[autocrat]

This is indeed a tragedy.

How can people be so irresponsible? Also sometimes I wonder why such things happen in a string to one individual.

I have had similar setbacks in a series but not related to cars. Waiting for updates

[PraNeel]

Originally Posted by Dee_aRe_Cee

I headed back to the bus stand and asked one of the guy's who had helped me what I owe them for their trouble. He put up his hand and said "Friendship isn't here" as he rubbed his fingers together, "It's here" as he touched his chest.

It is because of people like these one's faith in humanity is kept alive.

Originally Posted by Dee_aRe_Cee

The municipality destroyed and took the car(no photographic proof). The car was parked in the compound but they said they took it to the road temporarily during a renovation and the municipality took the car away without a warning! It sounded fishy but I still had another car which I didn't want to lose aswell. Mr.D promised to do things right again after this loss.

After suffering so much why you did again sent your car to the same workshop? By now you should have realized that you are dealing with a conman and you should have taken someone else’s help.
Feel sorry for you and I hope you don't deal with this thug anymore.

[adityap1981]

Hi DRC, I'm based in Johannesburg, South Africa; A Mecca for the VW Mk1. Please get in touch with me should you need any help locating parts for the car. There are ton of these cars here and I personally have plans to buy an old Mk1 and restore/upgrade it to what my version of a perfect Mk1 is.

Dont lose hope...

[Dee_aRe_Cee]

Originally Posted by autocrat

This is indeed a tragedy.

How can people be so irresponsible? Also sometimes I wonder why such things happen in a string to one individual.

I have had similar setbacks in a series but not related to cars. Waiting for updates

maybe I was too gullible, I ended up trying to make them set things right but they screwed up again so I took the car back and well, it's home now is all that matters!

Originally Posted by PraNeel

It is because of people like these one's faith in humanity is kept alive.




After suffering so much why you did again sent your car to the same workshop? By now you should have realized that you are dealing with a conman and you should have taken someone else’s help.
Feel sorry for you and I hope you don't deal with this thug anymore.

I agree, the whole experience was an eye opener, won't be sending any projects out of Goa again.

Originally Posted by adityap1981

Hi DRC, I'm based in Johannesburg, South Africa; A Mecca for the VW Mk1. Please get in touch with me should you need any help locating parts for the car. There are ton of these cars here and I personally have plans to buy an old Mk1 and restore/upgrade it to what my version of a perfect Mk1 is.

Dont lose hope...

Thank you! that is very kind of you. I've got most things sorted out so its fine now.

[Dee_aRe_Cee]

I'M BACK! I have shifted to my own blog, will post the older blog posts about the golf here once in a while, so check out the blog(therustycashew) /instagram(the_rusty_cashew) /facebook page(The Rusty Cashew) instead for all things vintage and classic with wheels!
The last blog post was about a collection of around 50 classic cars, do check it out!

REBOOTING PROJECT SMOKEY THE RABBIT
The Past –
The Golf has been through a lot, if you’ve been following my team-bhp thread of it you’ll understand what I mean. From a car that I’ve driven from east coast to west, to being left abandoned by a mechanic by the side of a lake to back on the road, its been a long journey!


I’m pretty much where I started with this project if not further away from completing it but I will, now that I’ve come this far I can’t quit on it. This is the point where sensible people call it quits, sell the project as is and start with something new but it just doesn’t feel right, neither is ‘sensible’ an adjective I hear often. Car enthusiasts aren’t sensible, they’re closer to madness.

A car like the early golf doesn’t cost much to buy compared to other 30 year old German cars, most parts are still available in India and Volkswagen plans on reproducing the parts as mk1 Golfs are quite popular lately. There isn’t much to it either, the door cards are flat so making new ones is practical, there are no power windows, power steering nor power locks, the diesel engines can take plenty of abuse and coupled with the lightweight body of the golf they can give you around 22kmpl, some people claim even more! They look different, the diesels are torquey and pickup speed quickly due to a low top speed and they are surprisingly fun to drive around corners too for a front wheel drive car.

It may sound like I’m trying to sell you a Golf, I am, just not mine! It is a good car at the right price as you could use it as a daily driver if you don’t mind sweating it out in traffic( adding an air conditioning system should help with that though). The other cons would be how noisy the diesel gets and how low the top speed is, at 90kmph its screaming! But who am I kidding? This isn’t a highway warrior, it’s meant to pass fuel stations and not aggressive taxi drivers. Look around! They hide in plain sight! Workshops, scrapyards and houses, I’ve found around 30 in the past 2 years, half of which were for sale! Don’t ask me to find you one, get online or onto the road and find one for yourself! (the golf is thee classic hatchback to have)
Save a golf today, water-cooled VW cars matter.


The Present and Future –
The golf is finally home after everything it’s been through but it’s got as much of work needed as before if not more. The exhaust stopped smoking and stopped popping out of gears, but it now needs both CV joints changed, the door cards need to be replaced, alot of wiring work, the paint and bodywork needs repairs, need to replace the bumpers, suspension bushes need replacement, new tires and rims, interiors need some work, maybe push in an audio system too, the door handles replaced and adjusted and this list goes on!

Do note that when opening the doors to a golf or infact any old car, you must do it carefully as you may break something. Also beware while shutting the doors, be gentle or the owner may get aggressive and break something. Many owners are very attached to their vehicles and may attack you in hostile situations.

