This one’s nostalgic for me. When I was in college, one guy, let’s just call him WB III, had a car that none of the rest of us knew anything about. It was a late-70s to early-80s Volkswagen Scirocco, like the 1980 Scirocco Mk I for sale here on eBay. The color was even the same red as this little hatchback.
While this fellow was piloting his German sportscar and bragging about the handling, I was driving a 1975 Dart Sport, 225 slant six placed firmly between the fenders. It wasn’t fast, and it didn’t have power steering. That does not mean I was jealous of “Wally’s” (not his real name) VeeDub, because we all knew that sooner or later, that German car was going to give him headaches. Never happened. He drove it to Ontario from Wisconsin, and he would think nothing about driving it home and back for a three-day weekend, though what was this nonsense about front-wheel drive? The rest of us just marveled at his bravado. To us, a Volkswagen was a Beetle or Rabbit. We knew nothing about this exotic little beast. Had we done any research back then, we would have found out that Wally’s car was near the last of the first generation of Sciroccos, which were made from 1974-81.
Meanwhile, Wally used to sing a modified version of a song that I can’t quite place. The lyrics he used were, “My red Scirocco goes one-fifty-five,” or something like that. Nobody thought it was actually that fast, but it could certainly scoot. That makes it slightly tempting to go after this Scirocco, which has 117,000 miles on it and lives currently in Salem, Oregon. The reserve on this one is not met at $4600 bucks, with five days to go in the auction. I’m not sure it’s possible to import a 1980 car into Cali, where I ended up, because of smog rules, but if I could, I’d be sporting a 1.8-liter engine with a five-speed to back it up. One problem: neither is original, though the engine looks spotless.
Still, would this purchase be a good idea? I’d have to paint it, of course, because it’s noted as fading on the top surfaces. Plus, the seller notes some rust bubbles, and that’s scary. And it wouldn’t do to leave the interior in the condition it’s in—how does a rear passenger seat get that worn? Dog? The headliner also looks to need some attention. So in the end, buying this gets you a niche car which shows its age around the edges. Tough choice. I wonder if Wally’s out there wishing to relive the 80s, and those college days?
Leave a Reply to bobhess Cancel reply