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What can I say, it’s a National Meet Special, so expect lots of picture of Sciroccos, people with Sciroccos and people pointing at Sciroccos, oh and a dog in a Scirocco!!!! Enjoy. .
Team Scirocco Register
Well its been a month or so since the 2019 National Meet, enough time to get past the busy show season, have a holiday and catch up on the day with Sean, Jim and Will. First off, you lot never cease to amaze us. Okay we didn’t quite hit the mythical 100 Sciroccos, we did get 92 parked up, however, what was a welcome sight was the number of dailies that showed up for the day. Hold on bear with me, this showed us that the National Meet is turning in to more of an event that people, not just cars, want to attend. As such we must have had a record number of people attending. This was awesome to see and gives us food for thought for future meets. Now lets get on to the day, the weather gods were looking down on us and blessed us with dry and sunny weather, sun lotion was essential for the day!!!!! Once again we waited in an empty car park with hope, like every year, that some more people and Sciroccos would join us. So seeing over 50 Sciroccos driving in together is always a highlight of the day and never gets old, the perfect kind of traffic jam. And the parking muppets (me included) had a blast parking up everyone and seeing all the smiling faces.
We had people attending from all over the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and even the US!!!!! Its really turning out to be an international meet these days. The Dutch contingent once again came over in force with all the usual faces in attendance, I never get tired of catching up with these lot who really do add a lot of fun to the weekend. It was awesome just people watching this year, I saw lots of finger pointing, be it at engine bays, body panels, wheels and interiors. Hell, as we know our community likes to be different and you never see two Sciroccos the same. I believe that relaxed take on modifying is what make both the Scirocco Register and the day what it is. There were also lots of parts changing hands, I was so close to buying some parts but ended up forgetting to go back after the whirlwind day!!!! The turnout of cars, as alluded to above, was just amazing with a variety of cars from dailies, race, ratty, concourse, huge bodykits, clean, original etc basically every style. We also had an increased number of Mk3’s this year which is just epic, again with some modded ones in the mix. If you wanted an idea of what to do to your
Rocco then there was something there and someone to chat too, and don’t even get me started on engine swaps. What did I mention engine swaps, from 2ltr 8v’s to G60 units and a splattering of 1.8 BAM turbo units, if you were thinking of going down this route you could see how it’s been done before.
We’ll get on to the awards later, but for lots of us, the National Meet is now a weekend event with some camping over on the Friday night but we had a record camp over on the Saturday with 37 cars in the White Pump Farm field. This is more cars that attended my first meet some 10 years ago!!!! With a BBQ, some beer and many laughs it was a great night and highly recommended to finish off your day. Again, we’re looking at some new stuff for the camping next year to keep an eye out.
Thisis one of the best parts of the day, with the people attending finding out which of the cars they voted for won the Best Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3 awards,. As usual it was a close run thing with some epic cars attending. I think you’ll agree the three cars below were well deserved.
What can you say about Paul Boxhalls gorgeous yellow mk1, well it certainly stands out with its bight paintworks and just as bright interior. As soon as it drove in you knew it was going to be up there in the voting. Flip over a few pages to see more pictures and a write up about this car.
Pete Londsdale’s Kamei was in close position to win last year and this year pipped all the other Mk2’s to the win. This is the closest run competition due to the sheer number of Mk2’s that attend and their variety and once again. But I think you’ll agree this was a deserved winner. We feature this car recently in a previous Skyrocket so for you delight I’ve added in its full write up as well.
Well as mentioned we had an increased number of Mk3’s this year but once again Luke Dronfield’s car took the win. But it did have more competition this year and it was a close call but when you see this car in the flesh you really understand why it won. I’ve also included the original write up on this car from last year so you can see the work that’s gone in to it.
A huge thankyou to Dreadnought Customs for producing and donating the awesome trophies.
