So then, it's been a while but I'm back in a small French hatch!
For those that are old enough I used to own the black VTS with orange wheels and cage which I built around 2006 and was featured on the front covers of Performance French Cars and Fastcar magazines.
Since then I've had a few different motors but currently running a Mk1 Octavia vRS and Megane Sport 225 as dailies with a Mk1 Golf GTi Clipper as my summer toy and a Mini 1275 GT Clubman which is due to get a full overhaul inthe next year or so, but for now I had no intention of buying another car until this little beauty came up:
It's a 1996 N 106 XSi 1.6 with low miles and a folder full of history which came along at a bargain price!
As said, I had no intention of buying another car but I could see the potential in this to become an investment if I finish off a few jobs on it and get it mint then keep it that way!
Willsy, who I bought it from had already given it the once over and started to clean up the underside to find absolutely no rust whatsoever! I can only imagine it's been garaged for most of it's 18 years!
Some of the pics courtesy of Willsy:
So, the first thing to do was to get it insured, so I banged it on my classic insurance that I use for my Golf and after an additional £60 the car was insured for the rest of the year!
I then picked it up and drove it the 100 miles home with no issues, other than a little smoke from the exhaust (not been used for a while).
Once home I gave it a clean and towel dry just to see what the condition of the paint was and I was surprised that it was actually very good. And mostly original.
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It's recently had brand new genuine lights all round, new wiper arms and aerial. It has all the original glass and even the original tape head unit!
I would say that condition is 95%, but as you can see in some of the pictures there are a few things that need sorting.
To do list:
Dent removal for parking dings in driver's door
Tailgate needs repainting (glass out) and brand new badges fitted
Rear bumper needs painting (damage on one corner)
Slight touch up on front bumper
4 matching Michelin tyres
Replace standard gear linkages and add a short shift
Replace wishbones and all bushes with polybushes
Slight refurb on wheels
Paint wing mirror caps
That is pretty much it. Once those jobs have been done the car will be mint. And I intend to keep it that way!