[engine revving]
[Mike] This time...
It's like holding on to a wild beast!
...we're out to celebrate the brilliance of the supercharger,
with a game-changing German sports car...
Do you want to see the engine?
I think you're gonna like this bit.
...but it's covered in more mods
than a 1960s' Brighton seafront.
All right, so, it's modified on the outside. It's modified under here.
What about the inside of the car?
Guess what. It's been modified.
This car screams out to be brought back to factory standard,
but it's gonna take a lot of Wheeler Dealering...
What I need is a G60 parcel shelf.
-Oh, the Holy Grail! -[Mike] Yeah.
...and a lot of Elvis magic.
There is a risk that there's damage inside here
which would condemn it to the scrapheap.
[Mike] So, have we got what it takes
to turn this modern classic around?
Absolutely nothing at all there.
I am now a little bit confused, a little bit stumped.
[Mike] Or will we be left looking like a couple of spare parts?
Oh, it just wants to go, go, go, go, go!
I'm Mike Brewer...
A haul.
...and I've been buying and selling cars for nearly 40 years.
It's rattly, it's smelly and it's blooming brilliant.
Now, I've set up shop
in Britain's motoring-heritage heartland...
Oh, yes!
...along with ex-Formula One mechanic,
Marc "Elvis" Priestley.
So, that engine-management light never put you off, then?
[Mike] Together, we're going to buy...
Top man.
...and fix up...
-Look at the state of it! -It's got the Spirit of Ecstasy and everything!
...the most iconic and exciting cars on the market.
Oh, mate, I love these things.
I'll just give another little...
Whoa! It's a fast car.
With Elvis' engineering skill...
There it is, the offending article.
[Mike] ...and my car-dealing clout,
He's going to be over the moon, innit?
Elvis better get the posh tools ready.
We should be able to make ourselves a tidy profit.
This is my job and I blooming love it.
-There you go, mate. -[Mike] Lovely.
[Elvis] Have you always been tea over coffee?
[Mike] Always been tea, yeah.
It's like asking me whether I prefer a turbo over a supercharger.
In fact, what is it?
Do you prefer turbos or superchargers?
It's both, innit?
They've both got their merits, haven't they?
For me, it would be the supercharger.
Because I like that instant response away from the line,
which you don't get with the turbo, you've got the lag.
Being that the supercharger seems to be making a comeback recently,
I've actually had my eyes on one.
It's actually a car from your era.
-What, like, the '80s, '90s? -'80s, '90s.
You know, when you were roaming around with your Shell tracksuit,
your soulboy haircut, your nice clean, white trainers.
-So, '80s, '90s and it's got a supercharger? -[Mike] Yes.
Well, it's got to be... Is it a Corrado?
-It's a Corrado G60. Yes. -G60.
Ah, nice. That'd be a great car, mate.
Probably VW's first foray into an out-and-out sports car, really.
Yeah, it was to compete against the likes of the Porsche 944.
-Yeah, so, it is a proper sports car. -Yeah.
-Okay, so you don't mind me going to see it? -Do it, mate.
-I'd be very happy to play around with a supercharger. -Nice one.
Launched in 1988,
as a sports coupe to compete with BMW and Porsche,
the Corrado stood on the shoulders of VW giants,
the Scirocco and Golf.
Originally fitted with a 1.8 liter,
the G60 supercharged version
is the one we've got the hots for,
because it packed a real punch
when you buried the accelerator.
VW only built the G60 for five years
and the rise of the boy-racer scene
in the '80s and '90s,
meant most of them were covered with modifications
and thrashed to death.
Today, there are less than 200 left on the UK roads.
And factory standard ones which haven't been modified
are rarer than hen's teeth.
So, the one that I've managed to find
belongs to a guy called Matt.
Now, it's fair to say,
Matt's car is of a style.
Basically, he's slammed it to the ground,
put great big wheels on it and he's lowered it to a point
where it almost looks like, to me,
that it might be undrivable.
But I can see through all of that
and I can see the other side.
If you was to make the car a bit more stock
and I've got Elvis in the workshop
who can do all of that,
then we could end up with a car that is really saleable.
Yes! I love the color.
-Ah, you must be Matt. -Hi, Mike. Nice to meet you.
Matt, really nice to meet you.
Thank you for letting me come around and see your lovely looking Corrado.
The paintwork looks exceptional.
[Matt] Thank you. Yeah, yeah, it was resprayed about three years ago.
After that, I actually just put it in the garage.
What, you've not driven it since?
-[Matt] Basically, yeah. -[Mike] Okay.
What's going on with the wheels and the tires?
It's got a really funny camber to it
and the tires look like they're too small.
That's the stretched look, Mike.
-Is that a thing? -It's a thing.
Yeah, the stretched look is a thing,
I guess because you can run it low.
-And the tire disappears into the arch. -[Mike laughs]
And it doesn't rub,
but you can have a wide wheel with it.
[Mike] All right. Well, listen, I've come around to see it.
-Do you mind if I start on the inside? -Help yourself.
[Mike] Right. Here we go.
Ah, okay. A Karmann interior...
