so for that reason alone I'll always be fond of this car as I really learned a lot (as it broke ALL the time).
I wanted to try and get a bit more power out of the car, and had been reading about power gains that could be achieved from using a 2.0 16v (9A) engine with KR cams and some porting which could apparently take my car from 134bhp to around 180bhp.
With that in mind, I found the engine with flow work already done (and a knife edged crank) and took on my first ever engine swap. I broke my clutch and timing belt virginity and managed to do it with no engine hoist (because money) and a couple of mates. It ran lumpy, but once a local garage sorted the ignition timing it felt a lot quicker on the arse dyno, but I never did round to putting it on a dyno.
The only pictures I have of the work done are these (and I think that's just the original KR lump):
I'm sure I'm not alone when anyone purchases a certain model of car just knowing that it isn't the top variant available and then feeling a tinge of regret. Any time someone would ask what I drove and I'd say "Corrado" they'd always ask "VR6?". I was then lucky enough to go for a ride in a local guys VR6 and decided I needed one in my life.
I found the advert on PH actually and bought a 1995 Corrado VR6 Storm in Classic Green with the cream leather interior. It was mostly unmodified apart from an AmD chip and Ram-air intake. At the time I hadn't listed my 16v yet so my neighbours all thought I was mental for having 2 of the same car
And with a friend for that 90s nostalgia
The VR6 compared to the 16v was night and day (190bhp/180ft-lb). The noise, the torque and even just the leather interior made it a much nicer car overall. It's easy to say that I should have started with a VR6, but the insurance was far too high back then so I have no regrets for waiting out.
Unfortunately I didn't have the space or justification to keep both, so the 16v was quickly sold to a guy who had plans to do a 1.8T conversion... and it never had another MOT/Tax since
I wonder if it's still alive somewhere now, even if just stored away...
I told myself that I'd keep it standard and just enjoy it. The factory 4x4 ride height was comfy, it was lighter on its feet and it put down power with ease.
That all changed after about 2 months
My posts here are for a car (and others) I've long since sold, but with the seemingly slow death of the Corrado forum and photobucket holding all of my old photos to ransom, I re-uploaded everything to a different host and thought I'd better document it elsewhere. Despite being gone, the VR6 I shall mostly document holds a lot of memories and was an obsession for many years - old VWs seem to get under your skin!
Here's the main course for this thread, but stick around to see to how I got there and what I've been doing since:
I've met a few PHers and many other people at shows and from other forums who may recognise me - better late than never to post a reader's thread
Where to begin? My first "proper" car, ie the first that I was able to afford to insure that wasn't entirely slow was a 1991 Corrado 1.8 16v. From memory it was during the crossover to facelift year and as such had a mixed bag of parts, namely an early bonnet, late door cards and early dash (in hindsight stuff could have been changed before my ownership).
The 1.8 16v used the KR lump, same as in the 16v golf and produced 134bhp/132lb.ft which at the time felt rapid (lol). I bought it already a bit modified, with smoked rear lights, giant powerflow fart can exhaust and some ugly multispoke alloys:
I then proceeded to "barry" it a bit more and bought some coilovers and Borbet A staggered alloy wheels. Please keep in mind that this was around ~12 years ago, tastes were different and the whole "euro" scene was nearing its peak:
Being perma broke back then, anything that went wrong I'd have to try and fix myself so for that reason alone I'll always be fond of this car as I really learned a lot (as it broke ALL the time).
I wanted to try and get a bit more power out of the car, and had been reading about power gains that could be achieved from using a 2.0 16v (9A) engine with KR cams and some porting which could apparently take my car from 134bhp to around 180bhp.
With that in mind, I found the engine with flow work already done (and a knife edged crank) and took on my first ever engine swap. I broke my clutch and timing belt virginity and managed to do it with no engine hoist (because money) and a couple of mates. It ran lumpy, but once a local garage sorted the ignition timing it felt a lot quicker on the arse dyno, but I never did round to putting it on a dyno.
The only pictures I have of the work done are these (and I think that's just the original KR lump):
I'm sure I'm not alone when anyone purchases a certain model of car just knowing that it isn't the top variant available and then feeling a tinge of regret. Any time someone would ask what I drove and I'd say "Corrado" they'd always ask "VR6?". I was then lucky enough to go for a ride in a local guys VR6 and decided I needed one in my life.
I found the advert on PH actually and bought a 1995 Corrado VR6 Storm in Classic Green with the cream leather interior. It was mostly unmodified apart from an AmD chip and Ram-air intake. At the time I hadn't listed my 16v yet so my neighbours all thought I was mental for having 2 of the same car
And with a friend for that 90s nostalgia
The VR6 compared to the 16v was night and day (190bhp/180ft-lb). The noise, the torque and even just the leather interior made it a much nicer car overall. It's easy to say that I should have started with a VR6, but the insurance was far too high back then so I have no regrets for waiting out.
Unfortunately I didn't have the space or justification to keep both, so the 16v was quickly sold to a guy who had plans to do a 1.8T conversion... and it never had another MOT/Tax since
I wonder if it's still alive somewhere now, even if just stored away...I told myself that I'd keep it standard and just enjoy it. The factory 4x4 ride height was comfy, it was lighter on its feet and it put down power with ease.
That all changed after about 2 months
I believe the first thing I changed were the rear lights to all-red. From there on things just sort of snowballed.
(pictures may be out of sequence and jumbled - sorry about that, I'm rifling through ooold files!)
The paint was a bit poor in places, so I had a local company just "refresh" it with a blowover. Bad idea - the car came back completely orange peeled and with lacquer peel at the edges by all the window trim. Feeling somewhat dismayed I took it to another place and paid the correct price to have everything sorted out properly. Luckily it was the start of a great relationship with this particular bodyshop and now I wouldn't take my cars anywhere else.
I also managed to find a very rare set of BBS CH006, 17" and in corrado fitment. Don't judge me for the mildly stretched tyres, like I said before it was a different time and all the rage
To go along with those I bought KW V2 coilovers.
After that I firstly bought a used magnex exhaust, but for reasons I cannot remember I changed to a Jetex non resonated system shortly after.
After a few months the standard VR6 power wasn't cutting it, so I managed to find a Vortech V1 (I think) supercharger for the car, and had it fitted at the one and only Stealth Racing in Leamington Spa.
I can't quite remember the exact setup, I believe it was running at 8psi and took the power from 190bhp/181lbft to 309bhp/265lbft). I ran larger injectors and a mocal oil cooler to go with it too.
After about a week I hated it. The car always ran worryingly hot, belt slip, the lack of low down boost, even the whine got a bit grating. I've heard the rotrex chargers are much better, but in this case I realised I had made a bit of a mistake. But more on that later
While the charger was being fitted, I bought a £600 Volvo V40 with 180k miles which I then kept for another year as it was so handy, ultimately the gearbox went so I had it scrapped. Shame really.
Anyway, turning to the interior. I previously had a MK4 golf that leaked water. I never found where that was coming from, but I faced the same issue with the Corrado. Even after an hour of light rain i'd have a giant puddle in the rear passenger footwell. I cleared all the drain holes, checked the vapour barriers and scuttle fresh air inlet and still couldn't trace it. Even sitting in the car with a hose running over it didn't show me anything! I got sick and tired of opening the car to find this:
After one particularly rainy night, my ABS relays were completely fried and enough was enough. I decided to start removing things and somehow ended up here:
While the dashboard was out, I replaced the heater matrix (would be rude not to) and smothered the whole floor in talcum powder and waited for the next shower. Amazingly this method worked, and I found the leak actually was coming from the fresh air intake via the tiniest crack, trickling down the side of centre tunnel and pooling in the rear footwell.
Anyway, I saw this as an opportunity to refresh the interior so I set about getting some bits done.
Firstly, I took the entire carpet to a laundrette and shoved it in one of their industrial sized washing machines while nobody was looking
Came out gleaming! Although I did get a telling off when the lady saw me taking it out!
The cream leather with black plastic dashboard annoyed me, so I got it trimmed in matching leather:
I think got extremely lucky and managed to find a set of ultra rare Corrado Recaro seats. They were advertised properly cheap (around 500 I think) but were in bad condition. They were also being advertised from a guy in Poland. I decided that I'd take the risk, couple of days later the guy turned up at my place in a van! The madman literally delivered them to me.
