Well I didn’t get it back for Christmas, and there have been various delays.
But in anticipation of the end being near here’s an update for anyone that’s willing to spend some time reading.
A quick re-cap, whilst Hankmanus himself is a detailer, he knows and recommends a couple of guys local to him that have some good ‘old school’ fabrication skills and due to their humble premises, don’t charge the earth. I wasn’t going to restore the car for a couple of years, thinking I’d just get away with using it as is for as long as possible but then my arch trim blew off and left me with a nasty exposed hole which needed dealing with.
After seeing what a fab job Hankmanus and his guys had done on Macmillions Car I decided I’d go for it and took my car over the bridge on November 9th.
Originally it was going to have that rear arch replaced, I also sent it over with the pair of front wings I got from G60go at the national and a replacement front valance and the instructions to deal with whatever they found underneath the wings.
The other little scabs and scuffs we’re also going to be dealt with, with localized paint where needed.
It also went over with a mint tailgate and 2 good condition doors which they could decide to use if better than mine. Tailgate and doors would need paint as they were blue.
I also sent a repair arch from Heritage but Hankmanus was keen to keep as much genuine metal in it as possible so found a front end smash in a local scrap yard. So they cut out the rear arch and part of the sill from that.
When they discovered the state of the front chassis leg and battery tray a few decisions had to be made. Also front inner arch driver’s side and rear inner arches needed work. Bumper irons were shot, and front cross members were gone too.
This also put into question the validity of the MOT that the PO sold it with!?!
Taking into account the MK1 P Slots – with centres, VWMS steering wheel and general good condition of interior and other parts I could break it and no doubt get my money back – perhaps even make a bit – but on the whole it’s proved to be a solid well put together car and doesn’t seem to suffer from a lot of the common rot areas. I’d also been looking for around 2 years, as I wanted a particular, colour, year, spec, etc. to match one I’d previously owned and this was the closest I’d found. So I made the call to get the extra work done, as the car’s a keeper.
G60go had a chassis section, which he sent over (first class service once again) so they got stuck in.
Once it had gone this far, the job kind of evolved into a case of “well, since we’ve done that we may as well do this” so every little scab started getting extra attention.
Bits of the rear inner arch were rebuilt; sections of the rear valance were cut out and re-fabricated and so on, which resulted in the whole lower half of the car getting full paint.
The front wings (which were white and weren’t going to need paint apart from a bit at the bottom) also ended up getting paint as the guys sorted out a few little dings etc. I’d managed to put in them from transporting and storage.
It wasn’t part of the original plan, but I’d been in touch with Hank all the way through and agreed to it all being done. It was all stuff that I wanted to do, I just wasn’t planning on doing so soon – but as it was with them being worked on they may as well go ahead.
There have been a few time delays, where the guys weren’t happy with the fabrication of some parts so re-did them. And the first paint run had a few thin spots so went back for extra layers. Also I think they’d allocated a set time to get it done then move it out but once it started taking longer other jobs were stacking up so think my car took a bit of a back seat for a while.
The other issue has been the weather, Hank has no indoor facilities (he can usually find cover but his usual haunts were closed over Christmas) so wax and polish in the outdoors in the current conditions has not really worked out too well.
Hopefully I’ll get it back soon, if I get it back this weekend it’ll be 9 weeks.
macmillions wrote:
Dare I say a potential threat to the OEM crown?…
Not sure !? I don’t know how much lee-way there is on OEM, I don’t particularly want to be restricted by “how it came out of the factory”. I don’t want to Mod is as such, but there are a few little things I’d like to do that might take it away from OEM ever so slightly.
Such as:
I’ve already got a Mk1 golf ball gear knob, so no Gear select pattern, and an aftermarket leather gaitor.
Mk3 weighted gear selector.
Period correct, but not OEM Alpine stereo and changer.
Technically it’s not correct with MK1 P-slots, although I’ve also picked up a set of teardrops but they’re in a non-OEM Steel Grey finish.
My VWMS steering wheel (although dealer option) isn’t what it came with – I do however have a 4 button wheel now, so could revert.
And although I’ve got some swage lines I’m not going to put them on straight away to see how I like it. I might also keep the rub strips off for a little while… Although pretty sure they will go on.
And Hank thinks I should have colour coded white mirrors – I’m not convinced but I’ve got spares so I could try it.
Future plans include:
I’ve bought a little something for the interior, which hopefully I’ll get soon 
I’m thinking of doing something with the upholstery, possibly with later seats – maybe half leather, but original stripe centres?
Lowering (30 or 40mm) and maybe some different wheels.
And at some point exhaust, intake and head and cam work…. but on the original 8v K-Jet
Oh and thanks to a recent facebook post I’m really getting a thing for fugly, twin square aftermarket grills!
Any of that sound OEM?
It’s also going to be used, so I might just have to settle for placing it in ‘best daily’ or ‘best GTI’ but don’t think pitching it against the Scratch is worth doing …. we’ll have to see.
TeeTee wrote:Ooooooo, this is looking nice! The work is very impressive.As for OEM, I’m not a fan of colour-coded early mirrors or the lowered look. I reckon it looks smart as it is. Surely P-wheels are OK though?
Thanks, wish I could take credit for some of this work myself but it’s way beyond my ability.
Yeah, not convinced on the mirrors myself. As for lowering, perhaps 16v standard set up will be enough as 10mm lower than 8v anyway.
P-slots OK, but mine are Mk1.
Oh and obviously all of my plans are dependent on having some money and since this work has blown the budget nothing else is going to happen anytime soon.
lukeybabes wrote:Awesome work! bet you are very happy with it!
I will be when I finally see it, so far these are just the pictures Hank has been sending me – I’m yet to see it in the flesh and still waiting to hear when I get it back.
Oh and there will still be plenty for me to do I’m sure
I spoke to Hank earlier – the few “niggly bits” with the paint have been rectified and an extra bit of welding done in the exhaust tunnel. The car is now back with Hank so fingers crossed for good weather to allow the next stage of flatting, polishing and waxing to continue.
Plans to collect the car on Sunday 
This is Eddypeck 