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In the world of race cars, there’s something that gives enthusiasts like me raised hairs on the back of the neck. ‘Body in white’ cars are cars that were never sold to the public, but turned directly into racers either by a third party or by the manufacturer itself. What is extra special about them is that as more or less dedicated race cars, they were often sent with less options or even devoid of items that racers love to rip off. It might be no interior, less wiring, or a lack of undercoating but it all translates to the same thing – less weight, faster lap times and more wins. Today’s Volkswagen Golf may look like a run of the mill pocket-rocket racer that someone built in their garage, but it has an interesting history:
When Paul sent me the link to this GTi, I knew instantly that I recognized it. We write a lot of cars up here, but some stand out – in this case, this car followed up two record setting GTis that I wrote up, but unlike those this one seemed stuck in no-man’s land. It wasn’t restored but also wasn’t quite as nice as the other two low mileage examples. Despite the lower asking price, no one jumped on the potential of this car at $6,500. Nearly exactly one year later, the car is back. It hasn’t remained static, gaining a touch over 6,000 miles – but strangely, the price has increased to $7,000. Given that the other similar condition Diamond Silver 1984 struggled to make $5,500, it’s hard to see why this one will hammer for more.
The below post originally appeared on our site January 4, 2014:
Time for another wheel roundup, and as I’m just in for winterizing the Audi and swapping the snow wheels onto the Subaru, I’ve got the chunky winter tires on my mind. Just because you’re swapping on the winter duds doesn’t mean you can’t still be in style on a budget, and today I’ve got a few sets that look like a great deal. The Audi B8 wheels are awesome looking – factory wheels aren’t the lightest, but they’re well made, well finished and look great on a number of newer Audis. For only $650, this set with caps looks awesome. The Tiguan wheels are the only non-stock wheels here, being made by Sport Edition. It’s a popular Tire Rack winter brand that looks reasonable and gets the job done. With few miles on that set of tires, it looks like an awesome deal at under $500. The Beetle wheels fit a bunch of the Mk.4/A3/TT models, and the brand new factory wheels and new tires mounted for under $800 seems like money well spent. Then BMW wheels are a bit more pricey but look overall to be in good shape. Then there are the factory 8″ Mercedes wheels, off either a 500SL or 500E. With some chunky looking rubber and no reserve, at the current bid of $250 they’re an absolute steal.
The restored 1964 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Convertible we featured last month is back up on offer, having failed to meet its reserve last time around.
The below post originally appeared on our site November 24, 2014:
If the twin B4 Passat GLX VR6 Variants from the other day are a dwindling supply, the odds of running across a serviceable B3 Passat GL today are just about slim to none. While they were fairly expensive at the time, the 2.0 16V motored GL was seemingly a throw-away mid-level luxury car. It was quickly replaced at the top of Volkswagen’s food chain by the short-lived B3 GLX VR6 model – and in general, enthusiasts prefer those. That makes sense since they’re quicker than the early cars – but it also means that the odds of running across one of Volkswagen’s grill-less sedans or wagons is a rare occasion. It’s still neat to see them, though – even though they weren’t the fastest, best looking or best equipped Volkswagen, there were neat and innovative design elements that were incorporated into the B3. It was a huge leap forward from the outgoing Audi-shared B2 platform, a slick design which looked sportier, more angular and aerodynamic, and leagues more modern than the Quantum:
