Update: Sciroccos Impounded, now gone. I'm out. Sad day.

[ggehrke at gmail.com (GGehrke)]

So...  Update on my issues with my Sciroccos.

In short, they were left sitting in a parking lot in Maryland where
storage was allowed.  Since I've been in California (5 mo) they
changed the policy, determined my cars were "abandoned" (with
apparently no attempt to contact me, about which I'm quite frustrated)
and impounded them.  Two weeks later, I find out about this, but don't
have a lot of options.

I asked for help and got some interest from the list and the vortex
community.  I didn't really WANT to sell the cars, but truth be told
it was something I needed to do anyways because I don't currently have
time to work on them and won't for quite some time.

A guy from philly, Matt, is driving down tomorrow to pick them up from
impound.  Apparently he's the type who can't see a Mk1 die, so he's
even saving the black one.  I don't think he's a lister, but if
anyone's looking for parts, I guess that's sort of his thing.  I hope
he doesn't find it necessary to part the blue one out, but we'll see.
Either way, this chapter is closed for me.

It's definitely an understatement to say that I'm sad about this one.
Beyond the fact that I've put a lot of time and money into the cars
and have hardly even been able to drive them, I hate being defeated
and I feel like that's what this is.  I have had so many crazy pipe
dreams for these cars.  Everything from updating them to extremely
modernized designs to 4wd or dual engine conversions.  I started
prepping to paint the car plaid (based on the stock plaid seats from
early Mk1s), but decided I didn't have the time so I painted it blue
instead.  I have a slew of performance parts that never even got
installed.  I know I'm capable of building up a truly ridiculous Mk1
Scirocco that could challenge any sports car in speed and style.
Someday I still want to, but it's tough to admit that it's not going
to be any time soon.

I'll hang onto this as my inspiration to buy another someday:
http://www.xgtgx.com/img/dooropen.gif
http://www.xgtgx.com/img/twotone-dreamroc.jpg
Time and money as no object, that's what I think a Mk1 Scirocco could
look like.  I see cars like this as a blank canvas.

Hopefully Matt will enjoy the car(s) or at least get some use out of
them.  I haven't finalized the monetary side of it because I haven't
been able to negotiate the impound fees with the tow company (which
could be anywhere from $300 to over $1000 at their standard rate).  I
think Matt is going to cover the impound fees and will send a bit more
my way, so I'm not going broke AND losing the cars, but the financial
hit is certainly painful.  It makes me wish I had never spent all the
money to start with.  Makes me feel pretty stupid, frankly.

I will probably stay on the list, but I don't really know.  I still
feel the same indescribable passion for these funny little cars.  I
don't know why - they were absolutely nothing but trouble for me from
start to finish.  I don't think I ever got one minute of real
enjoyment from my cars.

I have a bunch of parts still in storage that I will likely be
offering up for sale around christmas time when I am back in Maryland
for a bit.  I'd like to recover as much of the money as possible from
those parts, especially considering I'm getting married in less than a
year and could use some extra cash.  I'm giving Matt dibbs on a bunch
of it, but I'll probably only really offer them to the list.  Full
inventory in about a month...

So yea, that's it.  I'm now an ex-Scirocco owner.  Sad :(

-Grant-