Mk1 SEAT Ibiza & Malaga Register

[HillmanImp]

Anyone have any more details? I'm guessing its near Rugby by the original posters location on Facebook. 

Do you reckon the owner fancies a Volvo, Porsche or my first born child? 

WANT WANT WANT WANT! 

Its the 1.5 with the digital clock tooI think OMG! OMG! OMG! 

[MantaGTE85]

On 05/09/2025 at 13:19, mk2_craig said:

Holy moly! I bet that’s ripe ( bumper looks like it’s started detaching itself nicely ) 

These really rotted just for fun. The front wings and rear wheel arches will have long become part of the ground by now. Also there won't be much Ritmo-based recycled steel floor remaining either.

Both my wacky-dash Ibizas already had filler repairs to their rear arches and welded plates to their rear sills when I purchased them at just 8 years old in the '90s. The front wings were already starting to go crusty around the very bottom and front edges, even sooner and even worse than they used to on Austin Metros. I soon replaced the wings on my second G reg Ibiza. Would have been a complete waste of time attempting it on my first, C reg, one. Stone me, even the headlamps went rusty on that one! I remember when the glass lens fell off the nearside front lamp on its own.

The Malaga's boot lid has survived remarkably well though, and could be worth saving if you know someone who is trying to repair another, rear-end damaged, Gambia Red Malaga. The bottom edges should typically be well-shot by now. Of course, we will never know what the hinges and boot inner shell would be like rust-wise.

[MantaGTE85]

Seeing that Malaga reminds me, I was bored in my lunch hour so I went onto the DVLA site to look up my two wonderful little System Porsche wacky-dash Ibizas. My second one, G193 BDD, a five-door 1.5 GLX in Kalahari Beige (gold), has since been taken off the system but there is also nothing on the MOT history so most likely to be scrapped sometime between 2002 and 2006. I sold it privately in January 2000.

Much more shocking is that my first one, C880 RAN, a super-early three-door 1.5 GLX in Stratos Blue, is coming up as being on SORN. This car must still exist if that is the case. I would love to see whatever the little remains of this car is like today. Amazingly, its last V5 change was on 14th October 1999, two years after I p'xed it for the gold one. It lasted a lot longer on the road than I thought it would. But the day when it was last legally driven, I don't think anyone will ever know!

I'm on the lookout for the C reg now, hopefully it may have ended up stored outside just like that Malaga.

[MantaGTE85]

23 hours ago, Volksy said:

Being an '88 it should have the wacky dash/switchgear.

It may also have the facia test feature where all the warning lights light up for a few seconds then go out every time the car is started. I remember seeing that in the handbook for my early Ibiza.

[SEATMad]

I’ve returned from my hiatus just to see if someone had seen this as well! I’m now on the case guys! I might need some help though 😂

[green200b]

New Autoshiter here - I only discovered that the Málaga existed earlier this year. I'm hoping that the red one that has been found gets saved and fixed up.

Can anybody shed some light on why the Málaga would have become extinct over here? I appreciate that rust doesn't help, and that once more than a few years old it would have mostly appealed to people who just wanted a cheap banger. With that being said, as someone who thinks that most cars from that era are pretty miserable-looking, I have to say the Málaga (in my opinion) is one of the better-looking cars from that era.

So did they rust terribly, were they rubbish mechanically, or were very few sold here? I'm purely curious.

[mk2_craig]

Others will no doubt be able to put it more elegantly but the reputation of early UK-market SEATs was pretty dreadful in the early nineties and probably barely any better than the contemporary Eastern Bloc butts of jokes (Skoda and Lada etc) - I think reasonable quantities were probably sold from the start but cars amongst the first few years of imports would have become nearly worthless very quickly and therefore not desirable or worth cherishing/fixing when they broke. 

Though I am sure alternative views are also available. 