I don't have any pictures of how they were when I bought them, but I took them straight to the trimmers to be re-done in porsche nappa leather with beige recaro stitching:
More to come
(pictures may be out of sequence and jumbled - sorry about that, I'm rifling through ooold files!)
The paint was a bit poor in places, so I had a local company just "refresh" it with a blowover. Bad idea - the car came back completely orange peeled and with lacquer peel at the edges by all the window trim. Feeling somewhat dismayed I took it to another place and paid the correct price to have everything sorted out properly. Luckily it was the start of a great relationship with this particular bodyshop and now I wouldn't take my cars anywhere else.
I also managed to find a very rare set of BBS CH006, 17" and in corrado fitment. Don't judge me for the mildly stretched tyres, like I said before it was a different time and all the rage
To go along with those I bought KW V2 coilovers.
After that I firstly bought a used magnex exhaust, but for reasons I cannot remember I changed to a Jetex non resonated system shortly after.
After a few months the standard VR6 power wasn't cutting it, so I managed to find a Vortech V1 (I think) supercharger for the car, and had it fitted at the one and only Stealth Racing in Leamington Spa.
I can't quite remember the exact setup, I believe it was running at 8psi and took the power from 190bhp/181lbft to 309bhp/265lbft). I ran larger injectors and a mocal oil cooler to go with it too.
After about a week I hated it. The car always ran worryingly hot, belt slip, the lack of low down boost, even the whine got a bit grating. I've heard the rotrex chargers are much better, but in this case I realised I had made a bit of a mistake. But more on that later
While the charger was being fitted, I bought a £600 Volvo V40 with 180k miles which I then kept for another year as it was so handy, ultimately the gearbox went so I had it scrapped. Shame really.
Anyway, turning to the interior. I previously had a MK4 golf that leaked water. I never found where that was coming from, but I faced the same issue with the Corrado. Even after an hour of light rain i'd have a giant puddle in the rear passenger footwell. I cleared all the drain holes, checked the vapour barriers and scuttle fresh air inlet and still couldn't trace it. Even sitting in the car with a hose running over it didn't show me anything! I got sick and tired of opening the car to find this:
After one particularly rainy night, my ABS relays were completely fried and enough was enough. I decided to start removing things and somehow ended up here:
While the dashboard was out, I replaced the heater matrix (would be rude not to) and smothered the whole floor in talcum powder and waited for the next shower. Amazingly this method worked, and I found the leak actually was coming from the fresh air intake via the tiniest crack, trickling down the side of centre tunnel and pooling in the rear footwell.
Anyway, I saw this as an opportunity to refresh the interior so I set about getting some bits done.
Firstly, I took the entire carpet to a laundrette and shoved it in one of their industrial sized washing machines while nobody was looking
Came out gleaming! Although I did get a telling off when the lady saw me taking it out!The cream leather with black plastic dashboard annoyed me, so I got it trimmed in matching leather:
I think got extremely lucky and managed to find a set of ultra rare Corrado Recaro seats. They were advertised properly cheap (around 500 I think) but were in bad condition. They were also being advertised from a guy in Poland. I decided that I'd take the risk, couple of days later the guy turned up at my place in a van! The madman literally delivered them to me.
I don't have any pictures of how they were when I bought them, but I took them straight to the trimmers to be re-done in porsche nappa leather with beige recaro stitching:
More to come
With the dashboard done and leak fixed, it had been a while since I'd driven the car so set about refitting everything before running out of daylight
Unfortunately I had to finish everything the next day. But the leather dash was more than worth the effort IMO
Unfortunately the fun didn't stop there, and I decided I needed a double din in my life. I purchased this pioneer thingy:
This double din unit came with DAB radio, DVD player, Sat nav and bluetooth - all the luxuries a 1995 car didn't have. Only problem was I needed to find a way to make it fit.
