1975 B1 "Theodore "

[Myuzername]

Well, I've just driven 1000km from Qld to pick up our new family member! This is a 2 owner 1975 Passat Ls that has been unregistered since 2005, dry stored and so far I haven't found any rust. It drove onto the trailer with no issues, and still has the original paint (going to need an in depth polish though, and has quite a few stone chips). Interior is in fair condition for the age, but it is a project none the less. Going to start heading home in a few days - just thought I'd get him on the forum now I have photos.

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[eri_12]

Great pickup! Love the older passats

[sports racer]

Love the old ones. Looks like a really good find.

[Myuzername]

Well, back in Qld and he is now occupying the space in the shed I cleared a while before we left to collect him. Still toying with plans for him, but my current thought is to do some simple mods to make driving fun, but keep things so original parts can be bolted back on. I have already picked up a mildly worked engine off gumtree, and I want to fit Golf 3 brakes. The driver's seat is torn and a lot of stuffing missing, so I might repad all the seats and recover them in velour the same colour as the vinyl.

Always happy to share opinions, and thanks for the welcoming replies - I'm very impressed with the other passats on this forum.

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[sports racer]

Back in the 80s I used to hillclimb my MK1 and the class record was held by a woman in a 76 Passat. I spoke to her husband who tuned the car and he said he used to test the performance by running V8s off the lights. If he was slower the car went into his garage for a tune-up.

I also spoke to his wife. She told me she could do faster times but it was the family car and she didn't want to embarrass her husband by beating his times by too much.

Don't underestimate the old Passats.

Cheers

Paul

[Myuzername]

That's a good piece of information to know. I do believe that it beat V8's without hesitation - I've wasted time on both ford and holden V8's and realised they were just heavier and used more fuel - definitely not faster and no where near as fun on a winding road than a small car. I do still appreciate a good example of those cars when there owners put so much effort into them, but there's something with this passat being in my garage over all previous cars, and I'm determined to have this one for a long time.

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[sports racer]

Not only was it pretty quick in a straight line but it was a weapon through corners. Over a 40 second hillclimb it was 2 seconds faster than my Golf.

[Myuzername]

Nice to hear. Unfortunately it'll be a little while before I can do much work on him, as the deal with the wife was I can get it, but not spend any time or money on it until debt is down and other jobs on the house are done. Having said that though, I have accomplished a fair bit around the house over the last few weekends, and I have dug up some items worth selling that I've held onto for too long - amazing what a new project can do

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[Myuzername]

Just tried a pair of rims tyres on to see what would fit. The rims are 15 x 6.5 and the tyres are a 195/55R15. Rear guards would need a slight massage as they just touch if I push down on the rear of the car, fronts are fine other than that the brakes are so small that they hit the inner of the spokes (refer the last photo). Planning to upgrade the brakes anyway, just thought I'd see what big wheels look like (who'd have thought 195's were big).

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