[wesacosa]

I'd say its also just a numbers thing , not many mk1 Ibizas survive and they outsold the Málaga by a large magnitude so the passing of time and rust that depletes any car of that era has depleted a much smaller pool

[SEATMad]

47 minutes ago, mk2_craig said:

Others will no doubt be able to put it more elegantly but the reputation of early UK-market SEATs was pretty dreadful in the early nineties and probably barely any better than the contemporary Eastern Bloc butts of jokes (Skoda and Lada etc) - I think reasonable quantities were probably sold from the start but cars amongst the first few years of imports would have become nearly worthless very quickly and therefore not desirable or worth cherishing/fixing when they broke. 

Though I am sure alternative views are also available. 

 

41 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

I'd say its also just a numbers thing , not many mk1 Ibizas survive and they outsold the Málaga by a large magnitude so the passing of time and rust that depletes any car of that era has depleted a much smaller pool

I think you've both hit the nail on the head with this. The best person to ask is @wuvvum. He'll know better than most about what it was like to live with a Malaga

[ProgRocker]

11 hours ago, green200b said:

Can anybody shed some light on why the Málaga would have become extinct over here? I appreciate that rust doesn't help, and that once more than a few years old it would have mostly appealed to people who just wanted a cheap banger. With that being said, as someone who thinks that most cars from that era are pretty miserable-looking, I have to say the Málaga (in my opinion) is one of the better-looking cars from that era.

Malagas were not big sellers to begin with, so they were a rare sight even in the late 1980s. There were plenty more Fiat Regatas on the road.

[Volksy]

They also sold the Malaga as a 5dr Hatch (marketed as the Ronda elsewhere) which really shows the Strada/Ritmo parentage, I know that (former?) forum member N.Bickle certainly had/has one of those. 

The 5dr's probably sold in double figures, as they weren't really even marketed by Seat UK. There are photo's of them on some of the brochures, but no description or spec.

With the 4dr's, I guess they appealed to the same demographic as an Orion/Belmont but at a cheaper pricepoint. 

 

[r19]

Hi, new here, I went to the recently found Malaga today and it's not good news. Long story short we knocked and an older woman answered and said it was her landlord's Dad's car. We left her our details and a note and asked her to pass it on but she seemed really angry. I asked if I could have a closer look at the car to get a general idea of the condition but she said no and started getting more and more angry so we walked off. I got a photo as we were leaving but I think she caught on and started screaming at us saying to delete photos if we had taken them, but we were on public property by that point so I just said "alright" and didn't because I shouldn't have to!

 

This one will probably rot here forever sadly. I can't see it ever being sold and it's very likely she just chucked our note in the bin.

[coachie]

This is great news  Maybe a controversial opinion, but it'll need to get the backing from a youtuber like Jonny Smith, as I can't see anyone taking this on unless they have limitless resources.

If there is anyone enthusiastic enough on here, I could help out with a few spares from my limited Ibiza collection.

I'm not on facebook much any more, could anyone post a link to the source please?

Mark

[Soundwave]

1 hour ago, r19 said:

Hi, new here, I went to the recently found Malaga today and it's not good news. Long story short we knocked and an older woman answered and said it was her landlord's Dad's car. We left her our details and a note and asked her to pass it on but she seemed really angry. I asked if I could have a closer look at the car to get a general idea of the condition but she said no and started getting more and more angry so we walked off. I got a photo as we were leaving but I think she caught on and started screaming at us saying to delete photos if we had taken them, but we were on public property by that point so I just said "alright" and didn't because I shouldn't have to!

 

This one will probably rot here forever sadly. I can't see it ever being sold and it's very likely she just chucked our note in the bin.

Any way of finding out who the landlord is? After all, if it's the landlord's dad's car, ultimate authority over its fate lies with them, not with their tenant. Perhaps they'll be a bit more reasonable?

[SEATMad]

 

2 hours ago, r19 said:

Hi, new here, I went to the recently found Malaga today and it's not good news. Long story short we knocked and an older woman answered and said it was her landlord's Dad's car. We left her our details and a note and asked her to pass it on but she seemed really angry. I asked if I could have a closer look at the car to get a general idea of the condition but she said no and started getting more and more angry so we walked off. I got a photo as we were leaving but I think she caught on and started screaming at us saying to delete photos if we had taken them, but we were on public property by that point so I just said "alright" and didn't because I shouldn't have to!