-Absolutely, yeah. -...which is good.
Uh, I can see problems already, though.
-The seat, that's ripped and torn. -[Matt] Yeah, yeah.
Well, that's 190,000-odd miles' worth
of getting in and out of the car.
Yeah. Well, that's gonna need repairing.
I've never seen one of these before.
Boost gauge, that's not standard, is it?
[Matt] It's a Boost gauge for the supercharger.
The whole vent is also part of the gauge.
-Right, okay. -I've got the original in the boot.
[Mike] It's got an aftermarket steering wheel as well.
And I don't remember ever seeing in the parts catalogue
an eight-ball as a gear knob!
[Matt] No, that fell off the table.
-Did it? Made its way straight to the car? -Straight in the car.
All right, so does everything work in here?
-No. -[chuckling] That's good.
Well, let's go through them, then.
Electric windows?
-Yeah, they work. -They work?
-Real spoiler? -[Matt] No, it doesn't work.
Right, let's have a look at the engine.
All right. So, what's been done underneath here?
So, the supercharger has been ported,
so it allows better airflow.
It's also got a smaller pulley on the supercharger.
-So, it spins faster. -Absolutely, yeah.
-Yeah? -Yeah.
And the block would have originally been a 1.8.
It's now a 1.9.
But what's it like, horsepower, now?
So, about 240 over the 160.
[Mike] It's gonna go like the clappers.
Well, listen, it sounds great.
I mean, is there any chance I can try and get it up the road
-and see what it goes like? -Yeah, absolutely. Help yourself, Mike.
Lovely.
Volkswagen had a trick to play, didn't they?
They had the brilliant Volkswagen Golf
and they followed that up with the Scirocco.
And then, how do you beat those two cars,
which were great little cars?
You follow it up with this, which is the Corrado.
And, with this one,
you bolt a supercharger to it.
The G60, the G-Lader.
And you end up with a car that does this!
[engine revving]
It's kind of terrifying, to be honest.
It's like holding on to a wild beast!
Y... you can see, the suspension is savagely compromised.
So, I need to think about what we're gonna do
with the suspension system
and the wheels and the tires if I was to buy it.
That boot spoiler should pop up automatically
and there's nothing happening behind me.
So, yeah, I mean, nothing seems to be working properly.
The fog lamps are missing, the interior is tatty.
He wants eight grand for it.
Eight thousand pounds.
I think he's being really cheeky.
I think my target for this car would be around £6,500.
[engine revving]
[Mike] But if we was to buy this car
and do all the jobs,
these are what they consider today
to be a proper modern classic and it has a marketplace out there.
I'm gonna have to go back,
reason with Matt and see if I can work my magic.
[Matt] How did that go, Mike?
I'll tell you what.
It's low, this car, isn't it, eh?
Um, I mean, it's fast.
The engine is strong and powerful.
It's fast, but, my God, it rattles your teeth, doesn't it?
It does, yeah. Yeah.
The reason you've not sold this car
is because you've individualized it
so much for you,
it's gonna be very hard to find another you out there looking for one.
Absolutely, yeah.
And that's why you haven't sold it.
You asked nine grand for it. I kept an eye on it.
Then you reduced it down to eight.
How about £6,500?
No, I still think it's worth more than that, Mike.
£6,500?
-You won't take it? -No.
Well, the paintwork is good. £6,750, but that's it.
Hold out your hand. You've got yourself a deal.
Well done, mate. Thank you. Nice one.
And I've just bought a Corrado G60.
Elvis is gonna kill me.
-[engine revs] -[Mike laughing]
Elvis is gonna have his work cut out for him with this one,
because we've got a car
that's literally been reversed into a parts store.
I'm hoping, because I know he loves
a 1990s' hot classic,
I'm just hoping that he sees beyond all that.
We just need to get it right
and I know I can get it sold.
[engine roaring]
[Elvis] Oh, mate! [chuckles] I mean, I love a Corrado.
I'm not sure that's still a Corrado.
All these things that have been done to it.
Yeah, the guy definitely backed it into the accessory shop, didn't he?
He went for the aftermarket wheels,
which aren't for me. Skinny tires.
Aftermarket suspension. Aftermarket exhaust system.
I mean, it's aftermarket everywhere,
but look at the paint job.
[Elvis] Yeah, the paintwork actually is really nice, isn't it?
It looks lovely.
I mean, underneath all that, these cars are great.
The G60 is a wonderful car.
What are the problems this one's got?
I imagine it's got some.
-Yes. [chuckles] -Of course it has.
That's why I bought it.
Hopefully, you can fix them.
Right. This is one of the first mass-produced cars
with an active rear spoiler.
At a certain speed, it pops up.
Why is that a problem, then? Is it no longer active?
It's on strike.
Yes, it's a non-active rear spoiler.
That's what we've got. So, that needs to be sorted out.
In the boot, there's a bounty of accessories--
Hang on, hang on.
Forget those for a minute.
Look at that! The aftermarket mods continued
into the parcel shelf, didn't they?
If only people knew how valuable these parcel shelves
would be in the future, nobody would have done it.
