Help me restore my fathers old car. | Oldtimer VW Passat ’82

Here's a little story about one old but very special car that was in our family on multiple occasions.

But first let me introduce you to the main character of this story, that is my father Jovica. His car owning history is a bit complicated, but the most important thing you need to know about him is that he is a huge fan of Volkswagen cars. His first VW was '90 Golf MK2 that he bought in early '90s, and it was a huge gamechanger for my dad because he drove Yugo 45 before it.

After several years of owning a somewhat new Golf 2, he needed the money and sold it. Keep in mind that all this is happening in early 1990s in post-war Croatia. So anyway, we were a family of four in need of a car. My dad could not afford anything new, but he also didn’t want to buy something similar to the Yugo again...

Than 1995 came and my father bought a '82 Volkswagen Passat B2 as our "new" family car. It was everything he ever wanted! Good and reliable German car. It was cheap and didn’t have a lot of equipment. Almost nothing really. The most important thing for him was that the car works, drives and have great fuel consumption.

He was so thrilled with that car that a couple of years later he imported an identical one from Germany to replace some parts like the seats, machine parts, doors, etc... Perhaps the most important fact of all is that the car was golden color. He made our '82 Passat look like the one from '88 model year.

In 1997. my dad was the best man at his best friend's wedding, and as amenities in Croatia dictates, he drove the newlyweds from the church to the wedding hall. My fondest memory about that car is when we had our first big family roadtrip from Croatia all the way to northern Germany where we visited my mom’s aunt. It was very cold winter of 1999. but car got us there safe and sound after 20+ hours of nonstop trip.

In early 2000. my dad heavy-hearted sold the car and bought a "newer" one. This time it was Passat B4 caravan (station wagon). At that time, my dad opened his own electrical appliance store and service at our home. Unfortunately, the business did not go very well...

Yes. You guessed it. We sold our "newer" Passat B4 and bought awfuly ugly blue '82 Passat B2. Car was smelly, rusted and just horrible to drive. Back then I didn’t even understand why did he bought it, but today I totally understand. All he ever wanted was that same feeling of his first gold Passat.

And than, he found that one! Again. He bought gold Passat back from the same person he sold it to. At this time I was just grown enough to start learning how to drive. That was the time when I also fell in love with that car. When I finally "mastered" driving a car, I was about 13 years old. By that point, my dad started changing cars regularly again and every single one of them, one after another, were Volkswagen Passats of B2 generation station wagons...

Our gold little Passat was sold to old neighbor from down the street so we kept an eye on it. At least until a couple of years ago when a neighbor passed away and a car disappeared without a trace. It was only this year that we discovered it by accident at a nearby car scrap yard. Dad and I watched with sadness as our gold Passat rots in the field. I commented on how nice it would be to restore it, register it and drive as an oldtimer.

Just a month after that, my dad bought it AGAIN. This time for my 28 birthday. It was a really big surprise for me, I was just in pure shock. I couldn't believe it. I knew that a period of restoration was now following... The bodywork of the car is in a very poor condition. Dad and I threw ourselves into work. Car is now literally disassembled into pieces and we are working on it piece by piece.

The most expensive part we need to assemble is the engine (1.6 diesel). We are missing some part of the interior, and bodywork really needs special attention. We are aware that it is a very expensive hobby and that’s why I’m looking for someone who understands that passion.

I belive that for complete restoration of a car and its technical inspection for legal road safety we need approximately 2.000€. The car is already, as I said, in the works. My plan is that the progress of the car can be monitored through some social network. That way, all of you who contribute your donation will be able to follow the works on the car.