5/1/2013 Update: This GTI has been sold.

From 4/24/2013:

This 1983 Volkswagen GTI (Chassis 1VWDC017XDV029242) is 100% stock and offered by the Editor-in-Chief of Road & Track magazine. He had a twin car in high school, and bought this one 18 months ago to recondition and take to his college reunion. He gave it new paint and repaired a long list of ailments that make the car look and drive very well. As we tend to do with magazine editors, we’ll let you read his own detailed description of the car below. If you are looking for a Mk1, this is a good one. It is available in Ann Arbor, Michigan for $9k.

Here are the seller’s own words about this GTI:

“HOLY CRAP, THAT’S THE NICEST GTI I’VE EVER SEEN (I’m half joking here), WHAT’S THE CATCH? The odometer does not work and the mileage is unknown. Currently says 19,995. That’s not accurate, but I doubt this thing has a lot of miles. If the wisdom of crowds is to be believed, maybe we should take a pol and average the responses. If it has over 50,000 miles, I’d be shocked.

There are lots of helpful clues that spoke to me, the first being the driver’s seat. These sport Recaro seats have massive side bolsters that take a beating every time you get in or out. On this car, the passenger seat is fine and the driver’s has a little tear but nothing more. Usually, that area is ripped open down to the frame. Then there’s the general condition of the interior, which is excellent. The dash is free of cracks, the shifter boot isn’t torn and the pedal covers have some wear, but not a lot. On the outside, all of the original bumper caps, which almost always got ripped off, were intact and the wheels are without scars. The lug nuts even had those silly plastic cabs, but four of them were cracked and I tossed them out.

Based on a CarFax report, the car was first registered in Franklin, Virginia where it remained until 2011 when it moved to Iowa. The first record of the wrong mileage occurred in 1990. I bought t the car from Iowa and moved it to Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Check out the shots of the car’s underside: Not one spec of rust or deformed metal. The pinch welds are perfect, and again, so many of the items that usually got ditched along a GTI’s life, like the fabric intake heater tube, are still there . Maybe someone drove this thing a ton and took extremely good care of it, but my hunch is that it sat. You are, of course, the final judge.

WHEN YOU SAY “RESTORED” WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Ahh, excellent question. I fixed or replaced everything that needed attention and had the car painted in the original silver. New-parts list is crazy long and while I don’t mind admitting I’m financially upside down here (Cars are a hobby. Shit costs money), listing every single nut and bolt is a bit depressing. While I don’t have records of previous service, I have stacks of receipts of stuff bought within the past year. Here are the highlights:

NEW ITEMS:

Headliner

Tires

Brakes (rotors, calipers, pads, shoes, everything)

Paint (Removed all trim, bumpers, and windshield for paint. Not a $10k job, but was pleasantly surprised with result)

The black stripes on the rockers are new. Black trim around the rear hatch glass is painted, not a sticker as was originally done.

Axle assemblies

Timing Belt

Water pump

Driver’s seat belt

All belts and hoses

Radio (Not the best, but the only two-post cassette player I could find with an AUX input)

Speakers (four)

Front strut assemblies

Fuel tank

Fuel pump

Fuel accumulator

Rubber seals (windshield, rear hatch, side windows)

Plugs, cap, rotor, wires

Heater core (oh hell that was a nightmare job)

Seat bushings (little plastic things that keep the seat from rocking)

Rear hatch support

Headlights

Rear view mirror

Dash bulbs (all of them, and the gauges, now work)

HOW’S IT DRIVE?

Better than I remember. It’s a frisky little thing that makes you drive at qualifying pace all the time. The beauty of these cars has always been the filterless manual steering, the way the chassis is both precise and compliant, and the close-ratio five-speed gearbox. Plus it’s practical. I can’t tell you how often I feel like I’m driving my ass off only to look down and see I’m going 40 mph. It’s charming. But keep in mind it was born in the 55-mph speed limit era. Highway cruising is a bit noisy as the motor turns over 3500 rpm in fith gear at 75 mph.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW? Air conditioning does not work and the original compressor is out of the car (but it’s included in the sale). Said compressor is an anchor. Looks large enough to cool a Greyhound. But worse, compressor and its massive bracket (quarter-inch steel, I kid you not) make alternator removal a nightmare. I’m a bit paranoid and feared for no good reason that the alternator would fail during my trip and I’d have to wrestle with the awful bracket. So I modified it to make alternator replacement easier. If you want to restore the air conditioning, you’ll need a new/used bracket. Everything else, except for the compressor, is still in the car. Also, the cruise control does not work.

COME ON, THERE’S ALWAYS MORE. WHAT AREN’T YOU TELLING ME? Damn you’re tough! Okay, I’ll admit that driver’s door card has a tear and my daughter kneeled on the passenger seat, which tore a two-inch gash. That fabric is old and if I was going to keep the car, I’d think about redoing the seats even though they look great. There is an outfit that stocks the original seat fabric and I’ll include that info with the car. The passenger door is missing the plastic clamp that connects the button to the lock so the only way you can lock or unlock that door is with the key. Oh and the little cup behind the interior door handle is missing on the passenger side.

DUMBEST THING I DID DURING RESTORATION There’s a little access hole on top of the tranny bellhousing that’s sealed with a plug. Removing that original plug was tough so once I got it out to check the timing, I put a sock to cover the hole. The bellhousing is sealed so you don’t want anything to fall in and I thought I would probably recheck timing. At some point I went to start the engine, which fired immediately and then locked up solid. Took a few panicked minutes before I realized the flywheel had yanked the sock in and then wedged it inside the bellhousing. The motor would not turn. So I started pulling the trans until a much smarter friend told me to remove the starter and gently turn back the engine until the sock popped out. That worked.

GUY I COULD HAVE KISSED Even though I had read everything on the mechanical fuel injection system, I couldn’t get the car to run right. So I took it to the local mechanic who was factory trained on the system back in the day. He rechecked everything I did and finally said I needed a new fuel distributor. That’s a $500 part. Called a place to get one (AND DAMN I CAN’T REMEMBER THE NAME). The guy who answered the phone had the best Southern accent this side of Ward Burton. Shop guy heard me out and said, “Now hold on ‘a minute, you sure you need a new distributor?”

“Umm, yeah, I think so.” I answered.

“Hmmmm, tell me sumthin.’ When you start it, do hear a buzzin, like a pack of the angriest, meanest wasps you ever saw?”

I started the car, poked my head in the engine bay and could hear no buzzing.

“That’s what I thought. You got a bad frequency valve. Go check it and call me back.”

This solenoid looking thing is buried by the shock tower. I never thought to check it and neither did my mechanic. So I poked around this bundle of wires and there, it’s a solenoid and OMG, it’s not plugged in! But where’s the plug?? Ol there it is and it fits the solenoid!

I start the car. It runs beautifully. I call Mr Southern Gentleman and offer to send him a pizza. He declines. The World is still a beautiful place. That mechanic refunded me $200.

EXTRA STUFF YOU GET:

Roll of navy-blue carpet. Used one square foot to remake footwell covers

Extra, uncut, original dash panel (see picture)

Original radio (At least I think it’s the original one. Looks old, radio only)

Build Sheet from above the headliner

Misc spares

A/C compressor”

All that above came straight from the seller.

Check out the additional photos here on the seller’s Google+ gallery.