-Do you want to see the engine? -Of course I do.
-I think you're gonna like this bit. -Yeah, yes.
This is right in your wheelhouse.
It's got air-induction. It's been skimmed.
It's been re-bored to a 1.9 from a 1.8.
It's got well in excess of 200 horsepower.
Way above what it was when it came out of the factory.
That's amazing, that all sounds good.
Yeah, except for one glaringly obvious item.
You're gonna tell me it's the supercharger.
Of course it's a supercharger, yeah.
I thought we were gonna get away with that.
No. You know, when they released these cars,
they said that the supercharger won't need a lot of servicing.
It turns out, it needs a lot of servicing.
And there's no records of this one ever being serviced.
I mean, I can get it off the car, strip it down and have a look.
-And we'll have to go from there. -Lovely.
All right. So, it's modified on the outside.
It's modified under here.
What about the inside of the car?
Guess what... It's been modified.
[Elvis chuckles]
Mate, come and have a look at this.
-It's got the rare Karmann interior. -Yes.
It has got a tear in the bolster of the driver's seat,
-which we'll have to repair. -[Elvis] Let's get in.
Aftermarket steering wheel, as I said.
What do you think of that gear knob?
[Elvis chuckling] Hideous!
It's a long list, mostly of bits we've got to take off the car.
I think the one thing I'm most worried about,
I guess, is the thing that makes this car this car
and that's that supercharger,
which could end up being expensive.
And on that note, how much have we paid for it?
[Mike] Well, I didn't think it was too bad.
I gave £6,750.
These are getting rarer and rarer,
so I think you've done quite well there.
Let me jump on the phone,
I'm gonna see if I can find all the bits we need.
In the meantime, familiarize yourself with the car.
Now the name "Corrado" actually stems
from the Spanish verb "correr"
which in English translates as "to run."
And run it did.
It had a top speed of 140 miles an hour
and a nought to 60 of 7.7 seconds.
That was proper sports car territory, back in the day.
We want to get our Corrado looking the way it did then,
which means removing the aftermarket wheels,
the suspension, the interior mods
and adding back the fog lights.
But before I tackle any of those additions,
I need to do a crucial service on this supercharger.
It hasn't been touched for over 60,000 miles,
which means it's well overdue.
And if it goes wrong, it could be catastrophic for this engine.
[tires screech]
[Elvis] We've gone supercharged...
It's like holding on to a wild beast!
[Elvis] ...with this rare VW Corrado G60
that has more mods than a The Specials gig.
But before I can tackle those,
I need to find out what condition
our 30-year-old supercharger is in.
Now this G-Lader supercharger is a scroll-type supercharger.
that VW had high hopes for, back in the day.
And they can actually last for hundreds of thousands of miles
if well maintained, but the service schedule is low.
Three years or 30,000 miles.
This one hasn't been touched for around 60,000 miles,
so it definitely needs doing.
A supercharger draws in and compresses air,
then forces it into the engine,
where it mixes with more fuel,
delivering an instant boost of power.
They were originally designed for use in aircraft,
as a way to compensate for lower air density at high altitude.
The technology was then adapted
and used in race cars in the 1920s.
Now, this is a bit of a moment here
because I've got to take it apart.
And that's gonna tell me exactly what I've got to work with inside.
I'm hoping, of course, that it's serviceable.
That I can change things like bearings, belts, seals
and give it a new lease of life,
but there is a risk
that there's damage inside here,
which would condemn it to the scrapheap.
And if that's the case, I've got a serious problem on my hands
because you cannot buy new ones.
New old stock of these actually ran out
about five years ago
and as it did, as stock numbers dwindled,
the prices went through the roof.
And the last remaining units sold for about £4,000.
That's two-thirds of what we paid for this car.
So, I need to keep my fingers crossed
and desperately hope,
this one is in a pretty good condition.
[whimsical music playing]
Well, I've got good news.
In fact, I've got great news. Two pieces, in fact.
Our supercharger is in great condition.
And all the areas that might normally give you cause for concern
are absolutely fine.
The second thing is,
although our car is high mileage,
around 200,000 miles,
this supercharger, it turns out,
that it's nowhere near as old as that.
There's a little date stamp on the casting that says, "October 1995."
And our car is from 1992,
which tells me that this is way younger.
It's not the original supercharger that came with the car
and that may be one of the reasons
that it's in such a good condition.
Now the way it works is this.
If I drop the scroll into the middle here of the housing,
once those two pieces are sat inside each other, like that,
and I turn our pulley on the front,
what happens is, as I turn that,
you can start to see there
the scroll oscillates inside the housing.
And with air coming in through this port here,
it's then forced through these channels and compressed.
As that oscillates, you can see how it forces it into a narrow channel
through this spiral.
As it's getting squeezed into those channels, it speeds the air up.
And as it spirals down, towards the center of the unit, it gets passed
from one side through to the other
and out and into the engine at high pressure.
And it's that, that gives us our boost
and therefore, the increased power.
Although, these superchargers are now as rare
as seeing oil on Mike's hands,
servicing kits are easy to come by and cheap.
