Re: First Mk1: A Scirocco Story (long)

[Ron Cooper <rlc@teleport.com>]

Hi All,

I've been somewhat of a lurker on your list but the appearent scarcity of
road worthy MKI Sciroccos made me want to tell the tale of my Car.

My family has a history of prefering VW Cars beginning with my fathers
puchase of a Karmann Ghia back in 1957. Since then we have owned a 412
squareback, a 57 Beatle w/ragtop sunroof (My highschool ride), a 78
Rabbit, a 72 Superbeatle, and of course my 77 silver Scirocco.

I first fell in love with the scirocco back in 1975 while watching
commercials for it. That sleek little shape was unlike anything I'd
seen (with the exception of the Fiat X/19) and I was determined that this
would be my first car when I came of driving age in 76.  My father gave me
the 57 Beatle when I got my license. He had bought it cheap from a friend
who was moving out of town.  It was the perfect compliment to the 57 ghia
he had given to my brother when he upgraded to a 66 Porshe 912. I loved my
57 and had many good times in it (Did you know that its possible in a
pinch to get around a broken throttle cable by attaching a wire to the
throttle rocker arm and running it over the top of the car to a friend
standing out of the top of the sunroof? Close cooperation between
passenger and driver required.)  Unfortunately my Bug died a violent death
in 1980 in a chance meeting with Ford 150 Pick Up.  Jaws of Life, one
missing spleen, and a hefty insurance settlement later I was looking for a
new car.  I breifly concidered a Porshe 914 but practicalty ruled the day
(it was my freshman year in college) and I bought my 77 for about $4000.00
cash.  

The car only had 24k on the odometer and I was about to put alot more then
that on it. From the first the car had gremlins.  A battery that would
drain mysteriously, pools of water on the floor boards up to two inches
deep. Crappy performance do to bad CIS settings.  Fortunately the MKI is
one of the lightest cars VW has built and is easily push started in most
situations.  Problem's aside I loved my car and enjoyed many a road trip
through my college years.  Tragedy struck in 1982 when I may or may not
have mistaken a merging car with one that was about to hit me.  A reflex
action brought me into the back of two stopped cars at about 25 mph. I
have never worn contact lenses since.  I was fully insured a decided to
have to car rebuilt. Several months and $5000.00 later I had my Scirocco
back. It was more then the car was worth but the German guy at the shop
had done a great job.  

In the years since I've logged (unofficially, since the odometer stopped
working at 250k in the late 80's) at least 400k miles in this car. I've
been through 3 fuse/electrical boxes swaps, 1 engine/transmission replace,
"X" number of clutches, 3 fuel pumps, And I can't even count the number of
ignition switches or fuel pump relays.  My car is old and rusting now. I
live in sunny oregon and due to my choice of lifetyle it must stay out on
the street. The window cranks are broken, The rubber is cracked, there are
holes in the floorboards. It's not a daily driver as I'm close enough to
work to ride my bike.  But occasionally, when I have to run an errand or
go to the store, I'll take the long way home and step down on that peddle
just a little more then I should. And from certain angles with the flaking
paint shiny in the rain I can still see the same car I fell in love with
many years ago.

I've put a "last summer" picture of this remarkable car up on the web at
http://www.teleport.com/~rlc/myMKI.JPG 

Stop by if you get a chance


Ron



On Sun, 31 Jan 1999, Feenix wrote:

> Believe it or not folks, I saw my first Mk1 Rocco today (aside from at a
> show). It pulled up next to me at a light. Gold color, no visible rust,
> bone stock, and probably not an enthusiasts. My car only recieved a
> quick glance. He also had bumper stickers, ugh!!! 
> 
> Feenix.."too many wasted Roccs out there to sleep at night"
> 
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