Hello!

[ed5000]

Hi,I found you site a couple of months ago and thought it was about time I introduced myself and my cars. At present I have an '89 BMW 320 Touring (everyday car) an '83 Porsche 924 (off the road at the moment) and my latest, a '76 VW Passat coupe. I've only got a couple of crappy photos of the Passat at present. I could post them up but I'm not sure how?

[Richard]

Welcome Ed You need to load your photos onto a photo hosting site, http://photobucket.com/ is as good as any, I imagine there will be help available on their website but it's a relatively simple process. Once they are on there they will appear in your Photobucket album. Under each picture there are four links. If you copy the bottom one (IMG Code) and paste it directly into your message the picture should appear. When you are uploading there are size options, if you click there and select "message board" they should automatically be resized to fit the board without making it go all wide.

[r.welfare]

We definitely want to see pictures of the Passat!

[Fat_Pirate]

I want to see the Passat too! There was no actual coupe, just 2 or 4 door (later estate). My mum had a '73 1.5TS in the late seventies, she bought it because it was cheap, but it was vastly more competent than a Cortina. Everyone we knew considered it 'foreign air-cooled rubbish' though!

[reallyloud]

Everyone we knew considered it 'foreign air-cooled rubbish' though!

Shume mishtake shurely? Passats were water cooled!

[ed5000]

O.K Here goes. I hope this workshttp://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj12 ... ssat05.jpghttp://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj12 ... assat2.jpgIt's a '76 Passat TS 1.6 Automatic. It was imported into Ireland from Germany in '78 by the original owner who kept it until a couple of years ago. It has 60000 miles on the clock. It even has the optional "Rally seats". These photos were taken just after I bought it. I have cleaned it up a bit since, so will post better photos soon.

[MrRegieRitmo]

O.K Here goes. I hope this works

 

 

It's a '76 Passat TS 1.6 Automatic. It was imported into Ireland from Germany in '78 by the original owner who kept it until a couple of years ago. It has 60000 miles on the clock. It even has the optional "Rally seats". These photos were taken just after I bought it. I have cleaned it up a bit since, so will post better photos soon.

[MrRegieRitmo]

Wowee that is nice - MkI Passats are in my top 5 favourite cars. I'd add a late 70s MkI facelift Passat to my collection if I could! Glad we didn't lose it from English soil so I'm happy with that! It's about time we had someone on here with a 70s Passat! To me they are the German equivalent of Chrysler Alpines & Renault 20s, and they for me are top notch!

[ed5000]

Thanks Regie! It's a great car. It's hilarious to drive. It's quite nippy up to about 70mph or so. Then it gets a bit noisy. I don't really want to push it much further really. Nice Ritmo by the way. Was it originally an Irish car by any chance, as we had Ritmos and Britain had Stradas.

[MrRegieRitmo]

Nice Ritmo by the way. Was it originally an Irish car by any chance, as we had Ritmos and Britain had Stradas.

Well, when I have wondered previously how my car is a rhd Ritmo, it was suggested to me that it might have come from Ireland. But I'm the 2nd owner, the first being an old giffer who lived in Belvedere, S.E London, and my car was new to him in Feb 1980 from a Fiat / Citroen dealership in Plumstead called Morris & Pidgeon! So search me....

[Richard]

I'm a little hazy on the details but in the early 1980s you could save a lot of tax money by importing your car through a Freeport. In theory it was supposed to be a personal import. That's one of the reasons you see the odd 1980s car with a slightly strange spec. There was a Renault 20 where I lived that wore Belgian plates for a while, before being issued with a Y plate. I reckon that's how your Ritmo would have found its way here. The original dealer was probably stretching the "personal import" concept to its limit.

[MrRegieRitmo]

Would it not then be a left hooker as a result?

[Mr Lobster]

Would it not then be a left hooker as a result?

No, you could (and still can) order a car through a foreign dealer but order it as RHD, they would order it from factory and it would be delivered to said dealer in the normal manner. You can still do it today and certainly a fewyears back could save a lot of money - order your rhd Renault from a dealer in Calais, drive it home and then get it UK registered. Easyish!Hi Ed and welcome by the way. Passat looks lovely!

[Richard]

Hi Ed and welcome by the way. Passat looks lovely!

It does indeed. I like the styling of German cars up of that era.

 

I may have misled you on the posting pictures by the way. I thought it would automatically add the "Img" tags. For future reference they would have shown up if they'd had the tags around them as follows.

 

 

[Fat_Pirate]

Everyone we knew considered it 'foreign air-cooled rubbish' though!

Shume mishtake shurely? Passats were water cooled!

This was the '70s remember, everybody assumed VWs were air cooled and would usually have to be shown the engine bay before they'd believe otherwise. Hence they were much cheaper used than a Ford.

[ed5000]

Thanks for the welcome guys. I want to keep it standard apart from a set of 5.5x13 Mk 1 GTI steel wheels (If I can find any). I think some Jettas/ Sciroccos had them as well. Does anybody know if there are many 2dr Passats around in the UK? Do any turn up at shows? I don't think they sold this model here, just the 5 dr and estate models.