So, I'm fitting new apex seals and oil bearings to make sure,
when it's back up and running,
it's as tight as a drum.
Well, I could not be happier.
I've got a wonderful supercharger,
with at least another 30,000 miles of great life left in it
and it only cost me 250 quid.
All I need to do is get it back in the car.
Right, when I need parts for a VW,
there is only one place to go.
And that is the town of Oldbury,
to go and see my mate, Lee.
Now, I've already spoken to him
about some of the bits that I need.
He has sourced me a set of front seats for our Corrado G60.
I need some other bits as well,
like, wheels for the car.
Plus, there's a list of other things,
like lights and bits of interior trim.
If I can come away with one item on my shopping list,
then today would have been a win.
Lee makes a living customizing Volkswagens
and recycling their parts into other cars.
His breaker's yard is like an Aladdin's cave of wonder.
Right. Now, where is my buddy, Lee? There he is!
-Hey, Mike. -Lee, how are you, bud?
-Good to see you. -And you, mate. Yeah, not bad, at all.
Look at this. Seats on display.
[Lee] Told you I'd be ready.
[Mike] I like this.
But these are not mine, surely? 'Cause look...
This is a... It's got a hole in it.
I mean, this is probably just as bad as what I've got.
[Lee] Mike, I think you're missing the point. They are yours.
Um, but it's not about this one, is it?
This is the driver's one. It's always worn.
There's the passenger side.
You want to take the bolster out of this.
Get your trimmer to transplant it into your driver's seat.
[Mike] Right. So, I have to buy the pair off you, to get to that bit?
Yes. So, use a pair of seats to make a pair of seats.
Um... Okay.
Well, a pair of seats it is. Thank you very much.
You've got the other bits for me?
-You got steering wheel? -Yeah, yeah, sure.
[Mike] Well, that's the seats sorted,
but that's set me back 200 quid
and I've only been here for five minutes.
Oh, mate. I see you've hoovered up for me. This is nice.
-Especially for you, Mike! -[Mike laughs]
So, I need the correct one for a G60.
[Lee] You need a three-spoke.
That's the right one for the car.
Lovely. Right, another thing that I need, a front fog-light.
I've got 'em, they're in here.
-Back in here? -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-[chuckling] You got a fog light fling cabinet. -Yeah.
That's a pair. Oh, so that is a pair?
-[Lee] Yeah. -Okay, yeah. Lovely.
Let's take those.
That's seats, steering wheel and fog lights sorted.
Now, it's time for the expensive stuff.
The wheel store!
They look all right, don't they? They look good.
[Lee] Yeah, I told you.
[Mike] In decent order. A good set of tires on them.
How much are they?
-Well, they're dear. -Okay.
They're £600 to £650.
-Wow! -[Lee] I know.
-£600 to £650... -[Lee] Yeah.
...for a set of second-hand wheels?
Blimey, this is racking up and I'm still not finished.
I need one more item.
And you're not gonna like me saying this
'cause it is an item that I do believe is unobtanium.
You know what I'm gonna ask for.
What I need, Lee,
is an unmolested
G60 parcel shelf.
-[chuckles] -[chuckling] Don't do that.
-Oh, the Holy Grail! -Yes.
Well, I suppose you're at the right place, aren't you?
You haven't got one, have you?
-Yeah. Of course I have. -[Mike] Have you?
-Seriously? -Yeah.
Where?
I'll go and grab it.
I love coming down here.
It is brilliant, isn't it, eh?
He seems to have absolutely everything I could wish for.
-Is this what you want, Mike? -[Mike] Is that for real?
-Yeah. -[Mike] Is that a proper one?
Yeah, it's a proper one.
Mate, that is fantastic. Yes, bring that down.
Let's get in the warm and work out a price for the lot. Yeah?
-Yeah, cool. -Top man.
Look at that. What a result!
But I've spent over a grand
and there are still a few more things I need.
Oh, ho, ho! [blows]
Get the dust off my hands.
-Oh, Lee! -[Lee] Look after it.
I'll get a speaker in here.
-I'll get a speaker in there. A couple of tweeters. -[Lee] No, no, no!
No, no, no. I'm only kidding. I'm only kidding.
I will look after it, I promise you.
Lee, that is... That's fantastic. What a rare sight.
I'd like to, sort of, say, that's the end of it,
but I'm actually gonna leave you...
-with another list. -Yeah? Cool.
So, if you can gather all that stuff together
and get it down to me--
-Send it down, yeah. -Send it down to me.
Mate, as ever, Lee...
-Thanks, Mike. -I love coming here, it's so much fun.
-Thank you very much for looking after us. -Thank you.
[Mike] Maybe there's a way I can claw back some of this expense.
Lee has agreed to buy back some of the parts we take off the Corrado.
[Elvis] Whilst I wait for Mike to get back with my new parts,
I'm gonna see if I can get to the bottom
of what's going on with our broken spoiler.
It should automatically lift up
when the car hits 55 miles an hour,
to provide a bit of extra downforce,
but that isn't happening.
So, I need to play detective and find out why.
So, what do we know?
Well, we know that the spoiler operates mechanically,
because I can use this manual override switch
to make it work.