I hacked up a mk4 golf centre console trim (with double din housing and cup holders), and "fused" it to a cut corrado one using liberal mounts of JB weld. It was an ugly job inside, but on the face of it looked great (IMO):
Installing it was very tight, the heater cables just about had enough slack to operate when moved further down, but I got there in the end:
The cup holders were directly taken from the mk4 VW centre console, not sure why they'd designed it to cover the screen when in use, but seeing as the corrado had 0 cup holders to begin with, I was more than happy with it
Oh, and I wired in the Recaros:
Heres a googled pic of the standard one:
Updated:
I also added some Alpine speakers, little sub etc but nothing really worth mentioning. Next...addressing that supercharger issue
Unfortunately I had to finish everything the next day. But the leather dash was more than worth the effort IMO
Unfortunately the fun didn't stop there, and I decided I needed a double din in my life. I purchased this pioneer thingy:
This double din unit came with DAB radio, DVD player, Sat nav and bluetooth - all the luxuries a 1995 car didn't have. Only problem was I needed to find a way to make it fit.
I hacked up a mk4 golf centre console trim (with double din housing and cup holders), and "fused" it to a cut corrado one using liberal mounts of JB weld. It was an ugly job inside, but on the face of it looked great (IMO):
Installing it was very tight, the heater cables just about had enough slack to operate when moved further down, but I got there in the end:
The cup holders were directly taken from the mk4 VW centre console, not sure why they'd designed it to cover the screen when in use, but seeing as the corrado had 0 cup holders to begin with, I was more than happy with it
Oh, and I wired in the Recaros:
Heres a googled pic of the standard one:
Updated:
I also added some Alpine speakers, little sub etc but nothing really worth mentioning. Next...addressing that supercharger issue
As mentioned in a previous post, I hated the supercharger and kept it on for about 5 months.
Stealth Racing had announced their VR6 turbo kit and after lots and lots of research I decided to bite the bullet and boost it properly.
The jist of what the car had fitted was:
custom 2.5” straight through exhaust/decat
3” downpipe v-band
Schimmel 263 cams
2mm Steel spacer
T04s Turbo – 0.70 cold, 0.68 hot
JR air filter
SPA T4 Turbo manifold
38mm wastegate
FMIC
440cc Injectors
ARP Con rod bolts
ARP head studs
Closed loop dump valve
Mocal external oil cooler
Vibratechnics mounts
Dubpower HT leads
Walbro uprated fuel pump
Helix organic clutch
Quaife LSD
Stealth Racing map
Mocal Oil Cooler
Probably some other bits I've forgotten
Prior to this the car had a full health check, synchros replaced and deemed good to go. Installation took a few months, so i smoked around for a bit in this:
a 3.0 V6 4WD X-Type (Mondeo) - 180k-ish miles and £1000. What could go wrong? Turns out not much in the year I kept it.
After what seemed like an eternity, I went to pick up the car and could not believe how much better it was. Sickeningly fast - brutal and just so well put together:
BHP turbo vs supercharger:
Torque turbo vs supercharger (the charger graph explains quite well why I didn't like it):
For those who may not be able to see the pics, a standard VR6 is 190bhp/181ftlb. A VR6 with a turbo @16psi is 425bhp/433ftlb and around 1160kg. Needless to say it was an animal, and the Quaife really did improve it tenfold.
Couldn't launch it at all as it would just spin up (although racelogic traction control would have helped a lot), but from 30mph nothing I encountered on the private roads could touch it. Many exotic and high end cars were left extremely embarassed by this tiny little deathtrap
To go with the power I found some 6 pot tarox brakes:
The colour wasn't my choice but I grew to like them... gave a hint that something was a bit different about this car
After that I generally just enjoyed the car - I took it to shows, some tracks, did road trips and even won some trophies at GTI International and the Corrado Club OC meet. Made some good friends. Some highlights below:
My next plans were to change the gearbox to a strengthened mk4 unit, uprate the driveshafts and finally 4WD it. Unfortunately I decided that it would cost even more and felt like I'd like to try other cars. My journey with the Corrado was finished.
I sold it to a real enthusiast who has continued to look after the car, and I'm sure it's now in much better condition than when I left it. It felt like his enthusiasm took over just as mine waned so it was a win win situation for the Corrado.
Ok, so I'll post next what I've replaced it with
Stealth Racing had announced their VR6 turbo kit and after lots and lots of research I decided to bite the bullet and boost it properly.