For all of the awards we give out the Ian Croucher award is the one that the club holds most dear. Named after a member we lost a few years ago it’s given out to a member who, like Ian, gladly gives up time and knowledge to help support both the club but also represents the ethos behind the club and keeps that held high. This year we were very proud to award this to Kevin Mclean. His involvement and promotion of the club over the years has been fantastic but its more the time he offers to both show his car. Let’s not forget some of the shows we attend required attendance for up to 5 days!!!!! But he’s also one of the guys behind the scenes that helps the Scirocco Register function, he’s the one who’s taken on the role of organising the hotel for the National Meet for many years, he wasn’t asked he just took it on to help
Oh, there was a side line un-official Hawaiian Shirt competition, lets just say it went down well, may have been taken a little too seriously by some by manifesting as some truly hideous sights. It was sooo bad, we’ll probably do it all again next year!!!! If you’ve read these before we usually do a “Thoughts of the day” section were us Admins say how awesome the day was and its worth all the work when we see all you lovely people arrive with your smiling faces. To be honest you know this, we love doing this and were all proud to set it up and make a place/event that brings load of like minded people together in one place. Now that doesn’t mean we’re sitting back, we have big plans for the National Meet over the next few years, don’t forget it’s the 25th Anniversary in 2021, and it will be one to attend trust me. So in conclusion, its you who make the meet as big as it is, we provide the place and time but you provide the community that we’ve grown into. Onwards and upwards. Team SR (Sean, Will, Jim and Heath)
After turning up at the National Meet for the first time, Paul Baxhall, ended up winning Best Mk1. As you will see, it was well deserved and we got to chat with Paul about this epic build. First off, is this your first Scirocco? If not, what others have you had? I also owned a 1988 Scirocco GTX in pewter which was a massive step up in build quality from the Mk1. How did you end up getting this Scirocco? The story of KUC 306X is a little protracted so bare with me, I had been looking for another mk1 Scirocco for many years having sold the GTX about 14 years previously and had run a Corrado and mk1 golf GTI in between. A mate knew I wanted another MK1 Scirocco and unbeknown to me had acquired the car 4 years previous to me spotting an ad in classic car weekly for another Storm, so when I spoke to him about viewing this car with his trailer he then came clean and revealed what he had in his barn. The bottom line is I bought this car as well so ended up with two! What condition was it in when you got it? Did it need much work? The condition of KUC 306X could best be described as scrap. I built a shell roller to restore the other STORM and decided to test it out on KUC 306X (the reason being if it fell off it wouldn't have been a great loss). Once it was on the shell roller I only intended to repair the axle mounts and then swap the other car onto it and restore that one as it was a much better proposition, but I got carried away and the rest is history.
Starting with the outside, that colour Yellow doesn’t look factory, what colour is it? And was it always the intention to go for a Yellow? Colour wise it is not a standard one, I literally mixed up some odd tins of paint I had laying around. Did you do any modifications to the body or is it all factory? Body wise I've kept things standard. The interior is absolutely awesome, I love the choice of materials chosen for the seats, it this is standard VW pattern? Also to what extent was the interior re-modelled? Because the car was in such a poor state and the interior was shot I was not too concerned about originality, plus the other Storm was always going to be standard. Interior is standard seats recovered 1/2 vinyl with Westfalia bay window camper seat cloth. Also fitted a new head lining (absolute pig of a job)
Could you go through the choice of wheels, were the G60’s always the first choice? The wheels are actually 14 inch steels (maybe mk2 scirocco or Golf cabriolet?) which I bought at Bristol Volksfest and were right at the beginning of the project. The car looks a little lower that standard, what suspension are you running? Suspension is bilstein shocks and Eibach springs with Eibach ARB's. Right let’s get to that engine, from our brief chat I know its not exactly standard, could you please go through what the engine is please? Also do you know what power it’s putting out? Engine wise it has a 2.0L Audi 80 tall block with 1.8L Scirocco Hydraulic head. Modified 1.8L Distributor to suit larger hole in 2.0L block and 5 cylinder Audi throttle body and warm-up regulator. In terms of power output I've no idea. How long did the overall build take? Overall build time was approx. 4years and it turned out way better than I originally envisaged as I never intended being so anal it just spiralled out of control. Out of all the work, what are you most proud of? And what was the largest challenge of the build? I think overall I am most proud of the way the bodywork turned out as it was in such a dire state. Thanks again to Paul for answering some questions and allowing me to photograph the car.
