While we look at collector-grade automobiles more often than not, it’s always nice to ponder driver-quality cars too. I’ve made the conscious decision several times to not buy the nicest example of a car that I could find, instead trying to rehab a car that had been languishing and might otherwise have been forgotten. I’m now on my fifth example of this, and while economically it might not be the best plan there is something rewarding about salvaging a car and bringing it back from the brink. However, usually such examples are priced accordingly; I bought my 1984 GTi for $300, for example, and the same amount bought me a 200 quattro Avant about a decade later. Once I paid a staggering $800 for a Golf with nearly 200,000 miles on it, and the seemingly decadent V8 quattro set me back $2,000. All gave me lots of automotive joy – not the get in, nothing is wrong type, but if you cue the Sarah McLaughlin and sad puppy dog eyes roll across the screen, I can see the hope in salvation of nearly every car. There’s always something that’s good, right? In the case of today’s quarter-million mile Scirocco, there’s a lot that’s good:
