Shed Of The Week: Volkswagen Golf Ryder
A PHer's postponed project could be worth preserving - classic Golfs won't remain Sheds for long!
Turned out he never used the BM. A quarter of a century later it came up at a Scottish auction Shed was attending. The evocative whiff of unsullied plastic covers over blue velour seating was too much to resist.
Which they duly did, to an American chap whose intention it was to replace the asthmatic 1573cc carb-fed four with an M3 motor. Shed got his money back, so it was all good. Some might wonder at the bastardisation of a classic, turning a car into something it was never intended to be, but Shed was cool with it. The car would have died as a 1502, but its transformation into a more valuable M3, even a false one, secured its future. For all Shed knows, his pumped-up 1502 is still sprinting around in the States somewhere.
What's this got to do with this week's Shed, a Mk2 Golf Ryder? Well, this VW is not quite as pristine as Shed's BMW, but it's basically sound. We're suggesting this as a canny investment because, whether you're a fan of the Mk2 Golf or not, the supply of sound Mk2 Golfs is drying up. The ones that survive are going to go up in value as the numbers dwindle, just as the Mk1s have. It's simple economics.
You'll note a bleb or two of rust on the driver's door bottom. It failed its MOT in 2011 on rusty seat belt anchorages, but apart from an advisory for oil misting on a front damper in 2012 it's sailed through every test since with no advisories. Your vendor very honestly confesses that it will need welding to get through the next one, but isn't specific about where. Most likely areas will be the usual sills and arches, but rust will also pop up around the screen, jacking points, battery tray, rear beam mount points and front chassis legs. Bodies tend to let the water in, and flexy four-doors like this one are especially susceptible to leaks. Good panel gaps are important, and this one's look decent.
Funnily enough Shed has also owned a Mk2 Golf in rather nice condition. His one was a 1.8 Driver in black with steelies. Nothing went wrong with it, it was a nice thing to drive, and he eventually sold it to a delighted young man from the Midlands for a bit more than he paid for it. Everyone was happy. That's the thing with simple old classics. They make a lot of sense on a lot of levels. Sadly, judging by the MOT records anyway, the Driver's new owner killed it off within a year. C'est la vie, or la mort in this case.
Anyway, back to this one. If those are genuine Pirelli alloys, and they look like they are, you'll probably clear your costs on them alone if you end up breaking it. But, like Shed and his Mk2, and a few other things in his life, don't go making hasty decisions you might end up regretting.
Mk2 Golf Ryder in light metallic green. 1.3 carb. 4 speed. Bought this car to do vr6 conversion. Been offered a classic mini to restore so the golf needs to go. It's mot till Feb 18 and has 96000 miles on the clock. It has had rear wheel arches repaired which arnt the best. Has had some welding done, will need some for next mot. Has oil leak from gearbox. I have just topped it up. Is a good rolling resto project. If it dosnt sell, will just restore when I get round to it. Any questions please feel free to give me a shout.
It's a shed that needs unspecified welding for the next mot (I would not say that's basically sound, as it says in the article). Surely there must have been something else to choose
Makes me wish I'd left my MK2 GTi to rot in the garden so I could sell it for a couple of grand if this rotbox is worth 700 quid.
Sure, this is a feeble example - and 55hp, so not worth bothering with. The clock rather than a rev counter give a clue too.....lol
But the 8V and especially 16V GTis are iconic hot hatches of the 80s, and appreciating classics in just the same way as 205 GTis and 5 GT Turbos....
Many many moons ago in the past, I spent about £700 on a night out with an 18 year old German.....,
Woke up with 3 hickies, a t-shirt covered in sick (mine I think but can't be certain) and the mother of all hangovers.
Not keen to repeat the first part of above, just in case it leads to the second.
Sure, this is a feeble example - and 55hp, so not worth bothering with. The clock rather than a rev counter give a clue too.....lol
But the 8V and especially 16V GTis are iconic hot hatches of the 80s, and appreciating classics in just the same way as 205 GTis and 5 GT Turbos....
Scene tax.
4 speed
No rev counter
1300 cc
No central locking etc
It's hard to think of a less interesting Golf.
Shed fail!
Same engine though, and yes, it was hopelessly underpowered. Mine maxed out at an indicated 115 (private road etc. etc.).
Other than the woeful engine, it was a really good car. As for this one, it would make sense if you had the time and inclination to strip it back, spray it a decent colour and put a decent engine in. Either that or use it as what could be a decent enough runaround, assuming you had the time to fix the problems.
Some hate the way these look, but I love it. The round headlights were very unusual at a time when other cars had gone square, apart from fellow Germans BMW and Porsche. A well-loved mk2 Golf still looks good.
I love Mk2 Golfs - a G-reg 8v GTI in light metallic green was my 2nd car - but I wouldn't have chosen this as SOTW.
ks to all that hard work.If this had been a single owner car with half the mileage & didn't need all the work for the next MOT I could understand it as a shed of the week, just.
In my opinion it's not worth spending the money on & the idea of putting a VR6 motor in a body that needs that much work seems crazy to me - it ain't even a 3 door (unless you do nothing to the body for a full sleeper look). But this is why basic models die because they cost the same to restore body & interior as the interesting ones - that's why loads of Porsche 912s died
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