Model: 1981 VW Polo LX

Engine: 1.0

Suspension: 'bouncy'

Brakes: erm need a good shove

Wheels and Tyres: rusty and small

Exterior Styling: Chrome bullet mirror, de grilled,

Interior Styling: blue vinyl, basic as basic can be, smells nice though

ICE and Security: crook lock 80's style lol shelf mount speakers to go in and hopefully a cassette deck wooooooooo

And heres the story.........

Having been on a ‘retro trip’ for the majority of 07’ this continued into 08’ when I joined Retro Rides forum. Being a general car nut and 80’s child I have a big love for retro cars I grew up seeing daily and especially liked the stereotypical ‘scene’ stuff, Golf mk1’s, and Aircooled dubs as well.

Fast forward to a Saturday in February. Normally my Saturdays are taken up with playing football for my church team, however we had no game that day so I found myself killing time at the computer reading forums and ebay surfing. It was then that I came across a VW Polo mk1 going for £250 with a couple of hours to go. Normally I I would just watch it to see how much it makes cos I'm nosey like that, and I wasn’t specifically after one, really I wanted an Audi 80 to play with as I like the shape.

BUT (theres always a but isn’t there lol)

It was located in Bexley which meant it was within 2 miles of me, so I thought it’d be rude not to bump the bids up a bit lol. In the end I topped out at £300 and won the car.

Did I need another car? No I already had 3. Did I expect to win? Not really. Was I happy? Hell yeah lol.

I bought it blind (worked brilliantly when I did the same for my Ax Gti :-D ) and it turned out to be a good purchase.

Picked it up the next Friday: (photos from the ebay ad)

So what direction to go with it?!?! Well its in very good condition both mechanically and bodily (minimal surface rust) but it is covered in little dents, marks, scratches and mismatched paint on the wing so its not going to be a show car lol

I love the idea of rat cars and I appreciate that people see them as quite ‘scene’ but I'm not swayed by peoples opinions I do what I like to my cars

So after a quick service and freshen up (feels a lot perkier now ) I removed the front black grille due to it being held on with glue and luck lol. Brittle and fragile as anything they are!!

So then I put on the chrome bullet mirror (cant see a thing out of it so needs more work….)

Erm and that’s it so far!! Lots of bits on route though J

Some pics from today:

pics not amazing but it was about to horizontally rain and sleet so wasn’t staying out there long!!

So where to now?!?!?

Well I've made some enquiries on some wheels so hopefully have some decent rims on there soon (Passat GT’s or P slots probably)

Then its got to be hit with the stick lol

Thinking of putting a 4” stainless steel back box on there as I've got one kicking around although it’s a bit too chavy so we’ll see on that.

Bidding on some chrome bumpers as well so hopefully get them, knock up a custom chrome grill from something, add my roof rack I've got somewhere (scene haters enjoy )

Erm got some shelf mounted speakers (NOS) to put in and need to wire in a cassette/cd player.

After that who knows……..

looking good dude.

cant wait to getr my lx back up an running.

did u have to re-drill the door to fit the wing mirror or were u lucky enough to have one with correct screw spacing?

i used the original screws and they were more or less the same space apart as the bolts on the mirror. it really is quite bodged on there at the moment as it was freezing outside lol

I have made up some spacers from alu as the original bracket was never going to fit but it needs to be spacer out more on one side to get the angle better as i cant see anything out of it currently lol

also got these coming for it :)

Very nice mate, really retro. You you drop it though, will do wonders for it

Thats the plan a reasonably big drop when the P slots go on :)

Here is a pic of mk1 that i think is knocking about my way. Looks like the same colour

Alright!

Hit the for sale section... find some ruude stylin' aksessoreez and PIMP YO RIDE.

Aksessorizing started all ready load of stickers came this morning including two 76 ones as on that blue polo, but i dont really want to copy it....maybe lol we'll see.....

looking good, 2008 will have quite a few Mk1's knocking about!

If its even a patch on yours Tej i will be happy lol. Did some more bits and bobs to it today, now sporting some stickers (yes like a sheep i copied that blue polo with the 76 stickers, but i dont think it looks quite right on mine at the moment) pics up at the weekend hopefully :)

If its even a patch on yours Tej i will be happy lol. Did some more bits and bobs to it today, now sporting some stickers (yes like a sheep i copied that blue polo with the 76 stickers, but i dont think it looks quite right on mine at the moment) pics up at the weekend hopefully :)

thanks mate but if your looking for the ultimate mk1 cant go wrong with Lovejoys, wish mine was like that. Dont worry about the stickers, I've got 76 ones on mine! lol

Its all good, just make it your own and youll be happy.

I have a 76 ball :)

Why be anti-scene ehh?

lol I'm scene through and through, if you cant beat em join em lol

Tbh the body is not good enough to make it into a high quality show car, and my intention was never to spend loads on it, thus rat is kinda where it was always headed, however its not going to be matt/satin black all over because i want it to also be a bit unique where possible, hence its only got a part satin bonnet, looks good as well :)

Little things here and there is the aim, trying to get a mini back box cheap to whack on, the wheels were cheap, and the suspension wont break the bank I'm sure. :)

Nice to see yet another one rescued. Those blue doorcards are something else

ooooo its about time to update and its a mixed one this time :(

Been really busy with other cars to do too much so it amounted in me sticking some stickers on and spraying the bonnet matt black in the centre.

Then i came back from a well earned break to find some one (a neighbour i am almost certain) had done this (like the note, misquoted from Gladiator) was not best pleased i can tell you :(

very 'scene' stickers but i dont really care lol i like them :)

Also bought a grill to custom fit which will be uber cool :)

And got my P-slots now as well so hopefully they'll go on soon