1979 VW Derby

awesome cars! the one above with round likes looks awesome! i love the lights/grill theres almost old style mustang look to it in the first 2 pics! awesome!

My family had a Mk1 facelift Derby for a while when I was in my teens... I sort of hated it and liked it at the same time. Now, I think that I could accept the car for what it is instead, back then, I thought that it was crappy compared to our other car, a 1975 MB 220D... Brings back memories, I like the look of the Derby. Has a very Audi 80ish feeling, it's almost strange that Audi never had a saloon model, considering the fact that Audi 80 was the saloon while Passat was the hatch...

look 1st class mate

any more plans or just see what happends?

sweet derby!!

Cheers guys

bbracer16v - I think I outlined my basic plans further back in this thread? But the general jist of my plans for the Derby are;

- Pep-up the performance with some mild engine tuning + addition of a 5 speed box (these things are so low geared!)

- Freshen up the bodywork, with a full blow-over re-spray

- Get the seats re-covered

Generally I love the way it looks at the moment - its just a case of neatening it all up abit

Is there a record for the longest time between thread updates???

Anyway, its been a long time coming, but thought i'd share with you some more recent photos of my MK1 VW Derby.

Back in 2014 the Derby was used during our wedding.... soon after I proceeded in stripping the car down ready for a re-spray & some minor bodywork repairs. Unfortunately the painter who I had lined up to do the job let me down, which led to a period of non-activity for the poor Derby.



Fast forward to 2016 & unfortunately my rather short marriage had broken down, so I found myself with a little more time on my hands & needing an outlet to take my mind of off things. The funding for the Derby's restoration came from selling my daily driver, which was my prized Honda Integra TypeR. In a bizarre twist of fate I sold the Integra back to Honda UK where it has formed part of their heritage fleet & has been featured in multiple magazine/e'zine articles since. A new painter came to the rescue in the shape of Marc Jarvis a Tuk Customs. He had been previously involved with multiple mag feature cars so I knew he had high standards, one meeting with him & I was confident that he could do the Derby justice.









Marc did the bodywork over the 2016/17 Christmas period & kindly hung onto the car for a while until the weather was better & I could get a chance to put the car back together.







I had some refurbished wheels that had been in the shed for years that I finally got shod in some new rubber.



I took the seats down to Concept Poptops in Poole who did a fab job on the custom re-trim

Before;






After;










There are still a fair few things i'd like to do & that needs finishing off - but for now i'm just enjoying driving it again :-)