Well I have just taken the plunge and bought a 1988 Mk2 GTi for a track toy. It is a good solid shell that two brothers started to strip out for a project but have had to sell. It looks like a good solid shell and at 177000 miles is well run in! Comes with nearly stripped interior, some of which I'll have to put back or make from a bit of sheet ali (such as door cards ), strut braces front and rear and nice new(ish) tyres. The suspension looked clean and it looked a touch lower than stock when I viewed it so I am hopeful that it may have had a sympathetic owner in the past. The brothers have not done anything mechanical to it other than strip out the heater as it was leaking so I will have to sort all that out when I get my hands on it. It needs an MOT but that should be arranged for the end of the week and then it will come home to sit on my drive and I can start to get to grips with it.
The current strategy is to give the engine a good service, filters, belts etc and make sure that everything is is good working order. That is unless the MOT shows up anything untoward. I am then looking for some late 16v hubs etc as that seems to be the way to go. I will have to replace the current seats as they are some sort of old bucket but very narrow in the "hip" area and I was very uncomfortable getting in and out of them. Rocco would appear to be the way to go from my reading but I am going to use this mainly as a track toy so there may be better options. Budget is an issue, when is it not, but a slow drip feed of cash will be made available, as long as my better half doesn't ask too many questions,so upgrades are on the cards.
Main effort is to get it road legal and out on a track as soon as possible, hopefully this months or early next! I will post some pictures as soon as it is on my drive and available.
