Owner reunited with Golf – 35 years on!
A West Yorkshire classic car enthusiast has been reunited with the Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet he bought new 35 years ago – after a chance discovery tipped him off as to its whereabouts.
Alan Dean, from Ossett, was browsing Scottish classic car auctioneer Morris Leslie’s listings for its upcoming auction on 24 November and saw a Golf that looked familiar; it was the very same 1.5-litre Golf Cabriolet automatic that he bought as his first car in January 1983. Sold on to a local when it was four years old, Alan then lost track of the Golf until it reappeared online.
Alan said: ‘I wasn’t searching for another Golf – but when I found it was my old car I decided to buy it back.’ The Golf had gone through four other owners since Alan’s name was the current one on the logbook, but Alan was very impressed at how well it had survived in the intervening years.
‘ They’d obviously looked after it, and it was nice to see how complete and original it still was. It arrived back will all of its original documentation, including the owners’ manual and welcome pack from the dealer who supplied it from new.’ Having bid with determination and won the car, Morris Leslie arranged to have the Golf transported from its Errol saleroom down to Alan in Ossett; in fact, it turned up to greet him at work. Alan said: ‘It drove about as I remembered it, but it was a bit of a shock in modern traffic to see how much cars have grown! It felt tiny!’
Alan plans to hold on to the Golf this time and may even put back on the personalised family plate it wore new.
morrisleslie.com