RE: Shed of the Week: VW Scirocco
Discussion
Teacher at my school had one of these when they were current. A nice white Scala.
Always hankered after one, then, when I started earning a pay check and moved from the push-bike, I picked up a grey D reg 1.8 GTXi (D806 GYR) for £600. It was largely okay when I bought it, 50p-sized spot of rust in the middle of the door. I decided, in my infinite wisdom to paint the door.
Older me now realises that should have accounted for the 20+ years of paint-fading. Younger me did not, so I ended up with a car which had a darker door.
Still, it was plenty fast enough for a young me and always received positive comments, except that I used to regularly get pulled by the rozzers for no real reason (as far as I could ascertain).
Brakes were really bad, to echo the comments on here already, but have to say I am a 6'3 lanky sod and I found the driving position to be fine, so long as you adjust yourself properly once you're technically "in".
Some issues with the engine which were undiagnosable (word?) by me, my Dad & a few folk at work ended in me paying for an hour's diagnosis at a VW main dealer who told me it was HT leads. I duly changed them and it turned out not to be. I gave up after that. Remember picking it up that day. Felt slightly amused that they'd washed the car and left it in the forecourt, surrounded by all the much more modern and shiny stock they had...and there was my old Scirocco.
Left it sitting for a bit and bought a "dragon green" Scala. J657 GUF. £350. Engine was fine, but the bulkhead was apparently quite rusty. Clutch cable went one morning and then had to learn quickly how to change gears without use of a clutch. Made it all the way back from Inverurie to Aberdeen like this. Thus ended the dream of owning a Scirocco.
Not sure which one, but I remember sleeping in the back one night, for reasons I ought not to go into here. It was cold, it was uncomfortable and I only did it once
Definitely wouldn't recommend buying this one and using it to sleep in,
In the end I jacked them both in and bought a poverty-spec BMW instead. Vive la RWD!
Ahhh young me was much more interesting...
Always hankered after one, then, when I started earning a pay check and moved from the push-bike, I picked up a grey D reg 1.8 GTXi (D806 GYR) for £600. It was largely okay when I bought it, 50p-sized spot of rust in the middle of the door. I decided, in my infinite wisdom to paint the door.
Older me now realises that should have accounted for the 20+ years of paint-fading. Younger me did not, so I ended up with a car which had a darker door.
Still, it was plenty fast enough for a young me and always received positive comments, except that I used to regularly get pulled by the rozzers for no real reason (as far as I could ascertain).
Brakes were really bad, to echo the comments on here already, but have to say I am a 6'3 lanky sod and I found the driving position to be fine, so long as you adjust yourself properly once you're technically "in".
Some issues with the engine which were undiagnosable (word?) by me, my Dad & a few folk at work ended in me paying for an hour's diagnosis at a VW main dealer who told me it was HT leads. I duly changed them and it turned out not to be. I gave up after that. Remember picking it up that day. Felt slightly amused that they'd washed the car and left it in the forecourt, surrounded by all the much more modern and shiny stock they had...and there was my old Scirocco.
Left it sitting for a bit and bought a "dragon green" Scala. J657 GUF. £350. Engine was fine, but the bulkhead was apparently quite rusty. Clutch cable went one morning and then had to learn quickly how to change gears without use of a clutch. Made it all the way back from Inverurie to Aberdeen like this. Thus ended the dream of owning a Scirocco.
Not sure which one, but I remember sleeping in the back one night, for reasons I ought not to go into here. It was cold, it was uncomfortable and I only did it once
Definitely wouldn't recommend buying this one and using it to sleep in,In the end I jacked them both in and bought a poverty-spec BMW instead. Vive la RWD!
Ahhh young me was much more interesting...
i remember my sister running a Scala. colour coded white wheels, seats, even white piping on the lights. Echo the s
tty brakes. our dad fitted porsche discs, calipers and even master cylinder. they were still st, only a little less so.
despite replacing expensive boot rubber seals and other bits, it still insisted on collecting rain water in the boot.
I was pissed off when my sister revealed she'd sold it to a dealer for a a couple of hundred quid.
I also remember hearing that porsche turbo charged the 944 because the quickest sciroccos were faster? sounds unlikely!
tty brakes. our dad fitted porsche discs, calipers and even master cylinder. they were still st, only a little less so. despite replacing expensive boot rubber seals and other bits, it still insisted on collecting rain water in the boot.
I was pissed off when my sister revealed she'd sold it to a dealer for a a couple of hundred quid.
I also remember hearing that porsche turbo charged the 944 because the quickest sciroccos were faster? sounds unlikely!
"the Scirocco represented an equally huge swerve for this highly conservative carmaker. Up to that point, 'Volkswagen' and 'coupé' had only appeared in the same sentence once before in the very un-Volkswagenish shape of the Karmann Ghia, a swoopy 50s creation that owed more to American design cues than German ones."
Great article and sorry to be a car nerd but VW did have another coupe before the Scirocco. The fastback: http://www.webeautos.com/detail-1972-volkswagen-fa...
