Insane, at least if not worse

[Martin]

Those were the days of thunder for the poor people. Missing cubic inches compensated by mania, very very light car and power. This VW Polo was built 1977. My brother bought it 1978 and I got it 1980. Soon I started racing and from 1983  - 1988 and drove a lot. Preferably Nürburgring. Incl 24 h. Yes with success. 2004 I sold the car to a best friend who still was racing and had smashed his Polo. He had a severe accident in 2006 and for me the car was gone, scrapped, .... ???

 

So only memories left.

 

 

Edited January 1, 2018 by Martin
typo

[Martin]

Now the update.

In early summer on a meeting of out Motor Sports Club a mate said that he thinks that he had seen a roof of a white Polo at someones workshop which could be my old one. I said no, car had a severe accident beyond repair. To cut a long story short, I sarted to investigate,  car passed through several hands, mainly for parts and then was tucked away for body parts, as Polo1 parts are difficult to get and rust free Polos are  like hens teeth.

This how I found it. And YES it was MY OLD CAR. All the memories came back, so I bought it.

 

[Martin]

Some days ago we picked it up. This will be a challenge.

It does not look that bad, but the problem is that the impact from the accidend is really severe and very tricky to repair. The other car came from the right and the complete turret where the damper is mounted folded to the inside and even worse angled down as the roll cage was extended to the turret and acted as a kind of fixed point.

Thus beside my Herald Estate resto I will start looking for Polo1 / Audi 50 parts. Anyone surplus of wings and a front valance

............   and I will remove these ugly beaten out wheel arches

 

[Nick Jones]

Well, that's a nice story!  Amazing the thing is still around and seems to have been dry stored.......  No rust?

As you say, the damage doesn't look that bad.  However, the turret area is a strong part of the car and will be hard to straighten.  Do you know anyone with a hydraulic body jig?  Surprising what can be pulled back into shape......  If you've not seen any Aurther Tussik vids before - it's an education - though I'm not saying I'd necessarily want the car afterwards!

Polo 1 / Audi 50 are almost unknown here now - eaten by the tin worms a long time ago.

Any of the nice mechanical parts  left from the original car?

Nick

[JohnD]

Wow!  Thank you, Nick, I've never seen Gospodin Tussik at work before!

The man has the eye of an artist and the hand of a sculptor - or surgeon!    I loved the way he welded the cut out panels back in - short weld, tappetty tap with an adjusting hammer before the next weld.    A real tutorial on body repair!

But he has some serious kit, as behoves a great artist.    That hydraulic puller could not be improvised,  and the fine panel-pulling gadgets, too.   And, I fear that in the West, no one could afford his time, because that must have taken days.    In Russia (?) crashed big BMWs from the West might  be cheap and get a good price when repaired,    Let's hope Martin's car isn't as bad as that.

John

[Nick Jones]

I'm sure Martin's car is nothing like that bad - but that is not to underestimate the difficulty in moving the suspension turret back to where it should be - preferably without having to cut the whole corner apart......

I always wonder about Tussik's donor sections and where they come from.........

Nick

[Martin]

Unfortunately all, really all mechanical parts gone. They where removed as needed. But this is relatively easy to replace. And I will go for fast road spec (aiming at 100 -110 horses) and not again full race. (I had 45 DCOE, 12.3 compression rate and 324 degree cam, usable power band 4.000 - 9.000 rpm). Two 40 DCOE already ebayed in UK and with a mate in England whom I will visit around February 11th

Car is only the Body, dash, roll cage. BUT WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT IN GERMANY: WITH THE OLD BUT VALID CAR DOCUMENTS

And I got the car road legal in the 70ies / 80ies. All changes registered in the car documents (power increase, race seats, vented discs, DCOE´s, roll Cage, wide rims, lowered Suspension, two different sport exhausts, ...) If you came to our TÜV today whith such a car, I think the inspector would get a heart attack and I got shot.

