I wasn't after a new car. Put it this way, i wasn't after an old car either.

I'd been looking for a GT for a few months however I got disenchanted with A) The price they go for and B) There are many poor examples for sale; even in the 'right' places.

It all happened on the 14th April, I was browsing the forum at lunchtime at work and came across this post:

http://www.clubpolo.co.uk/forum/index.php?...=192926&hl=

I thought, cool, a Derby owner in Bristol, it'll be nice to go and have a look at it as i've never seen one in the flesh before apart from at shows.

I messaged the lad and got no response immediately. It was almost two weeks later when I got a message replying to me and how much he was asking for the car.

I was in Morrisons (of all places) when I read the message on the internet on my 'phone. Immediately my blood pressure rose, I found Kaylee (my girlfriend) and told her the news, she thought nothing of it, naturally.

I tried keeping it a secret but by bedtime that Evening my brother, my best mate and my mate George (evabot59 on here) knew too.

Arranged to view it on Bank holiday Monday, it's solid apart from the rotten front arches, valance and rear arches. My Brother (misterstumpy on here) is a welder by trade and all he could say was "get it".

Went and met Rob the owner, all of 8 miles away, looked around her, started her up and made an offer there and then; Rob accepted.

Here are the pics from when I went to view it (the big wheels were on just for transportation reasons)

We agreed that his mate will be able to deliver it for me which was pretty decent seeing as it had no tax or test.

Received it last night and examined it this morning. Where it's rusty it's completely gone, however everything else is pretty damn solid and straight!

Plans for the short term are to get it transported back to Oxford where we can start the work. Rust will be cut out and arches/wings repaired if we can't find any second hand items. Golf arches may make an appearance too.

My aim is to get the bodywork absolutely solid and rust free and 12 months MOT on her, for the time being I may have to leave her in red oxide primer until I get plans/money for paint.

I have a GT engine in my knackered GT Breadvan on my Parents' driveway. it will have a full GT conversion running on fuel injection a 4 branch/decat, 8k chip and a K+N panel filter. I also have a set of Weitec 60/40 springs, G-Laderseite ARB blocks and plan on rehauling the whole braking and suspension setup. A GT rear beam will make an appearance too.

This, for me will probably be a long project, a year at least but to say i'm pleased is an understatement. I'm pretty sure it'll be worth it.

Thanks for reading!

Awesome!!!!

Plans sound epic too dude. gotta be done!

these are getting very rare now and this isnt to shabby good luck with the repairs bud will look good no matter what you do with it love the old derbys something about them just screams out cool and dont matter how long it takes my loon still probably wont be done by the end of the year so take your time and enjoy this cool classic

awesome

Hoping to get her transported back home to Oxford on the first weekend of June... :)

Nice one martin be interested in seeing this progress .When it comes too paint give me shout i may be able to help youve got my number

luke

Nice one mate, yeah still got your number... I text you by accident the other day as you know!

nice! I've only even seen one of these on the road! looking forward to seeing what you get up with this!

Looks like something good to watch!

I've saved the picture of it on the big wheels for 's

Derby Monster truck FTW! :-D

I love this car. The interior is completely mint. Martins wheels plans are awesome tooo haha.

nice to see another early one, wings and front valance dont look to great :S hope you can sort them tho as replacements are obsolete (sp)

That is awesome

Ill give you a beep if I see you rolling through Oxford!

Let me know if you need some bits dude. Got a few panels left.

Nice one Charlie, will do! Here is my first and very minor update on her:

Update 1. 15th May 2010.

Saturday afteronon, weather seemed nice, didn't have much to do so I thought I better crack on and explore this 29 year old rust bucket sat outside the flat.

I removed the rear lights and was met with almost 30 years of roadside grime:

Once I managed to get prise lights away from the shell (lots of mastic/sealant in the way) I inspected the lights and gave them a bath; they're in good condition minus some overspray that'l t-cut out:

Then I removed the badges and, met with a load of dirt behind them:

They cleaned up well, minus the lack of paint on them!

I then removed the grime on the rear panel and was pleasantly surprised at the condition of the paintwork/bodywork on the rear:

A very minor update I know but it got me attached to the car, almost in a maternal way! John Bowlby and his Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis better watch out!