Now, with that working, it takes the mechanical side
of the equation out of the picture,
leaving me with the more complex
electronic side of this system.
Right, down an electrical rabbit hole
we go to find the problem.
The first thread to follow is checking the wiring
behind the gauge's binnacle
to see if everything is working as it should.
Now, what I've done is I've taken out
the electronic control box
that sends a signal from here to the rear wing
to activate it at 55 miles an hour.
What I can do with the ignition on
is I can activate it using the manual override switch.
What I should see, if it's working,
are these two little relays, opening and closing.
They're like big electronic switches.
If that happens, I know that this particular component is working.
Okay, so the switch itself is working as it should,
but let's see what happens when I fire up the engine...
[engine starts]
[Elvis] ...and get the car to 55 miles an hour.
[engine revving]
Absolutely nothing at all there.
What that tells me is that,
although we're getting a good signal
up to the speedo itself,
somewhere between that speedo
and this electronic control unit,
we're not getting that same signal
to activate the rear wing.
I am now a little bit confused,
a little bit stumped, I've got to be honest.
And one of the best places to go
when you find yourself in this position
are the owners' clubs for cars like this
or the forums,
so that's what I'm gonna do next.
I've got my fingers crossed somebody out there
has found a simple fix to this problem.
Otherwise, we could be looking at
forking out money we can't afford to
on an expensive spoiler system.
[Elvis] We've got hold of one of my teenage dream cars,
a Volkswagen Corrado,
to celebrate the brilliance behind its G-Lader supercharger.
[engine revs]
[Elvis] Its automatic spoiler
has an electronic issue which has got me stumped,
but I might have just found the solution.
You've got to love the forums.
It turns out that this car,
as well as sending a 55-mile-an-hour signal
to activate the rear wing,
also sends that same signal
to the back of the original car stereo
to turn the volume up
when you hit that same speed.
Now, it's because it got noisy, it got windy.
When you put the rear wing up, that increased drag
and things became even noisier.
So, it's a clever idea.
Now, the forums have told me
what people do a lot of the time
is fit aftermarket stereos.
Just like we've got here.
And commonly, when those stereos turn up,
they have a little blue and white wire
hanging out the back of it.
And that's there to connect to cars
that have automatic or motorized antennas on the back.
Now, we don't have one of those.
We've got an old-school one, up on the roof.
But guess what color the little signal wire is
that sends that signal to the old original radio
at 55 miles an hour to turn the volume up.
It's blue and white, isn't it?
So, what I'm thinking is that someone
has joined these two wires together
and that's what's stopping the 55-mile-an-hour signal
from the speedo reaching the control box.
That's the blue and white wire.
That's the one that is for the motorized antenna.
And look at that.
It is connected to another blue and white wire
coming out of the loom, which...
I would almost bet is the one we're looking for.
Now, if I just pull that out of the connector
and disconnect it for now, that will stop
our 55-mile-an-hour signal wire
from being confused and, in turn,
our box now gets the correct signal.
It activates those relays and it should,
at that magic speed, open the rear wing.
If this works, I owe some random stranger on the forum
a very, very big cuddle.
Okay, let's give it a go.
[engine starts]
Yes! Look at that. It works!
[laughs hysterically]
[engine revving]
Yeah-hey-hey-hey!
Ah, you little beauty!
That's been one of the most frustrating and yet
one of the most satisfying jobs I've ever done.
I love it. This wonderful car now has some of its most
wonderful original features back, that is brilliant.
The spoiler fix brings us one step closer to taking
our Corrado back to its factory best.
The next mod I wanna delete
is one which will totally transform the car's entire stance.
This car would have rolled off the production line, back in 1992,
looking amazing, in this aqua-blue paint,
cruising along at that perfect stance,
based on thousands of hours of Volkswagen's R&D,
to make this their first full-blooded sports car.
And then, somewhere in this car's history,
an owner came along who decided that
that suspension,
designed to give the perfect ride, stance
and handling, as well as comfort, should be changed.
So, as the Germans tend to know best about these things,
I'm gonna return it to standard.
I'm starting by removing the two bolts that hold
the heavily corroded aftermarket struts to the hub assembly.
Then, dropping the car down to get at the rest of them.
With the two bolts at the bottom
mounting onto the upright undone,
that just leaves this one at the top
before I can get the strut out.
And this is our replacement.
It's a good, refurbished original strut,
as opposed to a cheap aftermarket one.
If I put it next to the other like that,
although this one is adjustable,
you can clearly see that we've immediately addressed
our ride-height issue with the new unit.
But there's other differences as well, aren't there? Look at this.
It's a much smaller, narrow diameter
and tightly wound stiff spring on the old unit,
as opposed to this much bigger and softer spring
that's gonna give us that more comfortable ride.
I can demonstrate roughly how that works,
if I move these over, with this steel rule here.
Now, this one is narrow.
The distance between the damper in the middle
and the edge of the spring is not very big.
And I can represent that with this short distance of the rule
hanging over the edge of the bench.
It's very stiff.
The springing effect is very stiff.
And that's gonna give you that very stiff ride.
