advice needed does the vw empire grow?

[DAVID ESSEX]

I need a bit of advice, I have just been given the chance to get hold of a black mk1 karmen cab on a private plate for ?350.
the car was an stolen recovered and has a small slit in the roof and a bit of ignition damage. The rest of the body looks really good and I can't see any majot problems or rust. The interior is a nice half leather set that looks like all it needs is a clean.
I have had a word with my mecanic who said it looks pretty good and the ignition damage is no problem.
the price was ?850 but because my mechanic knows the owner he knocked it down to a very tempting ?350.
I currently have my daily drive mk3 1.4 that I want to sell as soon as I can, along with that I have my mk1 1.6 project that's coming on ok. I also got hold of 2 mk1's that I'm currently breaking so I have a lot of things going on.
I'm really liking the idea of selling my mk3 for anything close to the ?750 I paid for it and having the cab as my daily drive.
the questions I have going through my head are:

Is it practical having the cab as my daily drive?
shall I get the cab do it up a bit and then flog it close to the summer for a lot of cash?
Will the tear in the roof cause a big problem for security?
how much would I be looking at to get a replacement hood?
if I got it looking nice and tarted up a treat how much would I be looking at if I sold in the summer?

help me as I have a major problem seeing something nice, buying it and then thinking it through after!

cheers people.

****many mk1 parts are still available so drop me a line if you have anything you need****

[tinman]

Will the tear in the roof cause a big problem for security?

the roof itself is a security problem with or without a tear. just make sure you never have anything visible in the car apart from a decent looking immobiliser led.

doesnt help that mk1&2 security is derisable in the first place.

[carrie]

i use my cabrio every day. the tear in the roof WILL rot the floor if left outside in the rain they cost around 500 to relace i think. what it is worth will depend on auto/manual gti/not gti you need to be more specific on the model. look at prices of compareable ones for sale, these days the winter prices are not so significantly lower than summer prices as a lot more people are getting cabrios for the summer during the winter now as they are trying to get them cheaper

[gibby]

1) Is it practical having the cab as my daily drive?
2) shall I get the cab do it up a bit and then flog it close to the summer for a lot of cash?
3) Will the tear in the roof cause a big problem for security?
4) how much would I be looking at to get a replacement hood?
5) if I got it looking nice and tarted up a treat how much would I be looking at if I sold in the summer?

Answers
1) I use mine as a daily driver all year round
2) You probably could yes.
3) As tinman says, the hood as a whole is a security problem, but why would anyone rip the hood when they could just smash the window and open the door anyway, if someone rips the hood its for vandalism rather than thieving, that's the way I look at it.
4) As a guide check this website out  http://www.autohoods.co.uk/list_volkswagen.htm
5) Depends on model, condition, look, quality of tartyness !

[Tucker]

the car was an stolen recovered

I would of thought that it would need to go on a Q plate??

[DAVID ESSEX]

Excuse me being a bit thick but what's a Q plate?

[DAVID ESSEX]

To answer other questions the car is a 1.8 manual GTI.
What would a half decent alarm set me back as I have to start to look at these things. Is it really worth forking out sh!t loads for a top of the range alarm? I have seen some prices for 5-600 hundred quid. 

[jv]

If you want a cat1 alarm system you will be lucky to get much change from 300 quid. More money above that just tends to buy you more features.

Q plate - the car is of unknown age or history. Usually on kit cars as the shell may be new, the engine one age, the chassis another age etc.

Stolen recovered don't usually need a Q plate. They can be rebuilt keeping the same reg.

[Tucker]

I also thought that when a car has been witten of by the insur company and put back on the road its on a Q reg plate, could be wrong

[carrie]

on the q thing i would imagine as you can determine the age of the vehicle easily ie it is what it is it should not get one i had a stolen recovered aprilllia although it was abot 6 years ago it was never q plated and that never came into the equation at all, so unless they have new rules it should be the same.
if stealing a cabrio in a quiet area then slasing the roof may be used to open the car quietly as breaking a window is relatively noisy, but in and case its easy to 'break' into a mk1 golf without doing any damage or making a noise, the method which will remain annomous for obvious reasons works on a lot of older cars