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Mk1 Derby Restoration

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52K views 159 replies 45 participants last post by  trevorbrady  
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I bought this car from Flogman after an ad here and dragged it home to give it a little love. It has its sins here and there, there is some rust in the body but when you're used to working with beetles, this is nothing
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It's also a "Formel E" model, so it has an overdrive 4th gear and an MPG gauge in the dash, all in the name of fuel economy. Apparently this is a rare specification for a mk1 Derby, it's more commonplace on Mk2s.

It needed a fuel pump to get it running, albeit with a can of juice instead of from the tank, it needs a new tank if I can find one handy enough. It seems to run fine and drove into the garage.

So far I've gotten the front wings off it and started restoring the RHS inner wing. I'll be making my way around the car cutting, welding, grinding etc. Hopefully I'll have it ready for the Limerick show in July. Watch this space...

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in the meantime, I came across a '76 mk1 Polo that I was going to use for spares and the nice chrome trim bits but after some research it turns out to be a rare very early car with some features particular to the early models. So it might get a resto too if it's not terminally rotten. Initial impressions aren't good though
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#3 ·
Good luck to you there!
 
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C
#4 ·
Holy crap, you must like the sensation of grabbing a piece of metal and having it fall to pieces in your hand!
Fair play to you for rescuing the cars. We need more rare oldies on the roads.
 
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#6 ·
fairballs for tackling it, back from the dead she'll be
 
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#8 ·
Looks good. Will be keeping an eye on how this progresses. Best of luck with it.
 
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#9 ·
Sold this car to Flogman last year.

Wish I had the time, money and experience to undertake such a massive resto project. Good luck with it, might give you a shout regarding bodywork etc...

My 78 model might get the same treatment some day!!
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#11 ·
QUOTE (Graeme @ Feb 22 2009, 06:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Sold this car to Flogman last year.

Wish I had the time, money and experience to undertake such a massive resto project. Good luck with it, might give you a shout regarding bodywork etc...

My 78 model might get the same treatment some day!!
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you watercooled boys have it too easy!!
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This isn't such a massive resto when you're used to dealing with rotten beetles. It's not a matter of money either. I'd love to have a pile of cash to throw at it but unfortunately it'll be done on the tightest of budgets
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#12 ·
fair play Trev, getting stuck into that quickly. You plan on sticking with the old engine etc?
 
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#13 · (Edited by Moderator)
tightest of budgets for the moment so the original 1.1 is staying put. My priority is to get the rust sorted, fix/replace the seized calipers, replace the f**ked fuel tank and give her a lick of paint. If I can find/make a set of wheels something like your banded 13's I'll splash out on some shorter springs and that'll be that for the time being. I'm hoping to have it up and running for the Limerick show in July. It's my first water cooled VW (aside from a new beetle company car that wasn't really mine) so it'd be nice to park on the other side of the fence this year
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Longer term, (if I hang onto it) would be maybe a 1.4 Lupo/Polo 6N engine conversion, brake upgrade and interior retrim.

oh, it's been pushed out to the back shed for the next week or two while I finish off an '86 MR2 for the brother in law so there won't be any updates til I get it back in...
 
#14 ·
QUOTE (trevorbrady @ Feb 23 2009, 12:25 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>oh, it's been pushed out to the back shed for the next week or two while I finish off an '86 MR2 for the brother in law so there won't be any updates til I get it back in...

Seems you've already done quite a bit to it in the short length of time you've had it, so nothing to feel guilty about...

Rust dont discriminate between air and water-cooled 'dubs IMO tho!!
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D
#17 ·
hey Trevor,
been waiting for an update on this, not much oldskool stuff around, so any further progress? Think it will be ready for Limerick?
 
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#19 ·
QUOTE (trevorbrady @ Feb 23 2009, 01:25 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>oh, it's been pushed out to the back shed for the next week or two while I finish off an '86 MR2 for the brother in law so there won't be any updates til I get it back in...

see the date on that post, and the optimistic "week or two" about the MR2?
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well, in the meantime, I f**ked my back for a couple of weeks, took on another evening class (I already teach one anyway), bought a donor '76 Polo for the Derby, stripped and scrapped it and in whatever time has been left between all those, have been working on the MR2. It turned into a bigger job than expected (don't they always
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) and is currently primed and ready for paint.

Anyway, excuses excuses... It won't be ready for Limerick, I have quite a bit of rust to sort out before I NCT it. I've decided that while it's not going to be a concourse restoration, it'll certainly be done well and be worth the effort. I was able to salvage quite a few donor sections (wheel arches, front jacking point etc) from the Polo and I picked up a full RHS sill repair panel in Wales too. I've also picked up two pairs of 14" wheels for it, BBS RO and Renault 21 Turbo (not quite proper Turbines but close).

BBS RO:
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Renault 21 Turbo wheels:
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Donor Polo (rotten BTW)
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stripped and ready to be crushed along with a rotten beetle shell
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Derby sill repair panel
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oh, and the MR2: from this kind of shite:
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to this:
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and I still have to paint and refit everything...
 
#20 · (Edited by Moderator)
the Derby is getting an engine conversion from the old '81 1.1 carbureted to a '96 1.4 multipoint injection. It's getting the whole electronic engine management too.
The 4 speed box is going in favour of a nicer, newer 5 speed too. Brakes are being upgraded to VWII calipers and if I can squeeze it in place a brake servo too.

The engine bay should look a little like this when I've finished
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The MR2 is still in the way. I'm sick of looking at it at this stage
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I have the top half painted white, I still have to paint the bottom half silver.
 
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#26 ·
sorry to hear this won't be in Limerick Trevor....be in aircooled instead?

as always though fairplay to al the work your doing
 
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