With the new one, the bigger diameter spring,
if we represent that,
with a much larger distance
away from that damper in the middle,
you get a much softer springing effect
and a more comfortable ride,
which should address all of those problems that Mike was talking about.
On top of that, the fact that it's original
should add value to the car, too.
This type of strut is called a MacPherson.
They're popular for a front suspension,
because they're lightweight,
offer a nice, comfortable ride
and allow each wheel to operate
independently for better handling.
They did set us back £320,
but that's gonna be worth every penny
when we come up against a bumpy bit of tarmac.
Right. There we go.
This car is gonna look so much better
now sitting at its correct ride height.
I've done one. I've got three more to go.
And then, I'm waiting for Mike to come back from his shopping trip,
hopefully, with a big box of bits.
-Hello, mate. How are you doing? -Hi.
-Look I've been shopping! -[chuckles]
[Elvis] Oh, you have been busy.
I have been busy, yeah. This is just some of the stuff.
I've got a set of wheels. I've got seats.
I've got the other fog lights. Got a steering wheel. Got a gear knob.
Look at that. Unobtanium.
Even got ourselves an unmolested parcel shelf.
That has got to be rare.
And all of that must have cost a few quid.
Well, I got it all from Lee.
And you know what he's like, he's always willing to do a deal.
So, anything we're taking off the car,
I've got to take it back to him.
And he's gonna sort out a really fair price.
I don't think it won't be that expensive.
He's a proper wheeler dealer, isn't he?
He is a proper wheeler dealer.
-How are you getting on? -Good, I've just fitted
the stock suspension back on the car,
so it now should sit at its correct ride height
and ride along the road nicely.
The supercharger has had a full service,
so that's good to go as well.
It's in a really good condition, actually.
Oh, nice one, mate.
So, we're well on our way of getting this car
back to the stock car that the market wants,
all bar the engine
because it's got some really good improvements on that,
which has got me thinking
about where we're gonna take the car for a proper drive.
Yeah, it's a rare car, isn't it?
Especially, in that condition,
so we should go somewhere properly special with it.
Well, I've had a little thought bubble
because the G-Lader, as you know,
was invented to cope with altitude.
And I know how much you like a pub lunch!
[Elvis chuckles softly]
So, I was thinking, what about we take it
to the highest pub in England?
[Elvis chuckling] What a great idea.
-It's a great idea, innit? -Absolutely fantastic.
Well, let's get the bits out of the car.
I'll get them bolted to it and get on there.
Nice one.
[Elvis] Mike's done a great job sourcing all of these original parts.
Now I've just got to fit them.
First up, the retrimmed seats,
which just bolt into place.
Then, I can say it gives me great pleasure
to return that gear knob to standard.
Right, the last job for the interior
is to fit this original G60 steering wheel.
It's a simple 24mm bolt-on job.
No air bags here.
Then, connect up the horn and it's all good to go.
There we go. Job done.
Now, it's time to sort out the fog lights.
Now, the car came without any fog lights,
but Mike has managed to find me a set
of original replacements from Lee.
They're relatively easy to fit,
but the tricky bit is getting this long wire
all the way up behind the headlight,
and into the position where it needs to be connected.
So, what I've done is a little trick
is to tie a piece of substantial wire in there already.
Thread it down behind the headlight
and all I need to do is hook that on to the wiring itself.
Wrap it around.
And that should enable me to pull that through from the top
and gently tease it into the position
where I need it to be.
These fog lights, of course, are not just here
to complete that G60 look.
They're also an important safety feature.
They are always mounted below the main headlight
and have a really intense, but flat beam,
that penetrates underneath the fog,
to give you visibility on those difficult days.
You can buy aftermarket ones, but there's a risk
they won't be designed for your specific bumper.
And then, you could find yourself
with a wrong-angled beam, giving you poor visibility.
So, I highly recommend sticking with the originals.
There we go.
This car is now looking the way it always should have done.
I love it. I'm pretty sure Mike will, too.
[Elvis] We've bought ourselves a supercharged VW Corrado,
which was modded to high heaven
or maybe high hell.
I've finally returned everything back
to factory standard
and replaced the wheels,
so it's back at the correct ride height.
Now, it's time to show Mike.
[chuckles] Oh, mate, look at that!
Break out the Shell suits!
Ain't that look showroom-fresh from the 1990s.
Look at the wheels!
[Elvis] Doesn't it look good? It's come up so well, hasn't it?
Everything now on the outside looks like a Corrado did back in the day,
which is so rare nowadays, isn't it?
It's exactly what the market wants.
But we still got that fantastically upgraded engine, haven't we?
We have. I mean, it's almost like the perfect car, innit?
It's wonderful. Look at that interior.
Yeah, clean, original steering wheel.
-It's great. -[Mike] I can't wait to get in it.
The last time I drove it,
it nearly knocked my fillings out,
-it was so low to the ground! -Yeah.
But now it's sitting at the right height.
I did promise you a pub lunch at height.
-You did. -Shall we go?
-I'm hungry, mate. Yeah. -Lovely.