Great article and sorry to be a car nerd but VW did have another coupe before the Scirocco. The fastback: http://www.webeautos.com/detail-1972-volkswagen-fa...
vsonix said:
nosuchuser said:
VW Coupe you say?
SP2 from 1972, admittedly, not sold here but look at it...
Looks a bit Japanese - Fairlady Z/Toyota 2000GT kinda vibe. SP2 from 1972, admittedly, not sold here but look at it...
VW were also still making mk2 Jetta derived saloons that had mk4 Polo interiors much the same as those being built in China up until only a few years ago.
KTF said:
I had a 1988 one of these in black with the P alloys. 1.8 if I remember correctly. I remember how bad the brakes were though
I had an 86 GTS in Silver (also with the Pirelli alloys, which looked great)Mine was ultra reliable, to the point of annoyance as I wanted it to die so I had an excuse to replace it. Towards the end of an ownership lasting probably 5-6 years, I was living in central london, working in Cambridge and commuting daily with it. It drove 'ok' (not as fast as it looked) but I didn't really have any issues with the brakes but the problem was that it had the most uncomfortable seats of any car I've sat in. It didn't seem to be just my car as my sister had one at one point and I had the same issue with the seats in hers. Somehow there was a bar somewhere inside the seat at just a position that I felt but oddly others didn't. They certainly weren't seats I wanted to be in for over 2 hours a day.
So I started to hate the car, but it wouldn't die. Not servicing (or even changing the oil) for the last 2 years of its life, commuting at high speeds daily to Cambridge and back and not caring for it in any way... but nothing would kill it. It even sat on the road for over a month waiting for the scrap yard to come and collect it, and when they came it started first time. And it only went in the end as the back door window seals went so it took on water and started to stink of mold.
If nothing else, it was certainly built well.
andyb said:
I had an 86 GTS in Silver (also with the Pirelli alloys, which looked great)
Mine was ultra reliable, to the point of annoyance as I wanted it to die so I had an excuse to replace it. Towards the end of an ownership lasting probably 5-6 years, I was living in central london, working in Cambridge and commuting daily with it. It drove 'ok' (not as fast as it looked) but I didn't really have any issues with the brakes but the problem was that it had the most uncomfortable seats of any car I've sat in. It didn't seem to be just my car as my sister had one at one point and I had the same issue with the seats in hers. Somehow there was a bar somewhere inside the seat at just a position that I felt but oddly others didn't. They certainly weren't seats I wanted to be in for over 2 hours a day.
So I started to hate the car, but it wouldn't die. Not servicing (or even changing the oil) for the last 2 years of its life, commuting at high speeds daily to Cambridge and back and not caring for it in any way... but nothing would kill it. It even sat on the road for over a month waiting for the scrap yard to come and collect it, and when they came it started first time. And it only went in the end as the back door window seals went so it took on water and started to stink of mold.
If nothing else, it was certainly built well.
You do realise you can sell a car? It’s not like a dog, you’re not obliged to keep it until it dies.Mine was ultra reliable, to the point of annoyance as I wanted it to die so I had an excuse to replace it. Towards the end of an ownership lasting probably 5-6 years, I was living in central london, working in Cambridge and commuting daily with it. It drove 'ok' (not as fast as it looked) but I didn't really have any issues with the brakes but the problem was that it had the most uncomfortable seats of any car I've sat in. It didn't seem to be just my car as my sister had one at one point and I had the same issue with the seats in hers. Somehow there was a bar somewhere inside the seat at just a position that I felt but oddly others didn't. They certainly weren't seats I wanted to be in for over 2 hours a day.
So I started to hate the car, but it wouldn't die. Not servicing (or even changing the oil) for the last 2 years of its life, commuting at high speeds daily to Cambridge and back and not caring for it in any way... but nothing would kill it. It even sat on the road for over a month waiting for the scrap yard to come and collect it, and when they came it started first time. And it only went in the end as the back door window seals went so it took on water and started to stink of mold.
If nothing else, it was certainly built well.
911Al said:
Great article and sorry to be a car nerd but VW did have another coupe before the Scirocco. The fastback: http://www.webeautos.com/detail-1972-volkswagen-fa...
That's the 411 LE isn't it? That is mentioned in the story. Blackpuddin said:
That's the 411 LE isn't it? That is mentioned in the story.
No, the 411 was a Type 4, that is a Type 3 1500/1600 fastback.(Type 1 was Beetle, Type 2 the Microbus/Transporter/van)
Brazil did their own variants so this was a Brazilian Type 3 after it was hit with an ugly stick
The 411LE also had a fastback variant which had a very odd line in the rear bodywork that looks like a door shut line but isn't and presumably aids access to the rear mounted engine.
This morphed into the 412LE with the same odd feature but the restyle seems to be trying to look like a Saab
I had one exactly like this, sold it for 400 GBP in about 2000. The one time it let me down was the clutch cable stopper pulling through the bulkhead over time, meaning the pedal got lower and lower, until you couldn't change gear anymore. It left me stuck on the M6, but was fixed very quickly with a big flat bit of aluminium shoved into place. I loved it because it was red and had a spoiler and was my first reasonably presentable car.
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