Your Scirocco History

[Chris16vRocco]

-2006 to present - Turns Silver with a blue headliner- Gets the full on Team Andy® Treatment

Fixed.

[xECKSx58]

I swear I have posted here before

Apparently not though, so here it goes:

I do come from a VW(/Audi) family (sort of).

My moms first car was a blue 1979 (?) VW Beetle similar to this one



Her brother (whom I'm named after) owned a yellow 1976 (?) VW Rabbit (which he was killed in at the young age of 18).



My grandfather has owned so many VW's I can't think of half of them. I know that he was stationed in germany for a while, and bought a few v dubs there. I will try to list out the cars he owned but I know I will miss many. (I just talked to my mom and she said he would buy a new VW every year after trading in last years model [never a Scirocco though]. This was mainly in the 70s, but also earlier.)
VW Vanagon truck


VW Karmann Ghia


VW Diesel Dasher Wagon


I'm pretty sure he had a Fox and a Jetta too, but I'm not sure about that.

Back to my mom:
She owned a 1987 Audi 4000 CS Quattro
She was pregnant with me when she crashed it into a tree (1992)


It wasn't until 2005 (ish) that she got back into the Audi world

She had a 2001 Automatic S4...


...Traded that in for a 2001 Nogaro Blue 6spd S4


Then one day in 2008 my sisters boyfriend came home with his 1983 Scirocco fresh from the paint shop.


This is what made me want one.
Later in the year I saw a silver 1984 Scirocco on Craigslist for $600
After bugging my parents about it for 2 weeks they finally allowed me to purchase my first car at the young age of 15.
Here is the beauty as she sat the day I picked her up



And this is what she looked like in her finest state to this day



As of today she's being stripped of her old paint in preparation for new fresh paint.
Why would I repaint a car that was just repainted last year?
Because the guy who painted it (for free, minus the paint) did a terrible job.
There was orange peel everywhere and drips along the whole drivers side
Here is how she sits

[cuppie]

My 'rocco history:
First VW in the family was Mom's '79 Rabbit - she got that when I was 17 or so. And, I took care of it.
My first VW was my '83 'rocco (which, oddly, was Flash Silver), which I got when I was 20. Drove that for a couple of years; sold due to needing far more work than I felt the car was worth.
As a replacement, I got an 87 Golf GT. Drove that for the next 10 years. Sold due to rather nasty rust issues (windshield opening - it would rain in the car....)
Next 4 years were spent driving BMWs. 2-year lease on a 325i, then another 2 years in a 328i (which I do still miss - damned nice car.)
Last April, I came back to VW - and, back into a Flash Silver Scirocco. This one I plan on keeping for a long, long time:

[cholland_]

I think it goes without saying that I come from a VW family. After helping my dad restore his '57 bug I bought my own project for a good price. I was 14, with money from delivering the local newspaper. It planted the Karmann seed. You can see the leftovers from the '56 we parted out in the back of the picture. It's roof and oval window is still in my parent's backyard.



In 2005, when I earned enough money in college to afford to stop taking the bus, I bought this my '86 Scirocco for $750. It had 265,000km and ran great, but looked like crap. Bondo everywhere and the clear coat was peeling off all over the place. Still, it got me through my second year of school.


I repainted it once, replaced pretty much everything as it needed it and drove it as my daily until 2009.


In January 2010 I bought a mk4 Golf so I can make it a really pretty car.


In 2009 my Dad and I decided to buy Izzy's '75 Scirocco, a doppleganger of his first Scirocco, which he owned for a few years after it was new. The blue Superbug in the picture is the car he drove before getting the Scirocco, and had to keep to drive when the Scirocco broke down (often).


After some adventures which don't need retelling, it's saving me from missing my brown car too much.

[MickR]

This thread inspired me to go into the basement and find some old photos. My Scirocco history included a few other VW's along the way. When I was 16 I got a white 74 Beetle. That was replaced by an orange sunroof Super Beetle when I got to college. At some point I got a 1977 orange Rabbit, with a cool brown velour interior. It was rusty, ratty, but the most fun car I ever had. When that disappeared from a parking lot (the college security might have thought it abandoned), I went out and found my first Scirocco, this 1979:



The color was, I think, Platinum Metallic. My father sanded the whole car and fixed the bits of rust, as a birthday present. He loved doing bodywork. We had it painted for $99 at Maaco if you can believe it, and it came out pretty nice. I got hit in a parking lot almost immediately after that. I loved the car, but moved up to a 1986 GTI. In the interim, I have owned a bunch of cars, plus a 91 Arctic White MK2 GTI, but here is my latest acquisition, my 1977 Indigo Blue Metallic Scirocco:



I just got this car a few weeks ago from another Vortex user. I have plans to just keep it nice and stock and enjoy it.

[mavicman]

I remember walking to my first day of middle school back in '81 and seeing said year Scirocco sitting in the teacher's parking lot. I was instanly in love but, in that middle school way, didn't really realize it yet. The teacher turned out to be my health instructor and was a Rocco fanatic. Then in high school, '85, a friend got a brand new '86 16v. In my subconscious mind the future was set. Finally purchased my first '81 in '94 and have had a Scirocco ever since. I currently have an '87 16v (and a '93 Corrado) but I sure miss my '81.

[brokeveedubs]

it was 1996 , i was driveing past arbys in hixson tn and saw my first scirocco. it was dark grey i pulled over trying to figure out wtf it was i was lost didnt know how to pronounce it . fast forward to feb 1997 im in the airforce , stationed in tucson az. im getting really tired of walking to work(5 miles) i hear there is a car for sale at the dorms . i go to meet the owner after work . turns out hes got a 84 scirocco auto i got that car for $350 no breaks , speedo is 30mph fast . had speedo fixed found out the top speed was 45 mph! come to find out the guy i bought it from didnt know where the airfilter was. after 3 months of work and a [B]lot[B] of help from wagonhaus she ran like a dream. i autox it . rally x it . i loved that car . 6 months later the harness catches fire while sitting at a gas pump. i pushed it to the side of the lot got the fire put out and left it there . it hurt alot seeing her sitting there like that . but my pay grade was to low to be able to fix it i left the title in the seat. fast forward to 2002 ive been looking for a car . im standing in a k-mart parking lot on 58 hwy talking to a friend of mine that worked at the penske auto center there. and i spot out of the corner of my eye a black 16v scirocco . as im watching it drive by i notice the shoe polish on the back window with the words for sale . i didnt say bye , ill be back nothing i jumped in my buick and ran the guts out of it trying to catch up to get the number. it took me till hixson tn to catch it at a light. 3 days later i bought that car . im still driveing that car ive got over 500k on it . it still pulls 10.90s in the 1/8th mile .

[ginster86roc]

oooh! i'll play.

it's *totally* my dad's fault i'm a vw-holic. (<---- thanks, dad )

when i was 16 my 1rst car was an 81 diesel rabbit. i had to buy it from him for the princely sum of $8oo. as we all know, that car could hardly get out of its' own way.

i 'cut my teeth' on that car...learning the basic upkeep/maintenance and general "how-to" to keep a car running...with little to no extra ca$h to spend on a car. i loved that car, and wanted SO bad for it to be a mkI gti...but i secretly lusted for a classmates white-on-white-on-white 84 wolfie scirocco...the 'wedgie' looking car.

then i had an 'incident' w/ the oil burner...t/belt broke on a downshift to 2nd...broke the cam into 3 pieces. had that motor rebuilt, as i didn't yet have the skills to undertake such a venture.

drove that car through 3 yrs of college until it met its' untimely demise.

then i got my first, coveted mkI gti...black, sunroof, burgundy interior...y'all know the car. started my first feeble modding attempts...suspension, +1 wheel/tire tire combo (ooOOOOoooh fifteens! )

it ended up having bad valve stem seals and it drank oil like no tomorrow. again, not yet having the skills, i ended up running the car into the ground and ultimately wrecked it.

enter the 2nd mkI gti...again, black, sunroof, burgundy interior...a little modding on this car...strut bars, suspension, exhaust..etc. accident claimed it, too.

enter the 3rd mkI gti...again, carbon copy of the first two...plus more mods: ign timing advance device, bigger brakes, better suspension. accident claimed it too.

drove a mkI prelude for a short time...

yes, i had indeed fallen on black days for a while there...and i coulda gone the "honda" route at that time, had it not been for a friend who wanted out of his 86 no-sunroof, all manual controls plain-jane 86 scirocco, cuz it wasn't "fast enough"...

--->*life changing moment*<---

bought that car from him and rescued it, basically. began my serious tuning days with that car: first? suspension. then exhaust. then +2 wheels/tires. drove the piss out of it and LOVED it.

got a wreck. got a 2nd black 86 (sunroof) shell from a friend (who is now a dear friend and co-worker). did a "body swap" and my first engine job. more upgrades. drove the piss out of it.

got another wreck. did another body swap. did a "total" engine build this time with block bore,cam, headwork, balancing, polishing, lightweight f/wheel...whole 9 yds.

it's the car i drive today...almost 10 yrs later.

cliff's notes:

i've owned only mkI chassis cars in my 26 yr diving history:

-81 rabbit diesel
-83 gti
-83 gti
-84 gti

(81 prelude...6 mos)

-86 scirocco
-86 scirocco
-86 scirocco

cut me open, and i bleed vw blue ....my co-workers joke that i piss G12.

[tboygm97]

my very first dub was an 83 auto forrest green scirocco that was sold to me by my cousin, eventually fell in love with it as i was into djing at that time, 17 yrs old. i traded this in for a 92 mex made gti which i thought was made in germany. true enough, after 25 wty repairs within the 1st year, i sold it. rested for 3 years, and got a modded up 88 16v rocco. beat the crap out of it til my son came along, and had to sell it to buy a honda minivan... i know i know.14 years later, still itching up to get one. got one this past february from ohio, an 87 16v roc. up until this day, i still blame the xmas holidays coz i could've gotten scirocco joe's 16v.grrr...oh well, but hey after a few repairs to the car, including replacing the hollowed cat converter, and dead oxygen sensor, and a new bosal cat back exhaust, it breathes like a new car again... i mean it's like a night and day difference. more parts to replace, + i'm falling for this red one. yeah, i'm the 6th owner, but carfax says that it's never been into an accident. it does drive straight. until then... long live the rocs!

[Beakersloco]

Well my dad was into vw bugs and we owned a bug up until 1988 ish. It was loaned to an uncle and he wrecked it after hitting a patch of ice.

Back sometime after I got my first car I used to pick up car mags(1991/1992 ish) i saw one in a VW mag and fell in love. Fast forward to 2005 I needed a gas saver and went looking on ebay for cheap vehicles within 200 miles and found my present car that was listed as running but with issues and lost the auction (car sold for 8 or 900 dollars) to a guy with 0 feedback. A day or 2 later I looked at the auction again and saw that the winner was showing a negative 1 for feedback. I then emailed the sellor and told him to contact me if the buyer does not contact him.

Well a few days later i got an email and I called and negociated $600 for the car. Rented a trailer and Drove up and the battery was dead too dead to jump car. So I made him a quick offer $475 as is and it was mine. Not sure why I did not go lower. Car cost me $600 (gas and trailer rental). Previous owners literally drove the crap outof the car.


And the rest is history, Car still has issues and I have mostly only been able to repair things that mean I cant drive the car. In the last year I have been able to do more to the car then in the previous years, new struts front and rear, 15 in rims, Euro headlights (awaiting my to install at end of summer) and new rear rotors.

[vwleadfoot]

Oh god. this is gonna take me two weeks to write out......

[Michael Bee]

Oh god. this is gonna take me two weeks to write out......

so what??

Start writin!

[ginster86roc]

so what??

+1


<----tapping toes...drumming fingertips....

[Rocco_julie]

I drove a 73 Mustang when I first got to the States. One repair after another I got sick of it when it broke AGAIN.. (little did I know at that time)...
My boyfriend at the time, gave me a 72 Bug to drive. Every panel was a different color. One fender was welded on due to rust, but the thing started every time!

Fast forward 2 years....
On the way to work one morning, opened the door and sat on the drivers seat, and... It fell through the floor.... Sigh....
A chunk of 2x4 later, the seat supported, I saw a white VW for sale on the side of the road.
It had a radiator! That meant HEAT! Yeah Baby!

An hour later, that 75 Scirocco was mine! That was 1988 (I still have the registration tag

Fast Forward to 1991...
The day after my daughter was born, we bundled her into her rocket seat in the back of the very same car, for the ride home. Later, I'd open the DS door, she would walk over the DS seat, step between them and settle her self in her chair. (She cant do that now, 20 years later
She has never known a time where we have not owned a MKI or a MKII.

Fast Forward to 2011. Jill drove the silver 88 16v for a few days while the 90 Cabby was repaired. NOW she gets it and wants one for her self..... Get your own kid!

[Michael Bee]

2k12 bump.

[echassin]

Ooooo... It's a long story:

My first car in 1983 was a '75 Scirocco, and...

...Oh. I guess it's not a long story. That's all that happened, and that was that

[LubsDaDubs]

LAME STORY ALERT

Bought used in 2002 still have it!!!

[The Igneous Faction]

My first car was a Passat GLX which I liked a lot because it had 200hp and heated seats. As a high schooler, these things were important to me. Unfortunately, I crashed it on a post-rainstorm oily road and spent a few years driving a Honda and then a Cherokee, both of which were fine cars. In college I purchased a 1979 Rabbit diesel for $400 and tried to get it to run. But then I ran out of money and sold it before I could ever get it started... however, the bug was planted.

I started looking for a running diesel VW but didn't manage to find one. What I did find, however, was a 1987 16v Scirocco! What a shape! I drove up to Connecticut and paid too much for the thing and drove it for a good year or so. Here it is, in its prime:


Through that car I found my way to this forum where I met a guy named Jim who offered to help me do some basic maintenance on my car. That turned into a 9 hour day in his garage learning a TON about tools, cars, safety, etc... my car got new shifter bushings, new engine seals almost all the way around, and a lot of scrutiny. Turned out that the car was covered in rust underneath, had a 2.0l block swapped in, Autotech cams, and a massive Shine racing swaybar in the back.

After driving it for awhile I sold it to a friend because I wanted to upgrade to a nicer, less rusty Scirocco. This took longer than expected, but I eventually ended up in this:

Another '87 16v! Again, I overpaid and had to replace some tie-rods, balljoints, and other things before I was happily cruising in a Scirocco again. I enjoyed this car, but eventually it blew a CV joint, sat for a month, and then never started again... I sold it in frustration and spent two years driving boring cars... all seemed lost...

Until one day I was idly perusing the Scirocco classifieds and found a very beat up 1984 Wolfsburg Scirocco! I went up and looked at it, did NOT overpay (finally!) and found myself back in another Scirocco:


It needs quite a lot of work, but I've made some progress already and can, at the least, drive it comfortably.

[fredybender]

1982 was my last year in college, and I was working full time at the same time I was going to school. My girlfriend Nicole at that time was offered a brand new 82 Honda Prelude, she had a car, and I didn't
So I started to shop for a used car, and stopped at two models:
Datsun 240Z
VW Scirocco

Don't know exactly why, but they were in my taste range.

After going to see many used 240Z's, none of them had me hooked, mostly because of mechanical or rust issues.

I ended up by finding this one;
I "lived" in that car for the first two years!
As soon as the 83 GTI came, I was on the hunt for a JH swap, with the euro downpipe.
Kept the 4 speed, as the 5 speed boxes were over $1K at any junk yard in 83-84.

I then installed Boge gas shocks, rear sway bar, and a Volvo CIS injection & metering plate.

What memories, driving the hell out of the car, even in winter:
I would wake up during snow storms downtown Montreal at 3AM, get dressed, jumped in the car, and drifted in the downtown streets until 5-6AM, right before traffic started!

The culprite of my Mk1 addicition:

[walle197871]

Let's see... I was adopted in 1986. My Dad had a Substitutes and my Mom had a Dodge Colt. She hated that thing. She used to tell me stories of her diesel Rabbit from college thY used to catch on fire on a regular basis. She left it on for on the Brooklyn Bridge one winter.

1992 my Dad got a Passat wagon 16v. I loved the look of the front with no grill. It went to the shop one day and my dad got a Green 87 Scirocco as a loaned. LOVE!!!!!!

Had a bunch of crap till about 2006. Got a free 1992 Passat sedan. 91k. Put 2 fuel pumps in it, got all the bugs out, and put a nice set of Hella round five on it. 93k it was totaled in an accident.

Then I had a stripped (no interior, just 2 front seats and dash) 87 Cabrio. Drove it for the winter then sold it.
Then I had a 1992 Cabrio Black white top, white leather, nice white BBS time. Sold that for a Goldwing.

Went a few years with out a VW. Then about 3 weeks ago traded a 1992 Dodge Sahdow for an 88 16v that needs a head gasket. Taking a 3 hour round trip drive on Saturday to pick up a 91 2.0 16v to put in.

And so it continues....

[KenB]

So, I took my 1984 Rabbit in for 15K service and there, on the showroom floor, sat a brand new, 1985 Scirocco. Flash silver, black leather, nearly every option available, and it became mine on April 26, 1985!

At age six to nine I fixed everything, each year, in order to drive it from Atlanta to New Hampshire for annual vacation. At age nine it graduated from a carport to a garage (and a wife who doesn't drive stick). At age ten, it finally became my secondary car. For a while it suffered from a cold running problem that was finally resolved at age fifteen. Encouraged, at age sixteen I again fixed everything, but it continued a life of leisure.

At age 22, it got a new sport suspension, tires, all fluids, belts, hoses, and other assorted parts in preparation for first trip to Cincy 2007 with my then 10 year old son.
(http://scirocco.org/list/ohio2k7/main.php?g2_itemId=42)
(http://scirocco.org/list/ohio2k7/main.php?g2_itemId=865)
Then, at age 23, a complete transmission rebuild prior to Cincy trip #2 (via “Tail of the Dragon”).

Today at age 27 it remains mostly a garage queen, sharing space with a 540i, a G37, and assorted other cars. My son has his shiny new learners permit and of all our cars, the Scirocco is his favorite and the one car we cannot ever sell. We don’t dare daily drive it, but we keep it repaired and original. Hopefully we will take another father son road trip to Cincy again this summer, with him helping to drive this time.

[sciroccohal]

I was 21...I walked into the garage and I saw an OPEL GT make furious love to a RABBIT, the offspring being a 'fart of hot wind' or something.
Been driving one since 1980.
51 Sciroccos later, still a voyeur!

[Michael Bee]

you need 2 more Hal.... make it an even '53' (wink wink,,,, 53,,,, )

[scotttu]

In 1984 I went with a friend and because of the weather we didn't ride motorcycles, he's like "Lets take the Scirocco" - a lime green 1980 or 81 rocco.

Fastforward to 1993, during a heavily expensive divorce a buddy of mine asked me to fix his daughters new car. He picked it up and dropped it off at my house on the way back.

He couldn't afford my $250 fee for changing out the CV Joints so he gave me teh car for $750 MORE ($1000 total).

Had her ever since. I have one minor thing left on the restore - and that's the trunk cover getting re-covered.

[RoccoRacer]

Not sure how I missed this thread the first time? Anyway, here's my history (copied and pasted from my "10 years on the vortex" thread
I was a bored high school senior and joined the VW Vortex. My first car was an '86 Scirocco 8v hand-me-down that my dad bought in '93. The little 8v ran great...until I overheated it, melting the cylinder head.

My dad made me help him fix it. He worked such long hours back then, it was more like a privilege to spend time with him. I joined the Vortex to learn more about diagnosing problems, which I still struggle with today.

At one point I had three Sciroccos: my 8v, a silver 16v parts car, and the 16v that I drive today.

My mom listed my 8v on craigslist because she thought I had too many cars. Then, the silver 16v had no title, and the radiator support was pretty torn up, so it got recycled.


The car I've driven for the last 5 years has treated me well. The original owner gave it to me since she couldn't sell it with 270,000 miles on it.

I've added a few ding and dents over the years. One day I hope to make this my winter car, and find another project for the weekend.

That'll have to happen after college, though.


Thanks for reading

[Michael Bee]

up

[scotttu]

Addendum to what started it for me...

1983 I bought this 1979 wabbit...wrecked it and sold it for what I paid for it, but then I went onto a Datsun b210 for many years until 1993...