[engine accelerating]
[Mike] When I bought it, our Corrado was covered in boy-racer mods.
Aftermarket steering wheel. What do you think of that gear knob?
[Elvis chuckling] Hideous!
[Mike] But, luckily,
the awesome G-Lader supercharger was in great nick.
[Elvis] Well, I've got good news.
In fact, I've got great news.
Our supercharger is in a great condition.
[Mike] I used my contacts to source
all the original parts we needed
to take it back to stock...
-[Lee] That's the right one for the car. -Lovely.
...and Elvis took great pleasure in fitting them.
This car is gonna look so much better,
now sitting at its correct ride height.
[Mike] Now, we're both proud to have taken this '90s sports car
back to the way it would have rolled out the VW factory.
But how much has the transformation cost us?
I bought the car for £6,750.
The supercharger service kit was £250.
The replacement parts from Lee
came in at £1,600.
But selling some of the parts we scrapped off back to him
reduced the bill to 700 quid.
The seat trim repair came to a £150.
And the knee suspension was £320.
Which means our Corrado comes in
at a grand total of £8,170.
And doesn't it look the better for it?
Now we've got the car looking the part,
I can't wait to see what that supercharger can do
out on the winding roads of the Yorkshire Dales.
Oh, mate, this is so good. These roads are just epic.
They are fantastic. And this is where you're gonna feel it.
So, down here, in this Dale.
Look at that! How cool is this?
[Elvis] The suspension is just so much more compliant now.
I want you to punch it, as we come out of this corner up that hill.
Punch.
[exclaims] Ohh! Ho, ho, ho! Oh-oh!
Oh, my goodness me.
Oh, that is rapido, isn't it?
[both laugh]
That is an immense amount of torque, isn't it?
Oh, it's such a good feeling.
You know, to have that much just under your right foot.
Right when you want it as well.
When you're pulling out of a corner,
or pulling away from traffic lights
you know, standing stop, that's when a supercharger really comes into its own.
Well, you can feel, as you say,
it's instantaneous, isn't it?
-Under your right foot. -[Elvis] Yeah.
-You haven't got wait for that turbo lag. -Exactly, yeah.
It's absolutely brilliant, isn't it?
[engine accelerating]
-[both laugh] -[Mike] Wow. Wow.
That has got some torque and power, innit?
Eh? And did I just notice, in my peripheral vision, a little spoiler pop up?
It has. It's popped up. Look at that.
-Look at that. -[Mike] It all works.
[Elvis] So now, that brilliant little piece of design
-actually works again. -[Mike] It's fantastic.
And you're right about the suspension.
This car is now sitting at the right height.
On the right tires. On the right wheels.
And it just feels perfect, doesn't it?
You can feel that we're getting much higher now.
And it's getting a little bit misty.
We are literally heading into the clouds,
so let's stick some fog lights on.
Oh, yes, of course. Our new fog lights.
-There we go. -[Mike] Nice one.
It's almost like this road was put in place for today.
-[chuckling] Yeah. -It's just perfect, isn't it?
You know, we've got that G-Lader, the supercharger.
We're heading up to 1,782 foot,
which is the Tan Hill Inn, which is the highest pub in Britain,
so we need that extra power to get us up to the pub.
We're hopefully gonna be meeting...
I'm gonna tell you, as well.
I've asked for a load of G-Laders,
-cars like this to come along. -Nice.
And, potentially, somebody who is interested in our car.
And I'm gonna be honest with you, Elvis.
The way this car looks,
the way it performs in this environment, as well,
who is not gonna buy it?
Exactly. And the other thing I'm really excited about, of course...
-That pub lunch you promised. -[Mike chuckles]
-Yeah, I did promise you a pub lunch. -[Elvis chuckles]
[Mike] Back in the '80s and '90s,
the G-Lader supercharger was used by VW in everything,
from the Polo to the Golf.
We've got a great range of these classics for our meet today.
And our G60 sits perfectly amongst them.
Time to look at some of its cousins.
Now, when was the last time you saw one of these, a G40?
Hello, mate. What's your name?
Hiya. My name is Gerod.
Gerod, nice to meet you. I'm Mike.
-Hi, Mike. -Hi, Gerod.
Hi, Elvis. Nice to meet you.
What a car. A G40. They are incredibly rare.
-You don't see many on the streets. -Yeah, I know.
[Elvis] How did you end up with one?
I bought this 22 years ago.
-What? -I've had it a long time.
-[chuckles softly] So, yeah. -Goodness.
So, is it, for you, the Volkswagen badge
or is it the fact that it's a supercharger?
What was the thing that got you?
It was the supercharger on this one.
Uh, I had seen one in a magazine years ago
and I just wanted to have one.
So, then I went looking and I actually found this one local, in my hometown.
Thank you so much for bringing the car down.
It's been so nice to see it. It's such a rarity.
It's a pleasure for us.
-Yeah, thank you very much. -[Mike] Nice one, mate.
Listen, there is somebody over there,
I think this could be my man Loz,
-who has come down to see the G60. -[Elvis] Go do your thing.
[Mike] Yeah, I'll leave you to look around some cars.
