Kalvin And His 1983 Vw Golf Mk1 GT

Kalvin decided it was now or never, and bought the 1983 VW Golf MK1 GT without seeing it. Then he stuck it on a transport truck down to Durban.

Owner: Kalvin Moonsamy: Location of the vehicle: Durban

KalvinMoonsamy has been building Golf Mk1s for the past 12 years. He got into the drag racing and modifying game because of his family and their love and interest in all things VW. Like all MK1 VW lovers, he always had his eye on finding and building a 2-door which isnt easy to come by in SA.

Kalvin started looking for one at the beginning of 2019. And so, with a few good contacts in the Volkswagen game, came across a good-condition MK1 in the very first month of searching. However, it was based in the Free State around 800kms away.

Photos by Stanceking

He decided it was now or never, and bought it without seeing it. Then he stuck it on a transport truck down to Durban. The car was an excellent base car to work with, had good potential and a lot of original parts. This is hard to find on any 39-year-old car in SA, even harder being a VW.

The original plan was to restore it back to factory and keep the car as a Sunday driver, then add in a few slight twists along the way.

The MK1 was a good, strong shell thanks to the dry Free State weather. Also, there was almost no rust, except for the boot lid, which they changed. Kelvin then took the car to Autosport Panel beaters. Her, they sorted out a few dents, before the MK1 was ready to be repainted.

For paint, Kalvin decided to go back to the original Standox 2K Mars red. Why? Simply because its the original colour that the Golf MK1 GT came out with, in South Africa.

Autosport Panel beaters really did a classy job on the body as well as the paintwork and the excellent aftersales service was really something to brag about!

When it came to the suspension, Kalvin knew that he had to give the MK1 some serious upgrades to get a better ride and a great stance. After comparing products and pricing online, he decided to go with the Airlux air suspension that he bought from Stance Academy. The Pricing was good and the product had great reviews.

The car came as a running vehicle, which is always a huge bonus. So,Kalvin decided to stick with the standard 1600 Carb with an original4-speed box.

The motor was sent toDenzils Auto, who did a full rebuild to insure everything was clean and fresh.

Next on the list was the interior. In true Petrolhead fashion, Kalvin knew what he wanted. He found the seats on Facebook, still fitted in a VW MK3 that was for sale. He went in with the pretence of purchasing the vehicle and swapped the seats so he could get the Recaros for the MK1.They then sent the car to Jeffs Auto Trimmers who did the carpets, and the door panels and also reupholstered the seats.

For sound, Kelvin added an Alpine head unit with a 5-way speaker system. The goal was to keep the car as original as possible without cutting or changing the original speaker fitment or the dash. Furthermore, even the Air Ride gauges were placed out of sight in the cubbyhole.

For wheels, Kalvin went to Ozwyn Coopman who is a wheel trader in JHB. Ozwyn got him a set ofBBS LMs with 185/35/17 inch tyres.

Karvin also has a set of OEM GTi 14inch Snowflakes, the same as with which the overseas Mk1 GTi comes.

This 2-year project came out better than expected and is a real head-turner. As for Kalvins next build, he is not sure, but he is loving his dream 2-door MK1 too much!

Kalvin would like to thank, Autosport Panel Beaters, Denzils Auto, Jeffs Auto Trimmers, Stance Academy, Gremlin Audioand Radical Rides.