The other day I met a friend who was in town for a day and we were talking about new vs old vehicles. I was telling him about the weekend I had with the new Royal Enfield Himalayan, it was a blast! Just a day but I now want an offroader even more! I’m new to riding as I’ve never been allowed to ride a bike till a year back, since then I’ve used light 2 strokes nearly everyday but something like this takes time to get a hold of, anyways, back to the old souls. He mentioned that his friends buy new bikes every few years hence never face problems but we classic enthusiasts live with vehicles that have had a past and they lack electronics. Because of this the parts often show signs of failure. A bad CV joint is diagnosed by the legs of your car sounding like they’ve broken, the car screams at you when it’s belts are loose, you can feel when the bushes go and so on. Your car communicates directly to you, you just have to pay attention and respond(relationship advice for the rusty car enthusiast). My Jetta and its previous owner may have been in a violent relationship, when I got her the fenders were badly dented, the car was bad but I managed to drive it from Bangalore to Goa. 4 km before my house I stopped for a sugarcane juice by the side of the road, how refreshing on a hot summers day! After that I tried to start the car but it wouldn’t even crank! I called up the previous owner and he told me to slap the car right on the fender and it’ll start and it did!(It was a relay behind the fender, don’t judge my methods of discliplining my vehicles!)

I’ve begun working on the car again but it’s quite a task, hope to be done in a year or 2, I will concentrate on the other projects as well. I will never have confidence in sending a car to another state for repairs, I feel like this is something one should avoid at all costs unless the workshop is among the most specialized in the country. You can’t lean over his shoulder every other day to watch the progress nor pass by the garage to check on the progress from the outside like a heartbroken teenager.
This blog will mostly revolve around the car and bike scene in India. The majority of the time about classic, vintage vehicles but sometimes about the more modern enthusiast vehicles. I’ll also add some workshop projects I take up and any related topics.Hope to keep things lively and entertaining.

So if you love all things rusty and full of soul, stay tuned for the next post from The Rusty Cashew!

[v12]

Kudos to you DRC for not abandoning the project even after facing so many issues. Any sane person would have let go of the Golf....But like u mentioned - a car enthusiast isn't exactly sane.

Love the orange Golf - are all those Golf's yours?How's your BMW project going?? Did youanage to restore it? Looking forward to more details and pics.

[Dee_aRe_Cee]

Originally Posted by v12

Kudos to you DRC for not abandoning the project even after facing so many issues. Any sane person would have let go of the Golf....But like u mentioned - a car enthusiast isn't exactly sane.

Love the orange Golf - are all those Golf's yours?How's your BMW project going?? Did youanage to restore it? Looking forward to more details and pics.

The orange golf is a friends. only the red one is mine, one is enough but I wouldn't mind a 2 door.

I've made alot of friends thanks to the hobby.

The E30 is complete, always has been apart from needing some minor things.

[D3NZ1L]

Hey Dee_aRe_Cee . how bout sharing some pics of the E30 .

[Dee_aRe_Cee]

I'm fed up of the diesel engine, plan to do some upgrades on the golf.

Originally Posted by D3NZ1L

Hey Dee_aRe_Cee . how bout sharing some pics of the E30 .

It's undergoing engine repair.

[D3NZ1L]

Originally Posted by Dee_aRe_Cee

I'm fed up of the diesel engine, plan to do some upgrades on the golf.



It's undergoing engine repair.

hey Mate , howz the. E30 coming along , its been a while waiting on some updates . am looking for one as well , would appreciate on some pointers .

cheers

[Dee_aRe_Cee]

It's been years since I last posted on team bhp and i thought it was about time that I got back to it.
Since the last update in 2017 I got a bit of work done on the car at a workshop but it kept giving me trouble.




The engine had been through too much, I believe the crank had been machined 3 times already and it couldn't take it any more.
Since it returned from Pune I changed the wheels




The car had been to 2 VW meets me and my friends had put together but the engine was tired and had seen too much




I used it a bit and had probably put on 300 km on it after it got back home till one night when I was 2 km from home the engine started to throw out oil from the dip stick opening and that's when I gave up




Since then I've shelved the project as the other projects have taken priority and I've evolved too and I'm now more hands on with the builds.




I've sold off my daily driver Mk1 octy vrs as it was too rough, that car went to a friend who is Vrs swapping his mk1 Golf.



That Vrs was replaced with a Fiat S10 #010, the famous one gifted the Sachin and that will get a separate build thread

https://youtu.be/nKP91Cd0-z0

i've begun servicing my E30 engine and manual swapping it, that will go to another thread

https://youtu.be/ykAS--2pm34

I'm also planning to swap a 1.6 GTX engine into a beater Uno I bought so that's going to be a fun project that I could document here.



I plan to make a Lancia delta Integrale style kit on it and document the process



My S123 wagon is getting some 3d printed AMG bodykit parts and will be getting restored in house



I've picked up a w124 that began life as a 300E and later got a 300D out of a turbo diesel but without the turbo so that is another project for me, not sure of the direction of the project with all the hassle about car documents and the scrappage scheme I may part ways with it but I'm still far away from making a decision

https://youtu.be/XHThV7pmsmo

and last but not least I'll be finishing my 356 speedster project

https://youtu.be/Ju6ztkC69I4

Since I have all these projects now, I'll be taking a couple of years to maybe even a decade to finish completely but I thought I might as well document them on team bhp, youtube and instagram

The Golf will definitely take a while to get to as all the other projects will take priority and I'd like to get as much experience as I can before I make the Golf into something else, I'd love to engine swap it but I'm looking for affordable options that run.

https://youtu.be/2oXkVIo_f1E

I guess this thread will be dormant too till I finish enough of the other projects and get a suitable donor for the mechanicals but I'll be staring new threads for the other projects

I hope you guys enjoy what is yet to come and I hope I see the other side of these projects as it definitely is a huge task

[crdi]

A video about your "mad projects", by jayd in Malayalam, but subtitles are on.

https://youtu.be/EXDZytmlNOk