This is my 7th Mk1 Jetta, and 4th GLI, but my first blog. I figured a blog was a better way to tell a story than that circlejerk they call FB. Good conversations that disappear in 24 hours, buried by stupid questions, or too many death threats from putting round headlights on a US GTI. The Jetta list I've owned is as follows:
1. Atlas grey GLI vin....###705
2. Mexico beige diesel (scrapped)
3. Alpine White GLI vin....###704 (ahead of 705 above in Wolfsburg assembly line)
4. Mars Red GLI sunroof (scrapped)
5. Mars Red Atlantic (scrapped)
6. Centurion(?) Grey Wolfsburg (scrapped)
7. Mars Red GLI (subject of this blog)
All 2 door sedans, or coupes or whatever you call them.
I've always had an affinity to these 3 box creatures, not sure why. I never really paid much attention to them when they were new, dad had a rabbit and a beetle and through my teen years I focused on finding a beetle for my first car.
I built a '72 Superbeetle in 1993 but never really latched on to them. I found my first Mk1 jetta, a GLI quite by accident. I purchased a silver 84 GTI locally, and while assessing it found it was way too rusty for a relative novice to take on....so I cut it up. (relax, it was 1997, they were worthless then, and it was my daily, not a project) anyway, I found my first GLI (which I affectionately call Ol' blue) at Autobahn motors in London Ontario for $1500. It was an Atlas grey GLI, relatively unmolested for a 13 year old car. I bought it, safetied it and away I went. I fell in love with it instantly.
My dad, up to that point had only bought diesel mk1s. I got used to the 0 to 60 in 15 minutes and thought that was it for watercooled VWs. It was only marginally slower than my stock beetle. Then I sat in those plush GLI seats, and felt all whopping 90 hp of the JH and I was hooked. It was quick, but not fast. It was sporty, but not sleek. In 1997 the internet was new, and I happened across some pics of another Atlas grey GLI doing some autocrossing in a parking lot, that looked like the Woolco by my house, so I looked him up and started hanging out with other likeminded VW nuts and was plunged in.
So I started modding the car, found a Zender front skirt, some konis and neuspeed springs, short shifter, blah blah blah. At the same time, my roomate Jeff saw how cool these cars were, and found one of his own. It was only after he was done with his (around 2003) that I found out that our car's VINs were sequential!!! His car was immediately ahead of mine on the Wolfsburg assembly line in Dec 1983!!!! WOW! What are the chances?
So, that said, I couldn't let him sell the car so I bought it. But I couldn't justify apartment life with 2 GLIs (and a mk3 GTI) so I had to let whitey go. Meanwhile, Ol blue was looking forlorn in her Atlas grey, which for some reason attracted rust like a magnet. I had her stripped down and painted in Audi Denim blue cuz I loved the way the new TTs looked. The GLI looked absolutely gorgeous in that colour! I spared no expense on the bodywork, they had to go to town on windshield and flare rot, and stripped the entire body before prep. Even to this day, the paintjob still looks fresh, so its worth it to go the extra mile, than leave it to Earl Scheib.
I should have stopped there, but I had the headliner and seats redone in blue tweed. It was cool at the time, but I soon regretted messing with the perfect blend of colours and materials that Wolfsburg had picked for the GLI in 1983. But let me preface that in 2004 when I did this, mk1s VWs had NO VALUE, they were worthless, so to mess with originality was no big deal. You had to pay people to take them off your hands. They were too old to be dailys, and had no collector value. So I grew tired of Ol blue, and she started to get long in the tooth. She needed brakelines, the towers were starting to crack but the paint and interior were still in such great shape that it wasn't worth ripping into her again. I sold her.
Then came the search for the next GLI. I found my grail version, yeehaw, Mars red with sunroof! Ugh....too far gone...never seen quarter rust like this before...
...So for some reason, I cherry picked parts off it, not too many, and no rhyme or reason, but I kept a handful of parts that would become important later...
If you look in the garage in that photo you can see another red bird...a VERY rare red bird in Canada. An actual Mexican Atlantic I found an hour north of here, dare I say the only Atlantic in Canada at the time? I really shouldn't have bought it, as it had red flags all over, especially under the thick PO-applied undercoating. I couldn't resist though, it was sofa king cool!!!
But it was BAAAAAD, real BAD, probably the worst car I ever bought. There were some saving graces, like the front fenders which weren't subjected to covering flares that ate out the lips, but the structure was compromised in so many places. The rear beam actually collapsed into the body, the gunnels were rotten, the floor gone, and the A pillar swiss cheese. It would have folded in half on a rotisserie....SUCKS! I guess Puebla MX didn't see merit in undercoating or inner fenders...