Words/Pictures Heath Scotchford
If you were at the National Meet last year you’d have seen Pete Lonsdale’s epic Kamei X1 kitted Mk2. Hell, it was a close run thing just being pipped at the post for the Mk2 of the event. Well we got to have the history of the build direct from him-
I have owned two scirocco’s. I bought my first one J196 LBD back in 2005 it was a dragon green Scala. Members of the old forum may remember this as project Sabine. She started off fairly standard but was soon experimenting with different wheels, headlight setups etc. Eventually she came off the road after two years of daily driving and I attempted an abf conversion by myself. It was never quite ‘right’ and I ended up selling her back to the guy I bought it from (Mr Brown) in about 2013/2014 as my current car came up for sale. It was a black Scala that also had an abf conversion but this was running k jet and had been done by Mike Horsburgh. Instantly I knew this was the car for me, it was rapid and felt sorted. The car stayed pretty standard for a few months, a slight front end change to GTI headlamps and red stripe GTX grille. I also had some wheels to go on. Nothing much changed over the next year until one unfortunate day (fortunate looking back now) I was involved in a front end bump with a fiesta van. My car was deemed beyond economical repair so I took the measly pay out and started sourcing parts. The damage was fairly minimal a new front bumper front panel etc. I took it to a local Bodyshop I do a lot of work
for and left it there until I had all the bits. Whilst sourcing a front panel I came across a chap who was breaking a car with a Kamei x1 kit on. I instantly knew the car as Birdys old car from my many hours spent looking at the old forum. It had a mixture of purple and black paint so it was definitely his. Unfortunately, the kit was cracked split and in poor shape I decided to take a punt on it and went away with a car full of bits after a 8 hour round trip. Dropping the kit off at the Bodyshop was interesting to say the least but the guys spent many hours bringing it back to its former glory. The job had now gone from a simple new bumper and front panel to a full on glass out respray of the whole car and fitment of the Kamei kit. From the time of the accident until I got the car back was around two years so I had plenty of time to source all the other bits and pieces on the car. Kamei gear knob with the rare Kamei insert, Kamei grille which I had powder coated and new badge from the states. Nos Kamei x1 steering wheel in the box. Kamei x1 rear badge and the Kamei x1 heckblende I had commissioned by Rocco heck’s. Apart from the decals that the x1 model has fitted (my own version is in the making) the only other bits I needed where the hens teeth windsplits. After months of searching I found a set in Australia. The guy wanted as much to ship them as the price of the item however they were nos. So, I hit the bullet and bought them. When they arrived, the adhesive had perished and they were pretty beat up with gouges in them. I pondered fitting them but feared they would let the rest of the car down. I had found a chap making BMW windsplits and contacted him about recreating these. He duly obliged and these arrived just before the nationals. That pretty much brings us up to today. There have been a few recent upgrades switching from the three spokes to Zender turbos which I love. I have also restriped the rear lights. I don’t particularly have a favourite mod I love the overall look of the car and how 80’s it is. It does divide opinion but that’s the great part about modifying cars, I
set off with a vision in my head and that keeps evolving. So, what’s next? Well it’s overdue some mechanical love, suspension and handling mods are first on the list, uprated bushes and some coil overs to bring the arch gap down, slightly higher profile tyres to make sure I don’t hit everything with the front splitter. Then my attention will be on to tidying up the engine bay and improving performance. Still thinking about which way to go with this. I love the n/a nature and revving of the abf so perhaps cams and carbs, however the thought of a turbo engine really appeals!! Plan is to get it to some more shows over the summer and definitely get back to the nationals next year. Words- Pete Lonsdale/Heath Scotchford
Pictures– Heath Scotchford
The official magazine of the Scirocco Register www.sciroccoregister.co.uk
Website, Forum, FAQ & Store: www.sciroccoregister.co.uk Team SR: Will - membership@sciroccoregister.co.uk Heath- press@sciroccoregister.co.uk Identity by Sue Kennedy. Additional photography and images: Heath Scotchford, SR Forum and The Internet All original material Š Scirocco Register 2019