Dubbin'

I'm pleased to report that the search for winter wheels has proved fruitful, and after a mixed track record in this area I even seem to have come up trumps. So here is the Golf. Its a 1997 VR6 Highline, which is the one with airconditioning and leather - in this instance a purple to match the 'Mulberry' paintwork.

Better than that, this is a one owner from new, 30,600 miles examples, that came complete with a 2inch stack of history including the original invoice and brochure...!




The owner looked after car really well, althought he wasn't a polisher it was filthy in and out! However, my once over showed that everything worked, and that apart from a dent in one door, the bodywork was excellent - and even the interior plastics were perfect, saved from the usual u/v ravages by storage in a garage from new. It sailed happily through the MOT, but the rear tyres (fitted in 1998!) need replacing.

I collected it from the owner in Leicestershire, a good 200 mile drive from home. The run home along the M1, A43, A34 and M27 was uneventful, although the continuous rain varied only between drizzle and torrential. The car hummed along showing 32mpg on the 'puter, the ancient VW branded Sony cassette radio worked fine and the a/c pumped out cold, dry air. The only weakpoint was the dampers, which have given up the ghost. On slightly lower springs, even on the short test ride it crached into bumps and lurched on low frequency bumps, but after 3 hours on the motorway it really was all over the place.

Young SS3.5 and I spent a couple of hours cleaning it today; and its all good. Under the dirty rubber mats are the original over-mats, hardly used, and the leather responded to a bit of cleaning. We even got most of the grass out of the boot floor.

In fact, its almost too good to use.....

SS7