The classics you love, drive and restore
‘Family owned from new, It’s still part of our sons’
This is one of the first right-hand drive UK-spec Type 19 GTis, built in March 1984, and it’s been in our family since new. Back then I was aware of the release of the MkII GTi and my then fiancée had a 1979 MkI GTi, but I hadn't seen another MkII GTi on the road (apart from a German one). Anyway, the leasing company duly delivered, and on April 18, 1984 the car turned up. I joined the GTi Drivers Club, and when we took her around Goodwood for a club track day a few months later, my car was the only MkII GTi there! We used it all the time, taking it all over Europe and Scotland together, before we had the kids. Eventually I passed the ownership to my wife Alison as I'd leased a silver MkII GTi, so we were running the two MkIIs at one stage.
By the time we’d got eight-tenths of the way to the moon in mileage terms, the poor old girl was beginning to suffer. She’d had a recon gearbox at 145,000 miles, but it was leaking, and although the original engine was still going strong, its main oil seal was leaking – and this was after a bill of nearly £1000 the year before. So, we decided to lay her up and put her in my mum's garage, later moving her to a client’s old chicken shed.
Years later, our second son Ben took an interest in having her restored, and volunteered to pay half the restoration costs, and in 2017 we got going. The bodywork was all done by Kraftwork in Chelmsford (absolute geniuses) while the engine and mechanicals were done by Jtech near Reading, so we had to shunt the bodyshell backwards and forwards during the restoration. When everything was done we managed to get an agreed-value insurance policy, but without an annual mileage restriction, so we can use the car on a daily basis.
Our boys were brought up with this Golf for school runs in their formative years. It now lives in Norwich and is effectively Ben's, but his brother James uses it at least once a week. As you can see, it has been part of our family for the past 40 years. Hopefully James and Ben will get at least another 40 years out of it.
‘Who said that you need a Volvo to pull a caravan?’
We’ve done a lot of miles with this 124 all over Europe, and we tow a caravan with it! We’ve just come back from the European Classic Caravan Rally, and we join the Alternative Retro & Classic Caravan Society at shows around the south of England. We tow a Fisher Holivan, which is only slightly wider than the car. The 124 is an ex-California car, so it’s got these bumpers that a lot of people change to the chrome versions, but because the car is so original underneath – it’s all Italian metal – we decided to keep it looking original, too. It