So she didnt offer much, but I was starting to see the validity of saving these Jetta/Atlantic parts, because they were approaching 30 years and the values were starting to rise. I also dragged another 2 door wolfsburg shell home, but the PO went apeshit cutting out motor mounts and raintrays, and at the time my wife wanted a divorce, so I had to purge all non daily sheet metal from the stead. I was mk1-less.
So it didn't last long....in 2016 I dragged a cabby home. I couldn't resist. they're f^cking cheap, and in (generally) great shape. From the driver's seat, staring out the windshield, they are no different. They also extended beyond mk1 tintop production, so little rattles and other annoyances were fixed...making it a superior mk1 in my opinion.
But something was still missing....
Now popping up now and then on Kijiji was a mk1 red, 2 door GLI roller, probably from 2016 til 2018 the ad popped on and off 3 times. I called each time, the owner never called me back. Sh^t. November 2018, its up again. I called a buddy to act as my agent to bug the sh^t out of this guy to get a viewing, so it worked and on November 17, I went to see it...
In some ways it was in better shape than ol blue was, the towers were mint, the floor great, but this guy stripped EVERY VALUABLE PART off the car, no engine, no trans, no GLI rear hecken, no gutter trim, no grille, no dash, no carpet, no seats...nuthin. He even took the f^cking sway bars off!! But remember that OTHER red GLI I scrapped? The list of parts I kept was almost exactly the same as what was missing....Uncanny! But this is where the story almost goes sideways.
I put a down payment on it, and returned on a Thursday to get it with my mk4 and trusty towbar. I bugged the PO to look for the ownership and he assured me he had it...he showed up? "Uh, I couldn't find it" FAAAAAAAAWK!!!! I was pissed. I knew I could get an affidavit, but they worked 50% at best. I did take the liberty of getting a used car package from the MTO a couple days before, and I googled the PO (which wasn't the guy I bought it from) and found he ran an autoglass shop in Toronto. SOOOO lucky this dude has a VERY unique name!
So anyway, I hooked the towbar on, added the tow lights, changed to some wheels I brought and off we went. The weather report said snow was on the way but I wasn't too concern, it was 2pm when we rolled, and we would be home by 5pm when the storm was to hit. We were wrong.
It was smooth sailing from Toronto to Waterdown when the storm hit. There were no plows out prepping the road, cuz it was still November, WTF? <<grumble>> By the time we hit Brantford it was BAD, the roads were awful, cars in the ditch everywhere, and this moron was driving a mk4 Jetta with an old jalopy off the hitch. I turned from Hwy 5 to Hwy 24 near Brantford, and the GLI was trying to shove us into the ditch, the front tires wouldn't bite to turn, the road was a sheet of ice! I called a friend in Brantford and abandoned the car in his driveway. It still took 3 hours to get home that day. (usually takes 1 hour) Is this the luck this GLI brings? F^ck me.
I went back to Brantford the following Saturday and got her home without incident. Whew!
This is where she sits to this day, I have basically only taken stock of its condition, and its been too cold to work on it. There also is no room in the garage as the Iltis and Cabby slumber away for winter, but she is covered with a breathable car cover, which in some ways is better than my sh^tty garage. In tracking down the ownership (which is now in my name without the bullsh^t Affidavit) the registered previous owner filled me in on the history of the car, it at one time had a 16VT in it, and he claims there was a Peloquin in it too. Scary that it still has 9.4" brakes but whatev, the car still exists without evidence of kissing guardrails.
Don't oogle too long, all that cherry sh^t is gone. :(
But no fear, I have ALL the parts to restore this GLI back to stock; close ratio trans, JH motor, interior including GLI seats, everything! Again, uncanny that I have all the right parts! I was meant to own this incomplete vehicle I think. And its going back to stock, No Denim blue, No tweed interior, No silver guages, NO NO NO! Heck, even the park bench bumpers are going back on.
The reason I call this 'Last chance' is because if I don't find a donor now, in 2019, I doubt I ever will. To find a rust free roller, of a 2 door, deluxe model of a 35 year old car, within a 4 month build window, in such good condition...is hens teeth. And watching other comparable cars, like Datsun 510s, 70s vintage Corollas and Civics, even Beetles, are skyrocketing in price lately, we can only surmise that in 10 years, these Jettas will do the same. Dare I say, the running example of this GLI should fetch $5,000 in its completed state now....A much better ROI than Ol' blue I bought for $1500, and sold for 2 grand. (with a $7,000 body/paint job, and $3,000 interior) So, you twits out there, who take apart your mk1s, cut out the motor mounts and raintrays, then scratch your heads that you got in too deep, when your swap harness gives you migranes...keep crushing your mk1s, it drives the value up. ;)
So we'll leave it here for the first post...I'll have more to say when the snow is gone! Ciao!
