F511BYC is a 1987 manufactured VW Golf Mk1 Karmann Cabrio, 1.8, registered in August 1988. It is a limited-edition model with an automatic gearbox and just over 100K on the clock. I am the 4th owner, and the previous one from Neath, South Wales, had obtained it, free of charge, some 15 years previously from a friend. Free of charge off a mate? Well, it had needed an awful lot of TLC – full strip down, body repairs, new radiator, replaced fuel pipe, wheels refurbished. It received a full body restoration around 8 years ago, which included a respray in the original Alpine White, plus a new red hood and liner. It still rode on its original BBS alloy wheels and, because it had been dry stored for most of its life, it appeared in excellent condition both above and below.
My wife and I have owned a variety of classic cars over the years, all of them soft tops – Triumphs, MGs, Fords, MX5s – and our current one is a 1990 Eunos Roadster automatic. A lovely car to drive, reliable too, but there is an issue – it is very low! As we edge into our 70s, we are finding that our mobility isn’t exactly as it was, and the actual getting into and, worse still, getting out of our Eunos is becoming more and more difficult. My wife breaking her hip and myself becoming affected with polymyalgia-rheumatica has exacerbated the situation. This was highlighted when I actually fell out of the driving seat at one of last year’s shows and had to clamber, ungainly, to my unsteady feet – and I was stone cold sober! Blushing profusely and rejecting the helping hands of my adjacent drivers – who were older than me! – I decided that we needed a more suitable vehicle, and soon!
So, we were on the lookout for another, more suitable, classic, but it had to meet a number of requirements. As well as being clean & tidy, having good provenance and simple to work on, plus within our price range, the car needed to be easy to get in and out of – obviously – an automatic – also for mobility reasons – and a cabriolet. So that narrowed the choices; Mercedes and Jags were too pricey, American cars too big, the Mini, too small. British cabriolet staples like the Morris Minor, Triumph Herald range were not made with automatic gearboxes. Having seen a few models at various classic car events over the years, we focussed on the VW Golf Cabriolet, that seemed to meet our needs – but which one????
And that’s where Wiser Films came in. Who, I hear you say? With a back catalogue including Top Gear, Wheeler Dealers and the Car Years, those heading Wiser films were asked to produce “Dream Car Fixers”, commissioned by UKTV for Yesterday and UKTV Play. The 8 episode series, aired in March and April 2024, follows the work of mechanic Sheldon Nichols, supported by bodywork expert Peter Harriott as they work to a client’s brief and budget to find a suitable car and carry out any mechanical fixes required. The pair will add any desired modernisations and bring the bodywork up to scratch. They will then deliver the client their dream classic – in our case, a VW Golf Mk1 Cabriolet.
So how did it work in practice? Well, their advert on FaceBook caught my eye and I messaged them with my details. And, very surprisingly, they replied! Firstly, the company had an initial chat to find out what car we would be interested in buying and what budget was available. Once some options were found, discussed, dismissed, then approved, they then sent one of their mechanics out to view the cars. They provided a full report on these vehicles and recommendation on which to go ahead with. Then our choice was confirmed!
They then brought the car back to their workshop and undertook any remedial and restoration work the car required. In our case, this additional work included adding power steering as the original Golf Mk1 set-up was extremely stiff and would have meant that my wife wouldn’t have been able to drive the car. Apart from this modification, the car has been sympathetically restored to its original specification.
The first series of Dream Car Fixers aired on Yesterday in March and April 2024 and streamed on UKTV Play; our vehicle features in episode 5 of the series on the 2nd of April. What an experience!