In late 2003, having returned from 6 months in the USA, I was back at university in Exeter. I had a 1043cc mk2 Polo that I'd bought as a stop-gap after writing off my Xantia a few months before I left for the States. It was a great car, but not great for the regular motorway journeys to Birmingham, nor for impressing the kids! I was back in Birmingham for the Christmas holidays and decided to look for a replacement; I'd decided on either a Saab 900 or a VW Scirocco. I liked the look of both, the Saab appealed for it's quirky, left-field appeal, the Scirocco because my Grandma had a mk1 when I was a very young child.
At the time, two mk2 Sciroccos appeared for sale in Birmingham. I went to see a gold-coloured, non-bodykit version - it was a bit rough around the edges and the carb was playing up, so I decided to give it a miss. The next one was a silver/blue 1989 GT which had been owned by the same chap from new (first registered to his business, then him) and was for sale by a local hobbyist car dealer. Other than having had a replacement speedo (which was all documented), it was very original and seemed in good condition. I think I paid £750 for it (which was probably quite expensive back then!).
I had some great times with the car, mostly involving cramming unlikely-sized mates in the back and laughing at their discomfort.
I also established that it was possible to fit my girlfriend (now fiancée) into the boot (it wasn't kidnap, I promise):
After about a year of ownership, I'd spend a lot on the usual problems of rusty filler neck, broken rear springs and particularly the Pierburg carb. The head-gasket looked like it was on the way out, so I fell for the lure of Alfa Romeo ownership and sold the Scirocco. I think it eventually went for £150 with a full MoT - but no tax and it was on the road so I needed it gone.
This would probably take us to early 2005. The Alfa 145 and I never bonded: it had a lot of rattles and I could never get a comfortable driving position. I spent a load on failing to get a 1977 X1/9 I'd had since 2000 to work properly, so both my Italian cars went. Then followed a rather Volvo-heavy phase of car ownership, involving a one-owner from new 440 (I just went for the best car available on Autotrader within 10 miles of my house), a T-5 estate (students should not buy cars that do 15mpg around town), a one-owner 340 variomatic with FVSH that cost £50, a 360 GLS and a 480 ES 2.0. Oh, and I owned a DAF 46 for about a month.
I then started to get back into VWs. My first was a T25 camper that I only sold when I bought my house a couple of years ago and needed the cash. Alongside this I had a 1272cc Polo LX with a very snazzy interior. It failed an MoT (not on much, thinking back) and I put it in a garage for a couple of years until I decided to get rid. This was when I the Scirocco itch returned. I was probably looking for a mk2, but what turned up was a mk1 GLS in Indiana Red.
I loved every minute of driving it, but became worried about driving it in the salty winter and when some idiots decided to break the aerial off and scratch down the side of the car with it at New Year, I decided I ought to have something more sensible. I rather wish I hadn't. But I did, and I joined the family theme with my father and sister and bought a Lupo. They had 1.7 SDIs, I had a 1.4S - the red one.
Unfortunately I never quite took to the Lupo either. What I really wanted was a Scirocco. So I went out and found one.
And, because one is never enough, I found a second.
The flash silver GTX was a £100 project that I spend about £500 getting through an MoT and then sold for £600. The Helios Scala blew through a bodged fuel pipe (not bodged by me, I hasten to add) on the M5 and had started to leak quite a lot of oil, so it needed to come off the road. I bought another 1272cc mk2 Polo, then started working and decided to treat myself to an MX-5.
The MX-5 was great, but more cash was needed for the house extension, so I needed something cheap. What did I get? Yep, a Scirocco. One of the best I ever had, bought from the original owner for £350 with some minor front end damage (bent bumper) and a short MoT. Yet again I ended up spending too much money trying to sort out a dodgy Pierburg, got fed up and sold the car.
Around the same time, I also found a rather nice Helios GT, which reminded me of my first Scirocco (albeit the wrong colour). This one had to go too, in my fit of anti-Pierburg pique.
I decided I needed something with fuel-injection, so found myself a decent Scala. Unfortunately it needed more work than I had time (or money) for, so I did a trade with GTMatt for a GT.
For some reason I had forgotten about my Pierburg allergy. This reared its ugly head, but by now I knew the cheap and stress-free way to sort this out was a Weber. I did that, and then still had major problems with rough-running, which turned out to be rust from a holed tank. I couldn't get on with the lowered suspension either (far too harsh), so I cut my losses and moved the car on.
I had, in this time, also taken ownership of the mk2 Golf GL, now known as the Grannywagen, that my grandmother bought new in 1989. I remember going to Rawson's Eurocars in Tunbridge Wells with her to pick it up.
I ran that for a while as my main car, but I didn't really want to punish it with a 50-mile a day commute through the winter after a lifetime of living in a garage, so I had to think of something else. Old cars weren't really cutting the mustard with my commute - too many things kept going wrong, without enough time to fix them myself. The scrappage scheme was still going and I had a Volvo 240 estate I couldn't sell for £500 despite it having 10 months' tax and a full MoT. So I took the plunge on a brand new car and found myself driving a BMW 116i.
This meant that Scirocco ownership could happen without the stress of needing to keep an old car reliable for every day use (I know some people manage it, but I don't seem to be able to!).
I bought myself a mars red 1982 GTI, thinking that being so rare I'd be unlikely to find another one easily. I had planned to pay for a professional restoration, but this was going to cost anywhere between £5-£10k
An off-the-cuff wanted ad in our very own classifieds netted me a somewhat unexpected delight of a 1982 GTI that some of you may have seen at the NEC last November. For calendar holders, she is also Miss June.
In the meantime, I've also bought a couple of scrappers and abandoned a mk1 project and an attempt to get back into racing (hopefully in a few years).
That pretty much brings this story of kleptomania up-to-date. Just after Christmas I bought a Cirrus GL that I'd been watching get cheaper and cheaper in the classifieds.
It's been a great buy and after a new MoT in a few weeks' time I'll need to move it on, because I've been reunited with the car that started it all. I was scanning the curse of the collector
and saw a very familiar looking car... G330 VRT. It was advertised with a faulty clutch and became mine again for the opening bid of £200.
