Bone Stock Hot Hatch: 1991 Volkswagen GTI

For those of us of a certain age, you likely grew up knowing that a certain class of hot hatches were the cars to be seen in during your prime high school years. Of course, there were two camps: the Fox body Mustang / third-generation Camaro camp, or the Volkswagen GTI / Honda Civic / Acura Integra crowd. Obviously, one segment was heavily favored towards straight-line racing while the other was all about who could out-handle the other, but across the board, it was just great fun to grow up in this scene. Given the way these cars were used, however, relatively few remain in stock condition, which makes this 1991 Volkswagen GTI here on eBay a standout.

The seller has amassed a huge stash of OEM parts to restore this GTI back to like-new condition, which makes it all the more surprising to see it offered for sale. Bidding has reached just over $5,000 and is inching closer to the $7,250 Buy-It-Now price. The market for what is known as an MK2 Volkswagen – made between the late 80s and early 90s – has grown increasingly “hot” as of late given how few of these cars seem to exist. It’s what I call the cheap car syndrome, which is when a car that was largely seen as an economy model to the bulk of the population save for a few high-performance trims that most shoppers did not buy is routinely donated or scrapped because of a perceived lack of value. The seller nabbed this GTI at an auction in 2018 and has been tinkering with it since then.

I suspect he got this from some sort of a public auction, such as an impound lot or a vehicle forfeiture case. That’s purely a guess, but given the left door is damaged by the lock mechanism and the seller goes out of his way to explain it’s not a salvage car, I have a feeling there’s something in its history file that makes it look suspect. Regardless, the interior is in outstanding condition for an unrestored GTI of this era that clearly hasn’t been kept up like a collector’s item, and while the black paint has plenty of swirls, there’s a chance some color sanding could bring it back to life. I won’t go into the laundry list of spare parts the seller has acquired but it’s clear he had big plans for this forgotten hot hatch.

Now, I realize that this is not the ultimate spec of a GTI. That would be the 16-valve version, which is even more sought-after than this car is. The 8-valve GTI had all the looks of the top-tier model, so you at least got the deeply-contoured bucket seats and dual-round headlight grill, along with the red trim in the cabin. However, plenty of enthusiasts have found ways to wake up the economical 8-valve with a hot cam, exhaust, and some chip tuning, so you could still make this into an entertaining driver – or swap in a 16-valve engine that is still possible to track down from a local salvage yard. This GTI is a project, but one worth taking on.