So a few months ago all I had in the way of cars were these three Jeeps:



Life was good and I was happy, well it hurt a little at the gas pump but I was okay with that. Then the Cherokee started costing me more in upkeep than I liked and my wife said she wanted a car instead of it (even though it was her that picked it out) A close friend in my local Jeep Club was selling a Mk3.5 (or Mk4 depending on who you ask) Golf Cabriolet and told me to come pick it up and test drive it for a month or so to see if she like it... She fell in love with it and it was way cheaper than its value so then we were the proud owners of a 2001 VW Cabrio GLX (I hate that name, it should have been called Golf here too) Now I had another problem of owning 3 Jeeps, I really didn't need three (to be honest I don't need two but the CJ-5 has been in my family since it was new in 1977) So I listed the Cherokee for sale online and a guy called me with an interesting trade, he had a Mk2 Jetta that he wanted to trade and I figured it was worth checking out, even for just a beater daily driver to save at the gas pump, not to mention the wear and tear asphalt does to mud tires
. The guy was 4 hours away though so we decided to meet 1/2 there. I drove the Cherokee and he drove the Jetta, and I couldn't believe the condition of this car. Aside from needing a respray it is in almost perfect condition so then I bought my second VW, a 1987 Jetta GL Deluxe. I had to drive this thing 2 hours home and it rode smoother than most American cars that are 20 years newer , plus it is old enough for antique tags so no yearly fees or inspections

Here is a pic from last week when I washed the three of them (the CJ-5 is still put away in the garage for the winter)

Nice new cars
Was that Jetta modified to look like an European version? As it seems to have the rear plate space like the European one, but still some of the US specs (side lights, bumpers)
The rear fog light under the bumper is very Belgian-spec style

The Jetta is an odd one, I bought it from the original owner's son. The original owner was in the Military and bought the car brand new, when he got stationed in Germany a couple years later he took the car with him (why anyone would take a US VW to Germany is beyond me), that is where it got the plate holders, Repeaters and front and rear fog lights (also the US sidemarker lights had the wiring removed for some reason. Then sometime in the 90s when he came back he brought the car back here to Virgina. So it is a world traveled car, built in Germany, brought to the US, sent back to Germany and then back to the US. Incidentally I added the Wolfsburg tag to the front, the car has an older set of German tags (pre EU) in the trunk which I assume were the tags it wore in Germany but who knows.

Funny thing about that rear foglamp is that the rear left taillight has everything already there to hook up the factory fog lamp so I am not sure why they didn't just do that.

Oh and for Ingo I am going to visit family this summer in New England and plan to stop by and see this:



supposedly the only running K70 in the states.

Nice! I like the Jetta. Those are pretty much extinct in the UK these days.

Nice find, tonkatracker

Since this car is more than 30 years old and usually exempted from any road legal lighting system in USA.

Although I haven't heard anything from the guys since longer time, there are actually 3 K 70 known in the USA. Except this one in New Jersey and one in South Dakota. And one In Canada (Toronto). All cars, brought from Europe (Germany and Holland) by private persons. This orange 1972-K 70 is a very very good one. It was owned by a NSU-freak, but for age-reasons and becuse he had too many cars, he sold it to a VW-collector. This guy (somewhere I should have his name and email-addresse) owns a VW-dealership and prefers those models, which were never sold in the USA. As Polo I and Derby. He owns more European spec VW's.

Huh, you cannot imagine, what a drama it was, when two of these three K 70-owners needed new windscreens We have them in our club, they are even one of the very few parts, which are still available - but how to transport them? Finally the previous owner of this K 70 above made a trip to Germany, visited the International NSU-meeting and some local freaks here, and took 5 new windscreens as oversized flight-luggage back home.

For the easiest way we had noone back them = an US-serviceman, who went back home. They let their stuff -also cars are possible- carry back for a very low price (or even for free?) by US-Navy-transport-ships. If we would have known such a fellow back then (the guy from South Dakota just has left Germany shortly before, incl.the K 70 and a Karmann Ghia), we even have thought to organize a scrappy old Van or Wagon, just as a transport case for the windscreens, and let it ship to the USA by this GI.

