In May 2008 we
were approached by a researcher from Channel 5 TV car show, Fifth Gear who wanted
to purchase a seminal Mk2 Golf GTI to be featured on their programme. Curiously
we had purchased from him his 92 model year 5 door 8v just under a year earlier
but this time it had to be an Oak Green 3 door 16v, a rare combination which I
happened to have in stock having bought one back from one of my first customers
who I sourced it for in 2001. I was told that the idea was to buy a standard car,
see how it performed, then modify it and see if it's any quicker which sounded
like fun so the deal was done and eventually a cheque from North One Television
was in my possession. The prospect of Tiff thrashing one of my Mk2 GTIs around
a track focused the mind and my usually thorough preparation process was taken
to another level. I had smelt the distinctive scent of oil being burnt, only slightly
but it was there so as a result I commissioned our tame mechanic to replace the
valve stem oil seals. I also got a new MOT issued to make sure 100% that the car
was roadworthy even though there was around six months MOT remaining. We'd already
replaced engine mounts, rocker cover gasket and many other items.
In June
the car was collected and I almost forgot about it assuming the project had been
canned until I received a text message from the researcher at around 7.55pm on
a late September Monday evening informing me that the car would be on TV in a
few minutes and here's the result.
While it was fun taking a car to the Top
Gear test track in 2004, this was more significant for me as my hard work was
actually being displayed on national prime time TV - Tiff was genuinely taken
by the car even in standard form.
Since this was filmed we have been asked by Fifth Gear to inspect and repair
a number of their VW Audi prize draw cars prior to being handed over to
their lucky winners. |