Fortunately I know people with hydraulic body jigs. And I know someone who has the Polo1 special tool for straightening (in german : Richtsatz) which has to be used on that jig.

Real challenge (costs) are the body parts. front wing, >250 EUR, front valance >450 EUR, if you can get one,

Martin

[Martin]

@ Nick: yes it is still rust free

[Martin]

started to collect parts and got hold on the correct Spoiler I had in the 80ies

o.k. the colour has to change, but it is a new part, never mounted.

 

 

[Martin]

Oh my god, all the sins from the past show up. My skills were far from today in the 80ies. I removed one wheelach as some previeous owner had beaten them out for wider wheels.

 

[Martin]

.... and you see the original colour, "manilagrün"  

[Nick Jones]

That'll take some fixing......

I (just) remember that green.  Very 70s!  I take it that you'll keeping it white?

Nick

[Martin]

Yes car will be white again.

I by chance detected a 1976 Polo at a Bosch Garage in the backyard. Thus I bought it as a donor. My old car is missing so many (or  nearly all) parts, that it made sense, and it was cheap and is absolutely complete. You see it on my new lift  

 

[Hamish]

56 minutes ago, Martin said:

Yes car will be white again.

I by chance detected a 1976 Polo at a Bosch Garage in the backyard. Thus I bought it as a donor. My old car is missing so many (or  nearly all) parts, that it made sense, and it was cheap and is absolutely complete. You see it on my new lift  

 

Garage and lift envy !

great project too :-)

[Nick Jones]

9 hours ago, Hamish said:

Garage and lift envy !

great project too :-)

Me too! My garage doesn't have enough headroom for a lift. Your donor car looks too good to break...... maybe that is misleading.....

Nick

[Martin]

The car has really rotten floor, a posts,inner sills, outer sills ... Some boxed section where the rear axle is mounted is, .....  hmmm crunchy.

But: bonnet, doors, rear hatch very good nearly rust free. front wings are replacement ones with only some minor rust spots at the bottom, new front panel was neatly welded in and I will cut it out as spare. Thus the car gives me all the body parts I need. This was not expected and I already bought most body parts. Thus may sell some of them again,

Martin

 

[Martin]

may the (brutal) force be with us   .....

[Martin]

This guy is a genius. I could not believe how much force is needed. When pulling the  A-Pillar down the (not closed)  door pointed  downwards approx 3 inch at the rear end. Then we used a 5 kg hammer from the inside to push the sill out at the front ..... 

But now the door shuts nicely, the wing is nearly fitting and the data of the main suspension points are appr 80-90%. Second session coming soon.

[JohnD]

There are some real artists in body repair, who know exactly where to pull on and hit to straighten bent metal.  Arthur Tussik is one of the best:

 

But you do have to wonder - he's bending back into shape parts of the body shell that are energy absorbing 'crumple zones'.  They have yielded under stress and then yielded again from his ministrations.     They'll not work as well next time, so is the car safe?    No wonder he's a Russian, working in Russia!

JOhn

Edited December 3, 2018 by JohnD

[Martin]

front valence removed, and a lot of filler around the fuel neck found.

 

[Martin]

Hydraulic force did its job. We are happy with the results measurements are within VW spec. Now roll cage out and beginning to weld in the front valence and repair (a lot of) old careless body repairs.

 

[Nick Jones]

That is real progress. You can get to work in earnest now.

[Mark]

Looking Great! Really coming together. All the hard work is paying off.

Mark

[Martin]

Before welding in the front valance I strengthened the mounting of the suspension arms. After being on a hydraulic jig for two times and the hard life the car had, it was necessary as beneath the paint there were some cracks.

 

 

[Martin]

As the Vitesse Estate is on the road, I had some spare time to spend it on the Polo.

I prepared it for the paint shop. It will be white again. 

Most likely it will take about two months until it will be back from the paint shop.