The jist of what the car had fitted was:
custom 2.5” straight through exhaust/decat
3” downpipe v-band
Schimmel 263 cams
2mm Steel spacer
T04s Turbo – 0.70 cold, 0.68 hot
JR air filter
SPA T4 Turbo manifold
38mm wastegate
FMIC
440cc Injectors
ARP Con rod bolts
ARP head studs
Closed loop dump valve
Mocal external oil cooler
Vibratechnics mounts
Dubpower HT leads
Walbro uprated fuel pump
Helix organic clutch
Quaife LSD
Stealth Racing map
Mocal Oil Cooler
Probably some other bits I've forgotten
Prior to this the car had a full health check, synchros replaced and deemed good to go. Installation took a few months, so i smoked around for a bit in this:
a 3.0 V6 4WD X-Type (Mondeo) - 180k-ish miles and £1000. What could go wrong?
Turns out not much in the year I kept it.After what seemed like an eternity, I went to pick up the car and could not believe how much better it was. Sickeningly fast - brutal and just so well put together:
BHP turbo vs supercharger:
Torque turbo vs supercharger (the charger graph explains quite well why I didn't like it):
For those who may not be able to see the pics, a standard VR6 is 190bhp/181ftlb. A VR6 with a turbo @16psi is 425bhp/433ftlb and around 1160kg. Needless to say it was an animal, and the Quaife really did improve it tenfold.
Couldn't launch it at all as it would just spin up (although racelogic traction control would have helped a lot), but from 30mph nothing I encountered on the private roads could touch it. Many exotic and high end cars were left extremely embarassed by this tiny little deathtrap
To go with the power I found some 6 pot tarox brakes:
The colour wasn't my choice but I grew to like them... gave a hint that something was a bit different about this car
After that I generally just enjoyed the car - I took it to shows, some tracks, did road trips and even won some trophies at GTI International and the Corrado Club OC meet. Made some good friends. Some highlights below:
My next plans were to change the gearbox to a strengthened mk4 unit, uprate the driveshafts and finally 4WD it. Unfortunately I decided that it would cost even more and felt like I'd like to try other cars. My journey with the Corrado was finished.
I sold it to a real enthusiast who has continued to look after the car, and I'm sure it's now in much better condition than when I left it. It felt like his enthusiasm took over just as mine waned so it was a win win situation for the Corrado.
Ok, so I'll post next what I've replaced it with
Towards the end of my VR6 journey I daily'd this:
Not much to say really, it was just a 1.6 Cooper which was sorta fun to chuck about. At the time I was commuting daily on the M25 and decided I needed something with a) air con and b) an automatic gearbox. I settled on the perfect commuter:
It was a 2011 W204 C220 diesel (Sport 125 edition) in magnetite black. It wasn't specc'd very well apart from intelligent lights, but it was the complete antithesis to the Corrado where every drive was an event... a little ashamed to say I'd grab the keys to this far more often than the VW!
I also bought an old Hilux Surf as a project - can't find any photos of it, but it didn't survive very long as I fell for the top gear meme that they were indestructible. Well, just about everything went wrong on it in such a short amount of time that I cut my losses and scrapped it.
Petrolhead life took a major back seat during this time, and i eventually changed the W204 to a W205:
It was a 2016 c220 in tenorite grey (I think) with the premium plus pack. I enjoyed this car for the best part of 2 years - hassle free, comfortable and had lots of toys. The only thing lacking was power. I felt the itch again...
A few mates and I headed to the nurburgring (I rented a car when I was there) and the whole trip just reawakened my inner petrolhead. I needed a fast car again.
I was initially looking at the Golf R, but one drive in this and I knew I had to have it:
I know the looks are marmite, and truth be told I wasn't a fan when I first saw a picture, but in the flesh I thought it looked great. I've yet to drive another car that handles so well and feels so special to drive vs the price. Also, the blue and red appealed to me being a hardened Crystal Palace fan (sorry).
All I did was change intake and just enjoyed it. The plan was to take it on many a track day, but y'know, Corona. Still, some good trips were had among friends:
The downside of owning this car (and I should have expected it really) is the paranoia it brings. I never felt comfortable leaving it parked anywhere, it would draw a fair amount of attention (most likely p!ss taking) and after it was damaged when left in a car park, along with 3 other trips to the body shop for similar incidents I wanted something more inconspicuous. I sold it after 18 months.
Not much to say really, it was just a 1.6 Cooper which was sorta fun to chuck about. At the time I was commuting daily on the M25 and decided I needed something with a) air con and b) an automatic gearbox. I settled on the perfect commuter:
It was a 2011 W204 C220 diesel (Sport 125 edition) in magnetite black. It wasn't specc'd very well apart from intelligent lights, but it was the complete antithesis to the Corrado where every drive was an event... a little ashamed to say I'd grab the keys to this far more often than the VW!
I also bought an old Hilux Surf as a project - can't find any photos of it, but it didn't survive very long as I fell for the top gear meme that they were indestructible. Well, just about everything went wrong on it in such a short amount of time that I cut my losses and scrapped it.
Petrolhead life took a major back seat during this time, and i eventually changed the W204 to a W205:
It was a 2016 c220 in tenorite grey (I think) with the premium plus pack. I enjoyed this car for the best part of 2 years - hassle free, comfortable and had lots of toys. The only thing lacking was power. I felt the itch again...
A few mates and I headed to the nurburgring (I rented a car when I was there) and the whole trip just reawakened my inner petrolhead. I needed a fast car again.
I was initially looking at the Golf R, but one drive in this and I knew I had to have it:
I know the looks are marmite, and truth be told I wasn't a fan when I first saw a picture, but in the flesh I thought it looked great. I've yet to drive another car that handles so well and feels so special to drive vs the price. Also, the blue and red appealed to me being a hardened Crystal Palace fan
(sorry).All I did was change intake and just enjoyed it. The plan was to take it on many a track day, but y'know, Corona. Still, some good trips were had among friends:
The downside of owning this car (and I should have expected it really) is the paranoia it brings. I never felt comfortable leaving it parked anywhere, it would draw a fair amount of attention (most likely p!ss taking) and after it was damaged when left in a car park, along with 3 other trips to the body shop for similar incidents I wanted something more inconspicuous. I sold it after 18 months.
This brings me to my current car.
Before I mentioned that I loved everything about my C class except the power. Pretty logical next choice, but it had to be a fast Benz.
Lots and lots of hunting, and I found one that (with a bit of tweaking) would be the one for me. It was at Bramley Supercars who were just great to deal with and highly recommended (ie a full tank of fuel and bottle of champagne upon collection!). Here she is:
It's a 2016 W205 C63 AMG. Premium pack, 360 camera, intelligent lights, performance exhaust (a must have IMO), black ash trim and probably some other things I've forgotten.
Sods law being what it is, bar about 4 hours it has been wet and rainy every single day since I've bought this beast. Needless to say, it's sh*tting me up a treat with all this moisture but the smiles are endless. It's comfortable when it needs to be and an absolute animal once you put your foot down. Oh, and the noise in intoxicating.
I thought this car would be far more inconspicuous than the civic, but actually in the short time I've owned it I've had a lot of compliments from random people. I think this one may be a longer term keeper
All I've done since buying it is have the chrome window surrounds wrapped in black (ala "night package" as well as the front grill and bottom splitter. It might not be to everyone's taste, but I think it makes it look a lot better.
[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50751708276_a1af2670ac_k.jpg[/img
Just realised I need to take some pictures from the rear (as a rule of thumb!)
Plans for this car? Well, the next thing is the wheels. I like them, but they've obviously been refurbished and painted at some point and while they look good, they're just not shiny/silver enough for me.
Looking at other AMG cars with these wheels, they either come in what appears to be diamon cut/highly polished or black. I'm wondering if these were black to start with. Maybe someone here can confirm?
I'm thinking about getting them powdercoated or possibly going aftermarket... I think I'm getting better at leaving things alone
I've just spent far too long on these posts, but I figured that I may as well document my history as it's always nice to look back on. I'm not bothered if this thread fades into obscurity
ciao
Before I mentioned that I loved everything about my C class except the power. Pretty logical next choice, but it had to be a fast Benz.
Lots and lots of hunting, and I found one that (with a bit of tweaking) would be the one for me. It was at Bramley Supercars who were just great to deal with and highly recommended (ie a full tank of fuel and bottle of champagne upon collection!). Here she is:
It's a 2016 W205 C63 AMG. Premium pack, 360 camera, intelligent lights, performance exhaust (a must have IMO), black ash trim and probably some other things I've forgotten.
Sods law being what it is, bar about 4 hours it has been wet and rainy every single day since I've bought this beast. Needless to say, it's sh*tting me up a treat with all this moisture but the smiles are endless. It's comfortable when it needs to be and an absolute animal once you put your foot down. Oh, and the noise in intoxicating.
I thought this car would be far more inconspicuous than the civic, but actually in the short time I've owned it I've had a lot of compliments from random people. I think this one may be a longer term keeper
All I've done since buying it is have the chrome window surrounds wrapped in black (ala "night package" as well as the front grill and bottom splitter. It might not be to everyone's taste, but I think it makes it look a lot better.
[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50751708276_a1af2670ac_k.jpg[/img
Just realised I need to take some pictures from the rear (as a rule of thumb!)
Plans for this car? Well, the next thing is the wheels. I like them, but they've obviously been refurbished and painted at some point and while they look good, they're just not shiny/silver enough for me.
Looking at other AMG cars with these wheels, they either come in what appears to be diamon cut/highly polished or black. I'm wondering if these were black to start with. Maybe someone here can confirm?
I'm thinking about getting them powdercoated or possibly going aftermarket... I think I'm getting better at leaving things alone
I've just spent far too long on these posts, but I figured that I may as well document my history as it's always nice to look back on. I'm not bothered if this thread fades into obscurity
ciao
A lovely example of a Corrado. Also a nice surprise to see mine in the shot from the Crystal Palace show.
For those looking for an active Corrado discussion I'd suggest popping over to the CCGB facebook page. Unlike the Corrado Forum, which wasn't run by the CCGB, the facebook page is.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/746458145534377/
For those looking for an active Corrado discussion I'd suggest popping over to the CCGB facebook page. Unlike the Corrado Forum, which wasn't run by the CCGB, the facebook page is.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/746458145534377/
Thank you for the nice words
BEAMS 162 said:
That Corrado looked the part totally,went like stink and such a great colour.
Sure I know that red ST205 from Celicaclub,I'll have a search about..does it still have the same owner?
It's had the same owner for the last 7 years or so, although he bought it from an enthusiast and had a GT4OC sticker on the windscreenSure I know that red ST205 from Celicaclub,I'll have a search about..does it still have the same owner?
I was looking at this Corrado (VR) a few weeks ago so its really interesting to read the back story.
I'd gone to collect some MK2 parts and the seller had it on his driveway, had a different set of wheels (think they were Compomotive, in a similar style to the oe Speedline's but a bit larger) but looked just the same otherwise and in fine fettle.
Owner was a really nice guy and liked his VW's, I was really impressed with it looked like a clean Corrado on the surface but the more you looked you began to notice all the cool custom touches, he spoke very highly of the build and how well it drove. Found the turbo install really interesting, I've found most boosted 12v's have a bit of a messy looking bay but as this kept the factory inlet and covers it looked great.
I'd gone to collect some MK2 parts and the seller had it on his driveway, had a different set of wheels (think they were Compomotive, in a similar style to the oe Speedline's but a bit larger) but looked just the same otherwise and in fine fettle.
Owner was a really nice guy and liked his VW's, I was really impressed with it looked like a clean Corrado on the surface but the more you looked you began to notice all the cool custom touches, he spoke very highly of the build and how well it drove. Found the turbo install really interesting, I've found most boosted 12v's have a bit of a messy looking bay but as this kept the factory inlet and covers it looked great.
Seeing the pics of your Vr6 next to that Toyota are laughably similar to pictures of my Green 1.8 16v (91') that I have next to my friend's Red Mk3 Supra from 92' that he got a few months ago.
Also my first proper car and so glad to own it at 20. What a great place to start.
Love this thread - lots of great content! I hope to own a VR6 next, the insurance is surprisingly affordable at 20!
Also my first proper car and so glad to own it at 20. What a great place to start.
Love this thread - lots of great content! I hope to own a VR6 next, the insurance is surprisingly affordable at 20!
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