 

This one will probably rot here forever sadly. I can't see it ever being sold and it's very likely she just chucked our note in the bin.

Thank you for the extra information, such a shame that you got this reception. However @Soundwave is correct, doesn't sound like she's got much authority over this. Plus she may have thought you guys were a threat or the DVLA or something. 

 

Calling all autoshite!!! I think this may require a joint effort in order to rescue this. @r19 I'll pm you. 

[trigger]

I've just this on FB, I presume it's you r19?

[r19]

12 minutes ago, trigger said:

I've just this on FB, I presume it's you r19?

That's not me that's just my pal who I met there! I'm having a hard time navigating this website on my phone so I'll get through my notifications when I'm home

[Soundwave]

Alternatively, depending how old the woman is, maybe just be patient and outlive the problem?  

[ProgRocker]

Surely it would be in the owner landlord's benefit to move the Malaga on if it's taking up valuable driveway / parking space?

[r19]

33 minutes ago, ProgRocker said:

Surely it would be in the owner landlord's benefit to move the Malaga on if it's taking up valuable driveway / parking space?

It may have sentimental value so that's why they haven't shifted it on? I'm not too sure but another neighbor spoke to us and he was much nicer, he also asked to buy the car a while ago but he said it was too much of a project for him or something, I'm not sure if he asked them or what

[r19]

6 hours ago, Soundwave said:

Any way of finding out who the landlord is? After all, if it's the landlord's dad's car, ultimate authority over its fate lies with them, not with their tenant. Perhaps they'll be a bit more reasonable?

Hopefully!

[r19]

5 hours ago, SEATMad said:

 

Thank you for the extra information, such a shame that you got this reception. However @Soundwave is correct, doesn't sound like she's got much authority over this. Plus she may have thought you guys were a threat or the DVLA or something. 

 

Calling all autoshite!!! I think this may require a joint effort in order to rescue this. @r19 I'll pm you. 

How do you find messages on here? I've had a look but I can't see 

[SEATMad]

35 minutes ago, r19 said:

How do you find messages on here? I've had a look but I can't see 

It won’t let me message you as your not a full member yet it seems

[r19]

8 minutes ago, SEATMad said:

It won’t let me message you as your not a full member yet it seems

That's annoying. Do you use Instagram, I could message you on there 🙂

[SEATMad]

33 minutes ago, r19 said:

That's annoying. Do you use Instagram, I could message you on there 🙂

Yes mate what’s your tag? ☺️

[green200b]

Fair enough, thanks for the replies. I've read through the almost extinct cars thread, some of them I can definitely understand how they became that way. There seem to be a few Málagas getting around in Europe though.

Looking at the pictures of the red Málaga above, taking into account it most likely been sitting outside for a quarter of a century, it doesn't look terrible. Obviously the main issue would be getting it out from where it currently is and taking ownership of it. What would doing a basic restoration and getting it driving again cost? Perhaps if enough enthusiastic Autoshiters donated £100 to the Málaga cause it could happen 😉

[r19]

11 hours ago, SEATMad said:

Yes mate what’s your tag? ☺️

I'm @worcestercarspotting on there 

[SEATMad]

56 minutes ago, r19 said:

I'm @worcestercarspotting on there 

Followed

[Richard_FM]

I remember one of the teachers at my secondary school had an Ibiza with System Porsche transfers on the sides.

Any change of a SAO Penza register?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Just now, Richard_FM said:

I remember one of the teachers at my secondary school had an Ibiza with System Porsche transfers on the sides.

Any change of a SAO Penza register?

Isn't the only remaining Penza owned by Bickle?

Last photographed a couple of years back wearing a sketchy plate from a Mazda and looking extremely sorry for itself.

Shame it didn't go to an owner who actually looked after it.