Project Lily - Preservation Through Modification!
Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:01 pm
As many of you already know we first saw E48 GRE when we attended the Vintage & Classic Vehicle Rally at Harewood House in the summer of 2010.
At the time we were thinking of getting our own Mk2 Scirocco (Project Poppy) back on the road after 6 years in storage and seeing this stunning GT inspired us to move our plans forward.
A few weeks later I heard about a “near concours condition” Scirocco up for sale and, when it turned out to be the same one we’d seen at Harewood, I got in touch with the owner to see if we could help him find it a good home.
At least that was our initial intention, but we soon came to the opinion that she might be worth buying for ourselves especially with Poppy not due to be on the road anytime soon. As I’ve said a few times now, I blame Tony (mazellan) as he was the first to introduce me to the concept of multiple ownership!
Anyway, we arranged to go down to Sandbach to check the car over and make sure she was still as good as we remembered. She was indeed and so a few hours later she was back home with us in Harrogate.
A few days after we bought her we took Lily as she’s now called (Poppy Red .. Lily White - get it?) up to Sedgefield to sit with the other Sciroccos on the Register stand at the Durham Dubs event.
From the day we bought her we kept saying we wouldn’t be making any significant changes to her. We really saw this one as being more a case of preservation than restoration hence the title of the original project thread.
Apart from anything else we were already planning to modify Poppy and so we thought it would be nice if our second Scirocco was standard.
And with that in mind we set about removing the few non-standard touches on her. These included: silver tape lines on the lights and the bumpers; clear front indicators and smoked repeaters.
Other than that it was just to be bits and pieces or at least that was the plan until our workshop was broken into. With over £2,000 worth of tools and all the new spare parts we’d purchased for Poppy stolen we found ourselves unable to continue with that particular project.
Yes, we still had some money set aside, but it would have taken all of it to replace what had been stolen and then we’d not have had enough left in the kitty to finish her off.
So, after much deliberation we’ve decided to do what many people said we should have done from the start, spend what money we have on Lily as being in such superb condition she’s an ideal base.
I should stress here though that our intention is to only make modifications to her that can be easily reversed should we ever want to return her to standard.
Changes being considered include a set of lowering springs, new wheels and a revamped interior. However, much will depend on how far we can stretch what’s left in what was the Poppy fund.
Yes, I know this is a big change in direction, but it now seems the sensible thing to do and hopefully by being selective in what changes we make we won’t upset the purists too much.
At the time we were thinking of getting our own Mk2 Scirocco (Project Poppy) back on the road after 6 years in storage and seeing this stunning GT inspired us to move our plans forward.
A few weeks later I heard about a “near concours condition” Scirocco up for sale and, when it turned out to be the same one we’d seen at Harewood, I got in touch with the owner to see if we could help him find it a good home.
At least that was our initial intention, but we soon came to the opinion that she might be worth buying for ourselves especially with Poppy not due to be on the road anytime soon. As I’ve said a few times now, I blame Tony (mazellan) as he was the first to introduce me to the concept of multiple ownership!
Anyway, we arranged to go down to Sandbach to check the car over and make sure she was still as good as we remembered. She was indeed and so a few hours later she was back home with us in Harrogate.
A few days after we bought her we took Lily as she’s now called (Poppy Red .. Lily White - get it?) up to Sedgefield to sit with the other Sciroccos on the Register stand at the Durham Dubs event.
From the day we bought her we kept saying we wouldn’t be making any significant changes to her. We really saw this one as being more a case of preservation than restoration hence the title of the original project thread.
Apart from anything else we were already planning to modify Poppy and so we thought it would be nice if our second Scirocco was standard.
And with that in mind we set about removing the few non-standard touches on her. These included: silver tape lines on the lights and the bumpers; clear front indicators and smoked repeaters.
Other than that it was just to be bits and pieces or at least that was the plan until our workshop was broken into. With over £2,000 worth of tools and all the new spare parts we’d purchased for Poppy stolen we found ourselves unable to continue with that particular project.
Yes, we still had some money set aside, but it would have taken all of it to replace what had been stolen and then we’d not have had enough left in the kitty to finish her off.
So, after much deliberation we’ve decided to do what many people said we should have done from the start, spend what money we have on Lily as being in such superb condition she’s an ideal base.
I should stress here though that our intention is to only make modifications to her that can be easily reversed should we ever want to return her to standard.
Changes being considered include a set of lowering springs, new wheels and a revamped interior. However, much will depend on how far we can stretch what’s left in what was the Poppy fund.
Yes, I know this is a big change in direction, but it now seems the sensible thing to do and hopefully by being selective in what changes we make we won’t upset the purists too much.
Once again, I’d welcome any advice on this. 
.
Met the previous owner last week at a local show and I think he still misses her. ;) 
still got the glue on though so taken some advice and tips off this 
