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Funny....How the wind blows

This story is based on Dave's own words and pictures of his current Scirocco
minor adjustments may have been made so it more reader friendly for the internet web site.
Click on any picture to get a larger image.
Dave has checked it for accuracy before it was posted on the Internet.

Dave writes:-

My love for the scirocco came about in 1985 or 1986 when I would have been about 9 or 10 years old. I went to a car show at a sports centre near where I live, and it was at this time that the film 'Back to the Future' was released. You guessed it, the Scirocco reminded me so much of the Delorean, and being a child I instantly fell in love with it.

Being so in love with the car for so long even rubbed off on my Dad, buying his first Scirocco when I was about 17. It was a Burgundy metallic Mk1 GLS with the large rag top roof scoop style sun roof.

It was so cool!

I had my first Scirocco at 21. A metallic black D reg 1986 special edition GTS. I liked it a lot, but after owning it for about a year I longed for more power, I needed fuel injection, as I kept getting beaten by my friend who had a silver C reg GTX. So, the hunt was on for a GTX.

I sourced one not far from where I lived, although my mum said it felt like she'd been to the other side of France for it (we went about 40 miles).

This was a 1987 D reg GTX in tornado red, it even had electric windows and I loved it, this was 'the one.'

We (the girlfriend and I, now my wife) went everywhere in it.

Coming from a little country village near Bradford in West Yorkshire one of our favourite drives was to the east coast. We would start at Whitby and take the coast road all the way down to nearly as far as Bridlington, then cut across, through Stamford bridge (near York not London) and into Leeds and then home.

It was on this particular run that the gearbox let go when we were on our way home near Leeds, the diff pin shattered the casing loosing all the oil and very nearly the clutch as well.

I managed to limp her home and got straight on to the local gear box recon garage where I forked out over £300 to get her fixed. I had this car for about three years, and still to this day I say I would have kept her longer if some nice pikey hadn't have put a great big dent in her door.

Between then and now I have had some different cars all VW though, well, except for the Seat Leon that is, but its really just a Golf in a different dress, but nicer than a golf actually, as my wife now has a Mk 4 GT TDI and she hates it, anyway, that's a different story. I had a Mk2 Golf GTi, then a Mk4 Polo, then back to the same GTi before the gear box went on that, so I really went to town and bought something else I'd always wanted, a Corrado VR6.

What a fantastic machine, I'd never driven anything like it. It had the driving position I was so familiar with, like the Scirocco, but it went like an express train.

But, the wife got pregnant, and could no longer get in or out so it had to go (boo hoo!). I needed a family car and this is where the Leon came in, a 20V turbo, also very quick. Once the little one came along, this car was handed over to my wife who had a Mk3 Golf Avantgarde Cabrio in dark metallic blue with beige leather interior, as this was now impractical for her (she couldn't get the pram in the boot). The Cabrio had to go, as it's my wife who is the hairdresser and not me.

I got myself another Mk2 GTi, why? I don't know, as I didn't get along with the first one, so I sold that after about a year and got myself another Scirocco. The one I have now.

It's a 1988 E reg Flash Silver GTX. I went all the way to Southampton for her, which was a 520 mile round trip for my friend and I who I'd talked into coming with me to keep me company.

It wasn't until we were halfway back that he told me I had dragged him the length and breadth of the country on his birthday, Nice! Such a good friend that I am, I had completely forgotten that it was his birthday. We arrived in Southampton at around 8.30am, straight away I fell in love all over again. Don't get me wrong she needed a little bit of TLC to make her perfect but there was very little rust, I'm talking two 5p sized bits, one on the leading edge of the bonnet and the other on the tailgate.

I particularly liked the colour and the wheels, she was just what I'd been looking for, and bearing in mind I hadn't been in one let alone driven one for nearly seven years, it all came flooding back, I'd forgotten how much fun they were. It just felt right! I was reunited with one of my favourite Volkswagen models ever made.

It doesn't stop there though, I have sat in my garage a 1.8 16 valve engine which I bought off one of the technicians at work (I work as a parts person at my local Volkswagen dealership by the way). He was going to put it into his Mk1 Golf GTi but never got around to it as he sold the car to my brother, and he couldn't be bothered with it so I stepped in. So, I'm building a Mk2 Scirocco GTX 16V. Knowing how rare these cars are and knowing I'll never get my hands on a real one, its time to build my own.

Apart from the obvious thing of my GTX being a right hand drive model and not left like all the 16V's were, I'm hoping to make it as close a replica as I can, even down to the 16V style ignition key. All I need now is for the wife to get the Freelander she wants (don't ask) and I can use the Mk4 while I do the conversion. I will keep you all posted on the progress of the conversion as soon as it is underway. I do hope to have managed to keep your attention through my not so brief life story of Scirocco ownership, and that it may spur some other club members on into sharing their stories too. Funny isn't it, how the wind blows!







Thank you Dave for sharing with us all, how your interest in Sciroccos started.
Congratulations on a super looking Rocco, hope to see it in the metal soon.
Managers of SciroccoWorld.


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