It was another cold winters morning in January sitting on the train, armed with a cheque in one hand and a bag of tools, oil, anti-freeze and other “just in case” items, that my dad and I made the trip up to collect the car.
A previous petrol leak had been sorted and the keys were ready to hand over. We arrived and were welcomed by another cup of tea which is always nice. The paperwork was ready to be signed and sorted. It was at this point we realised the car had actually had 5 owners from new. The cheque was handed over and I finally had the keys to my G40.
Dad and I went outside and immediately started checking over the car for the 70 mile trip home. Tyre pressures were checked, anti-freeze was topped up, oil was topped up as there was next to nothing in her. It still hadn’t sunk in that I was the owner of this car, and the relationship didn’t start well, I stalled her 3 times just backing up to get out of the space. Thankfully I knew what that was. I had come across the joys of the self adjusting clutch in my last polo, so that was something to add to the ever growing list of new parts. The rest of the trip home was without fault, the odd putting it into fifth instead of third occurred, but that was me not being used to having an extra gear. We got home for lunch and I admired the car sitting on the drive next to my other polo.
To get the car home, I needed a weeks insurance, so I carefully used her for that week and enjoyed every minute of it. The power was strong and she was boosting well, but I wasn’t giving her the full beans for the worry of the condition of that G-Lader. Once the week was up, it was time to start the work.
I initially started by attempting to restore the paintwork using Auto Glym Colour restorer and polish, and to be honest, I was amazed at the results.
Dull paint untouched by polish it what I reckon was a couple of years
And the results on the wing
I had also started buying a few bits and piece for the sleeper look
My plans at this time were simple, firstly, get the car back on the road, with a few minor aesthetical changes, then the major changes could take place to make a stylish and simple street sleeper.
Major work started on the interior and the wiring. I planned to remove all the speakers, speaker wiring, stereo and alarm ready for all new items.
Remains of the old alarm
Stereo wiring
Random cut wire in the boot which suggests that at some stage in its life, the polo had actually had a toe bar.
Alarm wiring out
Stereo and speakers and other random items out
Doing the proper thing – labelling the wires
My plans for the stereo were to install an MP3 head unit, uprated wiring, 6x9’s in the parcel shelf (Nabbed from the other polo), uprated front speakers which fitted in the original holes and a CD changer in the boot which I had already bought and never fitted to my other polo.
Every evening after work I would be outside doing a bit more polishing and bit by bit, she started to bring back her full colour but it was now time to tackle those original BBS RA’s.
After eventually getting them off, we were pleased to find plenty of meat left on the brakes, but they were in need of a good clean
A good job jobbed in my opinion. And a few general pictures of her current state at the time.
It was nearly time to start some engine work.