1982 Volkswagen GOLF GTi

First registered in August 1982, the vendor has owned the car for the past seven years, giving him plenty of time to sort out the little niggles that are part-and-parcel of owning a classic car. Not that there were as many to sort as is usually the case as the third owner (there are five former keepers in total) kept it for an astonishing 21 years after buying it in 1988.

However, even beautifully curated cars like this need a little TLC now and then, which he’s been happy to lavish on the vehicle. The full details are in the listing but we’re confident that you won’t find a more honest, reliable and solid example on sale today.

The fourth owner, from whom the seller bought it on the 29th December 2011, had the Golf resprayed in 2009 in its original colour of Mars Red. This was done solely to freshen the bodywork up and was not part of a full-blown restoration; the car is still largely original having been carefully preserved during its three-and-a-half decades.

The work was done to a good standard and, thanks to having only covered around 3,000 miles since then, it is still looking fabulous and is in astonishingly good condition. The vendor doesn’t use it in the wet and keeps it in a dehumidified garage, which makes him precisely the sort of bloke you want to buy a classic car from. If you need convincing, please use the Contact Seller feature to organise a viewing (before auction end, of course).

Faults are pretty much limited to a couple of carefully touched in stone chips on the offside door. Some of the black metal trim along the tops of the wings and doors have seen better days, too (STOP PRESS: a full set of new replacements have been found in the vendor's garage and are included in the sale). The former is almost unnoticeable while the latter would be cheap and easy to remedy. As we shall see later, this car has been Waxoyled from a very early age, and the general bodywork condition is a great advert for the benefits of the sticky stuff.

The car has also suffered the indignity of having been jacked up in the wrong place on both sides, so the sills are a little dented. Again, rectification would be easy and straightforward, as would the removal of the overspray on the underside of the car. We think the work would occupy a pleasant autumnal weekend - and even if you paid someone to put them right, this sort of snagging work is infinitely preferable to having to deal with 36 years’ worth of abuse and neglect.

The 13-inc ‘tarantula’ alloy wheels have been acid-dipped and powder-coated recently before being fitted with new tyres in the correct size. The car comes with an alloy spare wheel which doesn’t appear to have ever been fitted, surrounded by a brand new tyre.

The twin-light front grille is not original but replacements are readily available should you want to replace it with a single headlight version.

The interior is in excellent condition thanks to a succession of careful owners – and a recent partial retrim of the seats using the original VW fabric. The owner was careful to only replace the fabric that needed replacing; it would have been very easy (and tempting) to go the whole hog and have them completely restored but he was keen to retain the car’s provenance and patina, for which we applaud him.

A standard, un-abused parcel shelf is still in place and in good order and the dashboard holds a period Phillips radio/cassette player that will need testing and wiring in if the new owner prizes originality over high fidelity and decides to go old school. The car doesn’t have a sunroof, which we think is a positive as it frees up headroom while simultaneously reducing the chance of it leaking into the pristine interior to zero.

Everything works as it should (the original key even works all the locks) and faults are pretty much limited to a ripped piece of vinyl on the driver’s side carpet. That’s not bad, is it?

The car’s extensive service history and series of ever-so-slightly obsessive owners has left the original, matching numbers engine and gearbox in good health; the owner tells us that they are both tight and working faultlessly, hiding their miles well. We’ve driven the car and can confirm that it drives very well indeed, with a smoke-free engine and good performance throughout the rev range.

The gearbox linkage has been recently overhauled and a new, three-piece clutch and cable have been fitted. Other recent work includes the fitment of a full exhaust system (including the exhaust manifold), as well as a new fuel pump, relay and stainless steel flexible fuel pipes throughout, a new fusebox, battery, coil and HT leads, plus a new coolant expansion tank.

The vendor spent many long hours carefully removing the Waxoyl from the underbonnet area. There is still some in some of the more inaccessible areas of the scuttle but the rest has been painstakingly removed leaving the inner wings and bulkhead in first-rate order. He’s also had the cambelt and rocker covers powder-coated in satin black.

Finally, he had a new cambelt fitted and a full service carried out just 500 miles ago. He tells us that the car has been very reliable since he’s owned it and has never let him down. In fact, his confidence is such that he has no hesitation in recommending it as a daily driver for the style-conscious enthusiast who wants to enjoy their commute behind the wheel of one of the most iconic cars on the 20th century.

The car has an incredible (and probably peerless) service history thanks to that 21-year run with the same owner. The original service history book is main dealer stamped until the car reached 50,000 miles in 1990, at which point it was handed over to the VW specialist network through to 111,000 miles in 1998.

It also comes with its original VAG owner’s folder including the VAG instruction manual, and service system book. It also has a tax disc holder from the original dealer and masses of old invoices and MOT certificates; please see the documents section of the ‘Gallery’ for full details.

The online MOT history shows absolutely nothing of concern at all; at a time when almost every other MK1 Golf GTI will have had at least some structural repairs this one is reassuringly solid and still sports a virgin underside.

Collectors have never seen the original Volkswagen Golf GTI in the same way that some of its contemporaries, which is a mystery to us. While no-one can doubt the mass-market credibility of cars like the Ford Escort XR3i, the Golf was undoubtedly the best-engineered and most rounded of the breed: we’ve driven dozens of hero cars from the eighties and nineties and the number that live up to our rose-tinted recollections is tiny - but the MK1 VW Golf GTI is absolutely one of them.

Which is a long-winded way of suggesting that this car will sell for much, much less than the equivalent Ford or Peugeot would. With some classic car dealers asking up to £25,000 for similar Golfs, we think our guide price of between £9,750 and £12,000 is a more realistic appraisal of where the market is currently. This means we can see someone driving away in a genuine bargain that will repay them over and over again in the coming years – and please don’t forget that the reserve is, as always with our cars, set at an even lower point than this…

Regular visitors to our site will know that this car was auctioned a couple of weeks ago. It has had to reappear because the winning bidder has disappointingly made absolutely no contact with us. Our legal team are on to that now as we take pride in the authenticity and commitment of our buyers. At some point soon we will have to switch on adding a payment card to your account prior to any bidding, serious bidders will understand! To end this regrettably grumpy paragraph, may we stress that this GTi is incredibly original and one of the sweetest and most genuine cars we have ever consigned, please arrange a viewing anytime to confirm it.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this car can be seen here at Patina HQ in Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

If needed, please remember we have a network of trusted suppliers we work with regularly and can recommend: Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car, AnyVan for transporting it, and Footman James for classic car insurance.