I`ll try to take some pictures and make some sort of info post about the tools. I already did some restorations (more or less extensive) and during college I was really on a tight budget, so I needed to get as much as possible done on myself and also as cheap as possible. Perhaps a little detour on my previous projects:
My first project was a MK1, on this car I learned how to weld and generally how to work on cars. It took me about 5 years and from start to finish the car never left my parent`s garage (also paint was done in the garage) and it just is something special having done everything on your own and on a budget. The car cost me a total of around 5k including the 16V ABF swap etc. I sold it to finance my college fees.
![Wheel Tire Car Vehicle Land vehicle]()
After it, I had some cars where I tinkered with but did not much to them. At one point I got hold of a Civic which had been confiscated by the police because it was too low and the wheels on the car were not registered. I made the car road legal again and drove it from Germany to Marrakesh/Morocco. I always wanted to do a trip to Africa in a car, and while it seemed to be the completely wrong choice of car to go with, the Honda held up just fine. A friend of mine works at Heckler&Koch and he gave us some ammunition boxes which were perfect for storage because they were water tight so we put them on the roof rack for tools etc., which was in hindsight not that great of an idea because the european border control held us at gunpoint as soon as they saw the boxes. In Africa nobody really cared, but the looks on the faces of the european tourists in Marrakesh (which all traveled by plane) when seeing us driving around with german numberplates was just gold.
![Car Wheel Tire Automotive parking light Land vehicle]()
Since the paint was not in the best condition and my leopard spray paint was flaking off, I decided to paint the whole car and make it a bit nicer. This was the last stage and I drove it to Worthersee before trading it in for the postal service MK2 which this thread is about. The picture was made on top of Villacher Alpenstrasse (Road of the Alps of Villach), which some may know from storys.
After that, I helped some friends working on their car, from which I was able to gain more knowledge and experience. A special project was a Nissan 200SX (S13), which we converted to a S15 front end and a rocket bunny kit.
I got hold of a cheap VW K70 and repaired it, painted it but never drove it on the road before selling it. I didn`t really restore it since there still were some issues but overall it was a nice car.
After that, I got lucky and could buy an Audi 100 from 1970 from a friend. It has been sitting since 1986 without registration and the body was solid but brakes, engine, suspension etc. needed a complete rework. Currently it is not finished because I am still waiting on the official papers and decided to not go further until I have them.
I also bought a W124 Wagon from a friend who didn`t want it anymore. It is a 7-seater, sportline, 3l 24V with a 5-speed automatic and I had to have it. I did also quite some bodywork and repainted the complete car. Currently it is sitting on some BBS RF 17" and is my only vehicle at the moment I can use for car shows.
Having a bunch of cars is all fun until you realise that the day only has 24 hours and old cars need a lot of work and maintenance, so maybe I need to let go of the Merc at some point to focus on the cars that are on my to-do/wish-list.