P.S. @tonkatracker: if you need any parts or so for those cars, just let me know. The times are gone, when you find Jetta II here on every junkyard, but I have good connections all around in the VW-scene

The WOB-plate on the front is a repro, or? It looks quite original from this angle. They are really terribly cobbled wannabe-Euro-style plates, offered by an US-company. I just cannot find the homepage, but they are really worst.
It's so funny, when some idiots offer them at eBay and want to tell, that they are authentic

Thanks for the offer on the parts ingo, I am sure I will be contacting you :D, as for the K70 owner he is Ross Cupples and owns a dealership in New Hampsire and yes has some really nice VWs, Ive come to know him through my desire for the last decade to own one of the 264 VW Golf Harlequins that were sold here in the US (he owns 5 himself) http://www.rossvw.com/vw/index.html

The WOB tag is indeed original (all except for the seal) I have this one and another set of original WOB tags, (the other set has a long plate like this and a square 2 line plate that I guess is for US size plate holders??) There are a lot of fake horrible looking german tags on ebay for sure but these ive traded US tags for from a guy in Germany

I am having trouble finding an emblem here in the states for the Golf Cabriolet. part number 1E0853687Cz10 or 1E0853687C, it is simply the "Cabriolet badge" on the back of mark 3 golfs and I don't think it is discontinued but I can not find a new one for less that $160.00usd and every ebay seller I have talked to on ebay.de and ebay.uk that is breaking a Cabriolet will not sent the emblem to the US

Let's see, I just have sent the part-numbers to a real expert, the longstanding (rather eternal) chairman of this club http://www.audi-50.de/
He works in the VW-plant in Wolfsburg and has a very direct access to nearly everwhere there

As you are from Virginia, annother question: is this museum http://www.coldwar.org/museum/contact.asp worth a visit? My wife and me are thinking (just vaguely, nothing seriously planned now) to make a trip to Washington D.C. this year. If it's interesting -I'm very interested in the history of the Cold War- I would like to visit it.

I wish the Jetta didn't have those unappealing aftermarket taillights, otherwise it's a nice car.

funny you should mention that museum as my wife and I are going to take our Children on a field trip to there as part of their lessons, I have not been yet but it does look interesting so I will let you know. Also if you do make a trip to the eastern US let me know, it would be nice to meet a fellow imcdber

The taillights on the Jetta do not bother me too terribly much because they are all clear and not the awful Toyota Altezza style. I am however looking to replace them with some original Hella Smoked lights like these as they are Genuine to VW:



I also have some Hella Magic Color taillights for the Cabrio like these:



I have kinda started collecting some OEM and period correct aftermarket accessories, especially the different lighting available.

That is a nice looking Jetta, Tonka.

Ingo, I've never heard of that museum, though it's not that far from me (~45 minutes or so). It certainly looks interesting.

Nice set of VWs. Are they both the same color?

We have a white 2004 Volkswagen Jetta 2.0 GLS as a second car. I'll post a photo of it after its had a bath. Right now it looks like its been playing in a sand box.

No not the same color, but they are close and that was totally a coincidence

Odly enough both are a goldish color but VW calls them both Silver

The Jetta is LA7V Polar Silver Metallic

The Golf is LG7V Desert Wind Silver Metallic

Here is our Jetta...



Nothing too special to report about it, but it does get great fuel mileage, has a pretty nice "Monsoon" sound system and I love the luminescent electric blue and orange gauges.

Welcome to the Vee-dub club and glad to see you're back!! Mine's in my avatar.

To follow up your comment on the Quantum, my dad had two of them, a silver 1983, and a black 1987. First car I ever drove 100mph.

My mom also drove a 1976 Rabbit, which was passed on to my brother.

I see you have my favorite generation Ford F-Series