-Let's see if I can put a deal together. -Nice one.
-[Mike] You must be Loz. -Hi, Mike.
-How are you doing? -How are you, mate? Very nice to see you.
-Nice to see you, too. -[Mike] All right, yes.
Thank you for coming out on this chilly, misty day.
Uh, what do you think?
I think it's lovely. It's a great-looking car. Absolutely great.
[Mike] Well, we have put our heart and soul into getting this car back
to where it should be, looking like this.
I've got to ask the question, though.
Why do you want a G60?
We had one about 20 years ago.
And then, it got too difficult with the kids getting in and out again.
My wife, Kate and I have always wanted to get another one.
She's just retired, after nearly 40 years in the NHS as a nurse.
And she wants to spend some of her pension on another G60 Corrado.
Get in. I like that. It's a solid investment.
Well, listen, mate, why don't you take it for a drive?
Because there's a few cars here I want to look at.
So, go and take it up the road.
-Can't wait. Can't wait. -Yeah, enjoy it.
As anyone can tell you, a test drive is a great way to sell someone on a car.
Oh, yes.
[Mike] Loz already sounds keen.
[chuckling]
You beauty.
[Mike] And I reckon, once he's felt
that supercharger under his right foot,
he'll be desperate to do a deal.
While he's out enjoying himself,
I want to check out that Golf Rallye
I spotted when I arrived.
[Elvis] Mike, this is Wally.
Wally, nice to meet you, mate. I'm Mike.
[Wally] Hi, Mike. Nice to meet you.
[Mike] When I walked into the car park earlier,
this is the car that caught my attention.
This is the one I would go home with.
Is this your heart and soul gone into this?
Yeah, more or less.
Um... I got a car when I left the Army.
And it was either gonna be this or a E30 M3,
but because of the rarity of the Rallye...
-Yeah. -I went for this.
It was completely standard when I got it.
Um... And, over the years, myself and the guys at the firm
have built this and turned this out.
Can I just ask, when you were deciding between this or the M3,
was it anything to do with that, the supercharger, that swung you this way?
A supercharger. Four-wheel drive. All day long.
-[chuckles] A good decision. -[Mike] Nice one.
It's such a rare treat to see cars like this, turned out like this.
I mean, this is an exceptional example.
Thank you.
We really appreciate it.
-Yeah. -Cheers.
-Nice one, mate. -Thanks very much.
-Good to see you. Thanks, mate. -And you. Cheers.
[Mike] And speaking of rare, I've just clocked a Mk2 Golf,
which I've got to take a look at.
I think we're standing in front of some kind of Volkswagen royalty here.
This is a really, really special and rare car, isn't it?
[man] It's probably the rarest car Volkswagen ever made.
It's the only model that VW did
with the 16-valve version of the G60 engine.
So, 210 brake horsepower stock.
Syncro. Four-wheel drive.
Five-door body shell.
And completely unique model.
There's no other configuration of this that Volkswagen made.
Now, I would imagine that most of these are owned by VW, all over the world.
If not by the directors of VW.
How did you come by this one?
I picked it up from a VW independent in Louth.
I found it by chance.
-And lucky find, really. -I've got to ask.
How much did you pay for it?
And got any idea what it's worth now?
I paid £12,000 for it.
It's worth 12.5 grand today.
-I'll pay for it right now. -[chuckles]
No. You're okay, thanks, Mike.
Um, yeah, it was a lot of money back then for a Mk2 Golf.
But now you can choose your price, really, because they are that rare.
Listen, my... my customer is back.
Elvis, I'll leave you with him.
-Yeah, yeah. -All right.
[Elvis] Nice.
Wow! [chuckles]
I was hoping I'd get that reaction from you.
Oh, my God! That is super quick.
Love it. Love it.
-It is a proper quick car, isn't it? -Fabulous.
I'm so pleased I got that reaction from you. That is fantastic.
Really good.
So, as you know, Loz, we put our heart and soul into it.
I think we've got the right car.
Sitting amongst the right cars here.
This is exactly what the market is after.
I was hoping, in amongst this company,
I'd easily get ten grand for it. What do you think?
I think it's a lovely car.
I'd happily pay nine and a half grand today.
Nine and a half grand.
You're thinking of your wife's pension.
-I am. -I can see that.
Got to look after Kate's money.
Well, listen, she's been working hard
for the NHS all those years, you deserve a bit off.
Let's let you have it for £9,800.
£9,600?
Come on. Meet me in the middle. £9,700.
I'll meet you in the middle.
You've got yourself a cracking deal. Well done, Loz.
-Cheers, thank you. -Well done.
-What a great car. -Thank you.
-Congratulations. -A brilliant car. I'm pleased.
Thank you.
Now, when I found this Corrado G60,
it was a little bit of a modified mess,
but after all the hard work
that both me and Elvis have put into it,
well, we've turned it into a purist's dream.
This lot, they love it.
But, more importantly, Loz did.
And he's returned us a nice, little decent profit.
If you want to see more iconic cars like this
being turned around by me and Elvis,
then join us again soon on Wheeler Dealers. Ta-ta.
[all cheering]