Oh boy. It’s a Passat, it’s a B5/5.5 generation, and it’s a wagon so automatically you know I’m interested. And, above and beyond that, it’s a whole lot like my car – a 2002 GLS in Ink Blue Pearl, 1.8T and with a 5-speed drivetrain. So, out come the production numbers! For the U.S., Ink Blue is a pretty rare color – in total, 1022 Passats were sold here in that color. 695 of those were sold in 2002. 485 of those were GLS trim, and now we start getting into the rare part. Only 131 were wagons, and only 49 of those were manuals. 38 of those were 1.8T, in 3 different color interior options and 2 different fabrics. The most common was gray cloth, with 14 sold. I have one of the 6 gray leather cars. There were 9 sold with black cloth and a further 5 with black leather. But I was pretty surprised to see the beige option numbers – only 3 sold with cloth and 1 with leather. This, then, is a 1 of 1 car – the sole 2002 Passat 1.8T GLS Variant with Beige leather sold that year:
Category: Volkswagen
When I was getting into the “Volkswagen Scene”, it was a game of brinkmanship. And by Volkswagen scene I mean my smallish group of friends who owned Volkswagens and all congregated at the local European fixing spot, and by brinkmanship I mean whatever we could afford at the time for modifications. I outfitted my “GolfTi” with a GLi interior and GLi-spec BBS RAs, my friend with his GTi got a Techtonics Exhaust and coilover suspension. One traded a Jetta Carat for a 8V 91 GTi in Tornado Red. Another (after more or less wrecking the mint 2.0 16V GLi he was given!) bought a G60 supercharged swap first generation Scirocco. That move gave this particular individual the trump card in the group, even if that G60 never ran right. The point is, we were all small potatoes, and that was made pretty clear to me when I ran into someone with an actual budget.
That person had a then brand new 1996 GTi VR6. An A2 chassis fan, I derided the A3 as fat and too luxurious. But how quick the VR6 could be was made pretty evident to me one day as I hounded the rear bumper of his GTi down a country road. Finally, he succumbed to my goading and lay hard into third gear. At the end of a quarter mile straight, it was enough to pull probably 10 car lengths on my clapped out Golf, but it might as well have been a mile – I was utterly defeated and my opinion of the VR6 changed in 15 seconds time. Since then, A3 GTi VR6s have always held a certain fascination for me and my time owning a ’98 Golf K2 left me tempted to consider a late VR6 as a daily driver. But what if you had one and your group of friends also tried the same game of brinkmanship, but had better resources?
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1998 Volkswagen GTi VR6 Turbo on eBay
Comments closedAs the final of my dream car posts we’ll settle in to the Amelia Island auctions for a group of exquisite Porsches and some of the most expensive available. Rather than stunning and rare color combinations these Porsches attract our notice through their historical relevance and, for many of them, their longevity. By now most are aware of Jerry Seinfeld’s love of Porsches; it’s been a long documented affair ever since the comedian became known across the world. He has decided to sell quite a few of them – 18 cars in all, 16 of those being Porsches – at Gooding & Company’s Amelia Island Auctions on March 11. None of the cars are inexpensive – the lowest priced likely being his 1960 Volkswagen Beetle – and many of them will stretch well into seven figures. For fans of Porsches it’s a very interesting time as many of Seinfeld’s cars are near impossible to find in this condition, with some of them near impossible to find at all. I have chosen a few examples to show here that particularly caught my eye. I won’t go through the details of each car since those details are extensive and well chronicled on the auction listing for each. Click through to read about each car’s history and also to view the rest of the Seinfeld lineup at Amelia Island:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1958 Porsche 356 A 1500 GS/GT Carrera Speedster
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When I first saw this GTI, I thought “that’s a beautiful Mk1 GTI,” immediately followed by “they want $15k with 216,000 miles?!” which is the exact response the seller is discouraging in his ad, as I later found out. What I also found out as I read further and drooled over the pictures was that this GTI has just about everything new on it. Seriously, it’s like new under there with a rebuild with a fresh bottom end, all suspension, rebuilt brakes, and an interior redone in new-old-stock GTI red cloth. It’s pretty much perfect, and the mudflaps put me over the damn edge (I put some on my E28 M5 this winter and am now obsessed). This is the best non-original, like-new GTI out there.
Click for details: 1984 Volkswagen GTI on eBay
8 CommentsJust like we saw with yesterday’s 928S4, there are specific dealers that have made a go of importation of vehicles from Europe that have passed the magical “25 year” rule. Most of what we have seen from this particular seller is of the BMW variety, and we’ve featured quite a few of their E30 Tourings as well as a wayward Volkswagen. While the photography is never as slick as the 928s looks, the photos are a bit more honest and the descriptions usually show the drawbacks. What you get is a good look at a model infrequently seen in the U.S.. However, in this case it’s one that will probably leave most people scratching their heads, as it’s a right-hooker 1.0 liter base Polo wagon. At least it’s a manual?