mk1 VW Derby

trevorbrady

this is now my daily driver since the Corolla blew the headgasket. :rolleyes:
If you see me on the roads of Laois be sure to wave...

I'm copy/pasting the bullet-point build thread from another forum. If you want to see more detailed pics, there are hundreds in my photobucket.

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y77/trevorbrady/derby/

anyway, hold onto your hats...

trevorbrady

It started like this: bought it out of a shed in Portarlington back in February



it had its rust issues, namely the inner front wings, the rear arches and the rear chassis legs under the boot floor. There were a couple of spots on the front end of the floor and the battery tray that needed attention too. These are the usual spots on these mk1 Polos and Derbys.





so the grinder and welder got dusted off and I set to work. There are f**k all repair panels available for these cars, not like the beetle where you could almost build a fresh car from the repair sections. I was able to get rear arches, one inner wing and a right hand side sill from Wales (not available in Ireland) and made up repair sections for the rest.





With the body solid again I turned my attention to upgrading the mechanicals of the car. I found this lovely motor on donedeal.ie:



it's a '94 Mk3 Polo coupe with a 1.3 single point injection engine. It donated almost EVERYTHING mechanical to the Derby, the engine, 5 speed gearbox, front suspension, rear suspension, fuel tank, fuel pump, exhaust etc etc etc.





while I was swapping all that over I bought a set of lowering springs on Ebay and fitted them up, -80mm on the front, -70mm on the rear



and I renewed all the brakes with fresh disks, pads, shoes and upgraded the calipers to VWII (mk3 Golf) ones.

For wheels I used a set of 14" Renault baby-turbines, from an '80s Renault 21. I had them at home in the garage for years so with a quick refurb and a fresh lick of paint, they were freshened up.





only allowed so many pictures per post....

continued below:

trevorbrady

continued...

I got 175-50R14 tyres (the lowest-profile 14" tyre I could find) from camskill.co.uk, great prices and quick delivery. I fitted them myself and stuck them on the car.



you can see I picked up a Notek "blue spot" fog lamp and stuck that on the front and changed the grill and lamps to early mk1 Polo spec. I bought a pair of fibreglass replica early mk1 Polo bumpers from the UK (shocking bad quality for the price...) I modified a brand new beetle woodslat roof rack to fit the Derby's gutters and fixed that on top. A few manky auld suitcases finish off the kind of rusto-cal look. One other accessory I fitted is the mk1 Golf CL chin spoiler, just to finish the front apron off a bit.




on the inside I fitted a Smithwicks beer-tap for a gearlever handle



and the mk3 Polo dash clocks (I used the entire mk3 Polo loom so it made sense to use the dash gauges too. Other than the upgrade to mk3 Polo seatbelts the interior is bone-stock and is slightly worn like the exterior of the car.

As you can see from the outdoor pics above, the bits I had to weld are still in primer. The plan is just to paint in these bits, not respray the whole car. I like the "barnfind" look about it and it turns heads on the road. After doing 200+ miles there are a few niggles to shake out of it (isn't there always with a project car like this?) but all-in-all it's a nice little car and very unusual on the roads today.

___________________________________________________________________________

I'm open to comments/criticism. I'm a big boy so be honest. The reaction I've gotten so far is usually black or white: love it or hate it. I don't mind, I'm having great craic driving my modernised classic. (mind you, some mightn't agree that it's a classic but that's an argument for another thread )

Saab Ed

That thing's the muts nuts...I love it

ikillcopiers

Brilliant!

Great to see something original, love the Rat Rod look!

Maybe you should see if you can get a G40 motor
to stick in there - there would be no better feeling than
thrashing that thing off the lights against BMW's and the like

Gonna be honest though, I don't like the beer lever,
but to each their own!

alastair

Love it except for the wheels. It just looks wrong to put wheels screaming Renault on a VW. A set of old school BBS's and you'd be raising the bar a few notches!

And shouldn't the gearstick be a pilsner?

gfwd

That looks great, nice to see one back on the road. The gearlever's hilarious!

Itsfixed

Fantastic, made me smile. Love the rat look myself.

Here's a rat look BMW 2002 which i also like.

Dades

The suitcases are a great touch.

Can't be much good for your drag coefficient.

Anan1

I really like that. The gearshift doesn't do it for me, but a great job all the same.

trevorbrady

thanks guys,

the wheels I really like, I know some people don't. To be honest, they only scream "Renault" to Renault afficionados. I haven't met anyone yet who recognised them for what they are. One person actually asked were they hubcaps. :rolleyes: I actually had a set of BBS to put on it but decided against it. EVERYONE has BBS wheels, it's a bit obvious, isn't it?

re G40 engine, it would be nice but I'd have to cut a lump out of the grille to let the charger hang out, the nose is longer on G40 engined polos so there's a larger engine bay to fit the charger in. It would look crap on the mk1. I prefer the subtle look of a stock outward appearance. All the bodywork and trim is stock, or stock style. Maybe not correct for the year but definitely OEM style. Anyway, the 1.3i goes like stink up to about 80MPH where it loses puff. I think the low-profile tyres limit the top-end speed. With taller tyres I'd get more speed out of it.

The gearlever divides opinion too, some like it, some don't. I put in there for the bit of craic, like the suitcases. Incidentally, the rack and cases aren't on it for daily driving, just for show The "peep" mirrors are next to useless too but they look cool.

Saab Ed

To hell with a G40 engine, would an auld Audi 5 pot fit under there. Proper rat sleeper

Choice One

Excellent looking car, the roof rack is particularly nice, although I would say that as I sold it to you!

Max Headroom

Great job Trev.....you cant please all the people all the time..but still, if i didnt like something i wouldnt put it up here..some people just like to get a dig in where they can.....;);)

Luv the whole thing , gear-lever 'n all..............:)

trevorbrady

the intention wasn't to please anyone but myself!! I've had great fun building it and now I'm having more fun driving it

thanks again for the comments, good and bad. I like to hear people's opinions, either way...

carchaeologist

Rat look rules..it shouldnt but it does!Or maybe its just a VW thing i dunno...

Saab Ed

trevorbrady wrote: »

the intention wasn't to please anyone but myself!! I've had great fun building it and now I'm having more fun driving it

I'll tell you what , you've inspired me. I have a MKI R5 in a mates yard that I havent seen for a year. Its solid enough with only 60k up. I think a similar project is now on the cards

Gary ITR

Thanks very much Trevor. There is some fantastic work done there.

DaveCol

Yes, it looks excellent, gives me a few ideas for some of the cars we have lying around

G Luxel

Theres a mint Irish one I see sometimes. Its a very light blue colour. Incidentally we had a derby for one year and it was the greatest load of rubbish....... Everything went wrong with it and it was only 4 years old. Clutch went twice, the starter went twice, it was pure junk.

carchaeologist

trevorbrady wrote: »

the intention wasn't to please anyone but myself!! I've had great fun building it and now I'm having more fun driving it

I think this sums it up,to hell with what people think if you enjoy it yourself..

overdriver

I love it!

Gives me an alternative for the marina Coupe...

8~)

Looks good alright. WOuld like one myself but not sure if could pull off the look.

Are the spots of primer on top of paint or are those sections just in primer?
('cos primer is porous, paint isn't)

trevorbrady

the primer'd bits are the parts that received repairs. I'm aware the primer is porous so I've been keeping it inside at night and thankfully the weather has been dry this past week. I will get proper paint on them soon, so as not to have to redo all my hard work again...

8~)

Yes, just curious because I suppose there's a balance between the 'look' and actually keeping the car in reasonable order... if I'd welded in repair sections I wouldn't want them rusting out a week later.

I wonder how it would look if the primer was painted over grey and then primer on top - keeps the effect and saves the metalwork?

Gary ITR

The Polo grille gives it a fantastic look. I prefer the whole look to the concourse look tbh. I followed your build thread and loved every bit of it.

It was a shame about the mk1 polo though, can't save them all though

carchaeologist

Onkle wrote: »

I prefer the whole look to the concourse look tbh. .

That look is fine..but rat look done properly rocks..how come all rat look cars have the stuff on the roof rack tho!!:D

trevorbrady

I suppose because you don't see concourse cars with roofracks and pristine period luggage up on them. Part of the look I suppose. I don't leave the rack on for daily driving, it whistles

I brought it to a VAGDrivers meet last week in Portlaoise, its maiden voyage in fact. Anyway, I was perfectly happy to just pull up in it without even washing it, there were guys there on their hands and knees polishing their wheels with little squirty bottles and special cloths. I can't be bothered with that. Even my beetle doesn't get that treatment.

trevorbrady

one other thing: this isn't a particularly desirable car. If I were to invest in a full windows-out, panels-off, interior-out paintjob I don't think it would have made the car any more valuable. What I mean is, if I were to sell it tomorrow I don't think I would get back the cost of a paintjob so there was no point in doing it. As it stands, I might get back the cost of the work so far if I sold it.

Gary ITR

trevorbrady wrote: »

I brought it to a VAGDrivers meet last week in Portlaoise

Bollox.. I should have gone down. I got up and was feeling too lazy

carchaeologist

Onkle wrote: »

Bollox.. I should have gone down. I got up and was feeling too lazy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsTw9pCKYwg