Next plans are to collect another pair of rear lights and a rusted wing as a spare, hopefully at the weekend.

I'm keen on getting some small bumpers, same ones as Simmo produces so will have to have a look for a pair, I do wanna keep the square lamps too so will have to have a think about what it'll look like.

Its all about the plastics!

Early bumpers and sqaure lights are fail.

Stick with the plastics...baby jetta!!!

Nice one Charlie, will do! Here is my first and very minor update on her:

Update 1. 15th May 2010.

Saturday afteronon, weather seemed nice, didn't have much to do so I thought I better crack on and explore this 29 year old rust bucket sat outside the flat.

I removed the rear lights and was met with almost 30 years of roadside grime:

Once I managed to get prise lights away from the shell (lots of mastic/sealant in the way) I inspected the lights and gave them a bath; they're in good condition minus some overspray that'l t-cut out:

Then I removed the badges and, met with a load of dirt behind them:

They cleaned up well, minus the lack of paint on them!

I then removed the grime on the rear panel and was pleasantly surprised at the condition of the paintwork/bodywork on the rear:

A very minor update I know but it got me attached to the car, almost in a maternal way! John Bowlby and his Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis better watch out!

Next plans are to collect another pair of rear lights and a rusted wing as a spare, hopefully at the weekend.

I'm keen on getting some small bumpers, same ones as Simmo produces so will have to have a look for a pair, I do wanna keep the square lamps too so will have to have a think about what it'll look like.

"John Bowlby and his Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis" haha i have to learn that for my upcoming a level exam :(

Update 2. 23rd May 2010.

I went over to a nice part of Bristol yesterday, well not quite Bristol - Temple Cloud, near Bath to collect a spare set of rear lights and a wing 'that could be saved' all for £30.

Plan is to get a pair of tatty wings and make one good pair out of them both with the welding skills of my Brother. Alternatively, we could just repair both pairs and have a pair as spares.

I cleaned the lights up in the bath, they're in good condition however the rear of one unit has cracked where the bulb holder fits into position - not a problem for me.

I'm becoming a parts whore already!

Update 3. 23rd May 2010 (Second update today!)

Decided to remove the front headlamps and grille which eventually ended up in me removing a wing too.

It was only the 5 or 6 bolts holding the nearside wing in place so I whipped it off and lined up the new one:

It doesn't fit well, obviously it needs work so I have left it on the car with the bumper holding it in place for the time being:

This is how it stands now:

I 'won' well, made an offer outside of ebay for a set of 14x6 Speedlines which may go on the car, think they may be a it too modern for it though.

you bought kerrlys compos? they would work if you were going for a motorsport look, otherwise i think your right that they would look a bit odd.

They're the 14x6 Mk2 golf speedlines,collecting tonight. Think they'd suit a mk1 golf but not a Derby though.

hi mate....just to say looking at these pictures....I'm really missing her...at least I'm getting the golf done..

Glad to see some work is getting done on the old girl though...

will be keeping an eye on this....

good luck mate

Cheers Rob, i'll keep you posted with the progress. It'll probably be fairly slow off the ground but that's good with me! I'd like to have her on the road for next summertime, that would be a good target.

Update 4. 14th June 2010.

No more on the Derby as such, however I nipped 20 miles 'over the bridge' to Wales yesterday to collect a spare Polo GT Head and Cam that i'm hopefully going to rebuild for the Derby.

A little slight scoring on the lobes but I honestly believe it's nothing to worry about. I have my GT engine at home I could comare to also.

Plan is to completely rebuild the head and chuck on a smart rocker cover. A lad my girlfriend works with had his Mk4 Polo engine replaced as it was knackered and I helped him start to strip it down earlier tonight, I got this rocker cover out of it:

Would be nice to get it sand blasted/polished up but I don't really think that's me to be honest. May get it sent off to be powder coated instead.

Just need to sort out the breather for it.

I'm hoping to get the Derby home in July. My aim is to get her on the road by next May, in time for my 24th Birthday...

Took her over the road on Saturday as me and my mate were bored after Bristol Volksfest!

I think you should buy my mk1 berg cup arches :)