mk1 golf oettinger 8v, the origonal club gti car?

hi all, just thought i would share the story of my little mk1 with you guys, here goes.

firstly i didnt take many pics of this over the years so apologies in advance.

i have had a fair few mk1's over the years, my first one, a gti i bought back in 99 when i was 19 was the one that got me hooked, another i had back in 2003 was by far the most fun car i have ever had (16v in that one) i have owned other mk1's since and broke a few over the years, but i have always been on the lookout for another to replace the one i sold in 2003,

step up to the end of 2009 and after properly looking for a suitable car i picked up this one,


it was looking very sorry for itself tucked away at the back of a vw breakers in Birmingham, missing a hell of a lot of parts, pillaged as and when parts were needed for other cars, last on the road in 99, destined for the scrapper.... it was the one for me

the shell was solid, the chassis legs were straight, and despite paying more than i believe it was worth i was happy with my new moneypit.

first i sourced all of the missing bits for it as there were lots of bits gone, panels, interior, trim, lots of awkward to get odds and ends but with a bit of ebay and raiding my parts bins i got it something like


next was to drag it out of the garage and take it over to my mates unit for a bit of love underneath,



replacing the brake lines,


and in 1 piece ready for its MOT,


and after a bit of polish later,


giving me a usable car has thrown up why it would have been taken off the road back in 99, rust in the tank due to a rotten filler neck,


i dont think the necks are supposed to be see through,
plastic arches fitted


i was still finding missing bits all over this car and now needed new tank etc so i bought this as a donor


but just opted for all new fuelling system in the end, old tank off,


new braided fuel lines as the originals were scrap,


the only thing not replaced on the fuel system was the fuel pump, the rest has all been swapped and its running again,

proud of myself and feeling a little smug i started throwing this picture around various forums,


and this is where it gets interesting,
i had a reply on the mk1 facebook group of all places from a lad saying that he had a pic of my car from 1990 ish, and sure enough,


this got me all exited like a kid at xmas!, but better yet was when i started throwing around the pic of it from back in the day,,
one of club gti's founder members got in touch with me to confirm that this car belonged to a fella called Chris Williams in the late 80's, Chris was another of the founder members so this could well be the 'origonal' club gti mk1.
you would have thought that with Chris being one of the founder members that this car would have popped up in early rabbit mags as a "crew car", and right you would be,


the oettinger engine is the real deal too as it was fitted by Chris, its really quick for an 8v

so there you have it, from a parts car destined for the crusher to getting pampered in my garage, ok its taken me 3 years to get this far but another 3 years should see me with a nice body restoration and some more suitable wheels


hope you like, Karl

 

Excellent find, good to see old original cars making a come back. Far too good to scrap.

Any more info on the engine?

 

I like it , Great topic mate

 

cheers guys, not a great deal of info available on the engine unfortunately,just what i can find on google. certainly nothing with the car (i got it with a torn logbook but that was it), the 2.0l 8v oettinger lump was available i believe in 79/80 before oettinger started making tasty 16v units,

im yet to put this car on a rolling road to see what its putting out but im guessing 140bhp ish, its certainly very quick for an 8v, seems to pick up well after 4000revs too similar to a 16v to must have some sort of fast road cam.

i had always intended to pull out the engine for a g60 (have always wanted a g60 mk1 since seeing Jay Caddicks baby blue one at the shows in the early 2000's) but i know i will regret messing with this one so its staying as it is, i will have to clear some room in the garage and pick up a mk1 g60 already done to keep the oettinger one company

 

Great find - thanks for posting the story.

Hope you're finding time to enjoy the car, and we'll see it at an event sometime - try it out round Curborough maybe?

 

Is curborough the small track in Burton? I might bring it down if im free and its not hammering it down with rain.
This car got quickest time around curborough on the first ever club gti trackday

 

As a quick aside; Jay still has the Mk1 tucked up safe ready for a major re-vamp soon...

 

Yep that's the one.

Put on some sticky tyres and see if you can beat the time !

 

Great story, thanks for sharing!

 

back in the 80's (and when it was in rabbit magazine) this car had a set of compomotive fh wheels fitted, so it would have been rude not to buy some


no the easiest to get hold of, compomotive are local to me and they told me that they stopped producing them 22 years ago but i think they will suit the mk1.

 

its still tucked away in the garage guys but as it was nice and sunny i wheeled it out for a few little jobs and attacked it with a sponge


mmmmm shiny

 

Fantastic story and a great save! It could've been another one gone for good. I amazed nobody robbed the engine out of, you'd of thought it'll be the first thing to go!

 

I think the fact that it didn't run properly due to all the rust in the fuel iswhat kept the engine in there. The cam cover alone would fetch around 500 so I am glad that no one grabbed that.

 

I'm having a drive up to the mk1 agm in Uttoxeter in just over a week if anyone fancies having a nosey around this car.

 

Excellent car, nice save

 

As above looks awesome good find.. really want to ask how much was too much to pay

 

brill find... keep up the good work....

 

Cheers guys. Taxed and usable now. Im finally getting around to doing the cam belt and water pump on saturday. Hope to get some use out of the old girl over the next few months.
Dan, it's a secret

 

Cool stuff, as soon as I saw the reg i knew I'd seen it before,somewhere!

 

Awesome find! Really liking this build. You could almost say a ClubGTI Heirloom (not that it is owned by the club...) being saved from the scrap yard!