1980 Volkswagen Golf GTi Mk1

To be offered by Iconic Auctioneers on Friday 23rd February at the Race Retro Sale.

Guide Price: £18,000 - £22,000

This appears to be a bit of a 'one-off', however, a glance at our images will reveal that it really is rather special. It’s a 1980 Volkswagen Golf GTi Mk1 that's been superbly built from a shell and consequently doesn’t have any form of ID or related papers.

During 'lockdown', our vendor sent it to David Gordon Racing and asked him to create a race car to go into his Collection, however, since its return, it has sat in his temperature-controlled garage with zero miles and zero running hours and he now realises he will never use it. We understand that he invested around £25,000 - £30,000 on the project but was not able to help much with details of the build-spec as the work took place during COVID and communication was limited.

It’s based on an 1,800cc Golf GTi and the engine was built by an ex-Neil Brown Engines mechanic. New parts were used throughout, everything was blueprinted and a race cam fitted, producing, we are told, about 250bhp fed through a limited-slip differential. We understand that there are no invoices with the car so would suggest that interested parties form their own conclusion.

With limited information and no papers, it’s not clear if this Golf qualifies for any current series or championships but it presumably could be modified to comply with the regs of any current saloon car championship, would make an excellent sprint or hill-climb car and would obviously be a real head-turner on track days. Having never been driven in anger, it would need a full 'shakedown' before any serious use.

Of course the essence of this little racer is its build quality. Finished in White with Audi Sport race colours, it’s fitted with a bolted-in Custom Cage, Sparco seat, full harness, alloy door-cards, Perspex side windows, plumbed-in Turini extinguisher, external ignition and fire switches etc, tow hooks, transponder, Go-Pro, OMP wheel and pedals, and much more. A totally professional build and brand spanking new.

We invite and encourage your viewing of this gleaming little GTi racer and decide what you would like to do with it.